professor denim
Member
Perfect video game. Not much more to say. Happy B day!
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HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY OUTRUN!!!!!!!!!!
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Airola
Member
The best version of Splash Wave is on C64:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWa8zNPFQpY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWa8zNPFQpY
letmetrythisname
Member
One of the Sega's greatest IPs, and one of the greatest soundtracks in video game history. Hopefully we'll see an OutRun 3 at some point, either from Sega or from Yu Suzuki's new company.
Emperor Bohe
Member
Yes pleaae. Include Turbo OutRun while you're at it too.
stargateheaven
Member
Did Chase HQ have a deluxe cabinet?
everytime i see outrun i'm reminded of chase HQ. I had it on the original gameboy.. so good!!
MightyHedgehog
Member
First racing/driving game I can recall having a crowd around it, at least in the early days at the arcade. Never got too much playtime with a coin-op version as it was a bit too premium for my blood at a dollar to seventy-five cents a play on a deluxe machine and fifty cents a pop on a stand-up cabinet, so I didn't really learn to play it well until the Master System home conversion more than year later and the Genny version years after that. The C64 and Amiga conversions were crap to play, so it wasn't until the Sega Ages Saturn version that I really felt confident about playing the coin-op seriously...and by then it was a bit difficult to find a sit-down unit that was around and in good shape. Love the music and vibe more than the actual game, though, but then I prefer a more intense type arcade racing, anyway. Oh, and it has to be Magical Sound Shower because of the final bit of the song before it loops when the xylophone is trilling letting you know that you've done well...like a little mile-marker of basic competency.
petran79
Banned
Did Chase HQ have a deluxe cabinet?
I played the standard wheel cab on a ferry boat so I am not sure
Oh god, this thread. The memories!
Playing the standup arcade version at the fish and chip shop during Christmas holidays (in Australia, so it was warm and totally appropriate).
Seeing the massive bank of I think 8 (might've been 4) OutRunners cabinets, and hearing the bellowing "This is MRS, the Mega Radio Station. I'm Jake Elwood...". Turning the ignition to start, selecting your music mid-race with the custom control panel. So, so good.
Seeing and playing OutRun 2 in an arcade during my first ever overseas trip to the US back in late 2003 (I think). Played the living shit out of it.
Ordering (and somehow scoring) one of the 50 signed copies of the OutRun soundtrack, recently released on vinyl:
PS. It's all about Passing Breeze.
Playing the standup arcade version at the fish and chip shop during Christmas holidays (in Australia, so it was warm and totally appropriate).
Seeing the massive bank of I think 8 (might've been 4) OutRunners cabinets, and hearing the bellowing "This is MRS, the Mega Radio Station. I'm Jake Elwood...". Turning the ignition to start, selecting your music mid-race with the custom control panel. So, so good.
Seeing and playing OutRun 2 in an arcade during my first ever overseas trip to the US back in late 2003 (I think). Played the living shit out of it.
Ordering (and somehow scoring) one of the 50 signed copies of the OutRun soundtrack, recently released on vinyl:
PS. It's all about Passing Breeze.
Are you sure it doesn't work with the Steam version? I know you can't run it from Steam, but I ran it with several of the options (like the arcade texture swap) enabled and it seemed to run fine, if I ran it directly from the executable. Weird. Maybe it wasn't running properly.
ResidentDante
Member
It looks great. 2D scaling technology towards the end was really pushing the sprites graphics far. I love these last efforts in sprite graphics before 3D completely took over. Radmobile is another great example!
MrCunningham
Member
I was about 5 years old when I saw an OutRun machine for the first time in a shopping mall. The game was absolutely mesmerizing to look at. The first home port that I ever played was on the Sega Master System, which was OK for the time. I also owned the game on the Genesis as well, which was another solid port (IMO).
I was never a fan of OutRun Turbo, TBH. But Out Runners was a pretty underrated gem in itself. Outrun 2 is still one of my favorite arcade racers of all time, and I still play OutRun 2006 coast 2 coast a lot. I absolutely love the series, and it is still one of my favorite arcade racers of all time.
