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Racing Lagoon is one of the raddest games of the 90's. A little-known 1999 release from SquareSoft, Racing Lagoon is a street-racer RPG where you drive on a world map and encounter random battles. But instead of fighting enemies in combat, you challenge them to races throughout Yokohama instead. For winning races, you get RP (rewards points) which you can spend to steal parts from your opponent's car, or exchange them for Yen at the bank to use at the store. Either way, the goal is to amp up your car with parts so you can beat more challenging races and progress the story.

And of course, given that this is a late-90's SquareSoft RPG, there's an intricate, angsty storyline delivered throughout a series of nights that's interwoven throughout the gameplay loop. This is where Hilltop shines. They delivered a localization that invokes 90's SquareSoft flawlessly (while still being translated accurately, mind you). It feels like an official, long-lost release with tons of care and love poured into intricate details that mesh perfectly with the techno-jazz aesthetic.

I can only hope that Hilltop will find more obscure PS1 racing games to fan translate, because they did an exceptional job with this one!

Excellent translation, very emotionally charged, poetic and downright moving. You just relive a life of a street racer in the nights of Yokohama. We've been waiting for this for a long time, but now it's here, it really makes you feel alive. Thanks a lot to everyone who made this possible!