The Pop-Culture E-Zine
Say what?! Yep, OutRun can be played on your Atari 8-bit (A8) XE/XL computers!
This is a Work In Progress (WIP), so there is more content/improvements coming, but for now, it is still looking and sounding pretty darn good!
Read up on the development/progress of OutRun on the AtariAge forum and download the WIP file direct from here. Brush the dust off your A8 computers (grab your Atari MAX cart) and get some OutRun into ya!
source: Atari 8-Bits Forever
When you stumble upon an awesome idea you must let everyone know about it. My good friend Raj informed me of a Lego Ideas campaign created by SpacySmoke which proposes the creation of classic Lego Sega arcade machines.
The idea campaign is still gathering support, so if you would like Lego to take note, then please throw your support behind this great idea by voting now – who wouldn’t like a Thunder Blade or Yu Suzuki classics like Space Harrier and Out Run replica Lego machines in their home? I have cast my vote, so should you!
source: SpacySmoke on Lego Ideas
Talk about an awesomely impressive retro hardware hack!
What do you get when you grab a Tomy Turnin’ Turbo Dashboard, Sega’s awesome OutRun arcade game and a very very clever hardware hacking peep named Matt Brailsford? You get a hack to outdo all other hacks – the Tomy Turnin’ Turbo Dashboard OutRun Arcade!
Rather than regurgitating the meticulous steps Matt took to create this awesome piece, read his epic blog post right now! Wish we could make this!
source: Circuitbeard
image source: Circuitbeard.co.uk
We know we said no more backing of Kickstarter campaigns, but when Read-Only Memory are involved, we make an exception. If you need convincing as to why they are one of the best gaming-related book publishers, then check out the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis: Collected Works, Britsoft: An Oral History and The Bitmap Brothers: Universe to name just a few.
The latest Read-Only Memory tome ‘Sega Arcade: Pop-Up History‘ has definitely excited us and tickled our nostalgic fancy. This will be a book of pop-up sculptures of SEGA’s greatest arcade cabinets: Hang-On, Space Harrier, Thunder Blade, After Burner, and Out Run! If this doesn’t excite you, then we have no idea what will. One thing is for certain, the quality and content will be top notch!
Check out the Kickstarter campaign now and make sure you get a piece of this awesome Sega arcade history!
image source: SEGA Arcade: Pop-Up History
Let’s reflect and gloat for one second – it was great to be alive during the Golden Age of Arcade video games and experience arcade joints first-hand; from the clean franchised ones to the decrepit dark and scary independent ones – we loved them all.
Oh yeah, we loved the games too, from coin dropping in Galaga, Bomb Jack, Pac-Man, Tron, Double Dragon, DragonNinja to Sega’s beasts like Space Harrier, Super Hang-On, OutRun, After Burner and Thunder Blade – we spent up big and loved every single second of it.
The 1990s started with us hammering coins into Atari’s Pit-Fighter, Capcom’s Final Fight and Street Fighter II. However, it was Sega’s Daytona USA that emptied our piggy bank of coins – we just could not get enough of it.
source: The Arcade Flyer Archive
Looking at the top 10 highest grossing arcade games (below), we can tell you that we played them all during their heyday and understand why the dot munching Pac-Man is perched right up top – the game was a breath of fresh air (for its time), as it wasn’t a derivative of the then plethora of space shoot’em ups. Pac-Man was truly a revolutionary title which had universal appeal, both male and female gamers loved chasing Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde.
source: A-1 Arcade Gaming
So what of Atari’s Pong then? Well, the 1972 game did very well for Atari, they sold somewhere between 8,500 to 19,000 units (1972 to 1973) grossing them around $11Million US dollars – not bad for 1973!
The revenues generated were quite staggering, reaffirming the Golden Age of Arcade video games period as the most prosperous of them all, with Street Fighter II, Mortal Kombat and NBA Jam flying the flag for the 1990s.
Ah, OutRun! It was the first street racing arcade game where you drove a Ferrari Testarossa at breakneck speeds with a female passenger in tow, feeling the wind in your hair as you raced to your next checkpoint area to progress further in the game. It was as simple as that, thank you Mr. Yu Suzuki.
OutRun’s simplicity was its biggest drawcard – the flash red car, gorgeous woman, awesome graphics (especially the crashes!), great European tracks (with uphill and downhill gradients!), brilliant music (oh that Magic Sound Shower tune!) and the choice of path to take when confronted with a fork in the road!