Racing Hero from 1989 is an interesting cross between OutRun and Hang-On. Really underrated racer. Of course there is also Power Drift from 1988 as well as Super Monaco GP from 1989 as well.
I absolutely love the look of Sega's scaling sprite racers from that era.
I was never a fan of OutRun Turbo, TBH. But Out Runners was a pretty underrated gem in itself. Outrun 2 is still one of my favorite arcade racers of all time, and I still play OutRun 2006 coast 2 coast a lot. I absolutely love the series, and it is still one of my favorite arcade racers of all time.
Racing Hero from 1989 is an interesting cross between OutRun and Hang-On. Really underrated racer. Of course there is also Power Drift from 1988 as well as Super Monaco GP from 1989 as well.
I absolutely love the look of Sega's scaling sprite racers from that era.
It's stuff like that that kind of makes me wish we had at least one or even two more last great 2D generations of consoles with 3D being slower to take off.
Good question indeed! I don't have the anwer either unfortunately. Someone?
That said, happy birthday Outrun, you old friend! Wouldn't this year have been a perfect time for a new Outrun 2016 version to be released to commemorate your everlasting appeal? Alas...
This series is among my personal favorites, not only because of the gameplay, music and colorful aesthetics but of how it has come to represent summer and road trips to me (as I've mentioned elsewhere at this point I think). I think about Outrun games pretty much every time I'm away on a trip and even describe the carefree holiday feeling I have then as an "Outrun feeling." Funny, how a particular game can get so ingrained in one's experiences even when he has not played it recently.
And man, what a series. My favorite memory of it was when I found an arcade version of Outrun 1 tucked away between some pinball machines in a Las Vegas casino. I'd never played any of the actual arcade games up to that point, so doing that for the first time in that setting was very cool. Now if only I had managed to find a Turbo Outrun and Outrunners machine as well then or afterwards, I'd be over the moon. (I've yet to play both of those in their arcade setup in other words...)
I believe Yu Suzuki did actually respond positively in an AMA sometime after the Shenmue 3 kickstarter that he'd be up for doing another Outrun or spiritual successor, so hopefully we'll end up seeing that at some point. I'd definitely take a Ferrari-less Outrun 3 or remake of Outrun 2(006) as well if that's the only way for SEGA to do them. Such a shame the previous versions had to be removed for licensing reasons, and that we never got both sets of tracks in that Online version either.
Anyway, let's hope we'll get to see Turbo Outrun outside of the Japanese e-shop on 3DS as well as more Outrun products in the near future. The idea of a game where you get to drive across interesting and fantastical renditions of parts of the world while overtaking traffic and keeping your companion happy to me never gets old, in fact it is a core concept that can grow along with new graphics technologies perfectly. Just do it SEGA.
ResidentDante
Member
Yeah the home ports are a mixed bag of Outrun. The MS version is bland imo, it did the job for me childhood eyes, but these days it's lost the little glory it had. The Genesis/Mega Drive port I have actually played again recently and it holds up nicely, you can tell they put a lot of effort into making this work on a lower end hardware compared to the arcade machine.
Outrun Europa is a garbage spin-off as is Outrun 2019(?) on the MD. Outrunners is weird and horrible port too. Forced splitscreen and completely wiped out background detail. Never played Outrun Turbo on the MD mind you, need to check it out!
Outrun on the Saturn is nice, though I've only played the 50Hz PAL version.
Nice! You reminded me of these games, I went on a Youtube search for these late sprite scaling games a year back and watched lots of these. They look amazing and I would love to have them ported. I've tried them out on MAME, but I need to connect my PC to my old CRT somehow, I think they will look more "correct" then.
Yeah, it's like I somehow wish that Sega's original plan with 3D for arcades and 32-bit 2D vision for home consoles had become a thing. Postponing 3D another generation until the home consoles had catch up. Then again we learned a lot in the early 3D game development and they were very exciting to finally be able to play at home!
