Out Run

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{{Infobox Arcade Game |title = Out Run |image = Image:Outrun-arcadescreenshot.png |developer = Sega-AM2 |publisher = Sega |designer = Yu Suzuki |release = 1986 |genre = Racing game |modes = Single player |ports = |cabinet = Sit-down, upright |arcade system = Main CPU: (2x) 68000 (@ 12.5 MHz), sound CPU: Z80 (@ 4 MHz), sound chips: YM2151 (@ 4 MHz), Sega PCM (@ 15.625 kHz) |monitor = Raster resolution 320 x 224 (Horizontal) Palette Colors 12288 |input = Steering wheel; 2-position Shifter (Low/High); 2 Pedals (Accelerator and brake) |notes = }} Out Run (also spelled OutRun and Outrun) is a 1986 racing game designed by Yu Suzuki and Sega-AM2 for the video arcade market.

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Description

The player controls a brown-haired man behind the wheel of a Ferrari Testarossa convertible who is driving with his blonde girlfriend in the passenger's seat. Starting at the beach called Coconut Beach, he must pass through four checkpoints between five laps within a set time limit.

At the time of its release, the game was unique in that it was possible to choose the stages in which the race took place, save for the initial one. Before every checkpoint, there was a fork in the road, allowing the player to enter one of two different environments.

There were two arcade cabinet designs -- the usual upright machine, only with a steering wheel and stick shift (instead of a joystick and buttons) plus gas and brake pedals, and a sit-down version which looked roughly like a Testarossa. The sit-down cabinet used a drive motor to move the main cabinet. The sit-down version turned and shook according to the action onscreen, much like Sega's After Burner II. The upright also came in two versions: normal and mini.

The game was a major hit with arcade-goers, and is often considered one of the best racing games released for the arcade. Its popularity can be attributed to the innovative moving cabinet, to the choice in both soundtrack and route, and to the graphics, whose behind-the-back perspective gave players a better sense of speed than other games in the genre. Many previous racing games had an overhead perspective, as if watching the player-controlled car from a helicopter. Like other Sega games of the time, such as After Burner, Space Harrier, and Power Drift, it made use of sprite-scaling techniques for its 3-D effects, considered quite advanced for the time.

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Music

The gameplay was backed up by a very popular soundtrack of laid-back beach music, and featured three selectable tracks in all that were broadcast through imaginary frequency modulation radio channels received by the radio receiver in the Testarossa. The music was composed by Hiroshi Miyauchi, who also did the soundtracks for other Sega arcade games. The tracks were called:

  • Passing Breeze
  • Magical Sound Shower
  • Splash Wave
  • Last Wave (high-score music)

Additionally, the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis port featured an extra track entitled Step on Beat and the Sega Master System Out Run 3D contained the additional Shining Wind and Midnight Highway.

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Route names

Lap number Goal name
1 2 3 4 5
Vineyard A
Wilderness
Desert Death Valley B
Gateway Old Capital
Coconut Beach Alps Desolation Hill C
Devil's Canyon Wheat Field
Cloudy Mountain Autobahn D
Seaside Town
Lakeside E

It was generally considered that the easiest route was that leading to Goal A (i.e. by turning left at each fork), and the most challenging was that leading to Goal E. A total of sixteen variations are possible.

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Releases

Commodore 64 port

Commodore Amiga port

Sega Master System port

Sinclair ZX Spectrum port

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As part of other titles

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Sequels

In the arcades, Out Run was followed up in 1989 by Turbo Outrun. Turbo Outrun was a straight-ahead checkpoint racer in which you drove from New York City to Los Angeles in 16 stages. It also featured a rock-infused soundtrack and while superior in audio and visuals, it lacked the charm of the original.

Another sequel came in 1992 with OutRunners, returning the game to its roots by bringing back the forks in the road. Head-to-head support appeared in the game for the first time, and if arcade cabinets were linked, up to eight drivers could race against each other. The game also featured eight different cars for people to drive in. It was the most successful game released for Sega's System Multi 32 hardware, and one of the last successful 2D games released by Sega.

Out Run gained 3D graphics in 2003, when OutRun 2 (featuring actual licensed vehicles from Ferrari, including a Testarossa) was released to the arcades and later ported to the Xbox with added features such as unlockable cars, audio, tracks from Daytona USA and Scud Race and even a fully playable version of the original OutRun.

An updated version of OutRun 2 was released in arcades in 2004 entitled "OutRun 2 SP". This expanded upon the original by offering a plethora of tracks to drive through, featuring the original map and a new one. It also improved on graphics and added more tunes to listen to while you drove. It also featured the BB512 and GTO250 which also featured in the Xbox version of the original OutRun 2.

In turn, OutRun 2 was succeeded by OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, developed for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. The game combines elements from OutRun 2 and OutRun 2 SP while adding additional features of its own such as car customisation, and it also contains an OutRun 2 SP mode which offers an exact arcade port of OutRun 2 SP.

There are three other Out Runs that were only released for home systems: OutRun Europa, Battle Out Run, and OutRun 2019. On the Sega Master System, there is also a special version of Out Run which makes use of the 3D glasses add-on.

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Trivia

  • The other cars that you race against in this game are:
  • In the 2001 film Donnie Darko, Donnie is playing Out Run at an arcade with his girlfriend. The scene shows him crashing his car during their discussion.
  • In the videogame Shenmue II you can discover an Out Run arcade machine which is faithfully reproduced bar minor changes to the sound samples and the car graphics (to make it not require Ferrari licencing no doubt).
  • The original Out Run is hidden inside the Xbox game Out Run 2 and can be accessed by using the code NINETEEN86 and also by completing all routes in arcade mode. Whereas the original arcade game ran at 60 frames per second, this instance runs at 30 resulting in less fluid animation.
  • In the PC-DOS version, the route that scores the most possible points (about 76½ million) is Coconut Beach-Gateway-Desert-Old Capital-Desolation Hill.
  • It is still debatable if a portion of the song, "Put it in the Air" by Talib Kweli featuring DJ Quik, uses a sample of one of the music tracks of OutRun. The sample is quite short but strikes similar resemblance.
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External links

Template:OutRun seriesde:Out Run fi:Out Run fr:Out Run it:Out Run ja:アウトラン sv:Out Run

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