The Complete History of Sega Racing Arcade Games

[BadMouth]

Swiped this from here: http://segabits.com/blog/2013/03/01/infographic-segas-outstanding-history-of-racing-arcade-games/
Reposting the pic here instead of just linking because it looks like they got it from somewhere else. 

[jackiabu]

nice BadMouth.

i think outrun is Their most successful machine Dont you think so?

[BadMouth]

nice BadMouth.

i think outrun is Their most successful machine Dont you think so?

I've read that Daytona USA is the most successful arcade game in SEGA's entire history, but I can't find a source to confirm that.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah it is.  Inexplicably so considering that Outrun and so many of their arcade titles, racing or otherwise, are better than Daytona. 

But then again it has NASCAR involvement.  So inexplicably it's quite popular.  I call this the "Jeff Foxworthy Effect"   

[wp34]

For some reason I didn't put it together that Sega was responsible for all of these.  It is cool to see them all linked together.  I remember playing Head-On back in the day.

Crazy Taxi might be my favorite to play--although I've not played a dedicated Outrun in years.

[BadMouth]

Daytona was HUGE in South America as well.

Just because it's stock car racing, people assume that it was only popular in the U.S.

[BadMouth]

Crazy Taxi might be my favorite to play--although I've not played a dedicated Outrun in years.

Another history tidbit:  Sega sued Electronic Arts over their use of the overhead arrow navigation aid in the game Simpsons Road Rage, claiming it was stolen from Crazy Taxi.  Sega actually patented the concept of the arrow floating above the car to point you in the right direction. 
The whole game concept was stolen if you ask me.  Sega won and EA had to pay them damages.

[wp34]

That is interesting.  I honestly just assumed that the Simpson's game was a port of Crazy Taxi since they are so similar.   We used to play the PS2 version of Road Rage a lot with my kids and their cousins at the in-laws.  I never noticed it was made by EA and not Sega.

Crazy Taxi might be my favorite to play--although I've not played a dedicated Outrun in years.

Another history tidbit:  Sega sued Electronic Arts over their use of the overhead arrow navigation aid in the game Simpsons Road Rage, claiming it was stolen from Crazy Taxi.  Sega actually patented the concept of the arrow floating above the car to point you in the right direction. 
The whole game concept was stolen if you ask me.  Sega won and EA had to pay them damages.

[opt2not]

Crazy Taxi might be my favorite to play--although I've not played a dedicated Outrun in years.

Another history tidbit:  Sega sued Electronic Arts over their use of the overhead arrow navigation aid in the game Simpsons Road Rage, claiming it was stolen from Crazy Taxi.  Sega actually patented the concept of the arrow floating above the car to point you in the right direction. 
The whole game concept was stolen if you ask me.  Sega won and EA had to pay them damages.

It was actually Sega vs. Fox.  I remembered that because a Vancouver game company, Radical Entertainment, developed that game for Fox Interactive (the owners of the Simpson license).

Some good details here:
http://www.patentarcade.com/2010/07/case-analysis-sega-v-fox.html

[LeSpank]

What is GRID doing on there? Isn't it a Codemasters developed game?

And the use of Saturn screenshots for some of the games. Budget!

[BadMouth]

What is GRID doing on there? Isn't it a Codemasters developed game?

And the use of Saturn screenshots for some of the games. Budget!

Yeah, now that you mention it....there are a few things missing from the sprite scaling era.....and no NAOMI games whatsoever.
....very far from COMPLETE!

[gpasko]

What is GRID doing on there? Isn't it a Codemasters developed game?

And the use of Saturn screenshots for some of the games. Budget!

Yeah, now that you mention it....there are a few things missing from the sprite scaling era.....and no NAOMI games whatsoever.
....very far from COMPLETE!

I do like the article, but it shouldn't be called "COMPLETE" as they admit to not being complete by having honorable mentions at the very end.  I do like that they list Sega's arcade published Grid (developed by Codemaster) as that's my favorite cabinet design.  That is what my scratch built cabinet is replicating (see the attached screen shot of my CAD model).  I do realize it's Sega's current go-to-cabinet as they just change the color scheme and lighting, but I love the bold orange and art theme on the GRID cabinet.  It also helps the arcade compete with the typical home console market.

It's simply amazing what Sega has done for racing and gaming all these years!

[baritonomarchetto]

Hey, where's super hangon!   

[Xiaou2]

Yeah it is.  Inexplicably so considering that Outrun and so many of their arcade titles, racing or otherwise, are better than Daytona. 

  You clearly are misguided.

 I love Outrun..    But its a very limited game in terms of challenge.  Once you memorize the tracks, thats that.

 You also couldnt link them.  (which would be a great addition to Cannonball..  in addition to Stereoscopic 3D... )

 Daytona USA, the Original version... is one of the best racers ever produced..  and if its set up on location, it will make more money than newer racers.

