Outrun vs Turbo Outrun

[flash951]

I've recently played some Outrun on my cab, and today I tried Turbo Outrun. I got a little disappointed, it felt less polished in a way. The graphics felt more "cartoonish" sort of. The feeling of driving through the turns felt kind of more "chunky" and the view ahead felt shorter. The controls just felt more like playing a joystick game, less fine tuned. I can see the game got good reviews in magazines etc when it came out. Someone else got an opinion, is it just me?

[Howard_Casto]

Well in many ways it's closer to Yu Suzuki's original vision.  Outrun was supposed to be a trip across the USA but after location scouting they decided that Europe was a better choice.  This game was rushed though, so a lot of things like the branching routes were omitted.  Also it becomes apparent WHY the idea for a USA trip was omitted.... the areas in this game are often kind of uninspired. 

IMHO  This game was much better ideas than the original, it just has very poor execution of said goals. 

[FrizzleFried]

I've owned two Turbo Outrun cabinets... both were converted back to Outruns before I sold them.  Outrun is a better game IMHO.

Turbo Outrun eliminated the branching... Turbo Outrun introduced Continues (I HATE CONTINUES).  Turbo Outrun's music wasn't as good...

[Haze]

I think Turbo Outrun is somewhat underrated.

I usually hate the terms 'more focused' and 'streamlined' in terms of modern games (which usually means over-simplified, one route through the game, dumbed down systems etc.) and it's is a fairly accurate description of what happened with Turbo Outrun lacking multiple routes, lack of music selection screen etc.

BUT Turbo Outrun does have the Turbo feature, weather effects, the upgrade choice after a couple of stages etc. and personally I think the new music it has is actually very good (interestingly tho Sega couldn't decide which order was best, half the sets have the music in one order, half in another)

I'd say both were good games, for different reasons, and it's better to not look at one as the sequel to the other.

[Howard_Casto]

The Turbo Outrun music returns in Outrun 2006 and it's actually pretty nice.  It may not be as iconic as splash wave, but it's certainly music so good you know it came from sega.

[Xiaou2]

Turbo Outrun is Generic Garbage compared to the Original.

 To get the Turbo feature, as well as the other effects used... it seems they had to tweak the physics formulas... and so the cars speed generally is slower when not in turbo mode.   

 They tried to make a ridiculous tight turn in one section.. that you actually had to use the brake for..  but it visually was all wrong,  and so was the physical reaction.   It looked like a standard turn... but acted like a 10 mph turn... even though you were sliding like 1 inch per second going a crawling 1 mph from a near stand still.

 The graphics are certainly not as good as the originals.   They are in fact drawn more Cartoony, rather than shaded correctly.   This makes Turbo Outrun look more like a Taito racer... such as Chase HQ.   In fact, the way it handles and plays, is almost like Sega was trying to make a Chase HQ like clone.    I mean really... who puts giant bumper strips in the middle of the highway?   And massive oil puddles everywhere?  Come on...  its not a Walmart parking lot.   Theres even a stage near the end, where scrap cars line the highway.  Uggg...  >_<

 I suspect that in order to have greater speed needed for the Turbo feature, as well as the weather effects... graphical details had to be simplified.   It was not usual for Sega to use such cartoon like graphics on one of their simulator games.

 Really, the Rain effect does not look that good at all.  Probably why its only used like once.   The snow does work good however.   The Chicago night city-scape, and the winter board.. are the nicest looking.   A lot of the rest seem generic, and the way the turns and hills are set up, isnt as good as the original either.   The levels seem more bland, and simply have more left to rights.. rather than mega hills, blind hills, nor interesting changes.

 To get the visual look for the Original game, the creators actually traveled all over the place, taking tons of photos.   The car itself was photographed in full.  I believe something like every 5 degrees, a photo was taken for it.    This led to the cars iconic look,  and the games very realistic looks.  Digitized, but not generically "photographic".    Turbo Outruns car looks quite sad compared to the original car.

 There is really only one good music track  "Rush a Difficulty".   All the rest use a very grungy distorted sample set.. that sound way too muddy... and their composition is also quite poor.    Its almost like they wanted a more rock oriented sound..  but it fails hard, where as Afterburner II actually works so much better.

 The sound of the cars Engine is also different between the two.   Turbo Outruns car is quite wretched sounding to the ears.. like a Vacuum cleaner.   The original has a much more ear pleasing sound, that doesnt overpower the other sounds and music.

 Another major sound difference is the Panning effects from passing cars.   The original has quite profound 3d imaging of the other cars positions... where as Turbo Outrun seems to omit this,  and or just randomly plays a generic sounding sample of a car pass.   Its not portrayed in true 3d like the original.  (using volume shifting as cars get near you)

 Other horrible ideas, were things like Random tiny puddles of water,  as well as giant static bushes in the middle of the road that seem to slow you down.   If these were supposed to be tumbleweeds..  wow..   umm...   ugg...

 Continue buy-in?   Blasphemy.


 The series would degenerate further when Outrunners came alone... with its use of Overly Photographic backgrounds, combined with far over-the-top cartoon cars, animations, and physics.   Using two different graphical styles, caused a major clash in the way the game looked.  And the cartoon representation, really turned a lot of Sega fans completely off.   Sega became famous mostly because of their dedicated to great artistic visuals... of which they cut few corners...  going far above the many other manufacturers attempts.


 Turbo Outrun should have been either on new hardware... or had some form of add-on board.. to give it the needed horsepower for the additional effects and things it wanted to add.   It should have kept the original look, sound quality, and panning effects.. and added things like 4 stage gearing... faster top speed,  use of the brake needed far more (less traction on turns)   as well as possibly some interesting damage effects.   Engine smoking?  Parts flying off?   Stereoscopic 3D like in Continental Circus 3D...

 Overall, it was a Mega let down... and a sign of Sega's impending implosion.

[flash951]

I totally agree with you. When I was a kid, the "3D effect/feel" with sound and graphics when passing other cars was one of the things that I remember impressed me.

[MrThunderwing]

I agree that the original Outrun is better for all the same reasons by people listed above. I think Xiaou2 has covered everything pretty comprehensively, but for me the main reasons are the things like the lack of the branching system, the not as good music (I don't hate it - it's just nowhere near as good as the first game's) and what I perceive as generally inferior graphics. Outrun had style about it, and the game felt like you were out cruising the highways looking cool. Turbo seemed to ditch all that with all the generic police chase stuff. I also felt Turbo just didn't handle as well, in some of the later stages it felt almost impossible to keep the car on the actual track (that could just be me though). I don't hate Turbo Outrun by any means, but I'd rather play the original any day of the week.