4×4 Off-Road Racing (1988) puts you behind the wheel of a customizable off-road vehicle as you tackle treacherous terrain in one of four themed environments: Mud, Ice, Desert, and Mountains. Each track is filled with hazards like rivers, rocks, and uneven ground that test your driving skill and vehicle endurance. Races are broken into three stages with checkpoints for mid-race repairs and refueling. Before setting out, you choose from four distinct 4×4 vehicles, each with unique attributes like speed, durability, and fuel capacity. You can then fine-tune your rig—adding extra fuel, spare parts, or even a mechanic (who saves space but adds weight). The balance between performance, weight, and endurance is crucial to surviving each brutal course. Though visually modest, the game offers a blend of arcade-style racing and light simulation, rewarding strategic preparation and nimble driving. It remains a solid early entry in the off-road racing genre, especially for players who enjoy managing resources and risk on rugged, obstacle-laden routes.

It would be hard to find a genre that has changed more in the last 40 years than racing simulation games.  While this game had all of the essentials – picking your course, vehicle, equipping your ride with different parts from the garage, etc. it’s a little challenging to see how a retro racing game like this can be reimagined for a modern audience without trying to compete with the big studio releases. The photorealism and physics in modern 4×4 games like the Forza Horizon Series or Dirt Rally Series are stunning, so any revival of this title would likely have to consider itself just a completely different type of racing game.  Less adrenaline and awe and more charm and humor.  A quirky, fun, throwback game with charming retro elements that people would find nostalgic or just cool might integrate some multiplayer features, or even the contrast of a pixelated vehicle on some photorealistic off-road tracks.  Think of some of the character contrasts in Wreck-It Ralph, or scene and character contrasts in Octopath Traveler. There’s a truly great summary on the FRGCB (Finnish Retro Game Comparison Blog) at this link that has some screen shots of all of the versions, as well as a video walkthrough of the different products.