Why is "Outrun" so pricey?

[Atariboy]

If one likes the Dual Shock, the PS2 version of Coast to Coast is great. Compared to the Xbox version, the graphics are ever so slightly downgraded, the frame rate has the occasional drop, no custom soundtrack support which the Xbox version offered, and you have the hassle of needing to link up both the PSP and PS2 versions in order to unlock everything.

 

But all in all, those are minor quibbles and probably a worthwhile tradeoff if it's cheaper and more easily acquirable.

 

"I wanna go fast!" Yeah, the polygonal Outrun games were great. Was 2006 the follow-up to Outrun 2, or was it the other way 'round? Both are good, but the latter of the two was much improved.

 

Gameplay and graphics wise, I'd say they're just about even actually. Where Coast to Coast surpasses plain Outrun 2 on the Xbox is in all the additional content that's there along with maintaining most of the original stuff.

 

About the only things that Coast to Coast lost that comes to mind was the unlockable arcade version of Outrun (With a dead gear indicator and only 30fps unlike the Saturn port) and the Daytona USA 2 and SCUD Race bonus courses.

 

2006 was like an "OutRun 2+". It added new courses, a mission oriented single player campaign, more unlockables, and the slipstreaming gameplay mechanic that allows you to gain higher speeds by trailing directly behind opponents.

 

The arcade game that Coast to Coast is essentially a home conversion of was even called Outrun 2 SP. So I'd say that Outrun 2+ is an excellent description of this.

Edited August 23, 2013 by Atariboy

[Austin]

Yeah, it's a shame OutRun wasn't included in 2006. I don't see why they couldn't have included it in at least the XBOX version, it couldn't have taken long to implement it considering it was already done previously. Maybe they wanted to give people a reason to still hold on to their OutRun 2 XBOX discs, who knows..

[Atariboy]

At the time I actually had even hoped that they would also include Turbo Outrun in Coast to Coast to pair up with the original as an unlockable.

 

After the solid job they did converting Outrun to the Genesis, that port really disappointed when I finally played it in recent years. And Coast to Coast rather misleads you into thinking that natural addition was included by offering Turbo Outrun music that you could select. But sadly there's no emulated Turbo Outrun arcade game to unlock.

 

Maybe someday we will get a Outrun compilation.

Edited August 24, 2013 by Atariboy

[LynxVGL]

My copy arrived in the mail yesterday. Yeah, the flicker can be a little annoying, and there is no Ferrari engine noise, but boy is this a good game!

[Austin]

Yes, an OutRun compilation is a no-brainer. I am surprised it hasn't been done yet.

 

@Lynx: Glad to see you are enjoying it. It's far from a perfect port, but it's still a darn solid version. Actually, because of this thread I loaded it up the other night and had some fun with it (as was expected!).

[Bloodreign]

I had a shot at a $10 MD Japanese boxed complete copy on ebay earlier this year, sad thing was the timing was all wrong and I didn't have the money. By the time I did, the game was gone, and it was a US seller too.

Edited August 26, 2013 by Bloodreign

[+FujiSkunk]

Coinkidinkly, I found XBox OutRun 2 at a game shop this weekend for $10. I already have OutRun 2006 for the PS2, but I figured, why not? I agree with the posters who said the XBox graphics are a slight notch above the PS2 graphics, and it even plays on the XBox 360.

[Atariboy]

Be sure to reach each goal in the arcade mode. That's how you unlock the arcade Outrun. And that's the one with the Daytona USA 2 and SCUD Race bonus courses that can be unlocked (I forget how) or temporarily opened with a code.

 

If my Outrun compilation ever happens, I hope there's a perfect version of Outrun 2 with everything available from arcade and home running in HD and with proper and fully configurable wheel support. And with the ability to turn things like slip streaming on and off and the ability to switch the girlfriend outfits that I never cared about but some fans were upset that it was made a bit more modest for the West.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

Any fans around here of the two Outrun inspired games from Gremlin that carried Lotus branding?

 

They were Amiga ports of Lotus II and Lotus III and are underrated these days but very solid racers even though the Genesis couldn't quite fully do justice to them. They were developed by Gremlin, probably best remembered today for Top Gear on the Super Nintendo which is a must have for anyone that enjoys sprite scaling 2D racers like Outrun. They never top their inspiration but they're nice games none the less.

 

And they also retain the same engine issue as Outrun on the Genesis. But in this instance, you can select between engine noise or music. A useless option back in the day since they were masters of racing music just like Sega was and I can't imagine selecting engine noise over it. But today, you can actually download the tracks to a MP3 player and even mix it with the game audio with couple of cheap adapters. And you can even slip in some Magical Sound Shower if you want.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Atariboy

[Atariboy]

Here's a pair of videos. The first one is using engine sounds. The second is lower quality for Lotus II but utilizes the in-game music.

 

There's a full run through for Lotus II from the first source as well that can be looked at but it's also sans music.

