OutRunners

From Sega Retro

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Outrunners Title.png

OutRunners
System(s): Sega System Multi 32, Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Sega, Data East (MD/US)
Developer:
Sound driver:
Sega Mega Drive
SMPS/Z80
Genre: Racing

















Number of players:
Arcade
1-4
Sega Mega Drive
1-2
Release Date RRP Code

OutRunners (アウトランナーズ) is a sequel to the 1986 Sega classic OutRun and was developed in 1992 and released in early 1993 for the Sega System Multi 32 arcade platform.

Gameplay

OutRunners follows a similar format to OutRun, in which the player is tasked with driving across the world within a specified amount of time. There are, however, twice as many areas as OutRun in OutRunners, as the world is divided into east and west (selectable after the first stage). Whereas OutRun took place in Europe and Turbo OutRun North America, OutRunners spans the entire globe.

The superior System 32 hardware allow for vastly improved graphics, eight selectable cars (a scrapped plan for the original OutRun) and more music tracks (including those featured in the original OutRun game). It was always distributed as a two player deluxe cabinet (hence the "System Multi 32" name), and it is possible to link two cabinets together to create a four-player racing experience. It was the first OutRun game to allow more than one player to compete at once.

Track Layout

Like the original OutRun, the journey in OutRunners contains many forks in the road, leading to one of ten possible endings. Players all begin at the same location, but are given a choice whether they want to take the eastern or the western routes. Some areas are repeated for both sides, though it is impossible to visit the same location twice in one outing.

Goal Stage Number Goal
5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5
A Northern Europe Russia F
Germany Germany
B Switzerland China Switzerland China G
France Hawaii Niagara Falls France
C Atlantic Ocean Underwater Tunnel Japan San Francisco Start Grand Canyon Atlantic Ocean Underwater Tunnel Japan H
Mediterranean Sea Pacific Ocean Crossway Bridge South America Mediterranean Sea
D Spain Hong Kong Spain Hong Kong I
Egypt Egypt
E Kenya Australia J

Versions

The Mega Drive port of OutRunners is always displayed as a two-player game, but it does have a secret car from Virtua Racing.

Though it was the most popular game for Sega's Multi 32 hardware, unlike its predecessors OutRunners only received one home console port, to the Sega Mega Drive in 1994. In this port, the screen is split horizontally into two in an attempt to mimic the two screens of the System Multi 32 platform. This, along with the reduced graphics quality and scaled back special effects, meant this version of the game is often the subject to harsh criticism. For some reason, Data East published the game in the US; it was not released in Europe.

There are some slight differences between the Japanese and North American versions. Entering LeftRightLeftRightBCA at the title screen of the Japanese Mega Drive version, selecting arcade mode with C and then pressing Left allows the user to play as a secret car, "Virtua Formula", otherwise known as the car from Virtua Racing. This option comes complete with a selection of sound effects and music jingles from the game. Whereas the North American option allows you to input the code (and get a confirmation noise), you cannot drive this car.

There would not be another OutRun game released until 2003, when OutRun 2 was brought to Sega Chihiro hardware.

Production credits

Arcade version

Planner: Makoto Sugawara
Programmer: Kazunari Tsukamoto, Hidetoshi "Wiz" Takeshita, Yoshimi Aikawa, Kazutomo "Manchi" Sanbongi
Designer: Masaki Kondoh, Taku Makino, Takahiro Ohtsuka, Kazunori Hidaka, Yuiko Aki, Atsushi Shimamura, Tetsu Nakajima, Akira Watanabe, Toshiyuki Mukaiyama, Katsuhisa Satoh
Sound Composer: Takayuki Nakamura, Hiroshi Miyauchi, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi

Additionally, the name Miyu Tsukamoto is present in the ROMs.

Mega Drive version

Producer: Ossiy
Director: JUN Tsu Chi
Planner: Moririn
Programmer: Waka!!, Koba, KenKen
Designer: George, KumoPU, TsuNo.1
Sound Composer: Hata, Milpo, Pomtaro, Shirako
Special Thanks: Sarnin, Miya, Q-Taro, Yosshi, YUI CHAN, Four

Gallery

Magazine articles

Main article: OutRunners/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Mega Drive print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #59: "June 1994" (1994-xx-xx)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Mega Drive print advert in Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #62: "September 1994" (1994-xx-xx)
also published in:
  • EGM² (US) #5: "November 1994" (1994-1x-xx)[4]
Logo-pdf.svg

