Need For Speed II - 24 Years Later: An LGR Retrospective 

Ahh dang it, I wish I'd seen this before... I was wondering how they went about filming the game's intro cinematic and well, here's a making-of video from 1997 that shows some behind the scenes stuff regarding exactly that. Fantastic: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ucIG1ANRCJE.html

RIP Saki Kaskas, the creator of the old NFS games music. Still have the soundtracks of the games in my playlists

As a kid, I remember buying this game and finding out later at home that my pc could not run it. Oh man, those were sad times.

That main menu music just gave me shivers. I didn't realise how burnt into my brain it is and I haven't heard it since the 90's.

3:42 As an Australian, I can confirm this is a regular occurrence in our day to day life.

5:55 That Mouse Cursor jumping killed me XD Thanks for the memories!!

Still blows my mind that there's an actual GT90 in existence that actually runs.

that soundtrack by Rom Di Prisco is unique and on point.

I still remember when my mom brought this home out of the blue for me when I was a kid. I never even asked or knew it existed but she saw how much I loved the first game, so she picked it up.

Holy shit, when the menu music kicked in I got goosebumps. NFS II was one of the first racing games I ever played, I remember being obsessed with the McLaren F1. Thank you for the nostalgia LGR.

When I’m an old man my line will be “back in my day we had cheat codes!”

One of the first games I tried on my Voodoo 4MB card, all my friends that had a playstation and an N64 were all amazed beyond belief, the 90s were the best!

It's crazy seeing the subtle similarities between this and my personal jam, Need for Speed III Hot Pursuit. Would be great to see a retrospective on that one!

DANCING CURSOR IS ALL THAT I NEED NOW

This game was my life as a kid , it’s what made me a car guy to this day! That music and those cars oh man what a throw back. The Nazca C2 was my favourite.

I loved NFS 2. Still have the box and CD. That menu music is legendary.

Mom: Daaad, your son is gonna be driving like a maniac when he grows up, playing that game all day. Present day: can't even manage a stick. Fearful of driving auto.

The menu music is where a young Clint fell in love with electronic music which eventually lead to his synth-lord status today!

Lost my shit at the T-rex tumbling end over end and letting out the stock sound effect scream

Fun fact: When playing on 3d accelerated mode, the textures were actually lower resolution, because of the limitations of the Voodoo1 cards...

These games were the pinnacle of my youth

I only ever played this on software render at a stupid slow framerate. Seeing it in 3dfx mode at full speed looks like a different game.

It's crazy how much better the Glide graphics are. People back then must have been blown away by the new Voodoo cards.

To this day I think NFS II SE is my most played racing game, hours wise.

Hello there

My first ever racing game, still remember it fondly.

I gotta say, the futurism of the GT90 has aged surprisingly well. Like it looks like a supercar someone could have designed and made *today*, which is impressive considering how of its time so much 90s futurism was.

Hi, Thank you LGR. This was the very first game I played on my cousin's PC. I still remember every single moment of it. Thanks for bringing more memories back :)

"...after the Dodge Viper, of course." Ah, Clint, I see you are a man of taste!

Man, 90's Need For Speeds were something special. Countless memories. Hoping for a return to this style of NFS game sometime in the future!

Extremely well-planned and articulated video. Thanks for the memories! :')

I loved the video showcases in the game as a kid. Was absolutely thrilling to see clips of cars like the McLaren F1 and Ferrari F50 on the road

I feel like the entire LGR channel is deserving of its *own* Retrospective.

The FMVs of the intro, and the single ones for the Italdesign and the Jaguar, that's definitely Sardinia, my homeland... Since I had a pirated copy of the game as kid, without the videos, this is totally new for me

The car showcase videos in this game were literally my favourite thing in the world for a time. The F1 and GT90 in particular. That menu music still hits deep for me.

Man, so much of your discussion around NFS SE and the GT90 ring absolutely true for me; I hadn't owned a PC yet but played it on PS1, then by '99 I was building a gaming rig and rebuying all my fav games for PC. Man oh man good times.

EA really needs to remake/remaster these games and bring them back to the market. In a golden era bundle, or something. NFS3 Hot Pursuit and Highstakes were always my favourite. Oh man, the music... that 90s techno. Especially “Callista”

Your cursor has more dance vibes than most of us

This was the first racing game I've ever played and those videos are really a nostalgia trip. Love to see people are still enjoying it

I played all the NFS games up to Hot Pursuit 2, and this video brought back so many memories. I really love your content and your voice. I think I could listen to you speak all day!

