Out Run | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Sega |
Publisher(s) |
|
Designer(s) | Yu Suzuki |
Composer(s) | Hiroshi Kawaguchi |
Platform(s) | |
Release | |
Genre(s) | Driving |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Arcade system | Sega OutRun |
Out Run [a] (also stylized as OutRun) is an arcade driving video game released by Sega in September 1986. It is known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi, and the hydraulic motion simulator deluxe arcade cabinet. The goal is to avoid traffic and reach one of five destinations before time runs out.
The game was designed by Yu Suzuki, who traveled to Europe to gain inspiration for the game's stages. Suzuki had a small team and only ten months to program the game, leaving him to do most of the work himself. The game was a critical and commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing arcade game of 1987 worldwide as well as Sega's most successful arcade cabinet of the 1980s. It was ported to numerous video game consoles and home computers, becoming one of the best-selling video games at the time and selling millions of copies worldwide, and it spawned a number of sequels. Out Run is considered one of the most influential and greatest games ever made, cited as an influence upon numerous later video games, playing a role in the arcade video game industry's recovery, and providing the name for a popular music genre. It spawned a series and a sequel was released, Turbo OutRun in 1989.
Out Run is a pseudo-3D driving video game in which the player controls a Ferrari Testarossa convertible from a third-person rear perspective. [5] The camera is placed near the ground, simulating a Ferrari driver's position and limiting the player's view into the distance. The road curves, crests, and dips, [3] which increases the challenge by obscuring upcoming obstacles such as traffic that the player must avoid. [6] The object of the game is to reach the finish line against a timer. [7] The game world is divided into multiple stages that each end in a checkpoint, and reaching the end of a stage provides more time. [8] Near the end of each stage, the track forks to give the player a choice of routes leading to five final destinations. [9] The destinations represent different difficulty levels and each conclude with their own ending scene, among them the Ferrari breaking down or being presented a trophy. [10]
During the mid-1980s, Sega experienced success in the arcades with games developed by Yu Suzuki. Hang-On was a good seller and Enduro Racer had been successful enough for Sega to consider a second production run. Both are motorcycle racing games, and Out Run was Suzuki's chance to develop a car racing game. His original concept was to base the game on the American film The Cannonball Run , [10] of which he was a fan. [11] [12] He disliked racing games where cars exploded on impact, and wanted gamers to enjoy the experience of driving and to feel "superior". [11]
Suzuki initially conceived the game's setting across the United States, and he requested to scout various locations there. According to Suzuki's boss, Youji Ishii, Sega president Hayao Nakayama believed the US was too unsafe, and suggested Europe as a safer option. Additionally, Suzuki concluded that the US was too "large and empty" for the game's design. He scouted Europe [11] for two weeks in a BMW 520 for ideas. [12] This tour included Frankfurt, Monaco, Rome, [11] [12] the Swiss Alps, the French Riviera, Florence, [10] and Milan. [13] While in Monaco, Suzuki was inspired to use the Ferrari Testarossa as the playable car in the game, so when he returned to Japan he arranged for his team to find and photograph one. [11] [12] They took many photos of the car from every side and recorded the sound of the engine. [13]
A small team of four programmers, a sound creator, and five graphic designers developed Out Run. Suzuki had to use only personnel that were available and not assigned to other projects at the time. As a result, Suzuki did most of the programming and planning himself, spending extra hours at the studio to complete development of the game within ten months. [11] He believed that the most difficult part of developing the game was to make it as fun as possible, which he achieved by emphasizing the design elements of wide roads, buildings, and a radio with soundtrack selection. [10]
