Turbo Outrun! The wait is over! TCFS pulls off the impossible once again, the highly anticipated conversion of the classic arcade game Turbo Outrun makes its debut on the Commodore Plus/4!
Turbo Outrun, originally developed and published by Sega in 1989, has captivated players with its fast-paced gameplay and thrilling races. For the first time, Commodore Plus/4 owners will have the opportunity to rev their engines and leave the other cars on the road in the dust. Watch out for those pesky cops though! Can you drive fast enough to make sure your girlfriend Norma doesn't leave you?
It's no hyperbole that Turbo Outrun is the best racing simulator on our system: great gameplay, awesome graphics with a great sound track. All this can be yours for the price of... absolutely free! What are you waiting for, go download it now! Also check out the companion demo: Turbo Outrun Music Box.
Re: Turbo Outrun! This game represents the highest, most significant and important example of the entire TCFS career. When we talk about "pseudoconversions", we talk about important and also radical choices to be made in a converted game to make it work on a machine without sprites and with different characteristics, while retaining a recognizable personality and its high playability.
A special mention goes to the incredible work of Csabo, both on the artistic and technical level. Csabo repairs to the shortcomings of a sacred monster like Jeroen Tel, who has been forced to limit his versions of YAS' music on C64, proposing hybrid versions that bring together both the original melodies and the derivations of the Commodore's, making justice both in a superb way. The famous intro with the digital effects benefits from all the experience that Csabo has acquired in that specific field along all these years, and closes a historical circle that formed from the first conversions of the 90s.
Congratulations guys, you have achieved something great. And also very very funny to play!
Re: Turbo Outrun! Wow, this is a fantastic release! Sucha lovely game with great graphics, music, and the playability is fantastic, and pretty fast!
You feel the speed, not like with the ZX Spectrum, or even CPC versions (3.5 and 4.0MHz Z80 CPUs, just saying), even ATARI ST feel more sluggish. Without HW sprites this speed is a kind of magic! (as Bo Zimmerman told once: This is witchcraft! )
Well, thank you all for your hard work! A new gem created! A fantastic start of the year!
I made the first (lame) highscore (not so great in racing games), but anyhow, to be the first in something is a honor (even if happens for a very short time )
Re: Turbo Outrun! Thanks, Guys! I am glad that you like the stuff. Around the first preview video, I was afraid that the game will be "lame" and "boring", and I was close to abandon the project. But thanks for Luca, who helped me focusing my attention to several missed details, for example the annoing behavior of the cops. After the implementation of those suggestions the game became more interesting and challenging. And also thanks for the testers (credited in the game) who helped me to set/maintain the healthy balance of the gameplay. I hope that this game is inspiring enough and does not cause any rage-quit.
Re: Turbo Outrun! We cannot find the words for what you are doing here. Not only the code, but the whole feeling that permeates the transcription of the games is great! The music perfectly reminds us of our childhood, the graphics couldn't be more beautiful, the code, we know, has been flawless for 30 years! Thanks and congratulations!
Re: Turbo Outrun! Great Conversion or propper advanced update! And as always nothing ported by source I suppose. TCFS did a major freestyle conversion again! Great work! I didn't knew this is possible in this graphics mode!
Re: Turbo Outrun! I want to say I have no words but I do and its "Thank you". This was the last thing I ever expected to see today , utter mind blowing stuff. Best we had was Speed King, and now. Question though out of pure interest, why Turbo and not Outrun?
Re: Turbo Outrun! @JimmyCoupe "...why Turbo and not Outrun?"
There is a pure "Outrun" on C64 as well, but its gfx is a bit ugly and the gameplay is poor. I decided to make its sequel, called "Turbo Outrun" which looks better.
Re: Turbo Outrun! @George you've asked for this into the wrong thread, this is the Turbo Outrun Music Box one! I've seen you message for a moment then it has been canceled and consequently I've purged the remains.
