Asphalt Legends brings back classic tracks in 20th anniversary update

Gameloft’s Asphalt arcade racing series has been around for over 20 years, beginning with the original Asphalt Urban GT released for the Nokia N-Gage, Java-based mobile phones and the Nintendo DS in 2004. Since then, it has become one of the most popular arcade racers, with nine mainline games, 12 spin-offs and over one billion downloads.

Although the series began on mobiles and handheld consoles, Asphalt is now a multi-platform series, following last year’s release of Asphalt Legends Unite.

To celebrate the series’ anniversary, a commemorative update is rolling out in Asphalt: Legends Unite across all platforms, with the new Legends of Speed season starting today (21^st August).  

Asphalt Legends of Speed season goes live

The update adds a new track that combines circuits from previous games, including San Diego (inspired by Asphalt 8: Airborne), Cairo (inspired by Asphalt 9: Legends) and Los Angeles (inspired by Asphalt 7: Heat), into a single race. Each section also features visual styles evoking the classic Asphalt games.

Continuing the nostalgia, an anniversary special event spotlights 20 classic cars from the Asphalt series, including the Mitsubishi Lancer, the Alfa Romeo Giulia GTAm and the Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO. Five of these cars can also be decorated with anniversary-themed decals. 

Customisation is also revamped. Now, earning Style Tokens no longer requires completing specific tasks and can be used to unlock the customisation parts of your choice.

Players can also go back to the beginning and play an emulated version of the original Asphalt Urban GT on the Asphalt Legends website. Completing all stages will unlock rewards, including credits, tokens, and cars, to use in Asphalt Legends Unite.  

While the update pays tribute to the past, it also adds eight new cars, including two more Lego Technic cars:

• Citroen DS Survolt
• Mosler Super GT
• Pagani Zonda Cinque
• Ferrari F12 Berlinetta (Legend Pass Car)
• Arash Imperium
• Mercedes-Benz Silver Lightning
• Lego Technic Lamborghini Revuelto
• Lego Technic Ferrari FXX K

“You can see some elements in the game that have been there since the beginning”

Unlike Nokia’s ill-fated N-Gage mobile and handheld console hybrid, the Asphalt series is still active, with the most recent entry, Asphalt: Legends Unite, attracting between 100,000 – 150,000 daily players on average, according to Raúl Orrego, Game Manager at Gameloft.

“You can see some elements in the game that have been there since the beginning,” he told Traxion, reflecting on the series’ anniversary.

Asphalt games are action-focused arcade racers, with an emphasis on high-speed street racing and high-octane stunts such as drifting, jumping and boosting – elements that are “part of the DNA of Asphalt.”

“After Asphalt Urban GT, you start to see other elements that you see in most Asphalt games,” says Orrego.” When you talk about Asphalt, you imagine jumps – there’s more verticality than in a traditional racing game.”

Nitro boosts, where you fill up bars and activate nitro to get a speed boost, have also been a staple of Asphalt since its inception. “You will see those elements throughout the series. It’s part of the DNA of Asphalt,” says Orrego.

However, Orrego believes that collecting cars is the “number one drive for players.” With over 280 licensed cars, Asphalt Legends Unite boasts an unusually extensive vehicle roster for a pure arcade racer, featuring brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche.  

Some cars, like the Lamborghini Temerario, the successor to the Lamborghini Huracan, have even made their debut in Asphalt. Its car roster continues to expand, with updates typically adding six new cars around every two months and sometimes introducing new manufacturers.  

“We know the brands players like and are looking for – we are working on that,” says Orrego, adding that Gameloft is working on getting Audi, one of the most requested absent brands, in the game.    

”Normally, we think players are waiting for the next super premium brand car. But, in the last year, we have been including cars that aren’t in that segment, and the players were hyped about it.”

“Every company will have their rules on how to manage customisation. So we can’t have one thing that would ruin all the logic of customisation,” says Orrego. “When we create a new car, we also need to work on customisation from decals to colours.”

But if there’s one car Orrego thinks stands out in Asphalt, it’s the vehicle that every player starts with. “Since Asphalt 9, the Mitsubishi Lancer has been the car that every new player starts with,” he says. “This car is special for us.”

“We really want to make the game feel alive and fresh for players”

Visually, Asphalt has always raised the bar, delivering console-quality graphics on mobiles. This was a technical feat in the first game, which ran on Java-based mobiles and the Nokia N-Gage before the rise of smartphones.

Today, the series utilises an in-house engine created and maintained by Gameloft’s Barcelona studio. “We don’t use commercial engines like Unity or Unreal. We have an engine that is very specialised for racing and action. With this engine, we were able to increase the visual quality.

“Players like to race, test and collect cars. But they also like the artistic part of it, to appreciate cars, look at them and comment on them. To make sure you are fulfilling that fantasy, the game needs to look good.”

Live service updates have introduced new game modes and themed events in Asphalt Legends: Unite. More recently, Gameloft has experimented with brand partnerships, including Sonic the Hedgehog-themed events and vehicles.

Another recent collaboration with Lego introduced playable Technic versions of cars, including the Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and the Aston Martin Valkyrie, with more models to follow throughout the year. This partnership also extended to the real world, with the model kits containing free download codes to unlock the digital version of the car in the game.

“We really want to make the game feel alive and fresh for players,” says Orrego, who hinted at plans to “revamp the identity” of the series in the future. “We are making sure that every update can attract players back to Asphalt and keep them there.”

Pure arcade racers are less prolific now compared to their heyday, but it’s reassuring to see Asphalt continue to champion this underrepresented genre.