NeoSprint, Atari’s reboot of its Sprint racing series, comes to PC and consoles this summer

03.04.2024 - 12:45 / videogameschronicle.com / Chris Scullion

Atari has announced that NeoSprint, its reboot of classic racing series Sprint, is coming to PC and consoles.

NeoSprint was originally released on the company’s modern Atari VCS console in October 2023, where it’s been available as an early access title.

However, the game will now get a full launch this summer, with a release set on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch and PC formats.

NeoSprint lets up to eight players race on a variety of circuits, and is played from an overhead viewpoint like the previous games in the series.

Players can also build their own tracks, which they can race on with their friends.

“With NeoSprint, Atari returns to the single-screen racing format first made popular in the 1970s by the Sprint Series arcade machines,” Atari said in a statement.

“NeoSprint enhances the single-screen formula with contemporary features, including a rich and colorful 3D isometric presentation, upgradable cars, a track-builder, and the ability to compete against the best track times of players from across the globe.”

The first game in the Sprint series was Sprint 2, which was released in arcades in 1976. The 2 in the title referred to the fact that two players could race each other.

Sprint 2 was followed by Sprint 1, Sprint 4 and Sprint 8 (which naturally allowed for one-player, four-player and eight-player races respectively).

In the late ’80s the series returned with Super Sprint and Championship Sprint, before a post-apocalyptic spin-off called Badlands was released in 1989.

As such, NeoSprint is considered the first new entry in the Sprint series in 35 years.