Said that, we've updated the .D64 a couple of times, changing some bits only. Nonetheless, I'm checking it right now on two different SD2IEC readers and the game loads perfectly. So, anything should go to you too.
EDIT: I've now tried it on a third OLDER SD2IEC and actually it doesn't load! Stay in contact for further news.
Re: Turbo Outrun! @Luca I messaged Tamas directly, because i did not want to ask in public. I have an older one too. A hint maybe: Mine has an incopatibility when loading sequential files from BASIC. It requires the suffix .seq (or other way) when loading a file.
Re: Turbo Outrun! Nice release! If I only had this in '88...
Just tested both this and the Music Box (impressive stuff just as well!) on my SD2IEC with the latest firmware from BSZ (c'mon guys, just update, it's supersimple!) and they both seem to work correctly. Only weirdness I noticed is that the drive is no longer accessible if I reset the machine ("Device not found"), I have to power it off and then back on to get it to work again. I think this happened many other times though!
Re: Turbo Outrun! Yes I confirm what @SukkoPera has written about the TO loading, it happened ever during the betatesting and I was aware it would have been considered as normal. Now I tested it on an older SD2IEC, from where it doesn't load, and I noticed that the SD2IEC drive resets to the main root when stuck.
Re: Turbo Outrun! Awesome work guys!!! Never has a Plus/4 game given me a smile for so long, still smiling now as I type!
Glad you kept those cheesy synth Tom sounds in the music Csabo, I was hoping for them as it wouldn't be C64 style Turbo OutRun without them lol. And the second title screen tune, superb work!!
We have the Drivers, we just need the Demons now, that other game in the US Gold box!
are there any pokes for this? i guess its a bit soon to be looking on google but couldnt find anything on there anyway. a time poke would be nice. great game btw!
Re: Turbo Outrun! @the777 why? Why are you running toward an easy solution of the game? Stay here and play with us instead! the Hall Of Fame is hungry for your scores!
Re: Turbo Outrun! What I would like to say is that there is no way that Csabo is standing behind me with a loaded gun in his hand and not trying to put any pressure on me. So, I really like this game master TCFS has made for us, I lit another candle on my Plus/4 home altar.
Re: Turbo Outrun! Ha! I did wonder how TCFS scored less and reached Lv.16, I was thinking maybe he lost the girl friend. Very easily done as this one is harder than the C64 version thanks to these new controls.
Re: Turbo Outrun! Yes, the gallery screenshots are "artificially" generated, those are not caused by a regular gameplay. Nobody had time to struggle through the game during the release rush.
Re: Turbo Outrun! @TCFS @Csabo @Unreal Congrats to your recent masterpiece. I would be interested in stories of some of the challenges making this release. After playing the C64 version i also noticed some features were not put in.
Re: Turbo Outrun! @George Yes, porting a game from a more advanced hardware is always a series of decisions: what should go and what should remain. And the memory is the biggest limiting factor, because emulating the hardware sprites requires 8k buffer area which cannot be used for anything else. This is the reason why some gameplay elements are missing, for example the weather, the road blocks, etc.
Re: Turbo Outrun! For my part, I still don't understand why a game has to be difficult. Or unfair? Nowadays games are no longer made to swallow up all your coins, or to make sure that an expensive game is not played by a child in 2 days and then demand a new one. Fun and enjoyment should be the main focus. Yes, it's a paraphrase of an old game, but this is what I was thinking about. I made my own game (Blob Fox) by balancing. Can a dog go through almost anything? Okay, then it will be slower than the fox. Is there time limit, is there a trap, is there darkness? There is temporary invulnerability and you can quickly accumulate a score for a new life. You can't go into the trap? Well, then neither can the dog, he has to go around it too. The time limit is plenty for one track, but if you want to complete it with 1 minute left, you'll need to get your act together. The challenge is for the serious achievement, not to prevent you from completing it once. Playing all the way through is easy, playing PERFECTLY all the way through is hard.