LGR has more fun with this than sims 4, and I don't blame him.

As a fellow late 90s car kid, the Dodge Viper was truly untouchable.

I grew up loving this game so much as a kid. My dad and I played the heck out of this game back then. This also prompted my mind to start loving fast cars.

Greatest memory of my childhood, sitting with my brother in front of a 14 inch CRT and racing in split screen mode. When you pressed too many keys at once, the system would lock up for a brief moment. Hearing NFS2 or NFS3 music today still goes right to the core for me and I can barely contain myself.

The cheats were still the best in any racing game, and damn near the best in any game not called Ultima VII. Seriously, you could be a T-Rex, an outhouse, a log, a rock, and just about any object you could see on the map that wasn't terrain. I remember being quite fond of the log for its insane acceleration, even if the outhouse had objectively better handling.

GOOSE BUMPS. THANK YOU for making this video.. just brought tears to my eyes, no joke. the nostalgia. the good feelings. thank you LGR.

Man, those memories! I remember playing this after school at my friend with other classsmates. Those cars, racetracks and great soundtracks... Just pure fun! 🏁

The game I miss most is NFSIII: Hot Pursuit

I cant wait for the NFS 3 review. That game was something else!

Ah yes, another NFS episode :D Wish you would cover 3 and 4 as well, these were my favorites. As for NFS2, strange you didnt mention FZR 2000 - a car too fast to handle in this game, but that enabled all sorts of shenanigans

That menu music! This was my first 3D accelerated racing game ever! (I've started gaming on the NES, but this was truly revolutionary)

Proving Grounds' "Headless Horse" is still my jam to this day. Such a great soundtrack.

I’d pay top dollar for a classic NFS collection on modern platforms. 90s goodness with modern support, sounds great to me.

My first racing game that introduced me more deeply to video games and racing games specially. And yes, that soundtrack, THAT MAGNIFICENT SOUNDTRACK I remember all time; cars, showcases, tracks, races, traffic, etc, etc, etc..., for me, the NFS more interesting, through of its curious (and little bad) details. Some day this NFS (and all classics) should comeback, they deserve be remembered and, again, THAT EXCELLENT SOUNDTRACK!!!

Thank you very much for this review. You drove me back to my childhood and I went digging through my boxes to find NFS2 CD.

NFS 5 : Porsche also please, maybe in the later videos. In my opinion, it still remains the best NFS in the entire franchise.

Even in the 90s EA still has ways to charge you extra just to get an extra color

This is definitely one of those games in my past that I remember looking far, far better than it really did. Still, those showcase videos were highlights of my childhood. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Holy nostalgia! Pure '90s feeling. I played NFS II SE so much when I was around 15 yo, and I didn't have many games to play. I still have the CD and fond memories of the time I spent playing it. Awesome video.

I never thought I would feel so represented by a mouse cursor 5:54

Oh man, the menu music. Totally remember it now hearing it again.

My brothers and I had NFS2 on Playstation and we loved it; we were all under the age of 10 so we didn't know any better when it came to driving models or it's competitors, but none of that matters. We sunk a ton of time into it and loved every moment of the goofyness. Those cars are also legendary to me, especially the McLaren F1, even to this day. Thanks for reacquainting me to that McLaren FMV, I use to watch it so many time lol.

12:42 lovely “interactive music” when you get to first places it would ramp up and when you hit sections it would changed. I loved that feature.

When Need For Speed 3 came out, a local IT magazine had a famous headline: "Need For Speed 3, better than the second, worse than the first".

Crazy how its been 24 years! Remember it like it was yesterday. Great video man.

AMAZING!!! This was actually the first game I purchased when I was 15!! Incredible memories, thanks so much for this video dude ❤️🔥👌🏻

Wow, that brought some great memories back. That menu music was just so atmospheric, it screamed 90's high tech supercars.

I do miss when people had to game TOGETHER in the same house. Great video!

LGR and Raycevik both talking about a Need for Speed game, released within a minute of each other?

My first ever NFS. Thanks for the nostalgia hit. This game made me a car nerd which i am to this day. I remember i used to watch the irl images of the cars in the game and now this video just hits different. Again, thanks for this

HAHAH that cursor bobbing along with the menu music. That’s a picture worth a thousand words. Thank you for this amazing review!