Four cabinet designs were released, all of which are equipped with a steering wheel, a stick shift, and acceleration and brake pedals. Two of the cabinet designs are upright, the larger of which has force feedback in the steering wheel. The other two models are sit-down motion simulator cabinets that resemble the in-game car and use a drive motor to move the main cabinet—turning and shaking according to the onscreen action. Both models feature stereo speakers mounted behind the driver's head. [9] [14] The arcade system board made specifically for the game is the Sega OutRun, based on the Sega System 16. [15] Suzuki said that he was often unable to make games based on existing hardware and that Sega would have to create a new board. He said that his "designs were always 3D from the beginning. All the calculations in the system were 3D, even from Hang-On. I calculated the position, scale, and zoom rate in 3D and converted it backwards to 2D. So I was always thinking in 3D". [16] The game achieves its 3D effects using a sprite-scaling technique called Super Scaler technology, as used one year earlier in Hang-On. [15] Released in September 1986, [11] Out Run's fast sprite-scaling and 3D motion provide a smoother experience than other contemporary arcade games. [15]
Suzuki also set about simulating car features that were previously lacking in earlier driving games, so that being a skillful driver in real life would translate to being skillful in the game. They simulated features such as horsepower, torque, gear ratios and tire engineering close to real cars. They also added AI assistance for features that were difficult to control, such as drifting. For the drifting, they added details such as, if the car's tires grip the road surface too closely, the car's handling becomes too twitchy, something that wasn't appreciated in earlier driving games. [13]
Out Run's original score was composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi, who had previously composed soundtracks for other games designed by Suzuki, including Hang-On. The soundtrack is similar in style to Latin and Caribbean music. Three selectable tracks are featured: "Passing Breeze", "Splash Wave", and "Magical Sound Shower". An additional track, "Last Wave", plays at the final score screen. [13] [15] Some of the game's audio samples were corrupted due to one of the master ROM chips failing, and the glitch was not noticed until Sega was preparing a soundtrack box-set for the game's 20th anniversary. The correct files were recovered from an 8-inch floppy disk, and subsequent re-releases of the game use the fixed data. [17] Cassette tapes of the arcade soundtrack were distributed in the United Kingdom during December 1987, both with the home computer conversions and with Computer and Video Games magazine. [18] The Mega Drive port has the music tracks from the arcade, along with one exclusive new track titled "Step On Beat" composed by Masayoshi Ishi. [19]
Out Run was released for the Master System in 1987, and the Genesis in 1991. Out Run was ported to the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum home computers for the European market. [4] A conversion of Out Run was under development by Hertz for the Sharp X68000 but according to former Hertz employee Tsunetomo Sugawara, it was never released due to company management cancelling its development. [20] [21] A 32X version was also reportedly under development by Sega, but was never released. [22]
Ports of the arcade game were released for Game Boy Advance via Sega Arcade Gallery , for Nintendo 3DS via the 3D Classics series on 12 March 2015, and for Nintendo Switch as part of the Sega Ages line on 9 January 2019. [23] [24] [25]
Publication | Score | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amiga | Arcade | Atari ST | C64 | Master System | PC | Sega Genesis | SGG | TurboGrafx-16 | ZX | |
ACE | 822 [26] | 873 [27] | 610 [26] | 852 [28] | ||||||
Amstrad Action | 37% (CPC) [29] | |||||||||
Crash | Positive [9] | 72% [30] | ||||||||
Computer and Video Games | Positive [3] | 7/10 [31] | 24/40 [32] | 9/10 [33] | 8/40 (CPC) [32] | 70% [34] | ||||
Dragon | [35] | |||||||||
Génération 4 | 78% [36] | 82% [37] | ||||||||
Joypad | 90% [38] | |||||||||
Joystick | 90% [39] | 79% [39] | ||||||||
Sinclair User | Positive [6] | 81% [40] | ||||||||
The Games Machine (UK) | 75% [41] | 79% [42] | 72% [43] | 61% [43] | ||||||
Tilt | 17/20 [44] | |||||||||
Your Sinclair | Positive [45] | 8/10 [46] | ||||||||
Australian Commodore and Amiga Review | 95% [47] | |||||||||
Commodore User | 9/10 [48] | 67% [49] | ||||||||
MegaTech | 58% [50] | |||||||||
Sega-16 | 9/10 [7] | |||||||||
Svenska Hemdatornytt | 85% [51] | |||||||||
Top Score | Positive [52] |
Publication | Award |
---|---|
Golden Joystick Awards | Game of the Year, Arcade Game of the Year [53] |
Amusement Players Association's Players Choice Awards | Best Visual Enhancement in a Video Game [54] |
