OutRun (Genesis) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
188A playthrough of Sega's 1991 racing game for the Sega Genesis, OutRun.
Played through on the normal difficulty level. I went through five times in order to show all of the races and the proper ending.
OutRun was originally released in arcades in 1986, and seemingly overnight it established Sega as being the king of gaming tech. Using the new created "superscalar" technique of simulating 3D space by layering sprites that could be scaled in realtime on (for the time) insanely expensive yet powerful custom hardware, it instantly set the new high-mark for graphics in games, and the technique would be greatly improved and refined over the next several years with games like Afterburner, Space Harrier, and Galaxy Force.
And though the Sega Genesis hardware had nowhere near the raw power of the arcade machine's innards, it was by far the best home version money could buy (well, along with the equally well done PC Engine port) until the Saturn version was released five years later. OutRun had been ported to virtually every viable platform in the late 80s (save for the NES, though Afterburner did appear on that machine!), including a slew of 8 and 16-bit PCs, the PC Engine, and the Master System.
While it didn't scale sprites in real-time, the approximation of the effect on the Genesis hardware was surprisingly smooth and fast. There was also a lot of variety in the game's graphics - there are fifteen unique tracks, and each has its own backdrop and layout. In one race you might be racing through an area filled with flower beds and windmills, while another might have you barreling through sharp turns that run through rows of stone arches.
The graphics alone don't paint the whole picture - just as important as the graphics are to OutRun's identity is its iconic soundtrack. Magical Sound Shower, Splash Wave, and Passing Breeze are all classic tracks in their own right, and the "new" Step on Beat fits alongside them nicely.
If only they had toned down that brake squeal a little bit!
The most important thing for the Genesis version, more than its graphics and sound, is the fluidity of the gameplay. A $200 console was clearly not going to compete with custom arcade hardware that cost several thousand dollars at the time, but that didn't mean OutRun couldn't play like the original game. Sure, it might lack the insanely awesome feels of the deluxe arcade cabinet with its hydraulics and its aggressive force-feedback controls, but the digital handling of the cherry red Ferrari Testarossa is spot on. It's responsive and sharp, so if you wipe out, you can rest assured that it was your fault, not the game's.
While OutRun might be a bit light on content for a full-fledged console release, it was never intended to be a game that you sat and played for hours. A run can be finished in five minutes, and it is the game's quickshot appeal that makes it so enticing to pick up and play when you have a free moment. If you're into chasing after high scores, the format is perfect, and the game is so well made that it never feels particularly repetitive, no matter how many times you've played.
Of course there are far superior options to playing OutRun at home nearly thirty years later - the Saturn, Dreamcast, and 3DS all had better-than-perfect arcade ports - but if you take OutRun on the Genesis in context as a representation of (both the good and the bad) of its era, you'll find yourself having a blast with this excellent Sega adaptation.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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