Rad Racer, known as Highway Star[a] in Japan, is a racing video game developed and published by Square for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1987.

Square president Masafumi Miyamoto initially conceived the game as an opportunity for developer Nasir Gebelli to demonstrate his 3D programming skills.

Reviewers widely compared the game to Out Run, though opined that Rad Racer was different in some ways, and they praised the sense of speed.

[5] The objective is to complete eight driving stages of varying skylines, environments, and locations, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Athens.

[16] Gebelli remained in Japan to figure out how to create realistic background movement of the game's scenery while the rest of Square was on vacation in Hawaii.

Hironobu Sakaguchi and Akitoshi Kawazu both worked on Rad Racer, causing developer Koichi Ishii to plan for the original Final Fantasy by himself briefly.

[16][17] To make the roads look like they were turning in 3D on a typical television, most of which at the time used cathode-ray tubes, the developers integrated scrolling by individual scanlines.

[26] Finally, the game was later released for the NES as Rad Racer in October 1987 in North America and on January 15, 1988 in Europe.

[27][28] Rad Racer was met with favorable reviews, enjoyed commercial success, and sold 1.96 million copies.

"[34] He continued to criticize the 3D effect, stating it created some sense of depth to the gameplay but was hindered by a pronounced screen flickering.

[37] Hardcore Gamer 101 said that steering was looser than the first game and rival cars more aggressive, leading to a less enjoyable playing experience.

[31] Despite the efforts of Square to make unique games with 3D features such as Rad Racer and 3-D Worldrunner, and high sales, the company was in financial trouble.

[39] It was also one of three games, including Super Mario Bros. and Tetris, featured at the 1990 Nintendo World Championship with an exclusive racing level to complete as one of the rounds of competition.