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avatar_Zoe Robinson

GameHammer - Out Run

Started by Zoe Robinson, 02:47, 17 February 16

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Zoe Robinson

I first came across Out Run in France, where my sister and I pumped so many 10 Franc coins into the stand-up cabinet (no lovely feel-like-you're-driving action for us!) that we probably could have bought a machine of our own. When we later got a copy on the Amstrad CPC, I think I was the only one of us to play it more than once, it was that bad.

The Game Gear version we picked up a while later was much better received, and still gets played to this day (because these videos take a long time to upload  ;D ).




Click here if the embed is broken

This is a long episode because I've reviewed the game on as many formats as I could get it to work on. I'm hoping to keep this new, longer format show going because I like it, but that will all depend on how many formats I can get working for the show.

Fun fact: I found the EyeTV device I mentioned in this video a few hours after I finished editing the show. In future, I should be able to start bringing in some footage running on actual machines. Couple this with the new presenter-and-review style I've introduced in this episode and this show will be much closer to what I'd originally pictured for it in my mind. :D

Lazy Dude

I patiently await a decent CPC remake!!!!

ukmarkh

#2
Same here, I don't know why the CPC community is bothering with new games, this unfinished business with Outrun needs resolving first. It was done with R-Type, now it needs doing with Outrun... It's too big a game to ignore, Programmers unite! Your CPC needs you! 

Shaun M. Neary

#3
Enjoyed this, Zoë. Just will fill in a couple of blanks for you.

The gear change on the Amstrad version it fiddly to say the least, from what I recall, I had to hold down the fire button for a short bit in order for the gear to change, so if you just clicked it barely, it sometimes doesn't recognise the hi-lo at all. It didn't help that we're not told what gear we were in. I think it's 193 for max speed on low and 297 for max hi, but I could be wrong.

Something you may or may not have noticed on the Megadrive version also, the levels are back to front! The starting level is the same but the rest of the levels are reversed. There's a reason for that, the original Japanese version's layout is like that, but the Japanese are frenzied gamers and their idea of easy difficulty compared to the rest of the world are night and day apart. So for US / EU release of the coin-op, they reversed the levels to make it less of a coin swallower. But the Megadrive version never reflected the arcade in terms of track layout because of this (and it took a hit in reviews as a result of it, or not even having the option to change the track layout)

Spectrum version actually looks far worse to play though.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ukmarkh

Outrun Megadrive was slated for being too easy, and I agree, I can complete on highest difficulty.

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: ukmarkh on 18:43, 17 February 16
Outrun Megadrive was slated for being too easy, and I agree, I can complete on highest difficulty.

It was also slated for being ridiculously outdated. It was shit hot for 1986, but by the time the MD version saw it's release in late 91/early 92, it just didn't cut the mustard by that point.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ukmarkh

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 21:04, 17 February 16
It was also slated for being ridiculously outdated. It was shit hot for 1986, but by the time the MD version saw it's release in late 91/early 92, it just didn't cut the mustard by that point.


I'm not sure I agree with that. Sounds like something those nobbers at Mean Machines would say, this is Outrun FFS!

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: ukmarkh on 21:13, 17 February 16

I'm not sure I agree with that. Sounds like something those nobbers at Mean Machines would say, this is Outrun FFS!

Yeah but look what had succeeded Outrun by that stage. Power Drift, Hard Drivin, Chase HQ. In the Arcades, all those games destroyed Outrun.
Personally I still like Outrun, I love a lot of those arcade games from the mid to late 80s, but the racing genre had moved on somewhat in that five year span.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

andycadley

Nice vid. The C64 version is interesting in that, while it seems to play well as a generic racer, it's not really Outrun. There are no wide roads, no splitting out sections where you choose which way to go etc. It's more a generic racing game engine with some very minor tweaks and an Outrun logo slapped on it. The Game Gear version is similarly afflicted, albeit with the splitting sections included at least.

The other versions at least try (for very limited definitions of try) to bring some of the distinguishing characteristics across but my heavens they are bad. The Spectrum version is pretty atrocious but the CPC version is just a complete disaster. Still at least it isn't the MSX version, which plays like a slowed down and really jerky version of the Speccy game, because that even makes the CPC release look like some kind of gaming masterpiece.

I think Outrun was just one of those games that started to show arcade games had outgrown the capabilities of the 8-bit home machines and that the time had come for a 16-bit era (although most of the 16-bit conversions were fairly awful too)

Shaun M. Neary

Lest we forget the CPC tape version!! With the course map on the instruction sheet with blank spaces so that you can write down the tape counter marks to where you can fast forward the tape to! xD

Also Zoë, Outrun wasn't the only 8 bit game to suffer it's soundtrack on a cassette. 720 degrees also did that if I recall correctly.  :laugh:
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

Zoe Robinson

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 22:01, 17 February 16
720 degrees also did that if I recall correctly.  :laugh:


This is a game I have to say I was never subjected to.