 The reason, is the difficulty and challenge of the game in manual mode.   I consider myself pretty good at racers... and I never got anywhere close to 1st place.  Often messing up a lot of the turns, usually coming in too hot.

 The games made in later years, became so easy that they were basically Kiddie rides.  You couldnt crash, nor even hop a curb.   If you got too far behind, in most racers, the game artificially gave you a boost in speed to catch up, so the player wouldnt feel so bad.  ugg.

 The controls for the game, were also some of the better of the drivers.  Good force feedback, and a very good 4 way shifter.   Certainly not on the level of Hard Drivin sitdown.. but much better than most past and future efforts.   As time went on, the entire arcade industry started to use Generic controls.  The generics were durable, but awful in look & feel and often lacking in detailed control.


 The closest game Sega made was Virtua Racing.  But Virtua doesnt have as good of graphics, the controls are a bit sloppy and noisy, as well as ugly.  The seat is horribly uncomfortable.  The sound on the games cabinet, seems too mid-rangy... missing a lot of the lower bass.  The challenge is good, but not nearly as difficult as Daytona.   It also didnt have that epic Vocal track  heh

 
 The only other racer off the top of my head that had great challenge and similarly good graphics & music, (that I also really loved)... was Ridge Racer.    Ridge Racers sitdown shifter,  unfortunately,  was horrible.  There was no force feedback.  And while it was a challenge to master the drifting... it still wasnt as difficult as Daytona. It had a few epic music tracks, but also a few annoying tracks as well.  Ive never seen more than a dual sitdown..  and not sure if more can be linked or not.  Im not sure I could differentiate which game I liked more, because each has their own unique feel and level of enjoyment.


 I have played the PS1 version of Ridge Racer, more than any other racer Period... finding some of the most grueling time mastering its tracks and beating its best Ops.  Never was a good version of Daytona USA for home, IMO.


 And I agree...   Where is Super Hangon?   Its definitely a major classic.   Hangon seems more like a tech demo, where as Super Hangon is a really great playing game, with the additional challenge of the Turbo Speed Boosts.   Redline Racer by Ubisoft in 1998, was similar in feel & speed.   No other motorcycle game that Ive played, was as fast and fun as either of those two.

The Sega Genesis version of Super Hangon was actually really good...  and the extra modes were fun, but, I never was able to completely beat it.

[jackiabu]

The one thing that I think there is no argument,The most beautiful music is a OUTRUN

[SailorSat]

I'm missing MonacoGP and the other EM racers (Moto Champ) on that list

---

Hm... We have a "standard moving" OutRun, a Upright-HangOn, two Upright-SuperHangOn, a Sit-Down Enduro, a Upright Enduro as well as my 8 Player emu setup at our museum.

Most visitors instantly remember OutRun for its catchy music and smooth gameplay, and dispite its age, the game still is loads of fun.
As long as the B-gears doesn't break, it usually is constantly being played.
The "bike games" are less frequently tried out, and people don't seem too interested in them at all.
Personaly, I like both Enduro Racer and HangOn for being easy to learn while being difficult to master.

As for Virtua Racing and Daytona...
Single Player is... well... kinda boring - sure you can try to drive a faster time, but thats about it. I think both games are pretty equal in terms of difficulty.

BUT... There is the multiplayer factor... ^^

Daytona for some reason is incredibly fun.
First tests were done on my real Daytona Twin (sadly one CPU board died ), and those head-to-head races were fun.
Later I tried a 4 player daytona as sort of "proof of concept" on my (by then) 4 player VR emu setup. Jeez... Twice the the players, twice the fun!
Daytona is tuned just right to keep advanced players satisfied while being enjoyable for beginners. The rubber banding also makes sure you have very intense head-to-head competitions every time. Kinda like Mario Kart for the big kids .)

Virtua Racing on the other hand doesn't have this rubberbanding. But that makes the game even more intense.
Beginners most likely hate this game because even the smallest driving error will be painfull in the end.
On the other hand, that makes the game pretty interesting for "expert" drivers.
I often hear the more advanced players complain about Daytona - every bloody noob can knock you out because of the rubber-banding helping them catch up. You simply can't outrun them.

For the "public" days we run Daytona, while for competitions we usually use Virtua Racing.

The other "newer" Sega racers... well I've actually never played any newer games, there were no arcades nearby by the time.
I have tried some of them on emulators though, but they just don't reach out to Daytona.

[Xiaou2]

Didnt have time to survey the entire list... just commented that Super should have been on there.

 Didnt realize Daytona had some rubberbanding.   Maybe cause I mostly played on my own... or was too busy trying to keep the car from damage to notice.

 Question Sailorsat:   Whats the best place you have made in Daytona?   In the arcades, I think I couldnt even make it past 15th place.

 I dont know what I was doing wrong, but I remember having a real tough time on the corners with that game.  I found it was a lot more difficult than Virtua Racing to survive corners well and correct.  Especially if you wanted to try to keep your speed.

[SailorSat]

Manual Transmission - Beginner Course - 4th Place