''Turbo OutRun'' (ターボアウトラン) is a

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

racing game released 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 ...

. A follow-up to 1986's ''

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 ...

'', it was released as a dedicated game, as well as an upgrade kit for the original ''Out Run''

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a t ...

. Like its predecessor, ''Turbo OutRun'' has players driving a Ferrari, this time a

Ferrari F40 The Ferrari F40 (''tipo'' F120) is a mid-engine, rear-wheel drive sports car engineered by Nicola Materazzi with styling by Pininfarina. It was built from 1987 until 1992, with the LM and GTE race car versions continuing production until 199 ...

. Players now traverse a set route across the entire continental

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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instead of the branching paths of the first game. In addition to a time limit, ''Turbo OutRun'' also adds a computer-controlled opponent driving a

Porsche 959 The Porsche 959 is a sports car manufactured by German automobile manufacturer Porsche from 1986 to 1993, first as a Group B rally car and later as a road legal production car designed to satisfy FIA homologation regulations requiring at leas ...

. The "Turbo" in the title also plays a factor as players can now press a button to receive a brief turbo boost of speed. Various

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chose ...

s which increase the vehicle's attributes can now be chosen at various stages of the game.

Ports A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...

of ''Turbo OutRun'' were released for home computers as well as Sega's own

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 a ...

Overview

In ''Turbo Outrun'' the player controls a male driver sitting alongside his girlfriend in a

, racing against the clock and a computer-controlled opponent in a silver

in a race across the United States. The goal is to reach

from the starting point of

. Unlike the original ''Out Run'', there are no branch roads to choose from. Instead, there is only one path that can be taken to reach the goal. A notable feature of the game is that the player can increase speed by using

turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pr ...

boost by pressing a button on the side of the console-mounted shifter; the engine temperature will increase in kind on the on-screen

gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, es ...

. When the gauge reaches "OVERHEAT!" turbo boost cannot be used until the temperature decreases. Another notable difference is that police cars occasionally appear that try to stop the player. They have to either be outrun by using the turbo boost or destroyed by the player by ramming them off-road and into an object on the side of the road. Unlike the original

, Turbo Out Run offers the player a choice between

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving ...

or two-speed

manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission (mechanics), transmission ...

. At every sub-goal (reached after passing through about four cities), an upgrade can be chosen, the three being: Hi-Power Engine, Special Turbo, and Super Grip Tires. If the CPU opponent reaches the sub-goal before the player, at the next race, the driver's girlfriend will move to the opponent's car. He can still win the girl back if he beats the CPU opponent to the next sub-goal. If the player beats the opponent with the girl in hand, a 1,000,000 point bonus is given. Also, the girl kisses the driver in front of his CPU opponent. If the player reaches the final checkpoint, in the process, the player will pass the CPU opponent and the ending scene is played. It was available in a stand-up cabinet, and a sit-down cabinet with decals giving it an appearance of a

, the car featured in the game. There were also conversion kits available to convert original ''Out Run'' machines to ''Turbo OutRun''. Computer ports of the game were received with varying degrees of enthusiasm. While the

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 ...

version was widely seen as a good game, the 16-bit conversions got very negative reviews.

Stage order

The courses are raced straightforward in 4 sections consisting of 4 stages each with no fork roads: * Stage 1:

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

(start of game) * Stage 2: Washington, D.C. * Stage 3:

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

* Stage 4:

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

(end of section 1) * Stage 5:

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

(Runs along Route 66) * Stage 6:

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

* Stage 7:

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

* Stage 8:

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

(end of section 2) * Stage 9:

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

* Stage 10:

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

* Stage 11:

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

* Stage 12:

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

(End of section 3) * Stage 13:

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

* Stage 14:

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

* Stage 15:

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

(Runs along Route 66) * Stage 16:

(end of game) Aside from the reduction in length (the 9000 km route would take approx 80 hours, the game can be finished in 15 minutes), some of the stages are not accurately portrayed to their real life counterparts. For example: Atlanta is nothing more than a field covered in

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughou ...

(more resembling

Stone Mountain Park Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the small city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state of Georgia. ...

