Power Drift

Moby ID: 10362
Arcade Specs
Buy on SEGA Saturn
$105.64 used on eBay
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Description official descriptions

Ever wanted to race dune buggies at high speed on a variety of tracks? Power Drift is an arcade racer that gives you the chance to do just that.

There are 5 tracks to choose from, each with 5 stages. The stages range from cities, to deserts to tracks over water. There are also 12 drivers to pick from, from businessmen to skinheads and mohicans.

Your buggy has 2 gears, high and low. Once the light goes green, just keep the pedal to the metal. You’ll need to place third or higher to continue to the next stage. Be careful not to bump into other buggies or objects next to the road. While your buggy can take a pounding, crashing will slow you down.

Finish all 5 stages in a level and you’ll be presented with a bonus level.

Spellings

  • パワードリフト - Japanese spelling

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Amiga version)

6 People

Programmed by
Graphics by
Music by
Produced by

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 77% (based on 31 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 49 ratings with 2 reviews)

Nice game for PC-Engine consoles!

The Good
Power Drift was a great racing game made by Sega Enterprises. In PC-Engine (it was released only in Japan for this console), graphics were nice, sound effects and voices too and gameplay was excellent! Power Drift, unlike Sega's Hang-On or OutRun, didn't set up time as goal, setting, instead, position as one. Sega brought a new racing idea, which it was good at its time.

The Bad
This game wasn't released for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, a game made by SEGA! It's very odd... Also, game visibility wasn't very good, because it didn't allowed to see, in slopes and curves, the following way or cars.

The Bottom Line
If you have a PC-Engine, simply get and play this version. It's a nice game! Recommended.

TurboGrafx-16 · by Gustavo Henrique dos Santos (97) · 2014

Perhaps the CPC's greatest racing game

The Good
Whereas the 16-bit computer release was an over-ambitious mess of graphics moving disorientatingly and jerkily, the conversion for the Z80 systems knew the machines' strengths and weaknesses and worked within them. The game moves impeccably fast and smooth, controls are responsive, actual racing techniques in cornering and acceleration are effective, and the difficulty level is set about right, with lasting appeal aided by the challenge of getting a string of gold medals rather than simply qualifying in 3rd place each time

Graphics and sound are also extremely impressive. Running up bridges with a drop beside you is just as exhilarating as it should be, and the range of hazards are all depicted accurately, with great engine and contact noises - for once, sound isn't an after-thought.

The Bad
The only real flaw is one form the arcade game, and many racing games of the era - the fact that the other cars are obstacles rather than opponents. Contact will always send your car spinning to a halt while theirs continues unimpeded. The game's difficulty is balanced around this, so it's not a major problem - after all, arcade games don't have to be 100% realistic.

The Bottom Line
Race a sand buggy through five sequences of five circuits, each over 4 laps against 11 opponents. This was very popular in the arcades, and converted much better than most Sega arcade games of the time - this is one of the few that the inept Tiertex weren't given with the apparent intention of tempting people to buy a Genesis. Fans of the game would be well advised to check this out, to see just what a machine which was starting to decline commercially was capable of.

Amstrad CPC · by Martin Smith (81669) · 2006

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Arcade version of Power Drift appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Technical specs of the Amiga and Atari ST version

The Amiga and Atari ST version run at six to seven frames per second - having no special chips for sprite scaling like the original arcade, that is not surprising. Also, the "tilt" effect of the arcade (small rotation left and right) was removed as it would require too much additional data for the limited home computer machines. Up to 50 sprites were handled. The scaled sprites were drawn in highest visible resolution, scaled automatically, but then manually corrected for optimal display quality. On the Atari ST, the blitter chip is used if present (introduced with the Mega ST series), which makes this one of the rare games using that chip (as the most widespread ST models didn't feature it). Having more than 512KB Ram, the loading times are reduced, as the graphic is buffered in the extra Ram.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Macintrash.

Arcade added by FatherJack. Commodore 64 added by Kabushi. SEGA Saturn added by Iggi. Atari ST, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum added by Martin Smith. MSX added by koffiepad. TurboGrafx-16 added by Katakis | カタキス.

Additional contributors: Rik Hideto, Jo ST, FatherJack.

Game added September 15, 2003. Last modified February 20, 2024.