Disclaimer: This is just me rambling based on my own memories and gameplay. Not an objective review. Some details might be off. Old-school players, feel free to jump in. AI disclosure: I wrote this myself – the opinions, the memories, the takes. I only used AI to clean up my grammar and make the English flow better. That’s it. Figured I’d be upfront about it.
- Introduction: 15 years ago, a door opened I’ve been playing Need for Speed for about 15 years. Before that, I didn’t even have a concept of “racing games.” NFS: Most Wanted – which looks pretty dated now – opened up a whole new world for me.
In this post, I’ll talk about my history with NFS9, why it hooked me, and how I see it today.
- Memory: LAN party madness as a middle schooler Fifteen years ago, I was in 7th grade. I was mostly into MMOs, which back then didn’t exactly have great graphics. I stumbled across this game box online, heard it had a ton of games, and decided to give it a shot.
I wanted to play a racing game, but my PC was crap – basically just barely ran CrossFire. Then I saw Need for Speed: Most Wanted. High rating, only 2GB – my computer could probably handle it. An hour later, I was legit blown away. This is what a racing game should be.
I got my friends to download it too. Our computer lab teachers didn’t really care, so we’d run LAN games of NFS9 all the time – just as intense as playing CS 1.6 together. Even as school and work got busier, I’d still fire it up now and then, run a few laps, and try to beat my own records.
- Why it’s a classic: three things NFS9 got right A lot of racing games never reach the level of NFS: Most Wanted. Here’s why I think that is.
3.1. The cinematic story mode In NFS9, you have to take down blacklist rivals. Every race has story buildup, so it never feels boring. You actually feel like the main character in a street racing drama. That’s something barely any later NFS games pulled off.
One YouTuber put it perfectly: a racing game without a story is just fast-food gaming. That’s the power of cinematic storytelling.
3.2. The cops vs. racers system The “cop pursuit” system is unique – basically cops and robbers with cars. But it’s more than that. The game gives you an open world, and from there you can do all kinds of stuff. You can speedrun, or just mess around with the cops for fun. Completing objectives gets you bounty, which you use to progress or buy new cars.
3.3. Deep customization and track runs In NFS9, cars aren’t static. You buy parts, mod them out, DIY – that alone is a whole thing. The most iconic modded car is the BMW M3 GTR, basically a legend in the game. You can also add your own MODs.
As for tracks – there’s a saying in the community: “Run the World Loop if you think you’re hot.” It’s basically a benchmark for skill.
- How I see it today: some half-baked but honest takes
4.1. This game never gets old It’s been 20 years (released in 2005). EA never remastered it for various reasons, but that doesn’t mean fans lost interest. A fan-made remaster came out in 2020 – better graphics, more mods, more content, runs on low-end PCs. Only downside: no English? Wait, for Western players it’s fine. For us, no Chinese.
4.2. About the later games A lot of people treat the 2012 Need for Speed: Most Wanted reboot (same name as NFS9, I know) as a spiritual successor. Reactions are mixed. Some say it feels unfinished – it doesn’t play like NFS9 at all, and instead leans hard into Burnout territory.
Personally? I didn’t mind it. But if you’re into that style, honestly, just play Need for Speed 14 Remastered. It’s cheap as hell on sale, and it holds its own next to that fan-made NFS9 remaster from 2020. Need for Speed 19 is also pretty solid.
As for NFS17 – if you really want to try it, grab it on a discount and don’t expect a masterpiece.
4.3. Is it still worth playing today? NFS9 works for all skill levels. It’s grip-focused, not drift. Looks casual, but it’s not entirely brain-off easy.
Story-wise, some people might be used to fast-food gaming and not have the patience. But if you stick with it, it’s unforgettable.
When I played recently – keep in mind this game isn’t drift-heavy (NFS14 is the drift king) – I watched some clips and thought “how hard can it be?” Then I tried the simplest track and spent forever just getting the basics down. This game doesn’t hold your hand if you refuse to practice.
- Final thoughts from an old-school player If you want to get into the Need for Speed series, the 9th gen is unavoidable. Some even say: if you haven’t played NFS9, you haven’t really played Need for Speed.
Look, NFS: Most Wanted isn’t perfect. It has plenty of flaws. But the good outweighs the bad. Maybe that’s the magic of a true classic.
Thanks for reading. If you have your own memories or hot takes about NFS9, drop them in the comments. Let’s talk.
Try the pepega mod for nfsmw. Its made for some streamers so they are randomly thrown in but its an absolute delight of a meme mod.
i love most wanted!!! i’ve beaten it like 3 times atp, the police chases are so fun
that game was my childhood
This is what got me into racing games
My favorite NFS was the OG Hot Pursuit released in 1998: NFS 3.
You could even play as a cop and try to stop the racers.
Split screen with a friend, but only 1v1 with more computer controlled opponents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need_for_Speed_III:_Hot_Pursuit
But as far as the entire genre? Gran Turismo. I’ve played them all.
But the very first racing game I ever played? Other than the simple light road one near the top of the comments?
Pit Stop 2 from the early 1980s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitstop_II
It was formula style open wheel racing, and you even had to pit and control replacing fuel and tires.
I remember playing this game when i was a kid. It was okay, but i did not enjoy it in paticular. I dont feel about this game nostalgic. But for need for speed fans this game is considered the best in the series.
