Nuclear Rush

From Sega Retro

Nuclear Rush title.png

Nuclear Rush
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Sega[1]
Developer: FutureScape Productions[2]
Development timeframe: 1993[1]
Planned release date(s): Late 1994[3]
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1[4]
Status of prototype(s): Source code compiled[5]
Peripheral(s): Sega VR
Sound driver: GEMS

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Nuclear Rush is an unreleased Sega Mega Drive tank combat game for use with the Sega VR headset, developed by FutureScape Productions and slated to be published by Sega. Intended to be the hardware’s pack-in game, it features gameplay similar to Battlezone and Stellar-Fire.

It is the only Sega VR game to be accurately preserved, with a playable version publicly released in November 2020.[5]

Plot

“ Arm up for a cataclysmic trek into a post-nuclear gold rush. Corrupt power companies are siphoning off low level nuclear waste as an energy source. Pose as a nuclear pirate and pilot a weapons-loaded hovercraft through radioactive wastelands guarded by intensely possessive-and heavily armed-robots and drones! 3 levels of 3-D, 360° battlezones over barren deserts, wasted forests and irradiated plains. America the Beautiful this ain't! „

— 1993 Sega of America trade catalog[4]


History

Development

FutureScape Productions artist Rick Lucey recalls creating the game's 3D ship models in the program Animation:Master, and that "it was interesting watching my creations zipping around through the VR head gear".[6] Lead programmer Kevin McGrath states the project required 25,000+ lines of C and Motorola 68000 assembly language to finish.[7]

Nuclear Rush was reportedly completed; however, numerous lingering hardware glitches would eventually see the game's release permanently shelved.[6]

Prerelease

According to lead programmer Kevin McGrath, Nuclear Rush was shown at three separate CES conventions, and was the first game developed for the Sega VR headset.[7]

Legacy

On November 20, 2020, the Video Game History Foundation and Gaming Alexandria announced the release of a late prototype of Nuclear Rush. FutureScape Productions co-founder Kenneth Hurley had retained his copy of the game’s source code, and was able to successfully compile a working ROM image.[5]


“ Kevin spent much of the Nuclear Rush development cycle working without access to Sega VR hardware. Prior to receiving the Sega VR prototype headset, Kevin even tried to rig up his own solution to simulate a stereo flicker effect by rapidly flipping a composite signal between monitors.


Difficulty obtaining prototype hardware may have been a common theme among developers, given Kevin’s experience in conjunction with another account from Alex Smith, lead programmer on the Sega VR title Outlaw Racing. In response to one of Dylan’s questions about the headset, Alex shared that he never saw the prototype hardware. This would seem to further narrow the list of games which actually implemented Sega VR support, even among the games developed with Sega VR in mind. We’re all the more fortunate to have come upon one of the games which did manage to fully implement support for the headset!

„

— The Video Game History Foundation Head of Digital Conservation Rich Whitehouse[5]


Production credits

Source:
In-game credits
Source:
Uncredited


Magazine articles

Main article: Nuclear Rush/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

1993 Sega Catalog.pdf

PDF
1993 Sega of America trade catalogue. The game’s screenshot is erroneously swapped with Outlaw Racing.
1993 Sega Catalog.pdf

Artwork

NuclearRush MD US coverart.png
Prototype cover art[9]
NuclearRush MD US coverart.png

Screenshots

  • Panoramic title screen render used in Sega of America's 1993 trade catalogue.[4]

  • Various models produced by artist Rick Lucey.

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
 ?
CRC32 a2dd6d09
MD5 edd6792de71be35d3554f7b51e39cbda
SHA-1 add0677c5dfe566a5841a3c37ee99ae7ee8e62af
4MB 1994-08-06 Compiled source code Unmodified Page

External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 http://www.drawrick.com/nuclearrush.html (Wayback Machine: 2023-09-23 07:24)
  2. ↑ http://www.drawrick.com/futurescape00.html (Wayback Machine: 2023-09-23 06:35)
  3. ↑ Sega VR
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 File:1993 Sega Catalog.pdf, page 73
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 https://gamehistory.org/segavr/
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 http://www.drawrick.com/nuclearrush.html
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 https://www.linkedin.com/in/kmcgrath/details/experience/
  8. ↑ Interview: Marc Ericksen (2018-06-11) by Retro Video Gamer
  9. ↑ https://www.retrovideogamer.co.uk/rvg-interviews-marc-ericksen/ (Wayback Machine: 2023-12-03 03:48)


Nuclear Rush

Nuclear Rush title.png

Main page | Magazine articles


Sega Mega Drive
Prototypes: 1994-08-06
Sega VR
Topics Technical specifications | Magazine articles | Promotional material | Ono-Sendai Corporation
Games Iron Hammer | Matrix Runner | Nuclear Rush | Outlaw Racing
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