'90s Super GP

Lore & Background

'90s Super GP was developed for about five months before its Kickstarter campaign, with an original release date planned for late 2013. The game was to be made in the Unity engine. It was funded on Kickstarter in early 2013 for $16,000 and initially planned to release on iOS, Linux, macOS, the Wii U, and Windows. It was renamed '90s Super GP in 2016, and its platforms changed to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Windows. However, it entered development hell at that point, with Pelekanos moving on to a different game, The TakeOver, a brawler published by Dangen Entertainment. While news site Nintendo Life speculated it may have been cancelled, no official announcement has been made.

Reader's Guide

'90s Super GP is significant as a high-profile example of a crowdfunded game that failed to deliver, becoming a cautionary tale in the indie gaming community. Its Kickstarter success—raising £16,000 in early 2013—demonstrated strong nostalgia-driven demand for retro-styled arcade racers. However, its prolonged development hell and eventual classification as vaporware by critics highlight the risks of ambitious solo development and publisher mismanagement. The game's legacy is further complicated by Nicalis's controversial April Fools' Day joke in 2019, which drew criticism for being tone-deaf toward backers. Despite never releasing, the project influenced Pelekanos's later work, with its assets reused in a minigame within The TakeOver 2. The game remains listed on Nicalis's website with no release date, symbolizing unfulfilled promises in the crowdfunding era.

Did You Know?

• The game was originally titled 'The '90s Arcade Racer' before being renamed in 2016.
• A minigame called Overtake, using assets from '90s Super GP, appears in the 2026 sequel The TakeOver 2.
• Nicalis received criticism in 2019 for an April Fools' Day tweet claiming the game was coming, which they later suggested might not be true.

Origins & The Kickstarter Dream

Greek developer Antonis Pelekanos, working under his studio Pelikan13, set out to capture the electric feel of 1990s arcade racing in a modern package. Drawing direct inspiration from classics like Daytona USA and Indy 500, he spent roughly five months building a prototype before turning to crowdfunding. In early 2013, the project—then called The '90s Arcade Racer—launched a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of £16,000, a figure critics later noted was relatively modest for a full racing title. The game was built in the Unity engine and originally targeted a broad lineup of platforms including iOS, Linux, macOS, the Wii U, and Windows, with a release window of late 2013. Nicalis came on board as co-developer and publisher, lending the small project a degree of industry backing. The combination of a solo creative vision, a well-known publisher, and a clear nostalgic hook made the campaign feel like a genuine shot at reviving a beloved genre. For backers who pledged, the promise was simple: a two-player racing experience that felt like stepping back into a glowing arcade cabinet, complete with the speed and simplicity that defined the decade's best racers.

Gameplay & Design Philosophy

The planned feature set for '90s Super GP was compact but deliberate. Players would choose from a roster of twelve vehicles and compete through a structured championship mode, with the option to race either locally or online against a single opponent. The entire presentation—both visual style and handling—was designed to evoke the arcade racers that dominated the decade, specifically channeling the high-speed, straightforward thrill of titles like Daytona USA and Indy 500. Critics who reviewed the early build and promotional material were struck by how polished the result looked for a project driven by essentially one person. Danielle Riendeau of Kill Screen remarked that the game appeared far too refined for a solo effort and called the overall aesthetic positively refreshing. Phil Savage at PC Gamer described the visuals as incredibly slick while acknowledging the project was clearly riding nostalgia's momentum. Damien McFerran of Nintendo Life went further, calling the graphics bloody amazing for the period in which the prototype was made. Together, these early impressions painted a picture of a tightly scoped, visually confident racer that promised to deliver exactly what its title suggested: a pure, uncluttered homage to 1990s arcade racing.

Development Hell & Vanishing Act

What began as a focused, well-received project gradually slipped into uncertainty. In 2016, the game was rebranded to '90s Super GP and its target platforms were narrowed to the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Windows. Around that same period, however, the project fell into what can only be called development hell. Pelekanos shifted his attention to a new title, The TakeOver, a brawler game published by Dangen Entertainment, effectively sidelining the racing game indefinitely. The only trace of '90s Super GP in subsequent work is a small minigame called Overtake, included in Takeover 2—Pelikan13's planned 2026 sequel—which reuses level assets from the abandoned racer. Nintendo Life reached out to Nicalis in 2019 to ask whether the game had been cancelled but received no response. The title remains listed on Nicalis's website with no release date attached, a limbo that has led critics to label it vaporware. For a project that once generated genuine excitement, the silence that followed its 2016 rebrand has been deafening.

Critical Praise & the Accountability Question

The early critical consensus around '90s Super GP was overwhelmingly positive, with reviewers emphasizing both the quality of the visuals and the cultural significance of the project's existence. Danielle Riendeau of Kill Screen argued that the very fact the game was being made proved there was a place in modern gaming for nostalgia drawn from every era and genre, and she praised the Kickstarter goal as relatively modest for what was being offered. Phil Savage at PC Gamer echoed the enthusiasm, calling the presentation incredibly slick while noting the project was clearly surfing nostalgia's wave. Damien McFerran of Nintendo Life expressed genuine sadness at the possibility of the game vanishing forever, calling it a real shame for such a promising racer to disappear. That concern was sharpened in 2019 when Nicalis ran an April Fools' Day tweet suggesting the game was arriving, then walked back the post. James Jones of Nintendo World Report called the stunt incredibly tone-deaf and far too little, far too late, pressing Nicalis to take real accountability toward the backers who had supported the project years earlier.