Coded Mass

In 1986, Yu Suzuki brought summer into the dimly lit, smoke-filled arcades of Japan. Though OutRun was advertised as a ‘high action road racing adventure,’ Suzuki had already succeeded in simulating the atmosphere of competitive racing one year prior with the release of Hang-on. OutRun was a Super Scaler exploration of the male ego: capturing the feel of driving alongside coastal roads with a beautiful girl at your side in what then was the coolest car of the eighties, the Ferrari Testarossa. To do so, Suzuki pioneered field research as an integral component of game design. He embarked on a cross-European road trip—the United States were deemed too unsafe—with company president Youji Ishii. Though their limited budget only allowed them to cruise alongside the French Riviera in a BMW 3-series, their Cannonball Run-inspired antics paid off.

Mind you, OutRun remains a child of the eighties and is therefore characterised by a brutal, coin-guzzling logic. Sure, the initial area offers sufficient leniency, but each fork in the road adds to the challenge. Once a one-credit run was mastered, though, OutRun’s start-to-finish might very well have been the five most exhilarating minutes a single 100-yen coin could buy. And, it’s an experience that still holds up remarkably well today.

17 years later, Sega’s AM2 division would revisit and improve upon that five-minute run. It would find perfection, however, 3 years later when Outrun 2’s mechanics received their final update in the arcades. Though decidedly tropical, the original’s palette remained slightly muddied; limited by its hardware, there was an abundance of colours, but not necessarily ones that popped. Out Run 2’s bright blue skies, however, did invite the wearing of sunglasses; and its sunset skyboxes, a glass of red wine. The lone Testarossa was joined by an additional seven models, including the iconic F40. Mechanically, the introduction of drifting was a key change, which, when performed correctly, allowed for a smooth transition into corners without losing speed and a greater score bonus. In 2006, the Special Tours update was released for arcades. Although more forgiving, OutRun 2 SP introduced two mechanics that made score chasing more rewarding: slipstream and rival cars. When in the slipstream of traffic, your vehicle would not only get a boost in speed, but you would also gain more points in clean overtaking. Doing so with rival cars, would net you the most points.

Virtual ecstasy, I posit, is the union of slipstream, drifting and rival car overtaking in an F40. It is a drug I discovered in 2009, when Outrun Online, the HD conversion of Out Run SP, hit Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade service. Having been motivated by my local game dealer, and upon taking aboard his strategies, I managed to crack the game’s worldwide top 20, having played the same five minutes hours on end. Some years later, I found myself in Brussels, attending one of the infamous Libertine Supersport club nights. For some unknown reason, that evening’s venue also hosted an OutRun cabinet. I did not dance that night. I had money in my pocket and a mission. In the words of Walter Day, “I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to be the center of attention. I wanted the glory, I wanted the fame. I wanted the pretty girls to come up and say, ‘Hi, I see that you’re good at ‘[OutRun]’! Of course, no girl ever did – though I never was as delusional to think they would – but I did not care. It was six in the morning, and all that mattered was that my initials were carved on top of the cabinet’s leaderboards… All top slots. In 2024, I managed to rekindle that same experience in Japan while visiting the retro floor of an Akihabara arcade hall. Making the top 15, rusty and on muscle memory, I knew I belonged. In Japan, after all, you compete with the best. Outrun 2 SP is the perfect rush.