*** Welcome to piglix ***

18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker

18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker
18 Wheeler American Pro Trucker cover art.jpg
Arcade flyer
Developer(s) Sega AM2 (arcade and Dreamcast versions)
Acclaim Cheltenham (PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube versions)
Publisher(s) Sega (arcade)
Acclaim Entertainment (PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube versions)
Composer(s) Keisuke Tsukahara
Tomoya Koga
Platform(s) Arcade, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube
Release Arcade
  • JP: July 26, 2000
  • NA: November 22, 2000
Dreamcast
  • JP: October 12, 2000
  • NA: May 22, 2001
  • PAL: June 1, 2001
PlayStation 2
  • NA: November 14, 2001
  • PAL: November 23, 2001
  • JP: December 5, 2002
Nintendo GameCube
  • NA: February 18, 2002
  • PAL: May 31, 2002
  • JP: September 12, 2002
Genre(s) Vehicle simulation, action
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Arcade system Sega NAOMI
Review scores
Publication Score
Dreamcast GC PS2
AllGame 2/5 stars 2/5 stars N/A
Edge 6/10 N/A N/A
EGM 6.33/10 5.5/10 N/A
Game Informer 8.5/10 6/10 7.25/10
GamePro 4/5 stars 2/5 stars N/A
Game Revolution C N/A N/A
GameSpot 6.5/10 4.6/10 6.3/10
GameSpy 6.5/10 68% N/A
GameZone N/A 4.5/10 6/10
IGN 7.8/10 5/10 5.5/10
Nintendo Power N/A 2.8/5 N/A
OPM (US) N/A N/A 3/5 stars
BBC Sport N/A N/A 72%
Maxim 6/10 N/A N/A
Aggregate scores
GameRankings 63.58% 51.04% 55.25%
Metacritic 67/100 52/100 61/100

18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker (also known as just 18 Wheeler) is an arcade game developed by Sega AM2 and distributed by Sega. The game was first released in arcades in 2000, then ported to the Dreamcast in 2001. It was later released for the PlayStation 2 in 2001 and Nintendo GameCube in 2002 by Acclaim Entertainment. Sega followed up on the success of 18 Wheeler with a sequel, The King of Route 66, which was released in the arcades around 2002 and ported to the PlayStation 2. This was one of the final arcade video games ports to be on the Dreamcast after its discontinuation before Sega became a third party developer.

The main purpose of the game is to make it to the finish line with the truck's cargo. Players are given a set amount of time, but can ram into special vans that will add three seconds to the timer. There are several characters to choose from, each with a unique truck and attributes.

The game starts out in New York City and players travel across the United States, ending in San Francisco. After Stage 1, the game gives the player a choice of trailer. One trailer is harder to haul, but provides a bigger payoff while the other choice is easier to haul but provides a smaller payoff. Money is deducted from the total when the trailer is hit. Players can sound the truck's horn to make other cars on the road yield and slipstream behind large vehicles to gain a momentary speed boost.

In addition to the time limit, players also compete with the "Lizard Tail", a rival trucker. Crossing the finish line before the Lizard Tail yields additional money. In between levels, players can park the truck in a mini game to earn more cash and upgrades for their truck, such as an improved horn.

The first port of the game was released on the Dreamcast. Released by Sega, it is faithful to its arcade counterpart, but the voice actors for the characters were changed and it lacks the arcade's cross-country map loading screens. One of the selectable truckers in the arcade version, Nippon Maru was now made available as an unlockable character. A split screen multiplayer mode was added, allowing two players to race against each other. The game was released by Acclaim Entertainment (who also released Sega's Ferrari F355 Challenge on the Dreamcast) on the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube after Sega stopped making consoles and became a software based company.


...
Wikipedia

...