The Revival of Racing Lagoon: Square's Forgotten Masterpiece

In this feature length video essay we take a look at the 1999 Squaresoft PS1 JRPG/Racing Game hybrid, Racing Lagoon. This unique hidden gem of the early 3D game design is a dream genre mashup and delivers on its conceptual promise with style, grace and an unforgettable aesthetic. In this video we will look at Racing Lagoon and it's themes of revival, Japanese Americanisation, and the dangers of speed and obsession through three distinct lenses. First we look at Racing Lagoon as Games, then as Literature and finally as Art, but before all of that we will look at Racing Lagoon in its historical context from its strange origins as an experiment by the undisputed kings of JRPGs to a domestic sales diaster to a cult curiosity to fan translated legend. We will discuss how YouTubers like ThorHighHeels helped resurrect this forgotten game and then how it's fan translation came to be. Also featured in this video are small segments of my interview with two members of that fan translation team, Hilltop Works and Pancake Taicho, for the full interview please see the link further down in this description. Many thanks to the fan translation team for bring this gem back to life!!

FULL INTERVIEW LINK:
   • Racing Lagoon Fan Translation Interview [@...  

Chapters:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:04:21 - What is Racing Lagoon?
00:11:41 - Racing Lagoon as Games
00:24:26 - Racing Lagoon as Literature
00:52:11 - Racing Lagoon as Art
01:08:22 - Racing Lagoon as Revival

(OPTIONAL) Supplementary Reading List:
-Racing Lagoon - Squaresoft 1999 (at least one full play through)
-Intial D - Shuichi Shigeno/Kodansha 1995 (at least up to Volume 7 of the manga or episode 26 of the anime)
MARIO IS CITY POP!!! - AnyButton2Start 2021
Action Button Reviews Cyberpunk 2077 (specifically Story 6) - Tim Rogers 2021
Ridge Racer (PS1) - Bandai Namco 1994
Final Fantasy VII (PS1) - Squaresoft 1997
Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4, PS5) - Square-Enix 2020
Final Fantasy VIII (PS1) - Squaresoft 1999
Final Fantasy XIII (PS3, XBOX 360, PC) - Square-Enix 2009
Final Fantasy X-2 (PS2) - Square-Enix 2003
iS: Internal Section (PS1) - Squaresoft 1999
The Bouncer (PS2) - Squaresoft 2000
In the Miso Soup - Ryu Murakami 1997
Japan Inc.: Introduction to Japanese Economics - Shotaro Ishinomori 1988
The Bubble Economy: Japan's Extraordinary Speculative Boom of the '80s and the Dramatic Bust of the '90s - Christopher Wood 2005
The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift - Universal Pictures 2006
Forza Horizon 5 (XBOX Series Consoles, PC) - Microsoft Studios 2021
Wangan Midnight (PS3) - Genki 2007
American Graffiti - LucasFilm Ltd./Universal Pictures 1973
Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition (PS2, PSP, XBOX)
Need For Speed: Most Wanted (PS2, PSP, XBOX, XBOX 360, PC, GameCube, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS) - Electronic Arts 2005

Keywords:
Racing Lagoon, Squaresoft, Square-Enix, Final Fantasy, JRPG, fan translation, Hilltop Works, Pancake Taicho, ThorHighHeels, PS1, psx, original PlayStation, Japan, Japanese games, Yokohama, Initial D, AE86, Levin, retro cars, toge, street racing, takumi fujiwara, Motomu Toriyama, Noriko Matsueda, Takahito Eguchi, tetsuya Nomura, FF13, ff7, ff7r, bay Lagoon racing, dragon quest, blue dragon, parasite Eve, Forza horizon, wangan midnight, need for speed most wanted, emulation, English patch, aesthetic, obscure games, midnight club, Japanese bubble economy, lost decade, American occupation of Japan, drive, Tim Rogers, Bizarre Japan Only PS1 Games, The Coolest PS1 Game, Action Button, pg13 family friendly