October 2013: OutRun (1986/91)

[KC]

Taken from the Game of the Month section:

OutRun was released in 1986 and created by Yu Suzuki. But, the person who is now considered a gaming legend, the father of so many arcade classics, was but a freshman at SEGA at the time.

Suzuki-san got his inspiration from American cinema, namely from "The Cannonball Run", a film starring Burt Reynolds. Although, initially, OutRun was supposed to feature scenery from all over the US, Suzuki changed his mind and included European sights in order to feature more variety in the game.

The man did the research himself by doing a road trip and driving around Monaco, Switzerland, Milan, Rome, etc. Some people have really tough jobs, right?

OutRun was originally released for the Arcades in 1986, and had you controlling a Ferrari Testarossa, one of the most-desired machines at the time, with a beautiful woman by your side all the while enjoying the view.

It was the first racing game to feature non-linear gameplay. At the end of each stage, the player had to choose between going left (easier route) or right (harder).

Versions of OutRun were later released for the Master System in 1987, the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991 and the Game Gear also in 1991. The handheld 8-bit version even featured a versus mode where you could play against a friend or the CPU. The game was also ported to non-SEGA consoles, such as the Commodore 64, the ZX Spectrum and the TurbografX 16.

Another highlight of OutRun, besides it's amazing graphics and constantly changing backgrounds reminiscent of real life locations, was the music. Remember the different radio stations you could listen to on Metropolis Street Racer, or even the GTA series? OutRun did that first, by letting you choose the soundtrack to the game, like they were radio stations. To this day, very few gamers don't recognise "Splash Wave" or "Magical Sound Shower" when they hear them.

The original OutRun was so successful it spanned quite a few sequels, such as Turbo OutRun and OutRunners, for the Mega Drive/Genesis, arcade sequels and, most recently, OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast for the PS2, PSP and Xbox and OutRun Online Arcade for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

In short, OutRun is still a great game today, and one that most SEGA fans treasure in their hearts. Proof of that, was the recent inclusion of the OutRun Bay track in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, or the arcade cabinet hologram in the Race of Ages track.

If you haven't played yet, you owe it to yourself to try this piece of SEGA and video game history. Did you know it won the Golden Joystick Awards for Game of the Year in 1987?


Feel free to share your comments and experiences with the game below.

[drive16bit]

That's truly an iconic SEGA original. And i cannot believe i still couldn't manage to get that title for my MegaDrive collection.

[Twinny]

Fitting you'd be the one who bump this up from way back in 2013 adding to 3D OutRun's recent release. lolol

[TCB]

Well, since we now have 3D Out Run...

Can I say it's by far my favorite of the 3D Classics so far? The controls feels so much tighter while still remaining that authentic arcade experience that made it so good in the first place. The mechanics are to reward you with showing good skills and it's nice to see there's a number of options before you play that can give you how you want to drive.

Graphically the game looks great. The added 3D effect works well when you're not really paying attention to it; just have it blend into your driving and you'll see it works much better that way.