If you like this video and would like to see more like it, make sure to subscribe to Eurogamer on YouTube. As PlayStation turns 30 (again), we look back at WipeOut 2097 (WipeOut XL), the game that perfectly captured a moment at the height of youth optimism in 90s UK and gave the PlayStation a grown-up swagger that SEGA and Nintendo just couldn't compete with. But why has the anti-gravity racing genre been a bit of a non-event ever since? Well, Jim thinks it peaked too early: WipeOut 2097 was so stratospherically good that the only way left to go was down. WipeOut 2097 would be followed up by Wip3Out, WipeOut Fusion, WipeOut HD, and various handheld spin-offs, but the magic just never quite came together in the same way. It also inspired dozens of tribute acts: the likes of Redout and Pacer, while not exactly direct copies of WipeOut, are clearly influenced by the king. These days, the best modern take on WipeOut 2097 happens to be a small, fan-led passion project in the form of Ball...