Turbo OutRun

From Sega Retro

For non-FM Towns home computer versions, see Turbo OutRun (home computers).

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Turbo OutRun Title.png

Turbo OutRun
System(s): Sega OutRun hardware, Sega Mega Drive, FM Towns
Publisher: Sega,
FM Towns/FM Towns Marty
CRI
Developer:
Genre: Racing

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code

Turbo OutRun (ターボアウトラン) is an arcade sequel to OutRun released in 1989. Though not the first sequel to OutRun, Turbo OutRun is considered to be the first "true" sequel, having been built by a similar team at Sega AM2 with the arcades in mind.

Gameplay

TurboOutRun Course.png

Turbo OutRun has the player make a journey across the United States of America, from New York to Los Angeles. It is a more linear game than its predecessor, offering no forks in the road and therefore less of an incentive to play the game again after completion.

For the most part, the game is very similar to its predecessor, save for new graphics and music. Turbo OutRun offers several new features however, such as weather effects and obstacles which can slow your journey down. Like its predecessor, the player drives a car which looks suspiciously like Ferrari, however rather than being a Ferrari Testarossa, it is a Ferrari F40. You are also set against a rival opponent, driving what appears to be a white Porsche 959 (a nod towards the rivalry between Ferrari and Porsche at that time).

The game is divided into four "sub-goals". Upon reaching a goal, the player is able to upgrade their car. If the opponent gets to the goal first, the player's girlfriend will sit in the oppoent car in the next race, however if the player gets there first, a 1,000,000 point bonus is given.

The other major addition to Turbo OutRun is the inclusion of a "Turbo" feature: the back of the car has a rocket-type exhaust on the back and the player is given a "boost" button, which allows the car to travel faster. If the boost is left on for too long however, the car will overheat, and will be punished with slowdown. It is also the first OutRun game to offer an automatic transmission option.

After each goal, the player is taken to a shop where they can apply one of three upgrades to their car: a better engine, high-grip tires, or a better turbo. Each upgrade may be applied only once, and since there are four sections, the player will eventually have a maxed-out car.

The arcade version also allows you to continue from the beginning of the stage if you lose, a feature that did not survive into later OutRun games.

There are four stage songs: "Rush a Difficulty", "Keep Your Heart", "Shake the Street", and "Who Are You". Unlike in other OutRun games, the player cannot choose the song currently playing — they are tied to each section. Additionally, every version of the game appears to use a different song order, and the Sega Mega Drive port changes the song titles ("Insanity", "Highway", "Main Theme", and "Funky run", respectively, in addition to having its own songs).

History

Development

Though very different to the rest of the series, Turbo OutRun is arguably closer to Yu Suzuki's vision for the original OutRun, being set in the United States of America and featuring various scrapped ideas such as a checkpoint system.

Like OutRun Ferrari were not consulted during the development of this game, although the Ferrari brand is used on Turbo OutRun arcade cabinets.

Release

Turbo OutRun was released as both a stand-alone arcade cabinet and as an upgrade kit to the original OutRun. The upgrade kits offer very minor aesthetic changes - a different marquee and extra "Turbo" stickers. Some Turbo OutRun cabinets were converted back into regular OutRun machines as the prior game proved more popular - Turbo OutRun cabinets can be identified by the use of Ferrari branding.

Legacy

The game was ported to the Sega Mega Drive in 1992 exclusively in Japan and Europe, and was brought to the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS computers and ZX Spectrum too. Each of these ports suffer from cutbacks as sprite scaling is not supported by these systems.

Production credits

OutRun Hardware version

Game Design: Bin
Program: Bin, Coma, Okape
Design: Mr.Jee, Papa, Gudon
Sound: Kerotan, Hiro
Sp. Thanks: Sada, Yu.
Presented by ©Sega

Gallery

Magazine articles

Main article: Turbo OutRun/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Physical scans

Arcade version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
80 №68, p96[2]
Arcade
80
Based on
1 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Arcade
N/A
Based on
0 reviews