Physical scans

System 32 version

Arcade, US
OutRunners System32 US Manual.pdf
Manual
Arcade, JP
Arcade, DE

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
48 №153, p97[5]
41
65 №34, p38[6]
50 №22, p64-66[7]
20 №22, p47
43
76 №34, p44
Sega Mega Drive
49
Based on
7 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
58
[8]
Cool Gamer (RU)
60
[9]
Computer & Video Games (UK) NTSC
48
[5]
Digitiser (UK) NTSC
41
[10]
Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U
50
[11]
Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU)
60
[12]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
50
[13]
Game Players (US) NTSC-U
41
[14]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
78
[15]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
40
[16]
Joypad (FR) NTSC-J
65
[6]
Mega (UK) NTSC-J
20
[17]
Mega Fun (DE) NTSC-U
28
[18]
MegaTech (UK) NTSC-J
52
[19]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) NTSC-J
50
[7]
Power Unlimited (NL)
43
[20]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J
76
[21]
Sega Zone (UK) NTSC-J
45
[22]
Sega Mega Drive Review (RU)
80
[23]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
61
[24]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
73
[25]
Video Games (DE)
45
[26]
VideoGames (US) NTSC-U
40
[27]
Sega Mega Drive
52
Based on
23 reviews

OutRunners

Mega Drive, US
OutRunners MD US Box.jpg
Cover
OutRunners MD US Cart.JPG
Cart
Mega Drive, JP
Outrunners md jp cover.jpg
Cover
OutRunners MD JP CartTop.jpg
Outrunners md jp cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, KR

References

  1. VideoGames, "July 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 38
  2. EGM², "July 1994" (US; 1994-07-19), page 70
  3. EGM², "August 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 50
  4. EGM², "November 1994" (US; 1994-1x-xx), page 72
  5. 5.0 5.1 File:CVG UK 153.pdf, page 97 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CVG UK 153.pdf_p97" defined multiple times with different content
  6. 6.0 6.1 File:Joypad FR 034.pdf, page 38 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Joypad FR 034.pdf_p38" defined multiple times with different content
  7. 7.0 7.1 File:MeanMachinesSega22UK.pdf, page 64 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachinesSega22UK.pdf_p64" defined multiple times with different content
  8. Beep! MegaDrive, "June 1994" (JP; 1994-05-07), page 18
  9. Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 150
  10. Digitiser (UK) (1994-07-21)
  11. Electronic Games (1992-1995), "July 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 70
  12. Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 346
  13. Famitsu, "1994-05-20" (JP; 1994-05-06), page 38
  14. Game Players, "Vol. 7 No. 8 August 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 50
  15. GamePro, "August 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 46
  16. Hippon Super, "June 1994" (JP; 1994-04-30), page 62
  17. Mega, "July 1994" (UK; 1994-06-16), page 47
  18. Mega Fun, "08/94" (DE; 1994-07-20), page 62
  19. MegaTech, "July 1994" (UK; 1994-06-16), page 48
  20. Power Unlimited, "Jaagang 3, Jul/Aug 1995" (NL; 1995-06-28), page 54
  21. Sega Pro, "July 1994" (UK; 1994-06-16), page 44
  22. Sega Zone, "July 1994" (UK; 1994-06-xx), page 38
  23. Sega Mega Drive Review, "1" (RU; 1995-04-03), page 109
  24. Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 87
  25. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 131
  26. Video Games, "11/94" (DE; 1994-10-26), page 116
  27. VideoGames, "October 1994" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 74



OutRun series of games
Arcade
OutRun (1986) | Turbo OutRun (1989) | OutRunners (1992) | OutRun 2 (2003) | OutRun 2 SP (2004) | OutRun 2 SP SDX (2006)
Sega Master System
OutRun (1987) | OutRun 3D (1988) | Battle OutRun (1989) | OutRun Europa (1991)
Windows PC
OutRun (1987) | Turbo OutRun (1989) | OutRun Europa (1991) | OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (2006)
MSX
OutRun (1988)
FM Towns/FM Towns Marty
Turbo OutRun (1989)
LCD handheld game
OutRun (1989) | OutRun F-1 (19xx)
Sega Mega Drive
OutRun (1991) | Turbo OutRun (1992) | OutRun 2019 (1993) | OutRunners (1994) | Arcade Legends OutRun 2019 (200x)
Sega Game Gear
OutRun (1991) | OutRun Europa (1992)
Sega Saturn
Sega Ages OutRun (1996)
i-mode 503i
OutRun (2001)
Sony PlayStation 2
Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 13: OutRun (2004) | OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (2006) | OutRun 2 SP (2007)
Xbox
OutRun 2 (2004) | OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (2006)
Sony PlayStation Portable
OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (2006)
Xbox 360
Sony PlayStation 3
OutRun Online Arcade (2009)
Nintendo 3DS
3D OutRun (2014)
Nintendo Switch
Sega Ages OutRun (2018)
OutRun-related media
Music
OutRun (1992) | Virtua Racing & OutRunners (1993) | Yu Suzuki Produce OutRun (1997) | Sega Presents OutRun 2: Music Through the Ages (2004) | OutRun 2 Sound Tracks (2004) | OutRun 2 Sound Tracks: Side B (2005) | OutRun Sound Tracks: Complement (2007) | OutRun 20th Anniversary Box (2007) | OutRun (2016) | Sega Ages OutRun: Music Collection (2019)
Film
OutRun (1987) | OutRun (1988) | Super Monaco GP / Turbo OutRun (1989) | Out Run/Turbo Out Run Strategy Movie & S.S.T. Band Live+1 (2007)