Re: Turbo Outrun! I reached the end of stage 4 with 19 seconds on the clock, thinking "YEAH BABY!!". But on stage 5 the first car was a Cop Car and he was a dirty bar steward.
Re: Turbo Outrun! Re: Turbo Outrun! Hints: - The bonus at the end of each sections depends on the time remaining at arrival. - Try to hit other cars and the curb as few as possible. Lame driving will make Norma angry and she will leave you. When Norma is not in your car, the bonus multiplier is lower. - Upgrade tips: install turbo first. Try to use turbo as ofter as possible. It helps against the clock. The second upgrade might be the tyre. Hipower engine should come last. (The order of upgrades depend on your driving style, the suggested order meets my favorite habit of driving) - Using the turbo intensively will help you higher bonus multiplier, even when Norma left you. (Section ends with Norma in your car gives 200.000 pts for each seconds remaining, when Norma left you you will gain 100.000 points/sec, and when Norma left you but you used a lot of turbo: 160.000 pts/sec)
Re: Turbo Outrun! Pull back/down to cancel the Turbo at any time. Or let go off Gas for about a 1 second. Don't forget to press up/forward for gas again straight after...
If you know the end of a stage is coming use the Turbo as it will auto cancel as soon you enter the next stage. This can be handy if it's close the to limit.
Tease the Police, let them think you are going to stay one side of the road, but at the last/right moment steer over to the otherside of the road and use the Turbo to pass them.
Get a friend to call out when the Turbo is near the max, that way you can keep your eyes on the road.
And "BIG THANKS" to TCSF for this.., if you press F1 you can change the color of your F40, a feature that comes from the arcade version of OutRun2SP!!!
Re: Turbo Outrun! Changing the color is a really nice touch. Love these eastereggs. @TCFS Have you ever thought to make a version where you can switch off the music and bring in cool soundeffects like carengine, turbo sound, tires etc...? That's what i personally am interested in a racing game. Besides a wish of mine would be Segas "Hangon" (Motorbike). I game that i have great memories of on the "Sega Master System" which i owne next to the plus/4 back in the day and wished to have the same games on it.
Re: Turbo Outrun! @george "After playing the C64 version i also noticed some features were not put in."
The answer is simple and everytime is the same: my sprite emulation routine needs 8K on Plus/4 for buffers. Everytime I have less amount of memory compared to C64 version. Thus, I have to sacrifice lot of things/features/gfx/music, etc. In Outrun, the weather effects and the road block objects (barriers, wooden logs) are not included due to lack of memory.
"Have you ever thought to make a version where you can switch off the music and bring in cool soundeffects like carengine, turbo sound, tires etc...? That's what i personally am interested in a racing game."
The answer is simple :) . No. Memory. Left. For. Anything :D :D
Re: Turbo Outrun! @TCFS Thanks for the reply. You mentioned the lack of the 8kb in the previous post. What i ment is leaving out the music and put in sound effects instead. Just a thought.
Re: Turbo Outrun! Hmm at the checkpoint where my GF left me for another speed driver the game hang and did not want to load or proceed in any way, only a blank red (crimson?) screen remained.... ?? YAPE 1.2.3.
Re: Turbo Outrun! I showed the game Turbo OutRun to someone who had not touched a Plus/4 since 1989, but they had played the C64 version when it came out.
I never said anything, (knowing they had played the C64 one before)... When they saw Turbo OutRun was loading on Plus/4 there was confusion & frowning, with a slight hint of a grin. Basically they were lost as to why I was doing this.
At the "1,2,3,Hit It..." The eyes shut and opened much wider and the words, "No F**KING WAY!!!" were spoken.
They don't do 8bit Retro but we're highly impressed a Plus/4 could actually do all this, very, very impressed! It was the result I was expecting lol, but thought I would share this as all this belongs to those who worked on Turbo OutRun Plus/4!!!
