New Rally-X is almost a mythical arcade game. When I say mythical, I mean in the sense of dragons and things like that. Everyone has heard of them, but it is pretty hard to find someone who has actually seen one.
In New Rally-X you drive a car around a maze picking up flags. This is sort of like Pac-Man, but it differs in the fact that the maze is huge, and there are only a few flags. Your opponents consist of other cars who try to ram into you (beware, as they are slightly faster than you are).
Rounding out the gameplay is an ever decreasing fuel gauge, a smokescreen to blind enemy cars, and a mini map off to the right hand side which shows where everything is located (and also gives away the fact that Rally-X, New Rally-X, and Bosconian have a lot of code in common).
New Rally-X was the sequel to the original Rally-X. Calling it a sequel would really be a bit of a stretch, it is essentially the same game, but with a few things tweaked. First off, the colors are different. Secondly the enemy cars seem to use different movement patterns (perhaps not). Third, the game's mini map now shows the location of the "Special" checkpoint. And finally, the game is much easier on the earlier levels (the first level of the original Rally-X is about as hard as the 4th level of New Rally-X).
So, basically, New Rally-X fixed everything that was wrong with the original Rally-X. But it was too little, too late. The original game had already flopped, and it appears that New Rally-X was only available in Japan. I believe that Rally-X would have been a big hit if New Rally-X would have come out first. But instead the Rally-X series was relegated to filler material for the various arcade classics remakes.
Best place to play New Rally-X is by using the MAME emulator, playing the Namco Classic Collection Volume 2 machine that your local arcade might still have, or by playing one of the other assorted Namco collections that have been released over the years for various consoles.
Chances are extremely slim that you will be able to purchase (or even play) an actually New Rally-X machine. This is one of the rarest games around. As of this writing no one on Vaps.org claims to own one, and the MAME team hasn't even been able to find so much as a picture of one. I was able to find a few people who own the PCBs, but that was it.
Namco Games
Rally-X -- Ms. Pac-Man