Zero 4 Champ RR is one of those SNES racers that somehow nails that perfect balance between arcade speed and just enough realism to make you sweat on tight turns. The moment you start, you're thrown into these chunky, colorful tracks with a surprisingly smooth sense of speed for a 16-bit game—like, your car actually feels heavy when you take corners too fast.

What I love is how the AI doesn’t just rubberband; if you mess up, you feel it. There’s no hand-holding, just you, a grid of rivals, and this weirdly satisfying gear-shifting mechanic that makes every overtake matter. The tracks? Some are brutal with narrow passes, others wide open for drafting—it keeps you adjusting your strategy race to race.

It’s not the prettiest racer on the SNES, but there’s something about the way the pixelated cars kick up dust or how the music amps up on the final lap that just clicks. If you’ve got a thing for retro racers that actually demand skill, this one’s a hidden pit stop worth making.