Out Run (アウトラン Auto Ran?) (also spelled OutRun and Outrun) is a 1986 arcade game designed by Yu Suzuki and Sega-AM2. The game was a major hit with arcade-goers and is notable for its innovative hardware (including a moving cabinet), pioneering graphics and music, a choice in both soundtrack and route, and its strong theme of luxury and relaxation. In retrospective interviews, Yu Suzuki has classified Out Run not as a racing game, but as a "driving" game.
The player controls a man driving a car with his girlfriend in the passenger seat. The car is popularly perceived to be a Ferrari Testarossa convertible; however, this game did not have an official Ferrari license (unlike its sequel Out Run 2, released 17 years later). Starting at a coastal area, the player must pass through four checkpoints between five laps within a set time limit.
The game featured many innovations of both technology and gameplay. At the time of its release, the game was unique in that it was possible to choose the stages in which the race took place, save for the initial one. Before every checkpoint, there was a fork in the road, allowing the player to enter one of two different environments. (A similar branching system had been used once before in the 1983 Atari/Tatsumi racer TX-1.)
Route names
Overseas Layout
Stage Number | Goal name | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
Vineyard | A | ||||
Wilderness | |||||
Desert | Death Valley | B | |||
Gateway | Old Capital | ||||
Coconut Beach | Alps | Desolation Hill | C | ||
Devil's Canyon | Wheat Field | ||||
Cloudy Mountain | Autobahn | D | |||
Seaside Town | |||||
Lakeside | E |
Japan Layout
Stage Number | Goal name | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
Vineyard | A | ||||
Wilderness | |||||
Desert | Death Valley | B | |||
Wheat Field | Old Capital | ||||
Coconut Beach | Alps | Desolation Hill | C | ||
Cloudy Mountain | Gateway Thunder | ||||
Devil's Canyon | Autobahn | D | |||
Seaside Town | |||||
Lakeside | E |
Note: In the Japan Layout, Devil's Canyon stage is called “Walls”, Gateway is called “Big Gate”, Desolation Hill is called “Stone Hill” and Autobahn is called “Dual Way”.
Other information
A total of sixteen route variations is possible. The five goals have different finishing animations to encourage players to attempt different routes.
As can be seen from the properties of Pascal's Triangle, if a route through the game is chosen at random, the player is most likely to end up at goal C ("Desolation Hill", 3/8 probability); "Death Valley" (goal B) and "Autobahn" (goal D) each have a probability of 1/4; whilst "Vineyard" (goal A) and "Lakeside" (goal E) each have a 1/16 probability.
In the PC-DOS version, the route that scores the most possible points (about 76.5 million) is Coconut Beach-Gateway-Desert-Old Capital-Desolation Hill.
The original Out Run is hidden inside the Xbox game Out Run 2 and can be accessed by using the code NINETEEN86 and also by completing all routes in arcade mode. However, the original arcade had sprites with one translucent color, used for shadows, which is not replicated in this emulation. The emulated version renders this color opaque.