Psykotik
Member
a short movie about outrunners
trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDJLCx092aU
full movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmiySOIEJLk
trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDJLCx092aU
full movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmiySOIEJLk
It's a fuzzy what if wish of mine because I know I could have lost some special games to me if that alternate history happened, but who knows what great 2D would have been made instead that we have missed out on. Essentially I wish I could have experienced both the 2D and the 3D focused timelines .
Man, Outrun is just so damned good. Picked up 3D Outrun when it was on sale, and M2 make amazing ports. I quite like the two new music tracks M2 added to 3D Outrun, too; Cruising Line and Camino a Mi Amor. They feel like tracks that were always there, if you catch my drift.
Will have to find my Outrun 2006 disk out, such a good game as well.
Will have to find my Outrun 2006 disk out, such a good game as well.
ResidentDante
Member
Exactly! Some of those early 3D games from the PS1/Saturn and N64 era are some of the greatest games I've played. So it's more a thought I guess, a fun alternate timeline thought mind you!
Outrun
Member
Amen,
I was in Niagara Falls last weekend. As I approached it, I thought of that Outrun 2 level... Beautiful.
Sega, make this happen.... Please.
MrCunningham
Member
hardware scaling was a feature that was sorely lacking from the 16 bit consoles. Yes the SNES has Mode 7, but that was no substitute for real sprite scaling. The Sega CD actually had some nice hardware scaling abilities, and could have done a nice version of Out Run. But Sega never really took advantage of those features much. UK developer Core made the best use out of the Sega CD scaling abilities. The Atari Lynx also had some neat hardware scaling and rotation effects too. Quite extraordinary for a handheld from 1989.
Almost every 32bit machine was capable of handing scaling sprites, like the 3DO, Saturn, 32X, Jaguar (well, whatever the machine was), and of course the Playstation 1, but with the exception of a few early titles that would mix 2D scaling sprites with polygon environments, developers were much more interested in pushing the polygon capabilities of these machines. Of course the PS1 was the best suited for polygons of this group.
It seems like scaling sprites were something that were more exclusive to the arcades than something we would see on home consoles.
Never played it, but I quite like some of the music.
I'm not sure about the gameplay, but I like the rollercoaster-type track with the changing pixellated scenery. It's kind of like an arcade roadtrip sim.
I'm not sure about the gameplay, but I like the rollercoaster-type track with the changing pixellated scenery. It's kind of like an arcade roadtrip sim.
Yeah, I had that feeling too actually when I was there quite afew years back! It's a cool place - and a cool section in Outrun 2 - for sure.
Oh and by the way, for those that might have missed it: later this year we'll be seeing an Outrun inspired game on the 3DS e-shop that looks very promising (despite early footage having quite rough sprite transitions when steering the car, which the devs mentioned is not final). It's called 80's Overdrive and it seems like a mix between Kung Fury / The Outrunners (the movie shown above) and classic Outrun with tropical locales and such. I'll post one screenshot again just in case:
Going by the website the game has a career mode where players are chased by the police and where missions can be done, perhaps a bit more like Chase HQ or Turbo Outrun in other words, but also a more pure driving mode called "time attack" (and nicknamed "Outrun mode") where time is your main adversary. Let's hope it will deliver that Outrun feeling (while we wait for an official sequel someday)!
Dee Dah Dave
Member
I remember playing this on holiday in Newquay when it first came out. The Arcade was packed and everyone was drooling over the sit down cabinet with the sexy tunes blasting out!
I got my first 'games machine' the C64 the Christmas after, and of course the Outrun port with it. Nowhere near as good as the Arcade version, but it was still amazing to me as an ~8 year old!
I got my first 'games machine' the C64 the Christmas after, and of course the Outrun port with it. Nowhere near as good as the Arcade version, but it was still amazing to me as an ~8 year old!
Remembrance
Member
If there is ever a new Outrun it should take this as inspiration. http://www.dangerousroads.org/
Make it even more exotic than Coast to Coast: a tour of the most spectacular roadside scenery in the world.