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: Zoe Robinson on 22:10, 17 February 16

This is a game I have to say I was never subjected to.

It wasn't a bad game in the arcade for it's time, it took advantage of the big skate culture boom that was going on at the time. It just got very difficult very quickly trying to earn money to get more park tickets before the bees got you.

Skate Or Die was a much better game, shame nobody thought about porting it over to the arcade.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ukmarkh

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 21:23, 17 February 16
Yeah but look what had succeeded Outrun by that stage. Power Drift, Hard Drivin, Chase HQ. In the Arcades, all those games destroyed Outrun.
Personally I still like Outrun, I love a lot of those arcade games from the mid to late 80s, but the racing genre had moved on somewhat in that five year span.


We will have to agree to disagree... none of those games you've mentioned above could live with Outrun.

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: ukmarkh on 22:22, 17 February 16

We will have to agree to disagree... none of those games you've mentioned above could live with Outrun.

Clearly they did, they gobbled up many a coin while Outrun was being removed from arcades.  ;)
Not being a dick, just going on what I witnessed in the arcades I hung out at. Everything has a shelf life.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ukmarkh

#14
Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 22:33, 17 February 16
Clearly they did, they gobbled up many a coin while Outrun was being removed from arcades.  ;)
Not being a dick, just going on what I witnessed in the arcades I hung out at. Everything has a shelf life.


It was completely different at SEGA World, near where I lived. Outrun never moved, it was the most popular driving game, Super Hang-On was up there as well. Things only went up a gear when Sega Rally and Daytona came on the scene, along with ridge Racer.


Different regions, different folks


Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: ukmarkh on 22:43, 17 February 16

It was completely different at SEGA World, near where I lived. Outrun never moved, it was the most popular driving game, Super Hang-On was up there as well. Things only went up a gear when Sega Rally and Daytona came on the scene, along with ridge Racer.


Different regions, different folks

I'm not too far from you, being in Dublin, Ireland. ;)

Outrun lasted two years from 86-88, although remain in the bigger arcades in the city, and the sit in one at the Airport. But the swivel round WEC Le Mans added a new dimension, then there was also the version of Continental Circus with the 3D glasses too. Then as you mentioned, Daytona and Ridge came along. With gimmicky cabinets and 3D stuff being added to race games, Outrun was seriously dated by 1991. Even Turbo Outrun couldn't keep up because Power Drift was kicking its ass in the coin-ops.

Don't get me wrong, I love Outrun, and I'm not knocking it's impact it had in the arcades (it's the same engine that powered Hang On and Super Hang On too), I'm just saying it's shelf life was up by 1990, but then, the arcades were starting to die off by 1991 anyway when the amount of Street Fighter II arcade machines ended up multiplying and killing the scene off entirely.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ukmarkh

In England, especially Birmingham, it was a completely different story, Wec le Mans was good, but Outrun was still the king, it had a moving cabinet and blew air at you lol. The stand-up version of Outrun was dog shit, it never works when you have to stand up playing a driving game.


Anyway, we will never agree on this, but I will agree with you on Street Fighter 2, that game changed everything  ;)

Shaun M. Neary

Quote from: ukmarkh on 23:53, 17 February 16
In England, especially Birmingham, it was a completely different story, Wec le Mans was good, but Outrun was still the king, it had a moving cabinet and blew air at you lol. The stand-up version of Outrun was dog shit, it never works when you have to stand up playing a driving game.

I'll agree on the latter end of things there, the stand up version of the arcade wasn't great, but it was still very popular in the smaller arcades. It still had it's fair share of queues.


QuoteAnyway, we will never agree on this, but I will agree with you on Street Fighter 2, that game changed everything  ;)

Doesn't have to be a total agreement. I get your end of the discussion and I respect it, as you said, different regions, different folks. I was just merely reiterating that one of the reasons Outrun on the Megadrive wasn't too successful was because it was an out of date game on a then modern console. To be fair on the Megadrive, it's first crop of games were less than impressive, and just as it was about to hit it's stride, the SNES arrived and Sega didn't really recover once that happened.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ukmarkh

#18
Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 23:59, 17 February 16

I was just merely reiterating that one of the reasons Outrun on the Megadrive wasn't too successful was because it was an out of date game on a then modern console. To be fair on the Megadrive, it's first crop of games were less than impressive, and just as it was about to hit it's stride, the SNES arrived and Sega didn't really recover once that happened.


