--- title: "Need For Speed: Underground Changed Racing Games 20 Years Ago" date: "2023-11-24" modified: "2023-11-24" authors: - name: "Adam Ismail" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/adam-ismail" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/need-for-speed-underground-changed-racing-games-20-years-ago" categories: - "Culture" - "News" - "Video Games" --- # Need For Speed: Underground Changed Racing Games 20 Years Ago ![]() *\Electronic Arts\* Twenty years ago this month, I was a very angry 10-year-old. You see, *Need for Speed: Underground* had just released, and I wasn't having any of it. I wanted to outrun the cops in a [Lamborghini Murciélago](), not build a [Civic Coupe to grace the cover of *Super Street*](). But it didn't really matter what kid me thought, because *Underground* was a smash hit. It seized the newfound mainstream fervor around tuner culture and street racing following *The Fast and the Furious'* release two years earlier, and shifted the trajectory of the genre for the rest of the decade. Now *two* decades on, it stands as one of the most important racing games of all time. Depending on your age, this game is the reason you and your friends knew the words to "Get Low" by Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz—the *clean* version, anyway. Or of brands like HKS and DC Sports, or *Import Tuner Magazine*. *NFSU* was the right game at the right time, and that was reflected in the title's market performance. Estimates for stuff like this can get a little murky, but rebooting *NFS* in full street-racing fashion [increased the franchise's sales]() by as much as seven-fold, depending on where you source your numbers. It also cemented developer EA BlackBox's stewardship of the series for many more years, following the Canadian studio's impressive debut with the PlayStation 2 port of *Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2*. You know, the best *NFS* ever made. I'm not still bitter, I promise. ![]() *Name another game where you can drive a normal, not-Evo Mitsubishi Lancer? I'll wait. Adam Ismail/Electronic Arts* In all seriousness, you have to respect *Underground's* success. There were games vaguely like it before it, of course, from Rockstar's *Midnight Club* to Genki's *Tokyo Xtreme Racer* series, which more spoke to Japan's street racing scene before Hollywood caught wind. But none of those seized the moment in quite the way *NFSU* managed to. As a result, the years that followed saw a flood of also-ran efforts from various publishers hoping to cash in. *Street Racing Syndicate* and *Juiced* joined the fray, while contemporary arcade racing mainstays like *Test Drive* and *Rush* rebranded themselves in the tuner image, albeit not nearly with the same critical or commercial triumph. EA of course continued on the street racing beat for many years. *Underground* produced an open-world sequel, then the beloved *Most Wanted* followed by *Carbon*, *ProStreet*, and *Undercover*, before the series embarked on some soul-searching again with the sim-like *NFS Shift* and 2010's *Hot Pursuit* reboot, the franchise's first entry developed by *Burnout* makers Criterion Games. It's fair to say the brand never quite recaptured that lightning in a bottle since the mid-2000s. Most recently, [EA effectively placed *NFS* on hiatus]() following last December's [*NFS Unbound*](), a game that mixed *Underground's* streetwise theme with cel-shaded flair. ![]() *Adam Ismail/Electronic Arts* ![]() *Adam Ismail/Electronic Arts* All these years later, *Underground* is still fun enough. Your enjoyment of it will likely hinge on how invested you were in the car culture of the time, as the occasionally janky physics and repetitive circuit racing tend to wear thin pretty quick. *NFSU2*, with its open world, surely gives you more to do. But both have phenomenal soundtracks, and the second one especially offers masterpieces like the [Fredwreck remix of The Doors' "Riders on the Storm" featuring Snoop Dogg](). Where else will you hear lyrical gold like "coast-to-coastin', testaroastin'?" (Fun fact: I was listening to [Helmet's "Crashing Foreign Cars"]() while writing this, just to get in the proper headspace.) Those old EA Trax soundtracks were special, weren't they? Whether you revisit *Underground* in honor of its 20th anniversary or not, all its music is out there for streaming on your holiday road trips. I suggest you spin it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnq5AJXD-3w *Highly recommend YouTuber and *NFS* expert Kacey's look back at the *Underground* era.* *Got tips? Send 'em to tips@thedrive.com* ## Author Adam is a Senior Editor at The Drive, concentrating on curating and developing the site's slate of daily journalism, from initial pitch to final copy edit. When he's not at his desk researching leads and working with writers, he's testing vehicles or reviewing racing games, new and old. He joined The Drive in 2023, following seven years of covering consumer technology and cars. A car lover and gamer since his earliest memories, Adam came to know the automotive world through video games. First it was Daytona USA, Sega Rally, and Ridge Racer; then came Need For Speed, which inspired an encyclopedic knowledge of '90s supercars, and, of course, Gran Turismo. If not for them, he'd assuredly be doing something else right now. Adam is based in the suburbs outside Philly, where there are ample roads for his hot hatch to stretch its legs. In his car, he's probably listening to indie rock, drum and bass, or Yankees baseball. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()