Make it even more exotic than Coast to Coast: a tour of the most spectacular roadside scenery in the world.
I was recently thinking about how there should have been a 32X version, like they did with Space Harrier and Afterburner. As far as I know those were basically arcade perfect. I haven't played the Saturn version of Outrun, but after reading about it I'd definitely like to.
Interesting. When I tried launching directly from the exe file I managed to get into the game but then it crashed after about two minutes. Would be nice to see completely compatibility with the Steam version though.
Jesus, Racing Hero looks fucking amazing.
The Saturn was pretty much the undisputed king (at least, as far as specs go) of sprite scaling, yes? Seems a shame we never really saw it flex it's muscles in that regard, I don't recall seeing anything as impressive as Outrunners or even Racing Hero appear on it.
Fighting games/brawlers don't really count, they're not shifting as half as much as racers normally do. Can't think of any shmups that push the Saturn (that aren't "3D") either.
PS. Someone find me a way to play OutRun 2 (not SP/C2C) at full speed. Even playing it on Xbox had a little slowdown, and I always found it quite distracting. Needs a full 60fps! Maybe I need to do the memory upgrade on my Xbox and try getting the Chihiro version working on it.
ResidentDante
Member
The Japanese Saturn version lets you even choose between the original 30fps and the new 60fps!
Yeah, it's amazing that Sega didn't throw more of it's own games onto the 32X at least. It's like they gave up on it themselves even.
Happy belated birthday! Outrun 2 / 2006 may be some of the most perfect racers ever created (only other game I'd put in its league would be Daytona).
Anyways, I did quite like Outrun 2019 even if it was made by SIMS instead of AM2. Pretty decent for a pseudo-scaling Genesis racer, and I love its boxart:
Anyways, I did quite like Outrun 2019 even if it was made by SIMS instead of AM2. Pretty decent for a pseudo-scaling Genesis racer, and I love its boxart:
Happy belated birthday! Outrun 2 / 2006 may be some of the most perfect racers ever created (only other game I'd put in its league would be Daytona).
Anyways, I did quite like Outrun 2019 even if it was made by SIMS instead of AM2. Pretty decent for a pseudo-scaling Genesis racer, and I love its boxart:
I've never played this one but what I saw from some footage is that this game has actual overpasses and such with roads crossing over each other. That seems quite advanced compared to the other games, as not even Outrun 2 had this I believe, despite its 3D graphics. How does the game hold up outside of this?
I also wanted to chime in again with some general Outrun related musings. Long post incoming, first with some videos to share and second with some musings on how Outrun could potentially become even more of a driving game focused on the journey if the time limit was not present.
First of all: do check out that Mr. ThunderWing video the OP linked to. It's quite well done if you want an extensive look at different versions of Outrun 1, a quite extensive look at Outrun 2 versions and brief footage of the later games as well.
For a shorter version of such a comparison, check out Nostalgia Nerd's 30th anniversary video as well.
It's been a while but Gamesack also did a series overview 4 years ago that I remember enjoying.
Finally, LazyGameReview also did a look at the Turbo Outrun arcade cabinet a few years back, which made me take notice of this game for the first time really.
What I really wish someone would do, is not focus on the original game or Outrun 2(006) and its various ports again but do an in-depth review and version comparison of the somewhat lesser known games like Turbo Outrun and Outrunners. I for one have never seen either of those in the wild and have never played any of their ports either so apart from brief Mame glimpses I remain quite unfamiliar with them. As such, I'd definitely be interested in hearing an Outrun fanatic like a Mr. Thunderwing give his thoughts on them (or anyone here of course).
...relaxing my fingers...
As for something else entirely, I have been thinking about the concept of Outrun the last few days and to me, when I think about it and ignoring my obvious love for the series, Outrun seems like a series that might be at odds with itself as far as the oldest games go in terms of the conceptual design and gameplay mechanics. Please hear me out.
