Ever wondered what the Story of Need For Speed Games is all about? You might be surprised to learn that almost every title is linked within a wider, shared universe. Here we’ll be explaining how the NFS games are connected and provide an overview of the timeline so you can better make sense of its lore.
Of course, the Need For Speed franchise has always been a favorite of players with a passion for high-octane racing. The unique mode of street racing has been the NFS signature for two decades, but there’s even more reason why the games have garnered a huge fanbase.
One specialty that many of the Need For Speed games have is their surprisingly detailed stories. Sure, it’s true that most boil down to following a guy who starts with a lousy car and eventually speeds his way to becoming the top racer in town. But actually, there is a lot more to their narrative behind this simple scenario. Let’s take a look at these various themes and highlight how they’re all woven together.
The Story of Need For Speed Games
Since racing games are always more about “racing” than narrative, the developers behind the NFS have never really spoken much about its story. However, there’s no doubt that a concerted effort is being made on their part to connect some of these stories. This is something that’s absolutely clear to fans of the franchise.
Here we will dive into all the connected games through evidence and references to see what’s going on in the NFS universe in the past 20 years. Remember that game references mention some of the following details while others are officially confirmed.
Also, not all NFS games are connected through the story. That is why some of the Need For Speed titles are missing from this list.
Need For Speed games connected within its story universe:
- Need For Speed: Most Wanted
- Need For Speed: Carbon
- Need For Speed: Pro Street
- Need For Speed: Undercover
- Need For Speed: Payback
- Need For Speed: Heat
- Need For Speed: Unbound
In the following breakdown, we’ll chronologically explore the Need For Speed games timeline from 2005 to 2022, which is spread across the above games.
Need For Speed Carbon Flashbacks – Before 2005
The unknown protagonist of the game is in Palmont City, an important location that reappears throughout the overarching NFS narrative. It’s a racing mecca for those with the need for speed. In this particular scene, we see a high stake race in which things go wrong. Somebody calls the cops, who appear at the scene and disable the racing cars with electric devices. Luckily, our main character avoids the chaos. We then see one of the race organizers named Darius tells the player to get out of town. Boosting quickly away from the scene in a tuned Toyota Supra, our protagonist speeds off to safety.
Need For Speed Most Wanted Blacklist Races – 2005
After running away from Palmont City, the main character of the Need For Speed games drives to Rockport and meets a girl, Mia Towsend. Mia is involved in Rockport’s street racing leagues. Thus she sets up the player to race against the Blacklist, a group of top illegal street racers in town.
This is when the story of the Need For Speed series really begins to take shape. The player bets against the #15 on the Blacklist’s crew and then try to race with their boss, Razor. He is the main antagonist of MW story and wins the player in a street cheating style by tricking your car.
Here we also get to see the iconic Need For Speed games’ BMW M3 GTR. It is first seen in this narrative when Razor snatches it. The following plot concerns the protagonist’s attempt to return his car.
Fun fact: There is a theory that the protagonist drives to Olympic City, connecting NFS: Underground 1 and 2 to the others. This isn’t actually accurate, though. There is no evidence to prove this theory. Still, the Underground series is still considered canon to the NFS franchise story as a whole.
After Razor wins the main character’s car by cheating, Sargent Cross takes the player in custody. Not much after, Mia Towsend somehow manages to take the player out of jail. Then she gives him a start to race against the Blacklist and have his revenge on Razor.
Razor has now made a big reputation, thanks to the player’s fine-tuned BMW. He has become the #1 on the Blacklist, which means the main character must burn lots of fuel and shift too many gears to reach him again.
After going the extra mile by the player, Razor loses the car, and Mia reveals herself as an undercover cop! She alerts Sgt. Cross to arrest all the Black List racers. The Need For Speed games story takes a turn here. The protagonist returns to Palmont City with the BMW M3 GTR he got back from Razor.
Sgt. Cross Becomes a Bounty Hunter in NFS Carbon – 2006
The main character in the story of the Need For Speed games becomes a bounty after escaping Rockport. Things seem to be going fine after the escape, but when he’s about to enter Palmont City, Sgt. Cross follows and shuts down his M3 GTR.
Cross has become a bounty hunter. Thus, he can operate in various cities and states now. But as Cross is not a commanding officer anymore, one can pay the bounty and make him leave. Darius, the same guy in 2005 who the player raced for in Palmont City, gives him a second chance for racing and pays off Cross to leave the scene.
The Story of Need For Speed Games Gets Back to Palmont City – 2006
After the protagonist’s BMW is crashed, he and Darius leave it in the canyon only to buy and modify a new car. Darius gives the player another chance to race in this city and earn a reputation.
The racers who were busted in that iconic old race back in the flashbacks are now back on the scene. Each controlling a section in Palmont City. This is all while Nikki, the main character’s girlfriend back in the day, tries to figure out what happened the night all the racers were busted.
After winning over each section of the city, the player finds more evidence of who called the cops that night. This is when the player and Nikki finally reveal that Darius had crashed the race back in 2005. The main character challenges Darius to a final race, and the traitor leaves the town for good.
The Main Character’s Name Reveal in Need For Speed Pro Street – 2007
NFS: Pro Street was released in 2007 as a follow-up to Carbon. But from here on, there is no firm connection between the Need For Speed games narratives. But the vital thing to know is that the previous games’ main character takes on a series of legal events in a racing showdown in Pro Street.
In this game, the main character’s name is revealed to be Ryan Cooper. He has a background in illegal street racing, and it even gets announced in the showdown! The Pro Street’s events are divided into four parts of speed, drifting, drag, and grip racing. He has to conquer each racing category to race the Pro Street King, Ryo Watanabe.