In Japan, Out Run topped the Game Machine charts for upright/cockpit arcade cabinets in November 1986, [55] [56] and remained at the top of the charts in the following month. [57] [58] It was Japan's highest-grossing upright/cockpit arcade game during the latter half of 1986, [59] [60] and the overall seventh highest-grossing upright/cockpit arcade game of 1986. [60] Out Run went on to become Japan's highest-grossing arcade game of 1987. [61] [60] In North America, it topped the RePlay dedicated arcade game chart in February 1987, [62] and went on to become the highest-grossing arcade game of 1987 in the United States. [63] [64] In the United Kingdom, the game topped London's Electrocoin arcade charts for several months in 1987, from February [65] [66] through June, [67] [68] and was the top arcade game of the year. [69] In Japan, it continued to rank among the annual highest-grossing dedicated arcade games for the next several years, ranking number three in 1988, [70] number five in 1989, [71] and number seven in 1990. [72] In Europe, Out Run was the most popular arcade game during the late 1980s. [73]
Sega had sold 18,000 Out Run arcade machines worldwide by early 1987, including 3,500 units in Japan, 8,000 units in the United States, and 6,500 units in Europe and Southeast Asia. [74] By late 1987, Out Run had sold 20,000 units worldwide, [75] earning Sega over $100 million ($280 million adjusted for inflation) in arcade machine sales, [76] and becoming Sega's best-selling arcade cabinet of the 1980s. [10] By 1994, 30,000 cabinets had been sold worldwide. [77] Sega eventually surpassed OutRun's arcade sales with Virtua Fighter (1993) and Virtua Fighter 2 (1994). [78]
The 8-bit computer game ports published by U.S. Gold sold over 200,000 copies within two weeks of release in the United Kingdom, [79] and more than 250,000 by Christmas 1987, [80] [81] topping the UK's Christmas 1987 chart. [82] Out Run became the fastest-selling and best-selling computer game in the UK that year. [31] [30] [81] By early March 1988, it had sold over 350,000 copies, becoming the UK's all-time fastest-selling game up until then. [83] In May 1988, the Atari ST version of Out Run became the first ST title to top the UK all-formats chart. [84] The Atari ST version had sold over 25,000 copies in the UK by mid-1988. [85]
Out Run remained on the UK charts for several years. The budget price re-release from Kixx topped the all-formats chart in November 1990, [86] and the Commodore 64 version was at number two on the all-formats chart in March 1991. [87] It also topped the PC Engine charts during January–February 1991. [88] [89] In 2020, Out Run became the second best-selling Sega Ages title in overseas markets outside of Japan (after Sonic the Hedgehog ), especially in Europe. [90] As of 2021, the game's various home conversions have sold millions of copies worldwide. [73]
Out Run's arcade release received positive reviews and became one of the most popular arcade games of the year. [9] [31] [91] The game won the 1987 Golden Joystick Award for Game of the Year, as well as for Arcade Game of the Year. [53] It also won "Best Visual Enhancement in a Video Game" at the 1986 Amusement Players Association's Players Choice Awards. [54] Clare Edgeley reviewed the arcade game in both Computer and Video Games and in Sinclair User , praising the graphics and the element of danger in the gameplay as well as the hydraulic motion simulator cabinet. [3] [6] Top Score newsletter called it "the most enjoyable" and "realistic driving video game ever created" while praising its innovative simulator cabinet, detailed visuals and stereo soundtrack. [52] A review in Commodore User described it as "a great game for driving enthusiasts" and awarded it a score of 9 out of 10. [92] Gary Penn, writing for Crash called the game "highly polished" and praised the attention to detail. [9] In Your Sinclair , Peter Shaw praised its realism and described it as "the most frighteningly fast road race game" he had played. [45]
Out Run was ported to numerous home consoles and computers. Computer and Video Games praised the Master System release, with the writers concluding that it had "all the thrill power of the arcade version". [33] The Games Machine gave the Master System version a score of 72%, stating that the Master System version came closest to the original coin-op. [43] Reviewers for Dragon described it as a "refreshing" game "that provides hours of entertainment". [35] Computer Gaming World named it as the year's best arcade translation for Sega. [93] Reactions to the 16-bit versions were generally positive. The Atari ST version (1988) was described by Computer and Video Games as "far from perfect", but that it came closer to the arcade original than the other ports. [31] The 1991 Sega Genesis version also received positive reviews, scoring 90% from French gaming magazines Joypad and Joystick, as well as an 85% from Swedish magazine Svenska Hemdatornytt. [38] [39] [51]
