OutRun

aka: 3D Out Run, Out Run, Sega Ages: OutRun
Moby ID: 16
Arcade Specs
Buy on Genesis
$84.56 used on eBay
Buy on SEGA Saturn
$104.40 used on eBay
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/28 7:02 PM )
Conversion (official) Included in See Also

Description official descriptions

OutRun is a racing game that allows the player to race across varied terrain in a readily available Ferrari, complete with a female passenger, over a series of short tracks.

Gameplay is viewed from just above and behind the car. The roads are full of sharp bends and hazards, contact with which can cause the car to roll and lose the player's time. On each section of track there is a fork in the road, allowing the player to choose which direction he or she wishes to go. The player has to to complete five track sections in total, out of the fifteen in the game.

Spellings

  • SEGA AGES アウトラン - Japanese Nintendo Switch spelling
  • アウトラン - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Arcade version)

8 People

Best Outrunners
US Product Manager

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 74% (based on 62 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 195 ratings with 9 reviews)

Better than the Arcade Coin Op!!!

The Good
I have a unique take on Out Run for the Sega Master System, as I am one of the few people that actually OWNS the original arcade coin up machine that has a steering wheel (bought it on ebay for $250!!!)

I am not lying to anybody, I enjoyed the Sega Master System's version more than the arcade version! Even though the arcade is always the gold standard, I actually PREFERRED the brighter colors and more realistic driving feel of the SMS over the arcade!

There are an additional two factors that make the SMS superior to the arcade:

1) The OutRun coin op I bought has a serious steering wheel alignment problem! Thus the car lists to the right, making even the first level nearly impossible to win. With the simple SMS keypad (my favorite keypad of all time due to its simplicity and reliability), there are no such problems.

2) No fan noise. The Out Run coin up has a very loud fan that keeps the inner components cool. Yet this translates to very loud and aggravating fan noise, despite the quality of the game. The SMS has no such noise, but the programmers really nailed the right level of road noise!

I'll be fixing my Out Run coin up at some point (new CRT, reduce the fan motor noise, fix the steering wheel), likely for more than I paid for the machine itself! Still, I miss my SMS version because my brother has the console and I don't. Even after getting my cabinet repaired, I'd play my SMS Out Run at least as much if I could get my hands on it.

The Bad
I liked EVERYTHING about this game. Flawless

The Bottom Line
SMS Outrun is BETTER THAN THE ARCADE COIN UP!

SEGA Master System · by Kevin Huang (8) · 2012

Another opportunity missed

The Good
It's amazing how much the pc version gets slated in a lot of reviews, compared to some appalling attempts. I have played literally every version known to man so I thought I would write a review. First off nice title screen making use of the 16 colour vga, all the tracks seem to remain faithful to the arcade, i.e. the dips and bends. The frame rate is ok-ish, even for a 286 this game wasn’t really pushing the boundaries, on today’s system it runs very fast if not too fast. All in all not that bad of a conversion.

The Bad
The main problem with this game is size, the main car is absolutely tiny in comparison to the other cars, and it makes u feel like Alison in wonderland. Also the game is so easy to complete, because the car is so small the road is huge and u don't need to break once. The sound (or lack of) is bad, just simple 1 note music from the pc speaker even though the actual sound samples are on the disk. As I said, the main thing is size, just look at the title screen, proof it could of been a lot better, but then as per usual with a lot of outrun conversions they were always rushed.

The Bottom Line
If you want Outrun then buy the arcade machine or get a decent emulator to play the real thing, outrun is a game that can't be converted, it’s an ARCADE game and always will be. The best conversions in my opinion are as follows -

The 8 Bit Consoles - Turbo Graphics PC Engine The 16 Bit Consoles - Sega Megadrive The 32 Bit Consoles - Sega Saturn

DOS · by Stephen N (11) · 2004

All the criticisms you've heard are true

The Good
To slightly correct the other ST review, although the OutRun arcade machine uses the same processor as the Amiga and ST, it also features some additional custom hardware, most notably a routine to automatically scale sprites without requiring processor intervention, which allowed the game to run significantly faster, and made these home versions a little harder to get right.

This version's a lot harder than the Amiga one, which I completed on my first go.

The Bad
There's still no excuse for this lousy effort though. It moves excruciatingly slowly, making the car much harder to steer, and robbing proceedings of the kind of frantic excitement the arcade game provided. The car often disappears from the screen, and the way driver and passenger sometimes appearing to swap seats is a bizarre and ludicrous bug.