It was the original NFS High Stakes for my ancient ass.
My brother did give MW a shot though, he loved it.
Oh man this game is so nostalgic for me! I got sucked into it when my family moved to a different part of the city, which happened to be a less immigrant populated area where most of the kids weren’t playing outside as often. As a result I started gaming more on the 360 (and spent more time inside); I had a blast driving like mad from the popo in my Reneault Clio, it was a proper thrill to survive the highest heats.
Thank you for reminding me of the time!
Most Wanted (2005) is a masterpiece for sure. On the one hand it’s one of the games I most want (hah) to see a remake for, but on the other it’s so steeped in early 00s that maybe a remake can’t possibly recreate the magic, regardless of how faithful it is.
Still, playing it with modern graphics instead of that yellow piss filter would be amazing.
This is my favourite NFS and possibly overall racing game
I loved that game, the police chases were a lot of fun with the radio chatter. I worked with one if the game’s devs who revealed to me some of the guys on the blacklist 15 list were other developers rather than actors.
Needs, speeds, Battlestar Galactica
I my circle, I was the only one playing the next title, Need for Speed Carbon, who recognized Tamoah Penikett. Helo / Sharon’s husband on BSG
But anyway, I don’t remember if all the NfSMW blacklist racers had acting scenes. I think some were skipped. Not like the acting was deep. But, neat.
Most blacklist racers were just doing a few poses and aura farming to be fair
When EA was good. I lament some of the best gaming companies have been captured by greed.
I miss racing games that had real progression and plot lines. Are there any more recent big games that deliver on this? I had high hopes for the new Assetto Corsa, but sounds like they abandoned a progression system.
JDM: Japanese Drift Master does in a lot of ways, but you can burn through the story pretty fast, though I did still thoroughly enjoy it. The grip driving is kinda jank, and is pretty much unplayable with my wheel. But is a lot of fun to just drift around Japan with a controller in some heavily modified jdm legends
Also doesn’t matter what they make, nothing will match being in the 2000s and everyone you know playing this game at the same time and talking about it.
The ‘Screamer’ remake of this year definitely has story and progression. I haven’t played it myself but I’ve watched quite a bit of playthrough and for racing games the narrative was downright impressive.
The driving is apparently some kind of twin stick drift thing which seems interesting but yeah I can’t say much about that.
Presentation is very modern gatcha-esque, so some impressive cg plus 2d animation, and a lot of character sprite plus textbox vn style dialogue, fully voiced but with subtitles as default as the characters are voiced in their in universe language. So unless you are a real polyglot you’ll be reading.
There is main and side story’s, several teams with 3 characters each, seemingly real world building, writing that is especially for racing games quite bold and competent, lots of narrative conflicts, with characters having interna. Depending on how you feel it might be a tad edgy or anime for you, but from what I’ve seen it’s not particularly egregious, no high school stuff, only somewhat exaggerated characters, no edge without some story basis…
So it’s definitely big budget, but it seems to not have really gathered that much attention.
Have they improved the handling model in updates for JDM?
I played the demo over a year before release and was super excited for the full release as it handled somewhat like NFS: Underground 2 era which i was OK with.
Full release came around and I tried it out but something was just off and the handling model felt janky and horrible to me. Has it improved over time? I really want to play it to mod out some sweet JDM rides but just couldn’t stick with it that first try as it was just not fun to play.
I remember there being a major change to the handling like a month after release that was a big improvement, but I haven’t played in several months, so not sure if it’s changed further. But I can play some tomorrow and report back
Oh really? That is good to know and to be fair I was so pissed off after anxiously waiting for the release and then it being pushed back a few months to improve some stuff the disappointment hit me hard and I didnt look for any updates out of spite.
The only thing I’m glad of is that I tried out a pirate copy before dropping money as I just don’t trust game companies these days and my cautiousness was proved right again.
I might look for an updated repack this evening to try and give it a go with a newer version but I would appreciate an opinion too if you fancy playing some as I may not get time.
Thanks for the response!
Racing games are personally not my thing, but thanks for your original contributions to the Threadiverse; it’s refreshing to see hobbyist posts on the platform. 👍
A pleasure
I remember putting so much time into the GameCube version as a kid, but I don’t think I ever finished the game even once.
For the most part, I just enjoyed doing the police chases and dragging them out as long as possible. Think multiple hour long ones. Destroying police cars and creating as much property damage as humanly possible. Sadly, on the higher levels these became quickly frustrating as the police started deploying instant K.O. spike traps. Losing your run an hour in to one of these was the worst feeling.
The actual racing was fun, too, although I never liked drag races. Their control scheme was just awful. And I probably wasn’t any good at racing, given that I don’t remember ever finishing the game.
Still, I have a lot of nostalgia for the game and the soundtrack shaped my tastes in music to this day. I haven’t enjoyed another racing game since then, I should probably go back and finish it.
I remember having to drag a chase out for a long time. 60 or 90 minutes. I think it was a challenge race form outside the campaign. It mixes into the finale race/chase where I think the escape strategy has to develop before letting you jump the bridge, all on heat 6 for the first and only time.
Yes, for all of those, so much effort could be lost to one professional placement of a spike strip. Good times. Bad times. But at least you could reset the game to win the loot boxes back then.
metoo
i really love your posts frenchfrynoob