It was this choice of which road you took in OutRun which ultimately lead you to five very different goals (endings), some more humorous than others. For those of you that weren’t aware or had not seen all of OutRun’s different endings, here they are for your pleasure! Don’t forget to lock the Testarossa!
Choose your course – it’s as easy as a, b, c, d or e!
Course: Vineyard (a)
End Goal: No wine here for the easy winner. After the driver is hoisted aloft by the crowd, they then get distracted by a bikini clad lady and drop the driver to the bitumen. That’s gotta hurt!
Course: Death Valley (b)
End Goal: How apt is the name of this route as your Testarossa literally falls apart the second the winning line is crossed. Instead of celebrating, your driver will need to wait for a while for the Ferrari roadside assist van to rock up.
Course: Desolation Hill (c)
End Goal: What could be the winning prize here? Perhaps the camels to take the driver back to civilisation as the Ferrari has ran out of fuel? Hang on, what will the driver wish for when rubbing that lamp? Oh, a harem!
Course: Autobahn (d)
End Goal: As the crowd gathers to see the driver receive the big gold trophy, he gets embarrassingly bypassed by the presenter, with the trophy being handed to his female passenger! ZING!
Course: Lakeside (e)
End Goal: As the driver screeches past this most difficult of all goals, he is finally rewarded for his most excellent driving skills! Now he is ready to party!
image source: The Video Game Museum
Before Yu Suzuki embarked on the Shenmue saga, he created some of the most technically impressive and enduring games for Sega. During that golden age of arcade machines in the 80s, you would have been hard pressed not to have played on at least one Sega arcade machine – there was the into the screen blaster, Space Harrier, the Top Gun dog-fighter After Burner II, the superb Super Hang-On, the Blue Thunder channeling Thunder Blade, the rail shooter Galaxy Force II (Deluxe Edition), and of course, the sublime driving game with that awesome radio with cool tunes, Out Run.
The conversions of these arcade games on our beloved 8 and 16-bit systems weren’t much chop, I mean, they were ok, but let’s face it, there was a vast chasm between the technically superior arcade hardware and the less-refined home based systems of yesteryear. Fast forward 30 odd years and you have home systems more powerful than a cabinet ten times the size! Imagine if someone told you in 1989 that you would have an arcade perfect version (Ed: actually, even better than the arcade!) of Space Harrier, After Burner II or even Out Run in the palm of your hands? Surely you would have had them committed. Well, before you call the psych ward, that day has come – If you are yearning for some vintage Sega arcade gaming nostalgia on your Nintendo 3DS handheld (Ed: Who would have thought that we would ever say Sega and Nintendo in the one sentence!), then rack up some Nintendo eShop credits and have yourself a blast!
Get some Out Run into ya!
Have some Sega fun on your Nintendo!
source: SEGA Blog
Personalised number plates are a good way to show your love of video games, here are some prime examples.
But why not go the whole nine yards and pimp your ride video gaming-style! Check out these beauties:
I bet these are electric cars (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)
Gotta go faster, faster, faster, faster, faster!
The cake is in the van
The Goombas don’t have a chance! (Source 1, Source 2, Source 3)
Pac-Car (Source 1, Source 2)
Parking Space Invaders (Source 1, Source 2)
The above cars are great for sure – but they have nothing on this last amazing ride: an Out Run arcade that drives as you play!
As described on the project’s website: ‘Garnet Hertz’s video game concept car combines a car-shaped arcade game cabinet with a real world electric vehicle to produce a video game system that actually drives. OutRun offers a unique mixed reality simulation as one physically drives through an 8-bit video game. The windshield of the system features custom software that transforms the real world into an 8-bit video game, enabling the user to have limitless gameplay opportunities while driving’. Visit the Concept Lab website for more info, additional photos and videos.
Source: Concept Lab
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Ms. ausretrogamer
Editor and Researcher at ausretrogamer – The Australian Retro Gamer E-Zine. Lover of science fiction, fashion, books, movies and TV. Player of games, old and new.
Follow Ms. ausretrogamer on Twitter
The great thing about social media, it brings people together. I have met plenty of wonderful and interesting people and Sean Tagg is definitely one of them. Upon my initial twitter conversations with Sean, I found him to be very engaging by sharing his video gaming knowledge (which he has plenty of) and also assisting in gaming related queries. Sean is one of those genuinely great people that likes to share information and be helpful – traits that are well admired.
I am digressing! I have been an admirer of Sean’s creative talents for over a year and I thought it was high time I lassoed the gaming warrior and ask him some pressing questions. Here it goes!