Turbo OutRun

Arcade, US
Arcade, JP

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
72 №6, p72/73[3]
68 №10, p90[4]
74 №9, p70/71[5]
75 №27, p142[6]
12 №5, p95
53 №9, p23
41 №4, p36/37
42 №18, p78/79[7]
42 №1, p127[8]
31 №30, p38/39
77 №7, p40/41[9]
52 №18, p68
89 №11, p39[10]
Sega Mega Drive
56
Based on
13 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
55
[11]
Consoles + (FR)
72
[3]
Cool Gamer (RU)
60
[12]
Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK)
42
[13]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
40
[14]
Hobby Consolas (ES)
68
[15]
Joypad (FR) NTSC-J
74
[5]
Joystick (FR) NTSC-J
75
[6]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL
12
[16]
Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J
60
[17]
Mega (UK) PAL
53
[18]
Mega (UK)
53
[19]
Mega Force (FR)
65
[20]
MegaTech (UK) PAL
41
[21]
Mean Machines (UK)
42
[7]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)
42
[22]
Play Time (DE)
70
[23]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
31
[24]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
77
[9]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
52
[25]
Sega Opisaniy i sekretov (RU)
72
[26]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
51
[27]
Supergame (BR) NTSC-U
89
[10]
Supersonic (FR)
72
[28]
Video Games (DE)
47
[29]
Sega Mega Drive
57
Based on
25 reviews

Turbo OutRun

Mega Drive, EU
Turbo OutRun MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
TurboOutRun MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, JP
TurboOutRun MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
TurboOutRun MD JP CartTop.jpg
TurboOutRun MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
TurboOutRun MD jp manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, AU

Mega Drive, AU (Sega Gold Collection)
TurboOutRun MD AU Box Gold.jpg
Cover

FM Towns version

FM Towns, JP
TurboOutRun FMTowns JP Box Front.jpg
Cover

References

  1. http://www.mamedb.com/game/toutrun
  2. File:CommodoreUser UK 68.pdf, page 96
  3. 3.0 3.1 File:ConsolesPlus FR 006.pdf, page 72 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:ConsolesPlus FR 006.pdf_p72" defined multiple times with different content
  4. File:HobbyConsolas ES 010.pdf, page 82
  5. 5.0 5.1 File:Joypad FR 009.pdf, page 70 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Joypad FR 009.pdf_p70" defined multiple times with different content
  6. 6.0 6.1 File:Joystick FR 027.pdf, page 142 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Joystick FR 027.pdf_p142" defined multiple times with different content
  7. 7.0 7.1 File:MeanMachines UK 18.pdf, page 78 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachines UK 18.pdf_p78" defined multiple times with different content
  8. File:MeanMachinesSega01UK.pdf, page 127
  9. 9.0 9.1 File:SegaPro UK 07.pdf, page 40 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaPro UK 07.pdf_p40" defined multiple times with different content
  10. 10.0 10.1 File:Supergame BR 11.pdf, page 39 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Supergame BR 11.pdf_p39" defined multiple times with different content
  11. Beep! MegaDrive, "April 1992" (JP; 1992-03-07), page 36
  12. Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 229
  13. Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 111
  14. Hippon Super, "April 1992" (JP; 1992-03-04), page 84
  15. Hobby Consolas, "Julio 1992" (ES; 1992-0x-xx), page 90
  16. Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 95
  17. Mega Drive Fan, "June 1992" (JP; 1992-05-08), page 83
  18. Mega, "June 1993" (UK; 1993-05-20), page 21
  19. Mega, "June 1994" (UK; 1994-05-19), page 65
  20. Mega Force, "Juin 1992" (FR; 1992-06-05), page 78
  21. MegaTech, "April 1992" (UK; 1992-03-20), page 36
  22. Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 142
  23. Play Time, "7/92" (DE; 1992-06-03), page 91
  24. Sega Power, "May 1992" (UK; 1992-04-02), page 38
  25. Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 68
  26. Sega Opisaniy i sekretov, "14000 Opisaniy i sekretov" (RU; 2003-03-11), page 207
  27. Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 87
  28. Supersonic, "Juillet/Août 1992" (FR; 1992-xx-xx), page 12
  29. Video Games, "6/92" (DE; 1992-05-29), page 55



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 20th Anniversary Box (2007) | OutRun Sound Tracks: Complement (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)