The reception for the 8-bit personal computer ports by U.S. Gold was mixed. The ZX Spectrum version received positive scores from Your Sinclair and Sinclair User. [40] [94] Some reviewers at Crash expressed disappointment at the low quality in contrast to the arcade original. [30] The Games Machine gave the Spectrum version a score of 61%, noting the machine's technical limitations in comparison to the Master System and Commodore systems. [43] The Commodore versions received positive to average reviews, though Computer and Video Games described the Commodore 64 port as "rushed". The Amstrad CPC port received a score of 8 out of 40 from Computer and Video Games, which described it as a "travesty", [32] and a 37% score from Amstrad Action where the reviewer considered it one of the worst arcade conversions ever. [29]
1986 | Out Run |
---|---|
1987 | |
1988 | OutRun 3-D |
1989 | Turbo OutRun |
Battle Out Run | |
1990 | |
1991 | Out Run Europa |
1992 | |
1993 | OutRun 2019 |
OutRunners | |
1994 | |
1995 | |
1996 | |
1997 | |
1998 | |
1999 | |
2000 | |
2001 | |
2002 | |
2003 | OutRun 2 |
2004 | |
2005 | |
2006 | OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast |
2007 | |
2008 | |
2009 | OutRun Online Arcade |
Out Run was followed by various sequels, including three arcade sequels Turbo OutRun (1989), OutRunners (1993) and OutRun 2 (2003), and several non-arcade sequels including Out Run 3-D (1988), Out Run Europa (1991), OutRun 2019 (1993) and later OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (2006). [10] Sega also developed Rad Mobile (1991) which is similar to Out Run. [95]
Former Sega arcade director Akira Nagai has credited Out Run and similar games for Sega's arcade success in the 1980s. According to Nagai: "Out Run, in particular, was really amazing for its time... Suzuki went on to make After Burner and a number of other games, but Out Run is still talked about with a special kind of wonder. With the taikan games, Sega's arcade business, which had been Sega's lowest performer in sales, gradually started to rise... For me personally, Hang-On and Out Run are my most memorable titles. They helped lift the arcade industry out of its slump, and created entirely new genres". [78] The game's title has been adopted as a name for the synthwave music genre, which is also known as "outrun" music, inspired by the game's soundtrack which is selectable in-game as well as the game's 1980s aesthetic. [96] [73] French musician Kavinsky named his debut album OutRun (2013) after the game. [97]
The game has been listed among the best games of all time by Next Generation , [98] Retro Gamer , [99] Stuff , [100] Time , [101] G4 , [102] Killer List of Videogames , [103] Yahoo! , [104] and NowGamer. [105] In 2017, GamesRadar+ ranked the game 31st on their "Best Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games of all time". [106] Writing in 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die , Joao Diniz Sanches praised Out Run's "unforgettable design and expertly tuned game balance", describing the game as "the consummate exhibit in an oversubscribed genre" and "one of the purest and most joyous experiences in video gaming". [107] In 2015, Out Run appeared at 4th place on IGN's list of The Top 10 Most Influential Racing Games Ever, behind Pole Position , Gran Turismo and Virtua Racing . According to Luke Reilly, traces of Out Run DNA can be found in series like Test Drive , Need for Speed , Project Gotham Racing and Burnout as well as modern racers like the Forza Horizon games and DriveClub . [108] According to Jacopo Prisco of Wired UK , the influence of Out Run "is still being felt on consoles, in music, and in movies". Along with its influence on a wide range of racing games from Need for Speed and Gran Turismo to Project Gotham Racing and Forza Horizon, the game's selectable radio music has become commonplace in video games such as the Grand Theft Auto series as well as the choice to drive through alternate paths in racing games. [73]
Rick Dangerous is a platform game developed by Core Design for the Acorn Archimedes, Amiga, Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and MS-DOS. The game was released in 1989 and published by MicroProse on the Firebird Software label in the UK, and on the MicroPlay label in America. It was also published in Spain by Erbe Software. Later, it was released with two other games, Stunt Car Racer and MicroProse Soccer, on the Commodore 64 Powerplay 64 cartridge. The game was followed by a sequel, Rick Dangerous 2, in 1990. Loosely based on the Indiana Jones film franchise, the game received mixed reviews from critics.
