Cruis’n USA is an arcade racing game developed, published and distributed by Midway Games.  Released in arcades in 1994 the game is the first installment in the Cruis’n series.  The courses available in the game are based on United States locations.

The arcade game was designed and released in three different cabinet styles, standard upright, deluxe sit-down and deluxe full motion simulator.  Both the upright and sit-down cabinets supported linked play allowing arcade owners to attach two machines together to enable multiplayer capabilities.

Players choose from four vehicles to race in a variety of courses throughout the United States based on real locations.   The 14 locations which take place across 11 States include Golden Gate Park, US 101, LA Freeway, Arizona, Beverly Hills, Death Valley, Iowa, Indiana, Appalachia, San Francisco, Redwood Forest, Grand Canyon, Chicago and Washington, DC.  The goal is for players to complete all 14 stages of the game in a coast to coast racing experience.  Players begin on the west coast traveling across the United States to reach their ultimate destination Washington, DC.

In early 1994, Nintendo signed a licensing agreement with WMS Industries, Midway’s parent company, which enabled Midway to develop and market games using Project Reality 64-bit hardware.   Project Reality was an early version of the Ultra 64 platform which would later be renamed to Nintendo 64.  As part of the deal the two companies formed a joint venture called Williams/Nintendo to market Nintendo-exclusive home console conversions of the arcade games.

The first game announced under the new partnership was Killer Instinct, a game published and distributed by Midway but developed by Rare followed by Cruis’n USA.  The arcade based Ultra 64 hardware was different than the home console version which would become the Nintendo 64 however Nintendo insisted that the home version will provide a pixel-perfect representation of the arcade games.