Super Monaco GP
| Super Monaco GP | |
|---|---|
 Cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Sega |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Designer(s) | Kaki |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Mega Drive/Genesis, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Gear, Sega Master System, ZX Spectrum |
| Release date(s) | Arcade 1989 Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Sega Game Gear
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| Genre(s) | Racing using a first-person perspective |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Distribution | 8 Megabit cartridge |
Super Monaco GP (スーパーモナコGP) is an arcade-style Formula One racing sim released in arcades and multiple platforms by Sega Corporation in 1989. It is a sequel to the arcade game Monaco GP.
The arcade game consists mostly of one race: the Grand Prix of Monaco (though represented by a totally different track, albeit with the same features of the real-life Circuit de Monaco). The player simply chooses a transmission type, qualifies, and race. The player must qualify in under 45 seconds in the shortened track in order to actually race. If he fails, the game ends (though, in the home versions, even if the player fails to qualify, he still starts off the race at the last position). When in the race itself, there is also a position limit, which starts off on 20th (15th in the home versions) and decreases as the player bypasses checkpoints along the track, ultimately stopping on 3rd. If the player falls behind the indicated position and does not manage to recover fast enough, a game over happens.
The game was one of the first to include a rear-view mirror.[citation needed]
The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version of Super Monaco GP adds a World Championship mode. In the World Championship mode, the goal is to win a season of races, and then go on to defend the title. The circuits are modeled on the ones used in the 1989 Formula One season, with background scenery similar to the real-world circuit venues, though without the wealth of details the Arcade version had.
The Mega Drive version was highly acclaimed, garnering an at-the-time-unprecedented 10–10–9–9 rating from Electronic Gaming Monthly's Review Crew[1][2] and a 93% from Mean Machines.[3]
Sega was sued by Philip Morris over the arcade game among others (including Namco's Final Lap) because the unauthorized presence of the Marlboro trademark in the game (although in Super Monaco GP's case, the offending advertisement, among with all advertisements in the game, except for Flicky, another Sega game, were deliberately mispelled) where it appeared on the real life tracks, was seen as compromising their policy against advertising to children and young people.[4][5]
World Championship Mode
The world championship mode starts with a relatively slow car in the team Minarae. Drivers are able to name other drivers as rivals. If one driver names a rival and defeats him in two consecutive races where the winner and loser are rivals, the loser's team will offer a seat to the winner. Should the winner accept the seat, the loser will get fired from his team and take an open seat with another team which is usually ranked lower than the team the loser was fired from. This allows better drivers to get into teams with better cars, but also can punish drivers including the player who are bad drivers. The goal is to win the F1 World Title by earning more driver's points than all other drivers. Once the player has won a season for the first time they are given the opportunity to join Madonna – the game's best and most glamorous team. At the start of the title defense year, the player is challenged by a new rival, G. Ceara, who is a seemingly impossible to beat driver in the first two races. If the player loses the first two races of the defending season to Ceara, he is dropped by team Madonna and goes to the inferior Dardan team. The challenge is then to get back to the top and win the second season or if having defeated G.Ceara your challenge is to retain the Championship in the Madonna car. Once two championship seasons are won, the player beats the game and gets to see the staff roll.
There are sixteen cars and teams in the game. Challenging rivals and progressing to better teams is ultimately the core of the game's career mode.
Rounds
In order, the 16 rounds of the season are:
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Teams
All the teams within the game are based on the teams of the 1989/1990 season and the game also tried (in both seasons) to put the drivers onto teams they have raced in their career. The real-life counterparts are shown in the table. The listed drivers correspond to the first races in the game's first season.
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Engines
The engines for each constructor was also based on real life counterparts as shown below:
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Reception
On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored the Mega Drive version of the game a 34 out of 40.[6]
Additional information
- Season 1: If you defeat A. Asselin (Madonna) with your Minarae, he will be placed into the Linden. Minarae will take M. Moreau and he gets all championship points gained by Asselin so far.
- Season 1: If you defeat J. Herbin (Blanche) with your Minarae, rechallenge Minarae (which meanwhile hired R. Cotman) and rejoin your former team, then Linden will replace M. Moreau with G. Ceara. If you challenge G.Ceara he will just reply with the word 'ERROR'.
- Season 2: It is possible to defeat G. Ceara and keep your Madonna car. There are tutorials on YouTube showing how to do that.
- R. Cotman advances to the next better team every 2 races automatically. This streak ends after he joined Tyrant.
- The flagman gets airborne if you try to overrun him.
- Arcade Mode: When crossing the finishline in race 2 press A, B and C simultaneously. The driver will hold his head instead of the trophy in his hands.
See also
References
- ↑ "Super Monaco GP for GEN – Super Monaco GP Genesis – Super Monaco GP GEN Game". Gamespot.com. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
- ↑ "EGM review archive. WARNING extremely loooong". actioncorp.net. 2002-10-23. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
- ↑ "Super Monaco GP – Sega Megadrive – Mean Machines review". Meanmachinesmag.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
- ↑ "Chronology of Action". Tobaccodocuments.org. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
- ↑ http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu:8080/q/l/f/qlf46e00/Sqlf46e00.pdf
- ↑ 30 Point Plus: スーパーモナコGP. Weekly Famicom Tsūshin. No.335. Pg.30. 12–19 May 1995.