After Burner is a rail shooter arcade video game developed and released by Sega in 1987. The player controls an American F-14 Tomcat fighter jet and must clear each of the game's eighteen unique stages by destroying incoming enemies. The plane is equipped with a machine gun and a limited supply of heat-seeking missiles. The game uses a third-person perspective, as in Sega's earlier Space Harrier (1985) and Out Run (1986). It runs on the Sega X Board arcade system which is capable of surface and sprite rotation. It is the fourth Sega game to use a hydraulic "taikan" motion simulator arcade cabinet, one that is more elaborate than their earlier "taikan" simulator games. The cabinet simulates an aircraft cockpit, with flight stick controls, a chair with seatbelt, and hydraulic motion technology that moves, tilts, rolls and rotates the cockpit in sync with the on-screen action.
Space Harrier is a third-person arcade rail shooter game developed by Sega and released in 1985. It was originally conceived as a realistic military-themed game played in the third-person perspective and featuring a player-controlled fighter jet, but technical and memory restrictions resulted in Sega developer Yu Suzuki redesigning it around a jet-propelled human character in a fantasy setting. The arcade game is controlled by an analog flight stick while the deluxe arcade cabinet is a cockpit-style linear actuator motion simulator cabinet that pitches and rolls during play, for which it is referred as a taikan (体感) or "body sensation" arcade game in Japan.
Gauntlet is a 1985 fantasy-themed hack-and-slash arcade video game developed and released by Atari Games. It is one of the first multiplayer dungeon crawl arcade games. The core design of Gauntlet comes from 1983 game Dandy for the Atari 8-bit computers, which resulted in a threat of legal action. It also has similarities to the action-adventure maze video game Time Bandit (1983).
Operation Wolf is a light gun shooter arcade game developed by Taito and released in 1987. It was ported to many home systems.
1987 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Dragon Quest II, Final Lap, and Zelda II, along with new titles such as After Burner, Contra, Double Dragon, Final Fantasy, Mega Man, Metal Gear, Operation Wolf, Phantasy Star, Shinobi, Street Fighter and The Last Ninja. The Legend of Zelda was also introduced outside of Japan.
1985 saw many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Super Mario Bros. and Kung Fu, along with new titles such as Commando, Duck Hunt, Gauntlet, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Gradius, Hang-On, Space Harrier, Tetris and The Way of the Exploding Fist. The year's highest-grossing arcade video games were Hang-On and Karate Champ in the United States, and Commando in the United Kingdom. The year's best‑selling home system was the Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) for a consecutive year, while the year's best‑selling home video game was Super Mario Bros.
Hang-On is an arcade racing game released by Sega in 1985 and later ported to the Master System. In the game, the player controls a motorcycle against time and other computer-controlled bikes. It was one of the first arcade games to use 16-bit graphics and uses the Super Scaler arcade system board, created with design input from Yu Suzuki, as technology to simulate 3D effects. The deluxe cabinet version also introduced a motion-controlled arcade cabinet, where the player's body movement on a large motorbike-shaped cabinet corresponds with the player character's movements on screen.
Head Over Heels is an action-adventure game published by Ocean Software in 1987 for several home computers. It uses an isometric engine similar to the Filmation technique first developed by Ultimate Play the Game. Head Over Heels is the second isometric game by Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond, after their earlier Batman computer game was released in 1986. The game received favourable reviews and was described by Zzap!64 as an "all time classic".