On the one hand it is a series that tries to capture the feeling of adventure when you trek across the open road in a fancy car while visiting famous landmarks and locations, while choosing your favorite music, and with not a worry on your mind. This, I guess, is where the "driving game" monniker originated from. On the other hand though, the games are somewhat stuck in a rigid arcade game structure that forces players to master the game's short courses to outrun (aha!) the quite harsh time limit that forces you to keep going fast as well as the many blind turns that make you lose valuable time due to the elaborately animated crashes.
While I love Outrun dearly, to reiterate, perhaps there are other ways of challenging the player while keeping to the spirit of a driving game where the journey is more important than the destination or driving time but without using such time limits or blind turns. Hypothetically speaking I mean, i.e. in an ideal world where games do not have to make money first. I don't have the perfect solution either, but maybe we can discuss some ideas, just for fun (and in case Outrun 3 is ever getting made as a console/PC only game, the devs will have to think about this as well).
My ideal Outrun(-like) driving game for consoles /PC would be one where I'm constantly driving at my own chosen pace while (occasionally) being challenged by actual driving related things like rivals, police, fuel limits, road hazzards, traffic, etc. Not by artificial time limits in other words. I want to be able to start driving, pick a location in my head, and plot a route to get there while never being fully restricted by a lack of skills to go further. Getting to my chosen location(s) (perhaps implemented as a mechanic that asks you to "collect them all") would then be my main challenge, how fast I get there mainly an additional challenge on top of that.
Maybe the focus could as such be even more on getting to something that looms on the horizon. In the oldest games you never were able to actually reach what the horizon showed you due to technical limitations. In my ideal Outrun game, I would be able to do that. And instead of arbitrary branches every few minutes that lead to completely different zones, why not feature a semi-open road network that allows me to choose between many options of somewhat logically placed zones and plot my route using a GPS-like device even? If my fuel reserve is looking good I could for instance take an earlier turn towards the forest instead of going for a brief fuel stop on the current road I'm on and continue along the coast. If my GPS warns me about traffic jams or road construction, I take a different road and head into the mountains. Add in some Turbo Outrun style rivals that occassionally pop up or even some Chase HQ style bumping cars with them and another layer of road adventuring is added (that and/or police cars that chase you when you for instance reach a city zone).
Imagine having a dynamic system like that, one that offers new challenges - all based on actual road trips, not a meta element like a time limit - every time you start off. Wouldn't that work to make the Outrun formula outgrow its arcade "pumping quarters to continue" roots and as such focus even more or the driving to and through spectacular destinations part? Or would it become too much like a rogue-like on wheels instead? That said, I'd play a rogue-like on wheels too! Imagine The Oregon Trail but with an Outrun/Cannonball Run motif instead. Wouldn't that even bring Yu Suzuki's original appreciation of Cannonball Run, a movie where lots of things go wrong along the way, closer to gaming form?
Now that I think about it, Outrun 2 did have some of these kind of semi-dynamic challenges in that mode where instead of racing against time you (also) had to focus on entertaining your girlfriend by doing special things like drifting or passing other cars. Maybe they could expand upon that?
Again, I'm just musing here, not criticising Outrun (beyond its somewhat rigid difficulty). Fire away, if you have any ideas of your own or want to chime in on some of mine. Of the various Outrun inspired games coming out like Drift Stage or 80's Overdrive, or already out like Horizon Chase (or older games like Top Gear or those Lotus games people sometimes refer to), perhaps some of them will/have implemented some of these elements already that I'm unaware of. In that case feel free to mention them. And apologies again for the long wall of text.
Edit: final thought: are my eyes deceiving me or do the wheels of the car in Outrun 1 actually not move when you drive? Seems like they used a semi-transparent sprite for the tires that look like they are rolling due to how the stripes on the road pass through it when you accelerate. Quite a clever trick when you think about it, one I never really consciously noticed till I watched the videos above.
MrCunningham
Member
Happy belated birthday! Outrun 2 / 2006 may be some of the most perfect racers ever created (only other game I'd put in its league would be Daytona).
