Evolution of Wangan Midnight Games | 2001 - 2023

Hello fellow tofu delivery bois!
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Today, we'll look at Wangan Midnight games history. Not only Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune Series, but the entire gaming division of this franchise. You'll see a Wangan Midnight PS3 game, and the arcades too.
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Wangan Midnight (2001)
0:29 - Wangan Midnight R (2002)
0:51 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune (2004)
1:25 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 2 (2005)
1:49 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3 (2007)
2:20 - Wangan Midnight PS3 (2007)
2:47 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3DX (2008)
3:13 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 3DX+ (2010)
3:39 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 4 (2011)
4:10 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5 (2014)
4:55 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5 DX (2015)
5:16 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 5 DX+ (2016)
5:54 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 6 (2018)
6:33 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 6 R (2020)
6:57 - Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune 6 RR (2021)
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#wanganmidnight #wmmt #wanganevolution

[NRiZe]

I understand if you are not a fan of this series or if it seems complicated from a new perspective, but there's a lot of misinformation here in regards to the Maximum Tune series.

Here's some things you missed:

MT2 added more story mode chapters, the Hakone course and a whole new game mode called 10 Outrun.

MT3 is a new game not a rebadged MT2, remade story mode up to 80 chapters, they added the Wangan highway that went all the way down rather than a few km.
The battle mode you mentioned is just called Ghost battle mode in english.

3DX got an extra power bar, a new course Nagoya and 30 new story chapters (100 + 10 bonus) completing the story in the manga.
Namco also started to change the story to incorrect cars and locations. (These changes would stay in the series until this day)

3DX+ got a new course Fukuoka (there was also an unreleased game mode but that's pretty much it) and extra customisation options.

MT4 got a large story downgrade, going to the same amount as chapters as MT1 from 110 to 60 and adding more unnecessary changes like 3DX. It also got internet connectivity for the Banapass system, also adding online events and online updates. 4 also went to 830hp, more customisation options and two new courses added to Tokyo: Mirai Line and Yaesu Line. Fukuoka and Nagoya were removed at release and added back in later online updates. RUF was also added to replace Gemballa from the Japanese versions since Namco couldn't add Gemballa for the English version for some unknown reason. 10 Outrun mode was no longer in the game, only being used for MT2-3DX+.

MT5's extreme VS mode went nowhere for an hour. The story mode is exactly the same as 4 other than more random car changes (no major improvements as you claim), I have no idea what they were doing for 3 years... 10 outrun mode was added in MT2, not MT5. 5 also got a new Sub Tokyo course and added in an update: Hakone Turnpike (MT. Taikan) along with changes to VS mode rewards.

5DX didn't add too much other than a new track Kobe Area and more online events.

5DX+ added the Hiroshima course. You also Missed Honda was added (Honda was also an unfinished addition to 3DX+, most likely due to licensing concerns for Highway racing).

6 added Porsche to replace RUF, more customisation, the addition of BBS wheels, the Stamp system and more online events. 6 also removed stickers and livery options on cars, and replaced the straight and spotted neons with different patterns. There was also the removal of real life aero kits, most likely due to licensing.
Story mode was back to 100 but lacks the 10 bonus chapters from 3DX.
Here you said ghost mode was racing yourself, that's also wrong. Ghost mode was where you could race yourself or any other person you could find on a list or by searching names.

6R really was just 3 cars and just online events. I believe the development team was switched here.

6RR got 2 new cars, not 1, and more online event stuff. The Watanabe rims were removed due to licensing.

There's also BGM (music) changes with each game from menu music to race music. The only WMMT that didn't get a BGM update was 6R. Customisation options also was added with each major release.

Wangan Midnight Arcade was released on PS2 also.
The PS3 game was completely different to everything else and was made along with a PSP version.

Overall this is a great series, but after Genki stopped doing console games and Maximum Tune stopped focusing on the Wangan Midnight story and more towards online events, unfortunately you have to buy the old games to appreciate the series or look forward to the emulation progress for MT3 and older. Sadly this series is now known for the milked Maximum Tune games.

You've shown a great lack of reliablility and the ability to research in this video. Each Maximum Tune site has a page dedciated to what's new in each title.

Thanks for using a picture of my Assetto Corsa Devil Z mod for the 2023 thumbnail but it's a bit missleading since Assetto Corsa is not a Wangan Midnight game, WMMT6RR was 2021 and the graphics are unchanged since MT5 (2014).

[jaywinters]

Just so you know, the new versions don't just bring new cars, there are new dress up parts and new tracks as well. Occasionally also new mechanics like when dress up points became G points and the shop was introduced, and when 4 player ghost battle released, and also the navigator app. There were so many big things that happened over the games that you didn't mention and chose to pass off each new game as "ahh just _ new cars, nothing new" lol.

