Developer
EA Black Box, published by Electronic Arts.
Source: Wikipedia · checked 2026-10-28
Game guide
Need for Speed Underground 2, for a new player
Need for Speed Underground 2 is the 2004 EA Black Box street-racing game set in the fictional city of Bayview. You build a car, drive an open map, and work through a career of races, outruns, and URL events. Wikipedia lists a 15 November 2004 North American date, about 11 million sales, and a PC Metacritic of 82. The Fandom wiki dates the PC release to 9 November and calls it the ninth main game. Wikipedia’s series count and the Fandom count do not match. The browser project runs this PC game. It does not rewrite the career.
NA date
Wikipedia: 15 Nov 2004. Fandom: PC 9 Nov, consoles 15 Nov.
Source: Both, in conflict · checked 2026-10-28
Scores and sales
Metacritic 82 on PC. About 11 million copies. Both from Wikipedia.
Source: Wikipedia · checked 2026-10-28
City
Bayview, free roam between events.
Source: Fandom wiki · checked 2026-10-28
Evidence note: figures attributed only to one publication or to the project's own documentation are single-source reports. The project site, README and playing notes count as one source group. Sources and checked dates are shown with each fact.
What I checked
I grew up knowing the cover more than the patch notes, so the dates on this page are from Wikipedia and the Fandom wiki, not from memory. Where they split — 9 November versus 15 November, eighth versus ninth entry — both lines stay. The browser-specific parts link out. This page is the 2004 game.
What you do in a career
The Fandom career pages describe five stages, a sponsor, and a mix of circuit, sprint, drift, drag, and street X, plus URL races once you are invited. Outruns happen on the open road. Shops are marked on the map: performance parts in one, body parts in another. The car and career pages on this site collect the lists. They are wiki and FAQ material, not a lap I timed.
What the browser build adds around that game
TheGamer and the project notes describe widescreen, a high frame cap, a horn other players can hear, and free roam with other people. The European-only Peugeot 106 and Vauxhall Corsa are present in the browser notes even on a North American data set, because the files were already in the PC game and hidden. That detail is from PLAYING.md, one source.
Platforms the 2004 game shipped on
Wikipedia lists PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, Windows, and later Nintendo DS and mobile editions. It does not list PS4 or PS5. The console question for 2026 is on the PS5 page, and the answer there is a store search, not a wish.
Questions
What is Need for Speed Underground 2?
EA Black Box’s 2004 street racer in Bayview. The browser project plays the PC version of that game.
When did it release?
November 2004. Wikipedia says 15 November in North America. The Fandom wiki says PC on 9 November and consoles on 15 November.
Is it the eighth or ninth game?
The two wikis disagree. This page does not pick a winner.
Can I play it without buying a disc?
The public browser site streams a copy. That is not an EA store purchase. See the download page for the legal context and the missing store listing.
Where do I start if I only care about the browser?
The play page. Come back here for the 2004 career structure.
Related pages
Sources
Last checked: 2026-10-28. Where only one source states a number, the sentence says so.