San Francisco Rush 2049: Tournament Edition

Attract mode logo

San Francisco Rush 2049: Tournament Edition is an upgrade to San Francisco Rush 2049 developed by Midway Games West Inc. It was intended to allow players to compete against each other remotely on the Midway Tournament Network, but was shuttered within a year. A modified version of the hard drive image exists, allowing access to the two extra tracks without being connected to MTN. However, this version does not allow access to any new cars. This hard drive image was presumably handed out to the few arcades allowed to keep TE after MTN shut down, as the extra content would not be accessible anymore without modification.

Differences between Tournament Edition and original 2049

• Four new vehicles and two new tracks are available for tournament play only.
• Driving physics are tweaked to make Extreme handling harder and closer to Rush The Rock.
• The time limit for account creation was increased. Original 2049 gives 15 seconds to enter your new account's PIN, while TE adjusts it to 90 seconds to give the player enough time to enter their phone number and full name, both of which were required to receive prizes from MTN. The 90 second timer was left unchanged in SE.
• Abort abuse skips were patched, preventing track skips and even punishing fast players sometimes by sending the player backwards on the track if they abort.
• A player can now sign out of an account and sign back in while selecting a track, car, or transmission.
• The Just Play/Join Team Rush screen when starting a new game was replaced with choosing between original Rush 2049 or Tournament mode. Without connection to the MTN servers, this screen is completely absent and the game goes to the track selection immediately, much like SE. The background design changes when switching between options.
  • Continuing as a Team Rush member is still possible on credit play. By signing in on the attract screen, the game will start signed in, and subsequent plays will automatically log in until the credits in the machine are depleted.
• The wide futuristic font used for the timer and street names was replaced with a more generic font. The speedometer design was also changed.
• The race timer now displays thousandths of times, instead of just hundredths. At the end of each lap, it also shows the time difference between the current lap and the first place time of the track.
• The Atari logo attract animation was modified, showing the Midway logo instead, and cutting off before the voice can say "Atari Games". By holding the Music button, it can still be heard.
• The attract mode has extra sequences regarding tournaments, including currently running tournaments, advertisement videos of MTN, and how to sign up.
• During tournament play, a MTN watermark is placed in the bottom left corner of the screen.
• A dot matrix LED sign has been placed on the top of the marquee, showing tournament information.
• A minus symbol is displayed on the speedometer when driving in reverse.

• 
  Original RUSH 2049
• 
  Tournament Mode

Test Locations

Based on information found on the hard drive, TE was tested at the following locations:

• Starbase Arcade in San Rafael, CA
• Special Effects Arcade in Scotts Valley, CA
• Friar Tuck's Game Room in Calumet City, IL
• Golfland USA in Sunnyvale, CA
• Paddock Bowl in Pacheco, CA
• Diversions Game Room in San Antonio, TX
• Gala North in Carol Stream, IL