Turbo Outrun
| Turbo OutRun | |
|---|---|
 Japanese arcade flyer | |
| Developer(s) | Sega AM2 |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Designer(s) | Yu Suzuki |
| Composer(s) | Hiroshi Kawaguchi, Yasuhiro Takagi (Arcade) Jeroen Tel (Commodore 64) |
| Platform(s) | Arcade Computers: Atari ST, Commodore C64, Commodore Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, PC DOS, FM Towns Consoles: Sega Mega Drive |
| Release date(s) | Arcade
|
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Cabinet | Sit-down, upright |
| Arcade system | Out Run hardware |
| CPU | CPU: (2x) 68000 (@ 12.5 MHz) |
| Sound | CPU: Z80 (@ 4 MHz) Chips: YM2151 (@ 4 MHz), Sega PCM (@ 15.625 kHz) |
| Display | Raster, 320 x 224 pixels (Horizontal), 12288 colors |
Turbo OutRun (ターボアウトラン) is a 1989 arcade racing game released by Sega. A follow-up to 1986's Out Run, it was released as a dedicated game, as well as an upgrade kit for the original Out Run board.
Like it predecessor, Turbo OutRun has players driving a Ferrari, this time a Ferrari F40. Players now traverse a set route across the entire continental United States from New York City to Los Angeles instead of the branching paths of the first game. In addition to a time limit, Turbo OutRun also adds a computer-controlled opponent driving a Porsche 959. The "Turbo" in the title also plays a factor as players can now press a button to receive a brief turbo boost of speed. Various power-ups which increase the vehicle's attributes can now be chosen at various stages of the game.
Ports of Turbo OutRun were released for personal computers, as well as Sega's own Master System and Mega Drive.
Overview
Turbo Outrun the player in control of a male driver sitting alongside his girlfriend in a Ferrari F40, racing against the clock and a computer-controlled opponent in a Porsche 959 in a race across the United States. The goal is to reach Los Angeles from a starting point of New York City. Unlike the original Out Run, however, there are no branch roads to choose from. Instead, there is only one way from the start to the end of the road.
The most notable feature of this game, which most players remember it for, is the fact that the player can increase speed by using turbo boost by pressing a button on the side of the console-mounted shifter and the engine temperature will increase in kind on the on-screen gauge. When the gauge reaches "OVERHEAT!" turbo boost cannot be used until the temperature decreases.
Another notable difference is that police cars occasionally appear that try to stop the player. They have to either be outrun by using the turbo boost or destroyed by the player by ramming them off-road and into an object on the side of the road.
At every sub-goal (reached after passing through about four cities), a power-up can be chosen, the three being: Hi-Power Engine, Special Turbo, and Super Grip Tires. If the CPU opponent reaches the sub-goal before the player, at the next race, the driver's girlfriend will move to the opponent's car. He can still win the girl back if he beats the CPU opponent to the next sub-goal. If the player beats the opponent with the girl in hand, a 1,000,000 point bonus is given. Also, the girl kisses the driver in front of his CPU opponent. If the player reaches the final checkpoint, in the process, the player will pass the CPU opponent and the ending scene is played.
It was available in a stand-up cabinet, and a sit-down cabinet with decals giving it an appearance of a Ferrari F40, the car featured in the game. There were also conversion kits available to convert original Out Run machines to Turbo OutRun.
Computer ports of the game were received with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Commodore 64 version was widely seen as a good game but 16-bit conversions got very negative reviews.
Stage Order
The courses are raced straightforward in 4 sections consisting of 4 stages each with no fork roads.
- Stage 1: New York (Start of game)
- Stage 2: Washington D.C.
- Stage 3: Pittsburgh
- Stage 4: Indianapolis (End of section 1)
- Stage 5: Chicago
- Stage 6: St. Louis
- Stage 7: Memphis
- Stage 8: Atlanta (End of section 2)
- Stage 9: Miami
- Stage 10: New Orleans
- Stage 11: San Antonio
- Stage 12: Dallas (End of section 3)
- Stage 13: Oklahoma City
- Stage 14: Denver
- Stage 15: Grand Canyon (Runs along Route 66)
- Stage 16: Los Angeles (End of game)
Some of the stages are not accurately portrayed to their real life counterparts. For example: Atlanta is nothing more than a field covered in snow and Dallas looks like the Gobi Desert.
Music
Unlike the 1986 original game Out Run, the music cannot be selected, rather the games background music play in each section of the game in this order:
- Rush a Difficulty (Stages 1–4)
- Keep Your Heart (Stages 5–8)
- Shake the Street (Stages 9–12)
- Who Are You? (Stages 13–16)
Commodore 64 soundtrack
The Commodore 64 home version soundtrack, composed and arranged by Jeroen Tel, was well received. The soundtrack won the "Best music on 8-bit computer 1989" award on European Computer Trade Show. The title track is a remix of "Magical Sound Shower" from Out Run, featuring sound samples from Jeroen Tel himself; due to sampling quality, he was actually saying "One, two, tree... Out Run" while recording, instead of "three", to avoid it sounding like "free".[1]
In the 1993 arcade game Daytona USA, a song from Turbo Outrun can be played on the name entry screen by entering the initials TOR. The result is the opening couple of bars of "Rush A Difficulty".
Releases
- Arcade (1989)
- Amstrad CPC (1989)
- ZX Spectrum (1990)
- Sega Mega Drive (1992)
- Sega Master System (1992)
- Commodore 64 (1989)
- Atari ST (1989)
- Commodore Amiga (1989)
- IBM PC DOS (1990)
- FM Towns (1993)
Note: Turbo Outrun was never released on home console in North America.
Reception
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Turbo Outrun received mixed to positive reviews, with the C64 version being awarded 93% from C+VG and 97% in Zzap![8] The Spectrum version of the game received 70% from Your Sinclair, 78% from Sinclair User and 79% from Crash.[4] Mega placed the game at #3 in their list of the 10 Worst Mega Drive Games of All Time.[9]
References
- ↑ Brock-Nannestad, Laust (2006-01-18). "SID Tune Information List v44". Retrieved 2006-07-31.
- ↑ "Archive – Magazine viewer". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
- ↑ "Archive – Magazine viewer". World of Spectrum. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Turbo OutRun". Ysrnry.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
- ↑ "Zzap!64 100th Issue Pull-Out Special Page 5". Zzap64.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-08-06.
- ↑ MegaTech rating, EMAP, issue 5, page 79, May 1992
- ↑ Mega rating, issue 9, page 23, Future Publishing, June 1993
- ↑ See box are for the C64 conversion
- ↑ Mega magazine issue 1, page 85, Future Publishing, Oct 1992
External links
- Turbo OutRun Review at Mean Machines Mag (refers to the poorly received home port, not the arcade original)
- Outrun.org
- C64 Turbo Outrun intro music
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