Turbo

From Sega Retro

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Turbo1.png

Turbo
System(s): VCO Object, ColecoVision, Intellivision
Publisher: Sega,
ColecoVision
Intellivision
Coleco
Developer:
Genre: Racing

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Arcade (VCO Object)
JP
¥? ?

































ColecoVision
US
1982-11[3] $? ?
ColecoVision
EU
1983 £49.95[4] ?
Intellivision
US
1984-02[5] $? ?
Intellivision
EU
1983 £? ?

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Turbo (ターボ) is a 1981 arcade game developed by Sega. It is a racing game where the player drives a formula 1 car down a long road while avoiding other cars and obstacles.

Turbo is often considered the first racing game to introduce a third-person perspective to the genre, something that is largely taken for granted now. A third-person perspective had earlier been achieved by Sega's Fonz in 1976, and a first-person perspective by Atari's Night Driver the same year, but the weak technology of the era meant that Fonz was monochrome and Night Driver could only produce white squares on a black background (hence the word "Night").

Turbo was revolutionary in that it could display colourful, detailed backgrounds, with sprite scaling, which gave the impression that the car was moving forwards. What is also notable is that Turbo offers changes of scenery, so the player can drive through cities, along the coast, through tunnels and through snow. Turbo would go on to inspire Namco's successful Pole Position arcade title, which in turn would help to popularise the genre. Pole Position is arguably a less advanced game, in terms of scale, as the scenery does not change.

The gameplay is similar to Sega's earlier arcade title, Monaco GP. Like Monaco GP, its arcade cabinet displays the player's score and speed on separate LED displays, meaning that when the game is emulated, extra considerations must be taken. In MAME for example, there is an option to display these values on the left hand side of the main screen, but this would not have been present on real hardware.

History

Development

Programmer Steve Hanawa was hospitalized after spending hours coding and debugging Turbo.

According to the manual, Turbo was the "result of hundreds of hours of work, design, research, experiment and more work."[6]

Release

Turbo was ported to the ColecoVision and Intellivision in 1982, though many cuts were made in order for the game to run on the weaker hardware of these consoles. An Atari 2600 port was planned, but cancelled. However in recent years a prototype version of the Atari 2600 game has been unearthed. The ColecoVision version of the game was, for a while, bundled with the ColecoVision Expansion Module #2 - a steering wheel.

In 1983, Milton Bradley released a physical board game based on Turbo, simply titled Turbo.

Production credits

This article needs a list of production credits, either from the game itself, a manual, or other reliable source.
Source:
Uncredited


Magazine articles

Main article: Turbo/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Turbo VCOObject US Flyer.pdf

PDF
VCO Object US flyer (older)
Turbo VCOObject US Flyer.pdf

Turbo VCOObject US Flyer Alt.pdf

PDF
VCO Object US flyer (newer)
Turbo VCOObject US Flyer Alt.pdf

Turbo VCOObject US Flyer Mini.pdf

PDF
VCO Object US flyer (mini)
Turbo VCOObject US Flyer Mini.pdf

Turbo VCOObject JP Flyer.pdf

PDF
VCO Object JP flyer
Turbo VCOObject JP Flyer.pdf
Turbo VCOObject JP Flyer alt.jpg
VCO Object JP flyer
Turbo VCOObject JP Flyer alt.jpg
Turbo Intellivision US Flyer.jpg
Intellivision US flyer
Turbo Intellivision US Flyer.jpg

Artwork

Turbo logo.png
Turbo logo.png

Merchandise

Physical scans

VCO Object version

VCO Object, JP

ColecoVision version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
93 №3
ColecoVision
93
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
(US)
100
[8]
(DE)
80
[9]
(FR)
100
[10]
ColecoVision
93
Based on
3 reviews

Turbo

ColecoVision, US
ExpansionModule2 ColecoVision US Box Top.jpg
ExpansionModule2 ColecoVision US Box Back.jpgExpansionModule2 ColecoVision US Box Spine.jpgExpansionModule2 ColecoVision US Box Front.jpgExpansionModule2 ColecoVision US Box Spine2.jpg
Cover
Turbo ColecoVision US Cart.jpg
Cart
ColecoVision, UK
ExpansionModule2 ColecoVision UK Box Back.jpgNospine.pngExpansionModule2 ColecoVision UK Box Front.jpg
Cover
Turbo ColecoVision UK Cart.jpg
Cart
ColecoVision, DE

Turbo ColecoVision DE Cart.jpg
Cart
ColecoVision, CA
ExpansionModule2 ColecoVision CA Box Front.jpg
Cover

Intellivision version

Intellivision, US
Turbo Intellivision US Box Front.jpg
Cover
Turbo Intellivision US Cart.jpg
Cart
Intellivision, EU
Turbo Intellivision EU Box Back.jpgNospine.pngTurbo Intellivision EU Box Front.jpg
Cover

Atari 2600 version

Atari 2600, US (Prototype)

Turbo Atari2600 US Coleco Cart.jpg
Cart

Photo gallery

References


Turbo

Turbo1.png

Main page | Comparisons | Magazine articles | Reception | Merchandise


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