The tracks aren't close enough to the real ones (which is something that should be possible - the Spectrum version is much closer to the arcade game, albeit in monochrome and even less fast), and are hampered by the pot-plants in the middle. The menu system using pull-down menus and mouse-style movement is badly thought-out and awkward. The attempted hip-hop touches of the 'remixed' title music are excruciating - think Vanilla Ice's attempt at borrowing from Under Pressure.

The Bottom Line
The ST, C64 and Spectrum versions of OutRun were all rushed out to meet Christmas 1987, and like all too many of the conversions US Gold released at the time, they weren't up to scratch. Compared to other arcade conversions of the time like Buggy Boy and Super Hang On, this is technically inept, unexciting and infuriating. If you want to play it now, MAME is the best way, no doubt about it.

Atari ST · by Martin Smith (81669) · 2006

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Outrun on Amstrad GX4000 Robert Francis Jul 17, 2011

Trivia

Car

The classic red racer you use in the game is quite obviously a convertible Ferrari Testarossa (right down to the "Cavallino Rampante" logo featured in the back of the car), however SEGA had not licensed the likeness of Ferrari products and got into a series of legal issues with Ferrari. The eventually settled but it wouldn't be until OutRun 2 that the car would become an "official" Ferrari.

Copyright infringement

There was a patent case over the DOS port by Unlimited Software, the porting division of Distinctive Software. Accolade, for whom Distinctive had written The Duel: Test Drive II sought a preliminary injunction against Distinctive Software. It did not deal with the general look of the game, but rather the underlying source code.

Distinctive used some of the underlying "computer code" from The Duel for the OutRun DOS port, which Accolade challenged as an infringement of their copyright. Distinctive argued that these were standard libraries and routines, re-used in different games only for the sake of not having to reprogram them. Also, they claimed Accolade never contemplated the transfer of copyright in the library codes and, even if it did, the codes were not subject to copyright protection in the first place.

Ultimately, Accolade lost the case because the licensing agreement only referred to the concept and design of the game, but not the underlying codes.

The full case can be read through a link in the related links section.

Extras

A special edition of Outrun on cassette for Commodore 64 was bundled with a cassette containing the music from the original arcade game. The intention being to be listened to while playing the game!

Game Art Beyond

In 2018, Out Run was selected as one of the biggest classics on the Commodore 64 by the creators of the C64 graphics collection Game Art Beyond. Out Run was honoured with a high resolution title picture (based on the Amiga title screen artwork) in a special C64 graphics format called NUFLI, along with a new C64 SID interpretation of the famous Splash Wave theme. After listening to it completely, a short version of Passing Breeze can also be heard - this tune was missing in the original C64 conversion.

Tandy

The PC version has undocumented support for the Tandy TL/RL/SL series; there are a few digitized sound samples that can be heard if the joystick is not chosen to play the game (since the TL/RL/SL couldn't play digitized sound and access the joystick at the same time, due to a rediculous design flaw).

MSX versions

Two versions of the game exist for MSX computers. The first one is for MSX1 computers, was developed by US Gold and is nearly identical to the other 8 bit versions of the game. It was likely released in both tape and disk formats. The second one was developed by Pony Canyon for MSX2 computers and had improved graphics and speed. It was likely released in Japan and in cartridge format only, although pirated disk versions do exist.

Technology

Second game Sega made in the 80's that used "Super Scaler" technology.

Differences between The Japanese and Over Seas versions

There are some differences between The Japanese and Over Seas versions of the game in terms of arrangement of courses. The famous Rock Tunnel stage is an entirely different in the Over Seas version as well as it appears much sooner in the game. Only Mega Drive edition of "Outrun" includes both options to play different versions.

Commodore 64 version

In C64 version "Passing Breeze" tune is replaced with "Radio Off" option.

Awards

  • Retro Gamer
    • October 2004 (Issue #9) – #44 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)

Information also contributed by Garcia, Robbb, Sciere and Zovni

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  • MobyGames ID: 16
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Trixter.

Nintendo 3DS added by Michael Cassidy. SEGA Master System added by Tibes80. Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. J2ME added by chirinea. Arcade added by FatherJack. Amstrad CPC added by Zovni. Amiga added by Martin Smith. ZX Spectrum added by Terok Nor. Game Gear added by Macintrash. Commodore 64, Atari ST added by Servo. SEGA Saturn added by Игги Друге. MSX added by koffiepad. TurboGrafx-16 added by Katakis | カタキス. Genesis added by Syed GJ.

Additional contributors: Jeanne, chirinea, Sciere, Kabushi, Martin Smith, Freeman, Neville, Patrick Bregger, mailmanppa, Rik Hideto, Malte Mundt, Harmony♡.

Game added March 1, 1999. Last modified March 4, 2024.