Anyways, I did quite like Outrun 2019 even if it was made by SIMS instead of AM2. Pretty decent for a pseudo-scaling Genesis racer, and I love its boxart:
The game went through a couple different names during its development, it was originally planned as a Sega CD game but was them moved over to the Genesis/ Mega Drive under the name "junker's High" (A Snatcher reference?) But I guess Sega changed the name to Outrun 2019 to give it better branding recognition. It wasn't really an Outrun game when development started. But it is still a pretty decent racer on the Genesis, one of the better ones to be honest.
MightyHedgehog
Member
It's nowhere near a perfect match, Raitaro, but The Crew actually does allow for the laidback sort of road trip with dynamic ambient challenges you're talking about when you're not inside of a mission, anyway. It's actually the most interesting thing about the game, really. Just running around a misshapen caricature of the continental US road system and taking part in little on-the-way goals after you've set a random GPS point is pretty relaxing.
Outrun
Member
Outrun 2's time limit was much less harsh.
Although I would like to stop and enjoy the world, I think that the graphics would detract from that experience.
I think the game is beautiful at speed (if that makes sense)
But for the third game, Sega could insert refuelling Ala Lotus and Jaguar Xj220.
They could also place Vista stops that suspend the game clock.
Tracklist:
1. Magical Sound Shower
2. Passing Breeze
3. Splashwave
4. Last Wave
Bandcamp link: http://wolf-and-raven.bandcamp.com/album/tribute-to-outrun
Funny this thread popped up, was just reading a really fascinating article on Sumo and the details of how they ported Outrun 2/SP to home consoles, and their relationship with Sega. It's old, but well worth a read regardless.
The only thing that sucks about C2C is that Sumo dropped the bloom lighting from OR2, even on PC.
There are a few things about C2C that I don't like compared to OR2 on Xbox. I feel that the textures and filtering are quite a bit sharper in the conversion from Xbox/Chihiro to multi-platform.
Don't ask me specifically what it is, but I'm sure one looks markedly better than the other. Maybe there's a comparison of the two on Xbox I can find.
I can't recall any comparisons to link to, but Outrun 2 on Xbox looks significantly better than C2C on Xbox.
That is really nice, thanks for posting this.
I worshipped Outrun arcade as a kid. The arcade seemed so "powerful" and what added to the mystique was that you knew that for years you would never ever play anything as good as this on a home machine. The arcade got played at every and any opportunity.
I got this on the ZX Spectrum and the game had to load data off cassette after every checkpoint.
I just recently got 3D Classics Outrun on 3DS and I have to say it, but deep down the game is bland as fuck. I wasn't even particularly enjoying myself after completing the very first checkpoint. M2 & Sega have done a fantastic job with the port. But after you get over the thrill of being in control of a Ferrari on a nice summer beach highway with the girl by your side, the game is pretty boring. Brilliant graphics, brilliant music and a fantastic "style and image", but a dull game after stage 1.
I got this on the ZX Spectrum and the game had to load data off cassette after every checkpoint.
I just recently got 3D Classics Outrun on 3DS and I have to say it, but deep down the game is bland as fuck. I wasn't even particularly enjoying myself after completing the very first checkpoint. M2 & Sega have done a fantastic job with the port. But after you get over the thrill of being in control of a Ferrari on a nice summer beach highway with the girl by your side, the game is pretty boring. Brilliant graphics, brilliant music and a fantastic "style and image", but a dull game after stage 1.
Brilliant game, spent a lot of time in Shenmue 2 playing it! Also inspired a really fantastic album from Kavinsky
Outrun - Kavinsky
Outrun - Kavinsky
IrishNinja
Member
unless you're an SOR, fan, Magical Sound Shower >>>>>> ur favorite game music track
tell a friend
tell a friend
I bought the LE of that almost solely because of the name. Plus I enjoyed the music I guess, but it was mostly just the cover artwork and association to the game.