) and Dallas looks like the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert ( Chinese: 戈壁 (沙漠), Mongolian: Говь (ᠭᠣᠪᠢ)) () is a large desert or brushland region in East Asia, and is the sixth largest desert in the world. Geography The Gobi measures from southwest to northeast a ...

Music

Unlike the original 1986 game ''

'', the music cannot be selected. Instead, the game's background music plays in a predetermined order, depending on region: Japan & US Layout: * Rush a Difficulty (Stages 1–4) * Keep Your Heart (Stages 5–8) * Shake the Street (Stages 9–12) * Who Are You? (Stages 13–16) European Layout: * Shake the Street (Stages 1–4) * Rush a Difficulty (Stages 5–8) * Who Are You? (Stages 9–12) * Keep Your Heart (Stages 13–16) In the 1993

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade vi ...

''Daytona USA'', a song from ''Turbo Outrun'' can be played on the name entry screen by entering the initials TOR. The result is the opening couple of bars of "Rush A Difficulty".

Commodore 64 soundtrack

The Commodore 64 home version soundtrack, composed and arranged by

Jeroen Tel Jeroen Godfried Tel (born 19 May 1972), also known as WAVE, is a Dutch composer. He is best known for numerous computer game tunes he wrote in the 1980s and early 1990s for the Commodore 64. His most popular compositions appear in the following C ...

, was well received. The soundtrack won the "Best music on 8-bit computer 1989" award on

European Computer Trade Show The European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) was an annual trade show for the European video game industry which first ran in 1988, the last event being held in 2004. The exposition was only open to industry professionals and journalists, although it w ...

. The title track is a remix of "Magical Sound Shower" from ''Out Run'', featuring sound samples from Jeroen Tel himself; due to sampling quality, he was actually saying "One, two, ''tree''... hit it, Out Run" while recording, instead of "three", to avoid it sounding like "free".

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Turbo Outrun'' on their March 15, 1989 issue as being the third most-successful upright/cockpit arcade unit of the month. In North America, by August 1989, the arcade game had reached number two on the ''

Play Meter ''Play Meter'' (initially ''Coin Industry Play Meter'') was an American trade magazine focusing on the coin-op amusement arcade industry, including jukebox and arcade game machines. It was founded in December 1974 by publisher and editor Ralph C. ...

'' video game charts and number six on the ''RePlay'' upright cabinet charts. ''Turbo Outrun'' received positive to mixed reviews, depending on the version. The arcade and Commodore 64 versions were well received. ''

Commodore User ''Commodore User'', known to the readers as the abbreviated ''CU'', was one of the oldest British Commodore magazines. With a publishing history spanning over 15 years, it mixed content with technical and video game features. Incorporating ''Vic ...

'' reviewed the arcade version and scored it 8 out of 10. The C64 version was awarded 93% from ''

C+VG C, or c, is the third letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''. History "C" ...

'' and 97% in ''

Zzap!64 ''Zzap!64'' was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact. The magazine ...

''. The Spectrum version of the game received 70% from ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History Th ...

'', 78% from ''

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 ...

'' and 79% from ''

Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch ...

''. ''Mean Machines'' dismissed the Mega Drive version with an overall rating of 42%. The only aspect of the game to receive genuine praise was the high-scores screen design. The review pointed to "hopeless, mega-jerky 3-D graphics, juddery scrolling, dreadful tunes, naff sound effects, and badly drawn sprites", and concluded it to be a "clapped out

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of a race game".''Mean Machines'', Issue 18, March 1992, pp. 78-9 ''

Mega Mega or MEGA may refer to: Science * mega-, a metric prefix denoting 106 * Mega (number), a certain very large integer in Steinhaus–Moser notation * "mega-" a prefix meaning "large" that is used in taxonomy * Gravity assist, for ''Moon-Eart ...

'' placed the Mega Drive version at #3 in their list of the 10 Worst Mega Drive Games of All Time.Mega magazine issue 1, page 85,

Future Publishing Future plc is an international multimedia company established in the United Kingdom in 1985. The company has over 220 brands that span magazines, newsletters, websites, and events in fields such as video games, technology, films, music, photogr ...

, Oct 1992

References

External links