We all remember arcade racing games from back when you could walk into an actual arcade in any city. Classic titles like Daytona, Ridge Racer and Sega Rally Championship. High speeds, banger soundtracks, unapologetic advertising and maximum fun. One title that flew under the radar and has since been mostly forgotten: Screamer ticks all those same boxes and comes complete with an over-the-top voiceover guy who, I guess, is there to ‘motivate’ you during each race. Instead of coming out of the arcade scene like many others, it made its debut on MS-DOS in the mid-90s. Replaying it again this week hit me HARD in the nostalgia. Winning a race and hearing ‘Faaaaantastic! It must be real hard being this good!’ again just transports me right back to sitting in front of our family’s old beige box and chunky CRT on our barely functioning office chair. I’m fairly certain that like all of my family’s top-tier obscure childhood PC games, our copy of Screamer was yanked straight out of a bargain bin, probably from a Dick Smith Electronics store before they all shut down.
Steam Deck Specifics:
If you own Screamer on Steam, you can probably skip this section.
I own the GOG version of Screamer and installed this with little effort via Lutris in Desktop Mode. To do this you’ll need to download the GOG offline installer, install it with Lutris, add it to Steam and you’re good to play. Alternatively, you could install this with NonSteamLaunchers or with the Junk Store Decky Loader plugin, provided you have GOG support. While there is supposedly controller support for Screamer, I had to map controls to use the menu anyway so I just went ahead and mapped the rest using Steam Input.
Screamer made its way to MS-DOS in 1995. Developed by Italian studio Graffiti, the game experienced commercial success and after rebranding to ‘Milestone’ in 1996, they released a further two games in the series: Screamer 2 and Screamer Rally. Milestone went on to release some MotoGP games and early World Rally Championship titles among a string of other racing-orientated titles. Screamer features several game modes, most of which are what you would expect from a mid-90s racing game. Normal Game is your standard quick-play option with access to any tracks unlocked in Championship mode. Championship is the campaign, you earn points for each win and progress through the varying difficulty tiers. There are also some additional modes including the standard Time Attack, Time Trial and a quirky slalom-style mode. Gameplay-wise, it’s hard to not notice the similarities to Namco’s Ridge Racer, which was released in arcades in 1993 and ported to the original PlayStation in 1994. The influence is clear, but Screamer is far from a straight-up Ridge Racer clone. If anything, Screamer felt like the PC’s answer to Ridge Racer and Graffiti/Milestone managed to deliver a classic arcade racing title that stands on its own. It even improves on that format by offering more tracks, more game modes and arguably more depth. At the time, Screamer was the only arcade racer exclusive to MS-DOS that came anywhere close to capturing that same fast-paced arcade racing experience and it did so in a way that this 30-year-old game still holds up today.
Returning to Screamer for the first time in over 25 years has been a super fun experience. Honestly, I never thought I’d play it again, let alone on a handheld PC like the Steam Deck. Back when I first played the game all those years ago, we didn’t have any fancy controllers at home. Aside from an old Gravis Joystick, we relied solely on our trusty keyboard and mouse, so revisiting the game this way was almost an entirely new experience. The game is just as I remember it. Maybe not as top-notch graphically, but it is 30 years old now. The familiar and standard racing interface is there with the speedometer, rev meter and all race information along with a choice of view or perspective options during the race. The game may only feature six tracks, but each one feels well designed and carries a distinct European flair which you’d expect from our Italian developer. Vehicle control overall feels pretty good. Screamer definitely leans into those drifting and power-sliding elements but car handling remains both responsive and fun. We have a decent selection of cars available in both manual and automatic transmission with either providing a good amount of torque. The car descriptions are actually a pretty accurate indicator of how each car will handle on the track and it really doesn’t take long to settle in or adapt your play style to suit each situation.
Graphically, Screamer is definitely outdated. But it’s still presented very well and moves smoothly through each map with little to no jank. That said, there are known issues with Track 5 where certain areas of the map can cause the game to crash. The community recommends playing Track 5 in low quality mode and essentially just stick to the right in certain sections. Even after all these years, cracking Pro level remains a challenge as the AI cars can put up a real fight. When you finally do, there is still the ridiculousness of the Bullet Car to topple. Thankfully, the over-the-top voiceover guy is there to help keep things pretty light, but still very much fun. Screamer remains a very accessible arcade racer for any skill level. It doesn’t have a steep learning curve and there’s no real need to ‘feel out’ each car, you just make your choice and go. My list of complaints about the game is pretty short. The game itself is a bit on the short side and the higher difficulties can be pretty brutal with not much room for error. Championship mode gets a bit repetitive, as each level still just uses the same six tracks. There are also some random game crashes which can be quite frustrating. Still, for what it is, Screamer holds up far better than I remember.
Verdict:
Screamer is a full-blown nostalgia hit that delivers an incredibly fun arcade racing experience. From over-the-top voiceovers to the classic arcade-style gameplay, it’s just as fun as I remember. Sure, it’s a little rough around the edges with the occasional unexplained crash and a pretty short, repetitive campaign. But for a 30-year-old game pulled out of a Dick Smith Electronics bargain bin, it holds up surprisingly well. It could do with a fresh coat of paint, which seems to be happening with a reboot scheduled for release in 2026. Whether you’re chasing that Championship glory or just reliving the glory days like I was, Screamer still stands on its own as a fast, accessible arcade racing game.
Deck Compatibility: 10/10
Overall Game Rating: 8/10 – Classic Nostalgia Hit
Dad with a Deck 
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