[bluesrike]

Differences between Maximum Tune 3 and 3DX

-You can tune your car up to 825 horsepower as opposed to 820

-New tracks like the Nagoya loop

-New music from Yuzo Koshiro (including one of the best entry music in the entire series i.e. the music you hear when you're either inserting your tuning card, purchasing a new card or selecting a car)

-100 chapters in the story mode instead of 60

[PrekiFromPoland]

How could you not mention the super-awesome music by Yuzo Koshiro? I'm not even a fan of trance and I dig it so much that I listen to these soundtracks whenever I drive some cool car, and it makes me wanna buy some 90s or early 2000s vintage Japanese sports car.

[_ELzY_]

Recently got into wangan midnight games for the first time through my cousin and it’s been a blast, he gave me his old banapassport but I started my own car. Always been a pc fps gamer and never really bothered with arcade stuff but shit thank god I found this gem of a community.

[rezadahri]

WMMT4 didn't just "add more cars". In fact, imo WMMT4 was the version that brought a lot of new features to the series. For example, no more tuning cards for each cars, instead you have a single card that can hold 100 cars (and of course you have to pay extra for them lol). Stuffs like the new Online system where you can enter ghost battles against players from other machines and even other countries (Japan Challenge, my favorite event). Also higher definition graphics than previous versions and new engine sounds, etc.

[ruvsgaming]

Uhh, you seem to have looked over a lot of added content per game. It's not just cars they add every new MaxiTune installment, they add new music tracks (as other comments have already pointed out), new race courses, and new features.

Here is a list of notable features you missed
-MaxiTune 2 introduced Hakone Mountain Pass, and the "Discarded Vehicle Card" feature, which allows you to get a new car with 20 story mode races already complete.
-MaxiTune 3 introduces 3 New race courses: Yokohane, Wangan, and Osaka. It also introduces Ghost Battle, Dress Up Parts, and junction choices in VS Battle
-3DX introduces Nagoya Speed Ring course, as well as increasing the Story mode races to 100
-3DX+ adds Fukuoka Expressway as a new course
-MaxiTune 4 replace the old Tuning Card System with Bana Passport which I think uses RFID technology. Also introduces the "Wangan Terminal" a separate cabinet used to change game settings and customize your car for free. Also adds Yaesu and Yokohama as new race courses. Also added Chevrolet and RUF cars
-MaxiTune 5 add 3 New courses: Shibuya, Ikebukuro, and Hakone Mt Taikan. You already mentioned Extreme VS in your video, but what you didn't mention are Maxi G and Maxi Shop, which allows you to buy dress up parts using Maxi G as currency
-5DX introduces the Kobe Expressway as a new race course
-5DX+ Introduces the Hiroshima Expressway, as well as Honda and Lamborghini Cars
-MaxiTune 6: replaced RUF cars with Porsche, 4 way ghost battle (as you mentioned in the video), increased Horsepower cap from 830 to 840HP, as well as BBS wheels for new dress up parts.

[warrendavin]

I grew up on the 3dx+ era, it was so cool to have your tuning card and have 825hp/dg written on that card 🔥

[PhantomDZ]

0:45 - The Devil Z is also drivable in the base verison of the game, you just need to start on a certain route at a certain time. (The timer will turn red to indicate you've enable it, same indicator used for )

1:35 - It did revamped story mode after chapter 20 to have a more story-driven one than episodic character chapters. It also introduced Hakone which wasn't there in the first game. Another thing they added is event mode, which allows players to race each other for over 50KM. Just that the mode is locked behind a test menu, which the players have to request the staff to enable it.

3:00 - The game added Nagoya to the track list and also revamped how ramp selection to be randomized rather than player's choice.

3:19 - They added Fukuoka to the track list. And mind you at this point they were both developing MT4 and 3DX+ at the same time. If you've looked through the tcrf pages of WMMT4, you can tell how much crunch the devs had went through while having to co-develop 3DX+. 3DX+ was out more so to give the devs more time to work on MT4 which in the end, din't fully worked out.

3:55 - Almost nothing??? They added a 2 new routes to Tokyo, Yokohama and Yaesu. It added online ghost battle mode to allow players to battle across the arcades rather than just local-only, it also featured a competitive online event mode (Online Championship Match) for ghost battle where players can show who's the fastest of the track via the ghost battle. Anyone who participates can also get some unlockables goodies for participating. Also Japan challenge for additional bonuses and exclusive customization unlocks.

4:29 - The distance of the finish line is always fixed, there were never randomized race distance in a VS race.

