 |
| Sega Rally | |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Developer(s) | Sega AM5 (1994–1999) Sega (2006) Sega Racing Studio (2007–2008) |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| First release | Sega Rally Championship October 11, 1994 |
| Latest release | Sega Rally Online Arcade May 18, 2011 |
Sega Rally is a series of 3D racing video games published by Sega. The first game in the series, Sega Rally Championship , was developed by Sega AM3 and released in arcades in 1994. Later games were developed by Sega and Sega Racing Studio.
There have been five games released in the Sega Rally series. Two games were developed by Sega AM3, one was developed by Sega, and two were developed by Sega Racing Studio. The original game, designed by Tetsuya Mizuguchi, was released on the Model 2 board and became very popular in the arcades, later receiving a port to the Sega Saturn.
This port was of excellent quality, running in smooth 30 frames per second (25 fps on European PAL systems) and looking very much like the arcade original. Exceptions included non-transparent windows since the Saturn could not generate transparencies in 3D graphics, draw distance shorter than in the arcade game, and lower resolution. A Windows port using on DirectX followed about a year later. The biggest difference between the original and its home versions is the option to drive three laps on each of the four implemented tracks instead of only one lap. Good players could also unlock an extra car: the Lancia Stratos.
Sega Rally Championship 2 was released on the Model 3 board and was ported to Dreamcast in November 1998, making it one of the first Japanese Dreamcast games available. However, the Dreamcast version suffered from an unstable frame rate and wasn't as successful as its predecessor. The arcade original featured only four courses, while the port had between one and three courses for each of the five implemented environments, all wrapped up in a 10-year championship. Again, a PC port followed. Sega Rally Championship 2 on DC and PC featured a lot of tuning options for the cars, including choice of tires and suspension, which could not be found in the arcades.
Sega Rally 3 was released in 2008 and is a condensed version of Sega Rally Revo for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. This time the port went the other way around. Sega Rally 3 was released as Sega Rally Online Arcade for Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2011 and came full circle from consoles to arcades and back again.
| Title | Year | Arcade | PC | PS3 | X360 | PSP | PS2 | DC | SAT | N-Gage | GBA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sega Rally Championship | 1994/1995 a |  | |  | | | b | | | | |
| Sega Rally 2 | 1998/1999 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Sega Rally 2006 b | 2006 | | | | | | b | | | | |
| Sega Rally Revo | 2007 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Sega Rally 3 / Sega Rally Online Arcade | 2008/2011 c | | | | | | | | | | |
^a The first year for arcade, the second for home console or PC
^b Released only in Japan and South Korea
^c Not released in Japan
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Sega Rally Championship is a 1994 racing game developed by Sega AM3 and published by Sega. Originally released for arcades using the Sega Model 2 board, ports were published for the Sega Saturn in 1995 and Microsoft Windows in 1997. Sega Rally Championship simulates driving on different surfaces, with different friction properties, with the car's handling changing accordingly. As the first racing game to incorporate this feature, Sega Rally Championship is considered to be one of the milestones in the evolution of the racing game genre. It was also an early rally racing game and featured cooperative gameplay alongside the usual competitive multiplayer.
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