Re: Turbo Outrun! Nice video George, and cool car collection. Annoying the samples don't play at the correct volume on a 64C, but still.. I prefer this updated SID for normal music. And the music restarting every stage on C64 was another annoying thing.
And wow Megadrive Turbo OutRun looked "CRAZY" fast @ 60hz, way too fast... I've only ever played the PAL MD version at 50hz lol.
Re: Turbo Outrun! Wow. It's almost as good as the C64 version. Shame about some of the ommisions but that's really quite understandable.
I actually prefer the original Outrun on the C64 to its sequels. Yes the gfx are a little lacking but have to disagree about the gameplay being poor. It just feels a more fun driving experience to me.
Also feels a bit odd now that we don't have the original on the plussy, lol.
Re: Turbo Outrun! @MIK Thanks. I gathered the cars i could find. Yes the samples on the C65II were too low. A shame that i could not use it in the comparison. So i put the plus/4 version at the end.
@Retroscener When a great chunk of memory is missing, you have to do compromises. But some of the lacking features (like spining car) i really don't miss.
Re: Turbo Outrun! It's part of the games history on C64 which people conveniently forget so it's good you showed it from a point of view which is also factually correct.
The Plus/4 one has more replay value and now the music is more complete it's a win for Turbo OutRun fans!
Re: Turbo Outrun! Actually I feel the Plus/4 version is a racing game, while the C64 version is more an arcade game. ( Roadblocks on the highway and rotating car LOL , the rain added almost nothing to the gameplay, and looked rather poor)
Re: Turbo Outrun! As I have a commodore 16 I use the emulator Yape for 64k games. This seems to crash when you try to load it in. The Turbo Outrun music box works fine. Has anyone else tried it on Yape?
Re: Turbo Outrun! I would find it shockingly astonishing if YAPE were unable to run it. Some obvious things to check: latest emulator version, highest fidelity emulation settings, playing not the STM version of the game.
Re: Turbo Outrun! When does it crash? At the very beginning, where the progress bar is running on the bottom? Or later? Do you have red screen when crashes? (Red screen indicates load error when some files are missing (or when the loader runs out of sync in case of emulator WARP-ing)
Re: Turbo Outrun! Turbo Outrun? Would you guys mean the same Turbo Outrun which collected a Zzap! Gold medal award on Zzap! 12/97 pp.30/31, with the reviewer saying that the new usage of the turbo feature works better than the original one?
Re: Turbo Outrun! Wow! Thanks @Luca for the info... (Is this issue available for online order? I have checked the Zzap online shop, but I did not find this particular issue in the list of available items.)
Re: Turbo Outrun! @TCFS the issue of Zzap! where @Csabo 's music contribution wanna stay humble by receiving only NINETYEIGHT PERCENT as score, will be soon available as single purchase for non subscribers in the next days.
I don't know which relation you all have with this game, but I regularly take back to play it once more.
In the same issue: Sizzler for Giana Sisters, the review of The Empire Strikes Back and a first announcement in the news chapter about "what shall come next".
Re: Turbo Outrun! @retroscener heh, they raised it from the grave by their passion, I see quite a difficult obstacle to put up an entire parallel English issue for to be printed for few readers only, even because all their efforts are very clearly shining thru their production, which is somethng very professional looking and up to 68-72 pages overall, reaching some serious ceiling in quality, which I myself didn't expect.
Oh btw the free release for the unsuscribed readers starts exactly from today, @TCFS of course you know how to You only have to choose the sending option "Estero con posta internazionale". 37 left at now.
Re: Turbo Outrun! i reviewed this game in Febrauray 2024 on my fanzine REV'n'GE! Impressed and spechless about this fantastic job and gol medal for this game.
Turbo Outrun!
(Yeah, I know, I had small part of the development so I'm biased, but still!...)
)
I've seen you message for a moment then it has been canceled and consequently I've purged the remains.