4:40 - Story mode was more of less the same as WMMT4 and 10 car mode? That mode's been gone since WMMT4 lol. And Fukutoshin was added to the game (although Japanese exclusive due to having better hardware than what International had), that's the largest course addtion the game has ever had, spanning up to 69.8 Kilometers.

5:05 - They added the Kobe Course to the track list and also remodeled Fukutoshin to split up Shibuya and Ikebukuro, due to irl road changes.

5:20 - They also added Honda too. Also again, they added a new course, Hiroshima. And aside from this 2, event mode has also been improved with more configurations, now added 2v2 format and also bracket based championship mode, better for stores that host competitive events. Ghost mode also added VS Other Region, while this thing doesn't mean much to International players. For Japan its new, since its the first time ever they could ever race anyone's ghost outside of Japan.

6:00 - 8 total new cars were added (5 if you don't count the ones that replaced RUF)

6:36 - VS trial is introduced here not 6RR. They added a new ghost battle variant that is exclusive to this version. Its more so just recycled what was on the old Japan challenge but with dice roles and some gimmick. It also added a GR Supra.

7:10 - At certain point of this game they did have slight tweak to the handling physics of the game, some courses in time attack were also made longer and some spotting a few track changes.

tbh, if you wanna refer to the Fifa like releases. WMMT6 onwards feels more like it, updates there were more content drought. 5 to 5DX+ ATLEAST has a new course each itteration unlike WMMT6 onwards.

[IKenKaneki]

I‘m a little ashamed I have never heard/played these games. 😅
They look really cool and seem to catch the JDM vibe

[DxMT]

I just realised due to youtube copyright system upgrade i got a notification that my footage was used 😂

[AhmirASMR]

I'd choose Wangan Midnight over any other new Racing Games. The story, the timeless car feel, the twistys, and yeah the JDM Cars. 😼

[bindedvision]

The best WM arcade for me was the 3 series (3 - 3dx) because it was heavily reference based on the Wangan Midnight manga, even attention to details in the story was still reference from the manga (the 4 to 6 series that they reworked the story mode to the worst imo). And i was playing them since the maxi 2. 3 series was the best among of them. 5dx to 6 is just the same, UI still the same, just adding cars, higher resolution (720p on Maxi 4 vs 1440p in the 6rr) and new OST and adding new stuff like bingo.


But the difference between maxi 3, 3dx & 3dx+ was the OST. The soundtrack is different between the 3 (you will notice them when entering the game and story mode as well) and some bug fix, as well and some minor improvements.

Same goes to 5, 5dx and 5dx+ and 6, 6r and 6rr added OST but not prominent as the Maxi 3 series. The Maxi 6 series, they didn't implement the new OST in story mode, while 5 and 5dx still relying on Maxi 4 OST before 5dx+ didn't relying on Maxi 4 OST.

[m_curves]

I used to play this so much, the manager of the arcade lets us in before opening time and then we close it with him too. People were paying us to max their cars while we got to play all day. I have a very unhealthy love for this game 😭❤

[MTN.SK]

A lot of things from 3-5 you missed out on like maps added, changes to battle, new dress up, online events and so on.

[hogster]

Been playing this game since my son was 5. He will be 21 this year. Thanks for the video as I'm able to see the timeline.

[AJplaysgames]

I will always love 5 thru dx+. Spent who know how much on those machines in clan battles or 1v1 against people for rank. Still play maybe once a month and my local scene is like a family. Racing games are definitely my most played comfort games.

[stackhom]

The arcade cabinet games don't just add cars. Modes, currency(5dx exclusive), dress up parts, vs strength grade(on the wmmt5 installment), tracks, and most importantly, physics.

The revamped physics implemented on wmmt6 pretty much changed the battle scene.

[HirokaAkita]

In each release, the horsepower limit was increased over and over again.

From 800 in WMMT1, to 810 in MT2, to 820 in MT3, to 830 in MT4, to 840 in MT5, and 845 in MT6.

And trust me, in that game, as higher your horsepower goes, the car becomes harder and harder to control, in fact, many players say that once you go over 820 hp, the cars literally become undriveable.

[JerryChanD]

So no one says that only these Japanese Namco are still making these fabulous arcade racing games with reference to real-world roads? I have travelled to Tokyo many times and the Tokyo C1 inward and outward, the road are almost the same, especially to pillars in the middle of the road.

Of course, they add up something not in the real world like much brighter in the night, fireworks all the time etc, but the Japanese expressway is considerate more brighter "motorway" to many other countries.

I love the arcade series start from the WMMT2, the speed of battle feeling and BGM just fit to purpose. We call this game like a "street fighter of racing" because when do competition to other players you do have some tactical moves when you running.