If we do not compare it to the arcade version, it is not a bad game. SEGA released a Master System cartridge sharing the theme, but totally different in everything else, such as the curious isometric perspective. The game’s lack of popularity in Japan was the cause for us not having a proper home version of Enduro Racer until the arrival of emulation. A problem that SEGA would encounter again in future works. Despite this bad reputation, Enduro Racer was an arcade game present in many game centers of the time, although in many cases these would not be legitimate versions, since this was the first game in the series to be copied illegally. Plays commonly lasted between one and two minutes, with the consequent loss of interest from the player, who preferred to invest their time and money on friendlier machines. In the Stage 3, you can sink in the water. If we add the very tight time limit which will not forgive the slightest error (at least on default settings), we can begin to understand the black legend of Enduro Racer. A bad takeoff or landing is almost always punished by a fall and subsequent explosion of the bike. The design of the obstacles and orography is calculated with extreme precision. Such is the touch and accuracy required that the first plays are just frustrating. We can modulate the steering, throttle and brake, and the force with which we pull from the bike is also fully analog and has to be combined with the steering.Īs long as we play with a suitable peripheral in good condition, we can perform true stunts with our bike, but only after a long adaptation period. The control of the bike is extremely complex. The animation of the rider is simply amazing. This results in obvious differences in the sound. This time, Hiro makes use of his talent to create a main theme of exceptional quality and compositional complexity, lasting more than five minutes.Ĭuriously enough, SEGA released two versions of the hardware: the first one using the familiar YM2203 / OPN sound chip and the second one with a YM2151 / OPM, which then became the standard of the developer. The melodies are, once more, astonishing. They’re clear and strong, as usual in this series, although the representation of the engine sound ends up causing a headache. The sound effects are not left to chance. The smooth and realistic rider animation deserves a special mention, as do the multiple scroll planes on the horizon. The rendition of the five different stages is truly compelling, with a huge amount of on-screen elements and color variety. Yet despite this, the graphic design shows a very high level of quality. Unfortunately, it was at the cost of animation smoothness, leaving the frame rate at 30 fps, instead of the usual 60 from previous titles. Technically, the relief effect of the tracks is one of the most remarkable things in the game, causing the added challenge of a lower visibility on ramps. The mark of SEGA is evident at first glance. However, that does not keep this game from being another worthy representative of the new Super Scaler technique. The team responsible for Space Harrier’s success was busy in 1986 putting the finishing touches in another ambitious video game, leaving Enduro Racer as the project with less resources of the two. Unlike Hang-On, there isn’t differences in the source code of both versions. However, unlike Hang-On, where the player controls the inclination on the roll axis, in Enduro Racer the player controls the pitch of the bike, imitating the movements that need to be done on a real offroad bike to make it jump on ramps. Unlike Space Harrier, it was decided to return to a scheme where the player’s physical actions would move the cabinet, instead of having the cabinet move the player. Jumps which, being rigorous, were more typical of motocross than enduro.Īs was to be expected, SEGA developed the cabinets in parallel with the actual video game. Enduro Racer was conceived to exploit the idea of toughness associated to this motorsports discipline, making the game mechanics revolve around the handling of the motorcycle on slippery surfaces, obstacle avoidance and, above all, keeping control of the bike during the spectacular jumps, which have remained as the most iconic image of this work. The type of sport SEGA placed their bets on with this game was enduro, at a time when raids and the legendary Paris-Dakar were a worldwide fever. SEGA, in their second motorcycle game within the Taikan Game series, wanted to experiment with the Space Harrier hardware capacity to generate layered graphics with a relief effect.
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