is a

kart racing game A kart racing game, also known as cart racing game or go-kart racing game, is a subgenre of racing video games. Kart racing games have simplified driving mechanics while including unusual racetrack designs, obstacles, and vehicular combat. Tho ...

released in arcades by

Sega is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, respectively. Its division ...

in 1988. More technologically advanced than Sega's earlier 2.5D racing games, like '' Hang-On'' (1985) and ''

Out Run (also stylized as ''OutRun'') is an arcade driving video game released by Sega in September 1986. It is known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi (comp ...

'' (1986), in ''Power Drift'' the entire world and track consist of sprites. The upgraded hardware of the Sega Y Board allows individual sprites and the background to be rotated–even while being scaled–making the visuals more dynamic. Designed and directed by

Yu Suzuki is a Japanese game designer, producer, programmer, and engineer, who headed Sega's AM2 team for 18 years. Considered one of the first auteurs of video games, he has been responsible for a number of Sega's arcade hits, including three-dimen ...

, the game was a critical and commercial success upon release in arcades. It was subsequently ported to various home computers in Europe by

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one ...

in 1989, followed by a

PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, thoug ...

port published in Japan by Asmik Ace in 1990. It was not released on Sega consoles until the '' Sega Ages'' release for the

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the su ...

in 1998.

Gameplay

The objective is to finish each race in third place or better in order to advance to the next stage. Players have the option of continuing if they finish the race in fourth place or lower before the game is over. However, the player's score will not increase upon continuing the game.

Courses

The tracks have a

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are ...

feel to them, with many steep climbs and falls, as well as the ability to "fall" off higher levels. To add to this feeling, the sit-down cabinet was built atop a raised hydraulic platform, and the machine would tilt and shake quite violently. Each circuit, labeled from "A" to "E" has a certain theme to it (for example, circuit A has cities, circuit B has deserts, circuit C has beaches, etc.) in a series of five tracks. There are also four laps for each course. Course A was Springfield Ovalshape, Foofy Hilltop, Snowhill Drive, Octopus Oval and Curry De Parl, Course B was Swingshot City, Phantom Riverbend, Octangular Ovalshape, Charlotte Beach and Highland Spheres, Course C was Bum Beach, Jason Bendyline, Nighthawk City, Zanussi Island and Wasteman Freefall, Course D was Mexico Colours, Oxygen Desert, Jamie Road, Monaco Da Farce and Blow Hairpin, Course E was Aisthorpe Springrose Valley, Patterson Nightcity, Lydia Rightaway, Bungalow Ridgeway and Karen Longway, The two extra stages with Courses A, C and E resemble a jet fighter from ''

After Burner II is an arcade vehicular combat game developed and released by Sega in 1987. The player assumes control of an American F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, and must clear each of the game's eighteen unique stages by destroying incoming enemies, using both a m ...

'' and Courses B and D resemble a superbike from '' Super Hang-On''. If players place first on all five tracks (which is indicated by all five gold trophies on the number of wins display behind the course letter), an "Extra Stage" is unlocked, where the assigned car is a vehicle from other

games. Courses A, C and E allow players to race with the

F-14 Tomcat The Grumman F-14 Tomcat is an American carrier-capable supersonic aircraft, supersonic, twinjet, twin-engine, two-seat, twin-tail, variable-sweep wing fighter aircraft. The Tomcat was developed for the United States Navy's Naval Fighter Experi ...

fighter jet from the ''

After Burner is an arcade vehicular combat game developed and released by Sega in 1987. The player assumes control of an American F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, and must clear each of the game's eighteen unique stages by destroying incoming enemies, using both a m ...

'' series in the Extra Stage, while courses B and D have an option to race the motorcycle from the '' Hang-On'' series. Players also can press the start button while in a race to see a rear view.

Music

Each course in the game has a theme song:

Ports

''Power Drift'' was later ported to the

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness W ...

, MSX,

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first per ...

