Sega Master System OutRun Review

Here is my review of OutRun the Sega Master system conversion. If you prefer your reviews to be written then my written review is below the video

Out Run was an arcade driving video game developed and published by Sega it was released into Arcades in Japan in September 1986 with its American and European release following before the end of the year. The game was very well known for many reasons including its graphics, its nonlinear gameplay, an amazing selection of selectable musical tracks and in particular for its amazing hydraulic motion simulator deluxe arcade cabinet which was such a sight to behold when I first saw it in the Arcades as a child. I was born in 1981 so the first time I had seen this I would have been a pretty young kid so the machine seemed like this giant shining beacon of fun.

The game was designed by Yu Suzuki, who apparently visited Europe to gain inspiration for the game's stages This sounds like a pretty expensive step in designing a game, on hearing that you'd think Sega had given Suzuki bags of cash and yet he only had a small team to work on the game and they were only given ten months to develop the game. The game was a huge success though both critically and commercially. In fact it was apparently the highest-grossing arcade game of 1987 worldwide not only that though it was also Sega's most successful arcade cabinet of the entire 1980s. So I bet you can guess what this kind of success leads to right? It led to a whole bunch of ports to lots of video game consoles and home computers. Outrun became one of the best-selling video games at the time selling millions of copies worldwide and spawning a number of sequels.

You read the title when you clicked on this though so you know what I am going to be talking about that's right I am going to be talking about the Sega Master System port.

Even though this game might look a little basic by now days standards you have to try to put yourself in the position people would have been in at the time. In 1987 The Master System released in Europe people often compare it to the NES and see it as Sega's response to this but in truth in England at least very few people had even seen a NES, we were mostly weened on various Micro computers some of which even after taking an age to load couldn't display enough colours to challenge the drawings you had done in school at the age of 5 let alone an arcade machines visuals.

In my humble opinion The Master System port of Outrun really manages to overcome the limitations of its hardware to deliver what at the time would have been an absolutely stunning home video game experience, sure its not the equal of its arcade counterpart but it certainly would have felt pretty close to a kid back in those days.

Outrun is at least on the surface a very simple game, it is a driving game where you are not racing against any individual, sure there are cars on the road which get in the way but there not your opponent the only opponent you have is the clock, you have to beat the clock and make sure that you keep on reaching the next checkpoint before the timer hits zero. This basic premise works almost perfectly on the Master System, the game feels pretty much just like it did in the arcade and that's the most important part of any conversion.

The visuals have received the expected downgrade but it is very clear that a whole lot of effort went into providing the same variety of settings seen in the arcade, the game features the same beach track, the same rolling green fields, the same night time driving. this game looks so much clearer than my previously reviewed game Space Harrier. Obviously its a step down from the arcade but enough detail is provided in both the foreground and the background to create a proper game world that you feel more than happy to travel through.

Sound-wise, the music in OutRun on the Master system is great but there is some difference depending on how your playing if you are playing a European copy of the game you will get what they call PSG sound, if your using Japanese Hardware with a FM chip, or hardware modded to add FM in or using an emulator with FM, then things will sound quiet different, in honesty I like both kinds of sound, the music is good no mater how your playing your Master System copy of Outrun, the only thing I am not majorly keen on is the skidding tire sound, its an annoying sound and to be its too loud in relation to the music.

Overall I would give Outrun on the Master System an 8 out of 10, I think its one of the very best arcade ports on the system its only limitations for me come from being based on an Arcade machine. Arcade ports can be a lot of fun but these games are essentially written from the ground up to munch on coins and provide quick thrills so they don't tend to have what it takes to play for hours and hours again and again in a home setting.

If you want a cart of this game then CEX charge £10 for it when they have a loose cart with the copies I can find elsewhere on line going for a little more.