Retro Review: Destruction Derby 2

There was no shortage of arcade racing games in the early years of the PlayStation. Need for Speed, Wipeout and of course Ridge Racer. But hot off the heels of the much slower paced and technically limited Destruction Derby came one of the best PS1 arcade racing games. Destruction Derby 2.

Released in the UK in January 1997 for the PS1, Destruction Derby 2 was a technical marvel when compared to its predecessor. Gone were the slower races on flat and narrow tracks, replaced with fast paced circuits with steep hills and jumps. Psygnosis took the Destruction Derby formula and turned it up to 11.

There are 3 distinct game modes, Wrecking racing, where players must score points by crashing out their opponents. Stock car racing, a more traditional race where the aim is to simply finish 1st and Destruction Derby. These events take place in arenas where the goal is to be the last car standing and also have the most points.

The meat of the game are the two championship modes. One for wrecking racing and one for stock car. Each season consists of 4 races with all 20 drivers split into 4 divisions. The driver at the top of a division is promoted and the driver at the bottom is demoted. The aim obviously is to win division 1. However the higher up the divisions and your place in the division determines your starting position in each race. So the driver in 5th of division 4 starts in 1st while the driver in 1st in division 1 starts last. It sounds easy but it took me 11 seasons to win the stock car championship after suffering a few demotions.

You also have a choice of 3 cars. Rookie, Amateur and Pro. The Rookie is obviously the slowest and easiest to handle while the Pro goes like stink but is like driving on ice. The Amateur is a balance of the two extremes and the car I recommend as the slightest tap of another car in the Pro can send you hurtling into a wall. The Rookie is a challenge to drive at times but not so much it stops being fun.

As for the tracks they range from your basic oval to tight twisty multi-route circuits that can be tricky to survive before you even start worry about the other cars. They are all fun to drive with a mix of fast sweeping corners and jumps that if you don’t land just right you’ll be nose first into the wall.

If like me you hit the walls a lot then luckily on most tracks there is a pit lane you can use once per race to repair your car. These are done manually which involves spinning the camera to the highlight the part of the car you want to repair and smashing the O button. You only get 5 seconds, do it wrong and tough luck. There’s no second chances here.

Destruction Derby 2 is still one of my go to arcade racers for some quick fun to this day and is the only game in my collection I never traded in and had to rebuy. I’ve had the very same copy since 1997. It is a must play game from the PS1’s library.

Reviewed on a PlayStation 3

How to play in 2023

Unfortunately Destruction Derby 2 has never been released on the PlayStation store so the only way to play is to buy a disc copy and play it on a PS1, PS2 or PS3 console. Disc copies range from £10 to £20 depending on the condition.