AUSRETROGAMER [ARG]: So Sean, tell us how it all started – how did you get into video gaming? What are your earliest memories?
Sean Tagg [ST]: My earliest memories of playing video games date back to 1979 -80. My family used to take me to a caravan site in Wales (UK). The site had a barn full of arcade machines. I vividly recall playing some pretty cool arcade machines like; Space Invaders, Missile Command and Battle Zone. I used to have to stand on a milk crate to look through the scope on Battle Zone as I was only 7 years old.
ARG: What was your first console or gaming experience ?
ST: My first game was a LCD pinball game called Wildfire – made by Palitoy. Palitoy was based locally to where I lived and were huge in the day. They manufactured Star Wars and Action Man figures too. I later had other LCD games including Munchman, Frogger and BMX Flyer.
ARG: Were you ever a brand fan (Sega vs Nintendo, Spectrum vs Commodore vs Amstrad)? If so, which side did you take?
ST: I was a Commodore fan. My first computer was the C64c, then I upgraded to the Amiga when I saw Ocean’s Batman game! I was a big fan of Stunt Car Racer, Anco’s Kick Off 2 and many more. Years later, I saw Golden Axe running on a Japanese Sega Mega Drive and I knew I had to have one. I’ve had quite a few of Sega’s machines, all imports – the Game Gear, Mega CD, Nomad, Saturn and Dreamcast.
ARG: You are an oracle of sorts on Sega’s venerable Out Run game (we love your blog site!). When did you first play it and what got you hooked for life?
ST: I first played Out Run the year it was released, 1986. Every arcade on the seafront of our holiday town had the deluxe cabinet version. I suppose it gave me a feeling of being able to drive and show off in a Ferrari, something no other game could do at the time. I think being a fan of sports cars, exotic locations and Caribbean steel drum music helps! OK, the last one was a lie (smiles)
ARG: Speaking of arcade games – what other ones tickle your fancy?
ST: All of Yu Suzuki’s big deluxe machines are fond favorites. I am glad to have grown up and experienced playing Out Run, Space Harrier, After Burner, Power Drift, Enduro Racer and R360 in the arcades. These days, I most play Mr Do!, Wonder Boy, Shinobi, Galaga, Robocop, Strider, Ghouls’n Ghosts, Rainbow Islands and Bubble Bobble. [ARG]: A list of classics!
ARG: We are admirers of your Lego video gaming inspired creations – how did this come about and which creations are your favourite?
ST: I play Lego with my 5 year old lad a fair bit. One day, I just thought that it would be cool to try and create the Out Run deluxe cabinet with Lego, incorporating my smartphone running MAME. Check out the stop motion video (below) of it being made. Oh yeh, I also enjoyed making the Lego Sega Mega Drive (smiles).
ARG: Can you give us a scoop – what will you create next with Lego?
ST: Maybe a Sega Hang On arcade sit-down bike (winks). [ARG]: We would love to see that!
ARG: You are also a restorer extraordinaire – tell us about the cocktail table restoration project?
ST: I picked it up on eBay 6 years ago. When it arrived it looked far worse than the photos and I thought “What have I done. It’s junk!”. After stripping it down and cleaning it, I started to take a shine to it. I spent a fair bit of time on a great site called Arcade Controls – the forums helped me to build the control panels, learn how to configure the software and the wiring. 6 years later, between having two kids and moving to Australia (with the machine in tow) it’s finally complete! [ARG]: It looks damn awesome too.
I also built this Bubble Bobble machine from scratch. [ARG]: Oh wow, it looks like we may be paying you a visit in the near future. That machine looks very inviting. I’ll play as Bub.
ARG: Are there any other hobbies you enjoy?
ST: I like art and woodwork. I’ve recently done some Shenmue drawings that I’m pretty happy with. I’m looking to do 4 characters in total.
ARG: Now comes the two hardest questions of this interview:
ARG: What is your all-time favourite gaming system?
ST: When it comes to retro systems, it has to be Sega’s Dreamcast. As for the current generation consoles, Microsoft’s XBox360 is my pick.
ARG: What is your all-time favourite video game?
ST: Easy, Shenmue. [ARG]: What? I would have thought Out Run?
ST: Well, Outrun is in Shenmue, as with many other Yu Suzuki classics (smiles).
Well Sean, that wraps it up. Thank you very much for making time to participate in this interview – it wasn’t that scary after all. We will keep tabs on your wonderful creations and we will definitely be catching up with you in the near future.
To keep tabs on what Sean is up to, you can follow him on Twitter, Instagram and his website.
