OutRunners

OutRunners
Developer(s)	AM1
Publisher(s)	Sega Data East (Sega Mega Drive)
Platform(s)	Arcade, Sega Mega Drive
Release date(s)	Arcade INT May 19, 1992 Sega Mega Drive JP May 13, 1994 NA June 14, 1994
Genre(s)	Racing game
Mode(s)	Single-player Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: K-A (Kids To Adults)
Cabinet	Sit-down, upright
Arcade system	Sega System 32 Multi
Display	Raster resolution 320 x 224 (Horizontal) Palette Colors 32768

OutRunners is a racing video game developed by AM1 and released by Sega in 1992. It constitutes the third release in the arcade Out Run series and was ported to the Mega Drive by Data East in 1994.

Description

OutRunners two-player cabinet

OutRunners is the fourth game in the Out Run series, following Battle Out Run and Turbo Outrun. After Turbo Outrun's departure from Out Run's laid-back, charming atmosphere, fans wanted a game that captured the spirit of the original. OutRunners succeeded in doing this; it brought back the ability to take different paths through forks in the road, returned to a lighthearted atmosphere, and distanced itself well from the "serious" Turbo Outrun. The game featured head-to-head support, and with enough cabinets, up to eight players could challenge each other. It was also the only game in the Out Run series to feature various selectable cars and multiple endings until OutRun 2. OutRunners was the most successful game released for Sega's System Multi 32 hardware, and one of the last successful 2D games released by Sega. OutRunners was also known for having some of the best looking graphics seen at the time, thanks to creative sprite design and a very skillful use of parallax scrolling, similar to that found in Power Drift, released four years earlier. The game holds up very well today, and plays very similarly to a modern polygon based 3D racer, something not common in a racing game that utilises 2D graphics.

Unlike the original Out Run, some stages are accessible on more than one route combination. After the initial starting stage, the player has the option of either turning east or west. West leads through San Francisco, through the Easter Islands, into Asia and either into Africa or Europe. East goes through the Grand Canyon, South America or Niagara Falls, across the Atlantic Ocean, into Europe and either into Asia or Australia.

An anthropomorphic broad bean character is featured on billboards and the start of the game called "Broad Bean," a parody of Bibendum (the Michelin man), presumably the mascot of the fictional company sponsoring the race, Sam Spree. In the Mega Drive version, both Sonic and Tails may fly by in a pair of Tornados and sprinkle the Sega logo onto the screen. Sonic can also be seen on various billboards in the first stage.^[1]

Course starting from San Francisco

Stage Number
1	2	3	4	Goal
				Kenya
			Egypt
		Hong Kong		Spain
	Pacific Ocean Crossway Bridge		Mediterranean Sea
San Francisco		Japan		Atlantic Ocean Underwater Tunnel
	Hawaii		France
		China		Switzerland
			Germany
				Northern Europe

Course starting from the Grand Canyon

Stage Number
1	2	3	4	Goal
				Russia
			Germany
		Switzerland		China
	Niagara Falls		France
Grand Canyon		Atlantic Ocean Underwater Tunnel		Japan
	South America		Mediterranean Sea
		Spain		Hong Kong
			Egypt
				Australia

All of the selectable cars in OutRunners are fictional convertibles, but bear resemblance to real automobiles. Notably, the Speed Buster closely resembles the Ferrari Testarossa featured in the original OutRun. Each car has its own set of a driver and passenger character, and have their own unique ending vignette if the player makes it to a goal. (Each character set also has their own way of acting when their car crashes [Flying through the air, bouncing like balls, running after the car, etc.] but they always land right back in the car and keep going without stopping.) Each car has its own number of gears for Manual transmission ranging from two to six.

Cars in OutRunners

Name	Color	Real-life equivalent	Transmission	Notes
Easy Handling	blue	Porsche 914	5-Speed	Home course is Kenya, passenger resemble Oprah Winfrey and driver resemble Billy Ocean
Smooth Operator	silver	Honda NSX	2-Speed	Home course is Japan, the driver and passenger resemble two flash photographers
Bad Boy	black	Shelby Cobra	5-Speed	Home course is South America, passenger and driver resemble Thelma & Louise
The Road Monster	pink	Cadillac Eldorado	3-Speed	Home course is Australia, driver is an Elvis impersonator
Quick Reactor	orange	Fiat 500	4-Speed	Home course is Russia, passenger and driver resembles two strong men lifting a car
Wild Chaser	green	Meyers Manx	3-Speed	Home course is Hawaii, passenger resemble Margaret Thatcher
Mad Power	yellow	Lamborghini Diablo	6-Speed	Home course is Spain, passenger resemble Doris Day and driver resemble Michael Jackson
Speed Buster	red	Ferrari Testarossa	2-Speed	Home course is San Francisco and resembles original car from Out Run, passenger and driver resemble two blonde hairs with purple catsuits
Virtua Formula	red/white/blue	cameo appearance of car from Virtua Racing	2-Speed	Secret car exclusive to Mega Drive port but not in the arcade version of the game

Music

OutRunners featured all four of the songs from the original Out Run, as well as various new tracks.

The game was the first known to feature a voiced in-game DJ (Jake Elwood, perhaps a reference to the 1980 movie The Blues Brothers), and allow the switching of songs and radio stations while playing the game; an idea that would later catch on in the Grand Theft Auto and Burnout series of games. Often not credited for creating this idea, it is quickly becoming ubiquitous in modern games.

• Magical Sound Shower (Speed Buster default music)
• Passing Breeze
• Splash Wave (Mad Power default music)
• Picture the Rivers (Smooth Operator default music)
• Blow Your Cool (Bad Boy default music)
• Looking for the Rainbow (Quick Reactor default music)
• Speed King (Easy Handling default music)
• Adventure (Wild Chaser default music)
• Sonic Control (The Road Monster default music)
• Last Wave
• Meaning of the Light (route map music)
• Mega Driver (car selection music, perhaps a pun on the name "Sega Mega Drive")
• Jingle Bells (hidden music)
• Dream Flying (music after reaching final checkpoint)

Also, when listening to the "Mega Radio Station" each stage has its own exclusive music relative to the area.

Ports

The Mega Drive/Genesis port of the game forced a split-screen.

A port of the game was released for the Mega Drive/Genesis by Data East. It featured a forced split-screen in single player modes, where one screen focused on the player and the other on the AI - a gripe many buyers had with the game. Of course, this is because they had to convert a new 32-bit game onto an aging 16-bit console. Though the graphics were merely an adaptation of the arcade version, all other features of this version were kept intact, such as the original arcade soundtrack featuring four songs from the original Outrun.

External links

• OutRun.org (fan site)

References

1. ^ Cameos & Related Games