 

 

[Austin]

I like the Lotus games but severely dislike that you can only have music or sounds playing, not both at the same time. That keeps me from going back to play them again.

[Atariboy]

I thought it was just engine sounds but you're right. Even all of the sound affects are gone.

 

I just play them on my Genesis 3 with the music on my mp3 player, a 3.5 MM to RCA adapter, a RCA combiner, and then a RCA splitter where it's joined with the mono audio from my Genesis 3. About $5 in parts, I get the best of both worlds, and it just stays hooked up and doesn't need to be removed to play anything else correctly.

 

Just plug in my MP3 player and select the track list I want and go.

Edited September 3, 2013 by Atariboy

[Austin]

LOL. No thanks. I'll just play a game that has both music and sound effects.

[Atariboy]

If you want to take the easy route.

 

I always liked Gremlin's racers and it sounded like a neat experiment to see if it would work and I already had a lot of classic videogame racing music on my MP3 player thanks to the Xbox 360's custom soundtrack support.

 

So it was fun to get it setup and see that it does work even though I've only taken advantage of it a handful of times.

Edited September 4, 2013 by Atariboy

[+FujiSkunk]

The C-64 has a lot of games that swap between music and sound effects. This is a neat idea. I could have a game running on my real '64, with sound effects enabled, while running a PSID player on the PC (or perhaps even a second '64?) to play the game's music.

 

Hmmmm...

[Austin]

If you want to take the easy route.

 

....

 

So it was fun to get it setup and see that it does work even though I've only taken advantage of it a handful of times.

Exactly. It's a novel idea, but hardly worth the trouble if I am only going to use it a couple of times. Which knowing me, would probably be a bit of a stretch as-is. But to each their own of course.

[+FujiSkunk]

The C-64 has a lot of games that swap between music and sound effects. This is a neat idea. I could have a game running on my real '64, with sound effects enabled, while running a PSID player on the PC (or perhaps even a second '64?) to play the game's music.

 

Hmmmm...

http://youtu.be/esRA4WhUM80

 

It's definitely not worth trying to do this regularly, but as a one-time thing it was fun!

[Sonic R]

FUN FACT:

Outrun on the Sega Saturn (Sega Ages in USA) has a simple code to switch the game into 60fps mode... the Sega Saturn port is THE ONLY version which will run at 60fps! the arcade, and even the unlockable version found in Outrun 2 (Xbox) only run at 30fps...

[Austin]

 

FUN FACT:

Outrun on the Sega Saturn (Sega Ages in USA) has a simple code to switch the game into 60fps mode... the Sega Saturn port is THE ONLY version which will run at 60fps! the arcade, and even the unlockable version found in Outrun 2 (Xbox) only run at 30fps...

Does the 60fps code work in the US version? If it does I'd like to try it. I was under the impression it only functioned in the Japanese one.

[Sonic R]

 

 

Does the 60fps code work in the US version? If it does I'd like to try it. I was under the impression it only functioned in the Japanese one.

Indeed it does!! ... Sega released the games separately in Japan, but when Working Designs localized it, they made a compilation of the three games - After Burner II, Space Harrier, and Outrun - they titled it 'Sega Ages vol. 1... sadly, there was never a volume 2.. the only thing the USA version of Outrun is lacking is the remixed soundtrack.

 

here's the code to get 60fps (it's called 'smooth' mode in the game)

 

 

Smooth mode (Overseas and Japan levels): Go to Options, highlight Game Mode, then hold A + C and press Left or Right

[+FujiSkunk]

I can confirm the US Sega Ages release also has OutRun's 60fps mode. It's quite nice.

 

If I recall correctly you can also unlock 60fps mode by reaching one or more of the five goals. Once unlocked the option will always be selectable without the code, provided your save file is accessible, either internally or on a memory cartridge.

[Atariboy]

I never think to pay attention and it's all packed away at the moment so I can't easily check, but I've heard some claim that the US Sega Ages collection just included the slightly remixed version of the songs instead of the original songs. Then other times like this thread, it's the other way around.

 

The Japanese standalone release includes both but apparently they had to trim a few things out to make everything fit for the compilation release over here.

 

Kind of ashamed that I can't say definitively one way or another despite being a Outrun fan. It sounds good to me so I never think to listen carefully when I have the Saturn set up.

[+FujiSkunk]

I think some of the confusion comes from the U.S. instruction manual's inclusion of blurbs from the original developers, talking about the remixes. If they are in fact remixes on the U.S. disc, for the life of me I cannot tell the difference.

[Austin]

I don't think the tracks on the US disc are remixes.

[Jess Ragan]

Yeah, Outrun isn't a good fit for the Sega Genesis, because the arcade game was heavily reliant on scaling effects and the Genesis didn't have the hardware to accommodate them. It's for this reason that I can't play Outrun, or any of the super scaler conversions for the system. Sega would have been wise to bring them to the Sega CD instead, where they could have been done proper justice.

 

So, any love for Outrun 2099 or Outrunners? >:}