Out Run is an arcade game released by Sega in September 1986.
It’s known for its pioneering hardware and graphics and innovative features such as nonlinear
gameplay and a selectable soundtrack.
Designed as a racing game where the goal is to avoid traffic and reach one of five destinations,
Out Run was set up for players to enjoy the experience of driving.
The game was designed by Yu Suzuki, who traveled to Europe to gain inspiration for the game's stages.
Suzuki had a small team and only ten months to develop the game, leaving him to do most
of the work himself.
The game was a critical and commercial success, becoming one of the best-selling video games
of its time and Sega's most successful arcade cabinet of the 1980s.
It was ported to numerous video game consoles and home computers and spawned a number of sequels.
Out Run has been cited as an influence upon later video games.
Out Run is a 3D driving video game in which the player controls a Ferrari Testarossa Spider
from a third-person rear perspective.
The camera is placed near the ground, simulating a Ferrari driver's position and limiting the
player's view into the distance.
The road curves, crests, and dips, which increases the challenge by obscuring upcoming obstacles
such as traffic that the player must avoid.
The object of the game is to reach the finish line against a timer.
The game world is divided into multiple stages that each end in a checkpoint, and reaching
the end of a stage provides more time.
Near the end of each stage, the track forks to give the player a choice of routes leading
to five final destinations.
The destinations represent different difficulty levels and each conclude with their own ending
scene, among them the Ferrari breaking down or being presented a trophy.
During the mid-1980s, Sega experienced success in the arcades with games developed by Yu Suzuki.
Hang-On was a good seller and Enduro Racer had been successful enough for Sega to consider
a second production run.
Both are motorcycle racing games, and Out Run was Suzuki's chance to develop a car racing game.
His original concept was to base the game on the American film The Cannonball Run, of
which he was a fan.
He disliked racing games where cars exploded on impact, and wanted gamers to enjoy the
experience of driving and to feel "superior".
Suzuki initially conceived the game's setting across the United States, and he requested
to scout various locations there.
According to Suzuki's boss, Youji Ishii, Sega president Hayao Nakayama believed the US was
too unsafe, and suggested Europe as a safer option.
Additionally, Suzuki concluded that the US was too "large and empty" for the game's design.
He scouted Europe for two weeks in a BMW 520 for ideas.
This tour included Frankfurt, Monaco, Rome, the Swiss Alps, the French Riviera, Florence,
and Milan.
While in Monaco, Suzuki was inspired to use the Ferrari Testarossa as the playable car
in the game, so when he returned to Japan he arranged for his team to find and photograph one.
A small team of just four programmers, a sound creator, and five graphic designers developed Out Run.
Suzuki had to use only personnel that were available and not assigned to other projects
at the time.
As a result, Suzuki did most of the programming and planning himself, spending extra hours
at the studio to complete development of the game within ten months.
Suzuki believed that the most difficult part of developing the game was to make it as fun
as possible, which he achieved by emphasizing the design elements of wide roads, buildings,
and a radio with soundtrack selection.
Four cabinet designs were released, all of which are equipped with a steering wheel,
a stick shift, acceleration and brake pedals.
Two of the cabinet designs are upright, one of which has force feedback in the steering wheel.
The other two models are sit-down cabinets that resemble the in-game car and use a drive
motor to move the main cabinet—turning and shaking according to the onscreen action.
Both models feature stereo speakers mounted behind the driver's head.
The arcade system board made specifically for the game is the Sega OutRun, based on
the Sega System 16.
Suzuki stated that he was often unable to make games based on existing hardware and
that Sega would have to create a new board.
He said that his "designs were always 3D from the beginning.
All the calculations in the system were 3D, even from Hang-On.
I calculated the position, scale, and zoom rate in 3D and converted it backwards to 2D.
So I was always thinking in 3D."
The game achieves its 3D effects by using a sprite-scaling technique called Super-Scaler
technology, as used one year earlier in Hang-On.
Released in September 1986, Out Run's fast sprite-scaling and 3D motion provide a smoother
experience than other contemporary arcade games.
Out Run's original score was composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi, who had previously composed soundtracks
for other games designed by Suzuki, including Hang-On.
The soundtrack is similar in style to Latin and Caribbean music.
Three selectable tracks are featured: Passing Breeze, Splash Wave, and Magical Sound Shower.
An additional track, Last Wave, plays at the final score screen.
Out Run's arcade release received positive reviews and became one of the most popular
arcade games of the year.
In 1988, it won the Golden Joystick Award for Game of the Year, beating Renegade and
The Last Ninja.
Out Run received the Arcade Game of the Year award, beating Renegade and Bubble Bobble.
By 1994, 30,000 cabinets had been sold worldwide, making it Sega's best-selling arcade cabinet
of the 1980s.
Out Run was ported to numerous home consoles and computers.
More than 250,000 copies of the 8-bit computer game ports published by U.S. Gold were sold
by Christmas 1987.
Out Run became both the fastest-selling and the best-selling computer game in the UK that year.
There are numerous follow-up titles to Out Run, including Out Run 3-D (1988), Turbo Out
Run (1989), Out Run Europa (1991), OutRunners (1992), and Out Run 2.
Out Run is listed among the best games of all time by many gaming publications.
Writing in 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, Joao Diniz Sanches praised
Out Run's "unforgettable design and expertly tuned game balance", describing the game as
"the consummate exhibit in an oversubscribed genre" and "one of the purest and most joyous
experiences in video gaming".
In 2015, Out Run appeared at 4th place on IGN's list of The Top 10 Most Influential
Racing Games Ever, behind Pole Position, Gran Turismo and Virtua Racing.
According to Luke Reilly, "traces of Out Run DNA can be found in series like Test Drive,
Need for Speed, Project Gotham Racing, and Burnout" as well as "modern racers like the
Forza Horizon games and DriveClub".
Former Sega arcade director Akira Nagai has credited Out Run and similar games, for Sega's
arcade success in the 1980s.
According to Nagai, "Out Run, in particular, was really amazing for its time...
Suzuki went on to make After Burner and a number of other games, but Out Run is still
talked about with a special kind of wonder.
With the taikan games, Sega's arcade business, which had been Sega's lowest performer in
sales, gradually started to rise..."