Top Gear (SNES): every password for all 8 tracks and 3 difficulties

There is a sound anyone who rented cartridges on weekends recognises instantly: the synthesised engine of Top Gear climbing through the rev range while Barry Leitch’s soundtrack kicks in. And there was a ritual that came with it — writing down the password before returning the cartridge, because by Monday it belonged to somebody else.

The problem is that half the lists circulating online are wrong. Passwords swapped between difficulties, spaces omitted, and a “Normal” difficulty that does not exist in the game. This list was checked line by line.

Before you type: how the password screen works

Top Gear has three difficulty levels — Amateur, Pro and Champion — and each has its own set of passwords. There is no “Normal”. If you picked up a code from a list that mentions Normal difficulty, it almost certainly belongs to a different tier and will be rejected.

The first track (United States) has no password: that is where everyone starts. The codes below take you to the 7 tracks that follow.

The space counts as a character. CAR PARK, ROAD HOG, FOUR MEG and A LOOPER all contain a space that is part of the code. Typing CARPARK does not work — and that is the number one reason people report that “the password doesn’t take”.

Passwords — Amateur

Passwords — Pro

About LEGOND: yes, that is the spelling. Some lists “correct” it to LEGEND, but the version with an O is what our sources carry. If one does not work on your ROM, try the other — it takes five seconds.

Passwords — Champion

Note that EDUCATED is South America on Champion — and that is precisely the code that shows up labelled “Italy” in several lists out there. A real password, filed in the wrong place.

The game behind the password

Top Gear shipped in 1992, developed by British studio Gremlin Graphics and published by Kemco. In Japan it is called Top Racer. There are 32 tracks spread across 8 countries and 4 cars with genuinely different attributes — top speed, fuel consumption, nitro power and tyre grip.

The soundtrack is by Barry Leitch and Hiroyuki Masuno, and it is half the reason the game stuck in so many memories. The other half is the split screen: two players on one SNES, no lag, no loading, nitro running dry on the final lap.

In Brazil the game became a phenomenon on a scale it never reached in the United States — to the point where “Top Gear” became a synonym for racing game for an entire generation. If you want the wider story, we wrote about why the rest of the world forgot Top Gear while Brazil never did. And if you made it to the space sequel, there is Top Gear 3000 and its intergalactic ambition.

Fuel management: the mechanic nobody explained

A detail many players only worked out years later: the pit stop is not optional on longer tracks. The fastest car in the game is also the thirstiest, and pitting at the wrong moment costs more places than a crash.

The rule of thumb that worked in rental shops: if the gauge is below a third with two laps to go, pit. Losing three seconds in the box beats coasting the last 400 metres on an empty tank — which is exactly what happens when it runs out.

About the versions

Top Gear was released on the US and European SNES and on Super Famicom in Japan (as Top Racer), and the passwords above are the Western ones. If you are on an emulator, check which ROM you loaded before concluding that a code is wrong.

Sources checked: passwords verified against the World of Nintendo archive and cross-referenced with community lists on GameFAQs and SuperCheats. Where lists disagreed, the older and internally consistent source won.

Found a password that does not match your ROM? Drop a comment with the cartridge region — the retro community’s collective memory is still the best database these games have.

Still keeping a notebook? See also the complete Super Bomberman 3 passwords and the definitive Super Nintendo guide, covering emulation, ROMs and the classics worth revisiting.