Super Hang-On is a motorcycle racing arcade video game released by Sega as the sequel to Hang-On. It uses a simulated motorcycle arcade cabinet, like the original game. An updated version was released in arcades 1991 as Limited Edition Hang-On.
Cisco Heat: All American Police Car Race is a 1990 racing video game developed and published in arcades by Jaleco. Players control a police squad car racing against computer-controlled vehicles. The goal is to finish each race in first place. Players can take different routes to bypass certain portions of the course. Three cabinet types were created, a standard upright, a sit-down, and a motion-based "deluxe" machine; both of these could be connected, or "linked", together to enable multiplayer.
Rad Mobile is a racing arcade game developed by Sega AM3 and published by Sega. It was first published in Japan in October 1990, followed by an international release for arcades in February 1991. Rad Mobile was Sega's first 32-bit game, using Sega's System 32 arcade system board. It was also the first ever appearance of Sonic the Hedgehog, who appears as an ornament hanging from the driver's rearview mirror.
Special Criminal Investigation, also known as S.C.I. for short or as Chase HQ II: Special Criminal Investigation in some home versions, is vehicular combat racing game published by Taito for arcades in 1989. It is the sequel to the 1988 game Chase H.Q.
Forgotten Worlds, originally titled Lost Worlds, is a side-scrolling shooter video game by Capcom, originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1988. It is notable for being the first title released by Capcom for their CP System arcade game hardware.
Hard Drivin' is a sim racing arcade video game developed by Atari Games in 1989. Players test drive a sports car on courses that emphasize stunts and speed. It features one of the first 3D polygon driving environments via a simulator cabinet with a haptic vibrating steering wheel and a custom rendering architecture.
Enduro Racer (エンデューロレーサー) is an arcade racing game from Sega. It was released in 1986 with two arcade cabinet versions, a stand-up cabinet with handlebars and a full-sized dirt bike cabinet. It is often seen as a dirt racing version of Hang-On, as it uses a similar engine and PCB. The game was later released for the Master System, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC and Atari ST in 1987.
Galaxy Force is a rail shooter video game developed and released by Sega for arcades in 1988. The player assumes control of a starship named the TRY-Z, as it must prevent the Fourth Empire from taking over the entire galaxy. Gameplay involves shooting down enemies using either a laser shot or a limited supply of heat-seeking missiles, all while avoiding collision with projectiles or obstacles and making sure the ship's energy meter doesn't fully deplete. It ran on the Sega Y Board arcade system, and was released with a motion simulator cockpit arcade cabinet version like previous Sega Super Scaler games.
Thunder Blade is a third-person shoot 'em up video game released by Sega for arcades in 1987. Players control a helicopter to destroy enemy vehicles. The game was released as a stand-up arcade cabinet with force feedback, as the joystick vibrates. A helicopter shaped sit-down model was released, replacing the force feedback with a cockpit seat that moves in tandem with the joystick. It is a motion simulator cabinet, like the previous Sega Super Scaler games Space Harrier (1985) and After Burner (1987). The game's plot and setting was inspired by the film Blue Thunder (1983).
Winning Run is a first-person arcade racing simulation game developed and published by Namco in December 1988 in Japan, before releasing internationally the following year. The player pilots a Formula One racer, with the objective being to complete each race in first place, while avoiding opponents and other obstacles, such as flood-hit tunnels, pits and steep chambers. It was the first game to run on the Namco System 21 arcade hardware, capable of 3D shaded polygons.
Friday the 13th: The Computer Game is the first game adaptation based on the films of the same name. It was released in 1986 by Domark for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum. The game was released on floppy diskette and cassette tape. The player's goal is to find and kill Jason, while making sure their friends or they themselves are not killed by Jason.
Your Car: Ferrari Testarossa Convertible. 2 door, 5 speed
Sega has achieved spectacular sales results of 18,000 Outrun machines in the preceding term, broken down into 3,500 units in the domestic market, 8,000 units in the U.S. and 6,500 units in Europe and Southeast Asia.
Both versions went on to produce terrific numbers for Sega, bringing in total worldwide sales of over $100 million and adding another memorable franchise to Sega's stable of hits.
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