Battle Gear

Battle Gear (バトル・ギア), previously known as Side by Side (サイド・バイ・サイド), is a series of racing video games developed and published by Taito, first released in arcades with Side by Side in 1996. The series was later released for various home consoles, such as the PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

Battle Gear
Side by Side’s current franchise logo
Genre(s)Racing
Sim racing
Developer(s)Taito
Publisher(s)Taito
Platform(s)Arcade, PlayStation, PlayStation 2
First releaseSide by Side
1996
Latest releaseBattle Gear 4 Tuned
2006

Side by Side series

Side by Side episodes allow the player to select import sports cars from a Japanese maker either, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda, later Mitsubishi and Subaru were available as well, and race downhill in Japanese mountain passes known as touge.

Battle Gear series

The Battle Gear evolution allows online play in both arcade and home versions and add a tuning feature for the cars. Battle Gear 4 saw the adding of European and American makers for the first time, Renault, Peugeot, Citroën, Mini, Volkswagen and Ford.

Tokyo Road Race

The home version for Battle Gear 2 was licensed by Midas Interactive and released as a budget game named Tokyo Road Race and released by various distributors in PAL territories, hence the different packages in Europe and Oceania. Online play mode was deactivated in the Tokyo Road Race version and the game was not distributed in the American market.

Series timeline

1996
  • Japan 08: Side by Side (Taito JC System Type-C)
  • Europe Side by Side (Taito JC System Type-C)

1997
  • Japan 06: Side by Side 2 Evoluzione (Taito JC System Type-C)
  • Side by Side 2 (Taito JC System Type-C)
  • Japan 12: Side by Side Special (PlayStation)

1999
  • Japan 06: Battle Gear (Taito Type-Zero)
  • Europe Battle Gear (Taito Type-Zero)
  • Battle Gear (Taito Type-Zero, distributed by Innovative Concepts in Entertainment)
  • Japan 11: Side by Side Special 2000 (PlayStation) - bargain re-edition

2000
  • Japan 07: Battle Gear 2 (Taito Type-Zero)
  • Europe Battle Gear 2 (Taito Type-Zero)

2001

2002

2003

Europe Battle Gear 3 Tuned (Namco System 246)

2005

2006

See also
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