
In 1997, racing games were quite popular. One particular series that is well-known today was still quite new, though people were starting to know it and like it more and more. In this Linux Gaming article, learn more about Need for Speed II Second Edition.
Need for Speed II Second Edition (NFS2SE) was released with 3DFX support, more tracks and cars, along with mirror mode and backward track mode, making it quite an improvement over the original Need for Speed II. In some countries, such as Germany, it was even included free with the purchase of a 3DFX accelerator card.
Along with the 3D graphics, this game had a lot to offer. One feature was full motion video (FMV) which could be seen in the intro as well as showcase videos for each car. There, you could see cars racing around different tracks and towns, or just out in the open. It offered lots of videos for the many cars that were featured in the game. Unlike modern Need for Speed titles, NFS2SE didn’t have any storyline, so there was no story video to follow. Still, there was a good amount of video content as compared to other games of the time.
Need for Speed II Second Edition on the ODROID
I recently found a open source project that aims to recreate the NFS2SE engine for modern systems using the 3D capabilities of current systems, including OpenGL ES 2.0 and SDL2, which would allow us to play on the ODROID. The re-creation orientates itself on the Glide (3DFx) version of the game, giving it a similar look to the original while allowing us to play on 1080P or other resolutions thanks to the scaling capabilities of SDL2.
So far the game looks good and seems to be fully playable. Even network multiplayer mode seems to work fine. I tested it on the ODROID-XU3 and the ODROID-U3, and it was running fine at full speed on both devices. Since the game runs in SDL2 with OpenGL ES 2.0, it is fully 3D accelerated and runs rather well, although I ran into some issues with speed if I ran the game in single thread mode.
How to install the game
As usual, the game is available on my repository for Debian Jessie and Debian Stretch. Because the game is 32-bit only, ARM64 boards like the ODROID-C2 won’t support the game. You can install it from my repository with:
$ apt-get install nfs2se-odroidWhen you first run the game, you will need to install the game files from the original Need For Speed II SE CD. You will be asked to either point to a CD/Folder which includes the required folder (i.e. gamedata, fedata). If you’re using my GameStation Turbo image, you can either plug-in a CD drive via USB and select the CD, or you can use CDEmu (Virtual CD) to mount most images formats. If you happen to have an .iso file you can select that instead and the setup will try to extract the files from there. After the files are copied, you should be able to go ahead and enjoy your game.

Final Thoughts
Need For Speed II Second Edition might not be the best racing game out there, nor have top-notch technology and graphics by today’s standard, but it’s still a fun game to play, and the ability to race against each other over a network is something that isn’t seen often on the ODROID. This game is well worthy of being part of the ODROID library. I hope you’ll enjoy it just as much as I do.
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