Ryan Beats The NFS Pro Street King – 2007
Ryan Cooper attends a series of racing events in the NFS: Pro Street and wins many bosses. The Noise Bomb Akira Kimura (The Drift King) is among them to reach and beat Ryo Watanabe at the end. The overall plot is pretty thin here, but the important part is its connection to the new Need For Speed games.
In fact, Ryan Cooper’s name shows up again in other Need For Speed games, but not as the main character. However, the rest of Ryan’s story continues as an easter egg in NFS: Undercover.
Main NFS Character Gets Caught in NFS Undercover – 2008
If we’re being honest, Need For Speed: Undercover‘s story was one that didn’t have many memorable moments. It’s about an undercover cop who is tasked to investigate and extract info on illegal street racers and car dealers.
But one crucial event does occur when Ryan Cooper gets busted. It’s an easter egg more than a solid connection, really, but it’s still worth knowing that after the events of Pro Street, Ryan Cooper gets caught by the Tri-City police.
After the arrest of Cooper, it takes nearly ten years for another story connection in NFS: Payback.
The Drift King and Sgt. Cross Return in NFS Payback! – 2017
Next up in the story connection of the Need For Speed games is Payback. This game has its very own narrative with three main characters, Tyler Morgan, Sean McAlister, and Jessica Miller. Tyler and his crew are street racers in the Fortune Valley, somewhere in the U.S., where racing and bets are intertwined.
Tyler Morgan is a genius when it comes to racing, but Lina Navaro’s betrayal hits him hard. He loses both his crew and all his money. Lina was Tyler and Jess’ friend. In Fortune Valley, though, Lina works for the House, an authority that fixes street races for cash.
In an act of revenge, Tyler tries to finish off the House by winning in their rigged races. Along the way, he meets Akira Kimura, the Drift King. Kimura is a drift master, and in his confrontation with Mac (Tyler’s friend), he reveals that only once lost a race. To who, you ask? None other than Ryan Cooper, a direct reference to the original Need For Speed games’ main character.
Also, one crucial piece of evidence proves the connection between NFS: Payback and Most Wanted 2005, and that’s the return of Sargent Cross! Cross comes from Rockport to Fortune Valley. But when he figures out about the cooperation of the House and corrupted police, he chooses to return to Rockport city.
Tyler Morgan and his crew take revenge on Lina, though the fate of the House remains unknown to this day. Maybe we will see a Payback 2 to continue Fortune Valley’s story, but the following reference to old NFS games is the return of an iconic car in the next installment.
The M3 GTR Returns In NFS Heat – 2019
Need For Speed: Heat‘s story has no connection to other NFS games, except for the BMW M3 GTR. The game’s main character is a street racer going to Palm City. The city pays homage to legal showdown races on the day and dangerous street racers playing with fire at night.
The player gets to a garage owned by Lucas Rivera to get her first car in town. But before meeting Lucas, his sister Ana shows up and adds the player to her crew. Throughout the story, Ana and the player try to upgrade cars and earn reps to enter The League. The League is where the most reckless drivers in town race on high stakes, and Ana can’t wait to get on the top spot.
However, the Palm City Police Department means no joke and arrests street racers furiously. Lt. Frank Mercer is in charge of the PCPD, but his act of stealing the racers’ cars, drives the attention of his colleague Officer Torres and Ana. This ends up with Ana and the player spoiling Mercer. But before arresting the corrupted Lt officer, Mercer tries to escape with the iconic Need For Speed games BMW M3 GTR!
The last time we saw the M3 GTR before this event, it was totaled in NFS: Carbon by Sgt. Cross. Maybe Cross has delivered the car to Mercer, or the corrupted PCPD police snatched the tuned M3 from some other racer who had found it. This car connects the whole story to NFS: Unbound.
Razor Returns To The Need For Speed Games with Unbound – 2022
Need For Speed: Unbound is the latest entry in the series, and it is firmly connected to the previous NFS games by an obvious easter egg.
The game’s narrative takes place in a city called “Lakeshore,” which tells the story of a character who works in Rydell’s garage with a friend named Jasmin. He (or She) attempts Lakeshore’s street racing and tunes a car with Jasmin to do so.
But one night, Jasmin tasks the main character to steal a car for her, only to know that she is working with a guy named Alec. Alec steals many of Rydell’s supercars from the garage, which starts the revenge story for the player.
After two years, the main character and Rydell try to win all the cars stolen from them with Tess’s help. Tess is mysterious, but one crucial thing about her is her role in the narrative. She gives you some extra missions to steal cars, but it is later revealed to be for Alec.
This makes the main character and Jasmin know that Alec has used them, and they decide to do him a favor. Jasmin locates the stolen cars, and the players steal them back. Meanwhile, a stranger notices their work and calls for a delivery mission.
Related:
Need for Speed Unbound Volume 2 Update Patch Notes
Jasmin says the guy introduced himself as Blacklist, and he wants a BMW M3 GTR back! This was a huge plot twist for a Need For Speed game we didn’t think was connected to the other’s narrative. However, after delivering the car, there are no further mentions of Blacklist or any iconic NFS character.
There are also no extra details on who the Black List was, but it’s assumed to be Razor coming out of jail. If that’s true, we will have to wait to see more about him and the other story connections across the shared Need For Speed games universe in the next installments.
That wraps up our overview of the key Need For Speed game story connections. Hopefully, this timeline helps you make sense of all the easter eggs and lore tidbits throughout.