NFS2:SE is playable on Windows 10. Just google for verokster patch (on his blogspot) or Zaps166 wrapper (on his GitHub). There is also Discord community for first 6 NFS titles with multiplayer sessions. Yeah, you can play NFS2SE online! Invite is on needforspeed3(dot)racing ;)

The joy in your voice talking about need for speed makes me happy.

I remember walking a quarter mile up the road to my friend's house on the weekends to play this back in the day. Excellent review

Grinning from ear to ear reliving my childhood experiences. The intro movie, the intro menu, it was the maximum

Clint, you are a masterful reviewer. Thanks so much for making these videos. We're about the same age and I get much more out of watching a 20-minute overview of a game from my childhood than digging up a copy of the game somewhere and playing it. You are the perfect guide for a walk down memory lane.

"It was the coolest car ever in my mind, besides the Dodge Viper" I see you're a man of culture as well.

Just binge watched your channel haha!!! Dude the nostalgia, specifically this video when the Music started... Opened op some prided memories for me!!

I've played all of the classic NFS games up until Most Wanted (2005), and the only ones that held my attention for the longest were NFS Underground, and NFSII: Special Edition. Man those games were amazing. They just don't make'em like this anymore.

This game brings back memories... I still can hear the sound of the announcer talking about the cars with specs and background!

I take this silly physics over the new NFS games. It just more fun seeing the cars just rolling, flying and tumbling around when crashed.

These are not tears... My eyes are just sweating...

Omg... the memories man! Would have spend 1000's of hours on the entire NFS range. Many thanks for your work.

McLaren F1 and Lamborghini Diablo is %94 of that game for me

Damn, the live action intro and menu were even more nostalgic than I thought they'd be.

I remember the place in the store when i bought this game 24 years ago.

This is a pretty thorough and insightful analysis, with lots of respect given to the game both in its original context and how it stacked up today. Nice job!

Need for Speed needs to go back to its roots instead of trying to come up with movie-like storylines and NOS tuner cars. NFS 2 was a lot of fun, pure ‘90s goodness

0:20 "...Half a year earlier. That was an irrefutable eternity in kid time" As a fellow 90's kid - 😭 Time moves so slow as a kid, but so fast as an adult. Whyyyyyyyyy?!

you nailed the nostalgia. I still listen to the main menu song all the time when I feel like blasting through traffic

Ahhh the summer of 97”. Hanging out at my buddies house playing this game late into the night !

I'm kinda at a very low point in my life, this brings me such nostalgia and I literally want to weep.

This brings back the childhood memories! I remember the reversing trick into the stands for the wild jumps over the rails to the "Pioneer" cheat making everything that little bit faster and more insane. Used to drive the Unimog heaps just to obliterate the traffic 2CV! The game that also introduced me to the XJ220 which in my eyes is the prettiest car ever made. :)

NFS2 intro is possibly the best intro to a game, ever. I have nothing but good memories of this game. Cheat code to get the school bus on hypercar speed, and ramming all traffic as hard as possible. Seeing those semi trucks rolling down the track was amazing

Commenting on a three-year-old video here, but I just recently watched this and it compelled me to try NFS 2 SE via MyAbandonware. And I've had a blast with it; this game from 1997 has given me more than most AAA racing games from the past ten years. And I'm someone who has no nostalgic connection to it. The bangin' soundtrack, the chance to control cars I'll never drive in real life (always welcome), and the wacky physics even on "Simulation" mode, so much comes together to bring me a joyful experience. I actually really love the crazy physics, bopping an opponent off the road and watching them tumble like a Hot Wheels car down the stairs brings such a goofy smile to my face and it gives me the vibe of a proto-Burnout, just not as violent. Good stuff.

I still have NFS III. looking forward to the review in the future videos of this channel.

That menu song takes me back, my brother and I loooved this game!

I love that you made this tribute to the game! This and the other classic NFS games will always be special to me for a lot of the same reasons you mentioned. Would love to see a video on NFS III and High Stakes!

Dude... For me it was NFS III : Hot Pursuit the thing that kickstarted my passion for electronic music and cars thanks in big part to the OST that Rom Di Prisco (ROM) created for it and it seems like there also were cool original music in the II SE, I still go back and listen to the OSTs from the NFS III and Porsche Unleashed because there are so many great songs by ROM, Morphadron, Captain Ginger and others. Good times.

In my first game dev job, I worked with the Art Director of this game. Turns out the game was developed for Playstation then ported to PC. PC got all the credit. At least we got our Vancouver track. Keep up the great videos!