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few o ...

and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

home computers by

and released in 1989. The home computer ports lack the tilting action seen in the original arcade version. A

version was developed by Copya Systems and published exclusively in Japan by

Asmik Ace Entertainment , formerly is a Japanese film production and distribution company. In the past, the company has distributed video games. It was formed in 1997 through a merger between the Asmik Corporation and Ace Entertainment, both of Japan. The name Asmik ...

on April 13, 1990. A

Sega Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as ...

version was planned but never released. A

32X The 32X is an add-on for the Sega Genesis video game console. Codenamed "Project Mars", it was designed to expand the power of the Genesis and serve as a transitional console into the 32-bit era until the release of the Sega Saturn. The 32X u ...

port was in development by Sega, but not published. Dempa was working on a

Sega CD The Sega CD, released as the in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan ...

conversion that also did not reach store shelves. Sega later included ''Power Drift'' in the

compilation series '' Sega Ages'' released on February 26, 1998 and in ''Yu Suzuki Game Works Vol. 1'' for the

Dreamcast The is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998, in Japan; September 9, 1999, in North America; and October 14, 1999, in Europe. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nint ...

on December 1, 2001.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Power Drift'' on their 1988 issue as being the second most-successful upright arcade unit of the month. It went on to be the fourth highest-grossing arcade game of 1989 in Japan. The ZX Spectrum port knocked the long-standing ''

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Daniel O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox, Kurtwood Smith, and Miguel Fer ...

'' from the top of the UK sales charts in 1989. The arcade game received positive reviews from critics upon release in 1988. ''

Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was publi ...

'' magazine rated it 10 out of 10, comparing it favorably with Sega's earlier arcade hit ''

'' (1986) and stating it was technically "a breakthrough", while praising the "breathtaking" graphics and "heartstopping" gameplay. Andy Smith of ''

Advanced Computer Entertainment ''ACE'' (Advanced Computer Entertainment) was a multi-format computer and video game magazine first published in the United Kingdom by Future Publishing and later acquired by EMAP. History ACE launched in October 1987, roughly the same time as ...

'' said it was an "exciting" and "thrilling high speed" racing game in "a futuristic car cum-Go-Kart" that "combines all that was best" in ''Out Run'' and ''

Buggy Boy known as ''Speed Buggy'' in North America, is an off-road racing game developed by Tatsumi and released for arcades in 1985. The cockpit version of the arcade cabinet has a panoramic three-screen display, a feature previously employed in '' TX ...

'' (1985) to come up "with a terrific driving game that looks set to be a winner". ''

GameFan ''GameFan'' (originally known as ''Diehard GameFan'') was a publication started by Tim Lindquist, Greg Off, George Weising. and Dave Halverson in September 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and import video games. It was notable for its ex ...

'' magazine reviewed the PC Engine version, scoring it 172 out of 200. ''

'' gave the arcade version of ''Power Drift'' the " Racing Game of 1988" award. They said it was, "without doubt, the single most spectacular game ever to arrive in an arcade". They explained, "the blinding speed of the game and the astonishing way that the track zooms up and down, side to side as you participate in the race of a lifetime can be described in no lesser term than fab".

Legacy

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

'' gave ''Power Drift'' the award for "First kart racing videogame" as it predated ''

Super Mario Kart ''Super Mario Kart'' is a kart racing video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The first game in the ''Mario Kart'' series, it was released in Japan and North America in 1992, and in Europe th ...

'' (1992).

References

External links

* *
Power Drift
' at Arcade History *
Power Drift
' Sega Y Board hardware at System16
''Power Drift''
at Gamebase 64 * {{Yu Suzuki, state=expanded 1988 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games Atari ST games Cancelled Sega 32X games Cancelled Sega CD games Cancelled Sega Genesis games Commodore 64 games DOS games MSX games Kart racing video games Racing video games Sega-AM2 games Sega arcade games TurboGrafx-16 games Video games designed by Yu Suzuki Video games developed in Japan Video games featuring female protagonists Video games scored by Alberto Jose González Video games scored by David Lowe Video games scored by Hiroshi Kawaguchi ZX Spectrum games