For 'Outrun' It depends on what you consider "too succesfull?" The arcade machine was more powerful than the Megadrive, so people wanted to see what could be done. Outrun lives on through the ages and constantly reinvents itself, it wasn't until 32bit hardware, until we got an arcade perfect Sega Saturn version, and then the PS2, XBOX and next gen hardware, including the new and improved version on the 3DS. The Megadrive version remains playable, even today, a little choppy, but perfectly acceptable. 


The Sega Megadrive shifted 39.7 million units, world wide, that's bloody good going. The Mega Drive sold more than the SNES in "other regions" as well, which includes Europe - compare Sega's 10.4 million to Nintendo's 8.58 million. These sales figures don't take into account all the different variations of the SEGA Megadrive that was produced. There were lots, including our old friend, the MegaPC.   



Shaun M. Neary

#19
Quote from: ukmarkh on 00:37, 18 February 16

For 'Outrun' It depends on what you consider "too succesfull?" The arcade machine was more powerful than the Megadrive, so people wanted to see what could be done. Outrun lives on through the ages and constantly reinvents itself, it wasn't until 32bit hardware, until we got an arcade perfect Sega Saturn version, and then the PS2, XBOX and next gen hardware, including the new and improved version on the 3DS. The Megadrive version remains playable, even today, a little choppy, but perfectly acceptable. 

I meant the Megadrive version of the game. It wasn't successful due to it's lack of difficulty, the tracks were reversed so it didn't resemble the US/EU game, and it was horribly outdated by it's release date in 1992. Sure, it's been reinvented throughout the 2000s, and nicely done, especially on the Xbox 360. But some reissues don't always work, and the Megadrive one didn't... at... that... time.

QuoteThe Sega Megadrive shifted 39.7 million units, world wide, that's bloody good going. The Mega Drive sold more than the SNES in "other regions" as well, which includes Europe - compare Sega's 10.4 million to Nintendo's 8.58 million. These sales figures don't take into account all the different variations of the SEGA Megadrive that was produced. There were lots, including our old friend, the MegaPC.   

Yes, but you must take into consideration the fact that the Megadrive had something like an 18 month head start in release times. We're going a bit off the beaten track here, which I'll take responsibility for due to lack of context. But the Megadrive in Europe saw release just before Christmas 1990, while the SNES got launched in summer of 1992. So without direct competition, you're going to see more success, which I'm sure you'd agree on. Sales began to drop once competition got heavy, and that's normal.
Currently playing on: 2xCPC464, 1xCPC6128, 1x464Plus, 1x6128Plus, 2xGX4000. M4 board, ZMem 1MB and still forever playing Bruce Lee.
No cheats, snapshots or emulation. I play my games as they're intended to be played. What about you?

ukmarkh

I'm all confused now, it must be my old age...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bryce

Quote from: Shaun M. Neary on 23:46, 17 February 16
I'm not too far from you, being in Dublin, Ireland. ;)

Outrun lasted two years from 86-88, although remain in the bigger arcades in the city, and the sit in one at the Airport. But the swivel round WEC Le Mans added a new dimension, then there was also the version of Continental Circus with the 3D glasses too. Then as you mentioned, Daytona and Ridge came along. With gimmicky cabinets and 3D stuff being added to race games, Outrun was seriously dated by 1991. Even Turbo Outrun couldn't keep up because Power Drift was kicking its ass in the coin-ops.

Don't get me wrong, I love Outrun, and I'm not knocking it's impact it had in the arcades (it's the same engine that powered Hang On and Super Hang On too), I'm just saying it's shelf life was up by 1990, but then, the arcades were starting to die off by 1991 anyway when the amount of Street Fighter II arcade machines ended up multiplying and killing the scene off entirely.

Although I was never an arcade gamer, I remember going to the opening of Dr. Quirkeys in O'Connel Street (1992) which changed the face of arcade gaming in Dublin. Unfortunately, that was also the year I emigrated, so I never had a chance to visit it much after that.

Bryce.

Puresox

Dr. Quirkeys?!  :laugh:  What a name lol

Bryce

The full name is actually "Dr. Quirkey's Good Time Emporium" (or at least is was back then).

Bryce.

Zoe Robinson

Quote from: Bryce on 15:22, 18 February 16
The full name is actually "Dr. Quirkey's Good Time Emporium" (or at least is was back then).


That sounds like a children's TV show about a jocular shop owner and a ragtag bunch of misfit kids teaming up to go on adventures through a magic portal inside his shop.

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