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Virtua Racing and Virtua Racing Deluxe: evolution of the Mega Drive

Posted on 19/04/2024 Written by Xexyz

Virtua Racing in the arcade was a revelation. Until this point driving games were generally represented by a curving path drawn on a 2D plane, with you having to react left and right to keep in the middle of the road (the game was moving your sprite automatically in the opposite direction). As amazing a game Chase HQ on the CPC was, the driving model was basic at best. Even Road Rash had only a semblance of steering. There were some exceptions – Hard Drivin’, Stunt Car Racer, all the Mode 7 flat racers on the SNES – but it wasn’t until Virtua Racing appeared that you could really feel like you were driving a racing car.

It came with a price tag. While most games in the arcades were 50p a go (or even 10p for the older cabinets), the big noticeable Virtua Racing cabinet was £1. I hadn’t paid £1 for a go of an arcade game since the Virtuality cabinet on which I played VTOL. At least Virtua Racing didn’t make me feel ill, with a headset that didn’t fit properly and a framerate that was probably measured in seconds per frame, although going back to the arcade game now the refresh rate isn’t anything to write home about either.

So I didn’t play VR much in the arcade, but the few times I did it was a great experience. And then they announced it was going to be released for the Mega Drive. Oh my.

It cost £70, almost twice the price of a standard game, and it included an extra processor to allow for the polygonal graphics. The framerate wasn’t amazing (15 fps compared to that arcade’s 30), the graphics were very much cut back, but the feeling of racing was still there. I bought Virtua Racing and played it a lot.

I don’t think any other games ever used the same extra processor on the Mega Drive, but not long after Virtua Racing was released Sega announced new hardware for the home – not only a new console (which would be launched as the Saturn), but an add-on for the Mega Drive to increase its capabilities. The 32X did not sell well, which is why I was able to buy mine for £25 a couple of years later. It’s a fun machine to own because the games are actually pretty decent, even today.

Sega released Virtua Racing Deluxe for the 32X, and it’s a big step up from the Mega Drive version. It runs at 20 fps – which is still very low for today’s standards, but feels fine – and there’s a lot more detail on the screen. I played this version even more than the MD game, even though I did get it much later on.

Since Virtua Racing Deluxe was a launch game for the 32X, both these games came out in 1994 – March for the Mega Drive, and December for the 32X. Comparing the two games shows quite a lot of progress for nine months – and the huge upgrade the 32X was able to enable.

The resolution and clarity of the graphics is immediately apparent here – the 32X has more colours, relying less on dithering for shading, and everything is made up of more polygons. Even the HUD overlay is better constructed, with the map rotating with the car, and the information taking up a little less space.

I must apologise for the lack of consistency between these images – I wasn’t planning on comparing them when I took the screenshots. Nevertheless, you can see here the detail on the car is massively improved for the 32X game, even if you can’t see the struts holding on the wheels (due to them being the same colour grey as the road).

You can also see that I completed the course faster on the 32X.

The 32X has added particles, a clarity around the edge of the road, and for some reason the car’s at a slightly different angle.

Revisiting these games (admittedly via emulation) is instructive to see how far we’ve come, and yet also how much has remained the same. Virtua Racing came out on the Switch a few years ago, and it is (as you’d expect) even better than the arcade game – 60 fps, improved handling, expanded game modes – but the game plays the same as ever, and the Mega Drive versions are just as fun.

Filed Under: Gaming Diary Tagged With: 32X, Mac, Mega Drive

Luck Be A Landlord (Mac): COMPLETED!

Posted on 04/08/2021 Written by deKay

This game is a bit like a cross between a clicker and a fruit machine. You spin the reels, and get items appear, and then get money depending on what items and how many of each. But you also unlock more items that could appear, and there are buffs to certain items which increase their worth or a multiplier or both.

So, for example, if you get a Witch, then you get more for each Cat it is next to. Or if you get a Monkey, you get more for Banana. After so many rounds, you have to pay rent and then the rent increases for the next set of rounds. Can’t pay? Game over! So yeah, it’s partly luck based, but then it says that there in the title!

There’s an endless mode, which is obviously impossible to complete, but there’s also a mode with an actual ending, and it’s that I completed.

Filed Under: Gaming Diary Tagged With: completed, Diary, itch.io, Mac

The Librarian (Mac): COMPLETED!

Posted on 08/04/2018 Written by deKay

A short point and click adventure game, with lovely pixel graphics and a few simple puzzles. There’s not a great deal to tell you about it, really, otherwise I’ll spoil everything. But I will tell you this: there’s something wrong in the library.

If you’ve played these sorts of games before, then there’s nothing taxing here. I’ve just completed Thimbleweed Park, remember, so this was like easy mode compared to that. It looks and plays beautifully though, so it’s well worth a play. And it’s free! You can get a copy from the author’s itch.io page.

The post The Librarian (Mac): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Filed Under: Gaming Diary Tagged With: completed, Mac, Post

Passpartout: The Starving Artist (Mac): COMPLETED!

Posted on 07/01/2018 Written by deKay

Ah, the life of a French artist, living off his art, being French. Literally being some sort of frog like a racist stereotype. In Passpartout, you are this frog painter, and it’s your actual art that you sell.

Well, I say art. With tools even Microsoft Paint would sneer at, it’s not easy creating a masterpiece. Thankfully, as it turns out, whatever algorithm the game employs to determine the value and demand for your painting seems unconcerned with skill and it’s more about colour and complexity, depending on your customers.

Take George, for example. He’s easily pleased. My simplistic pictures of legless caterpillars with giant eyes always sold to him. Mary, however, would sarcastically comment on their lack of complexity and Don simply couldn’t abide the colours I used.

After experimenting with colour schemes and shapes, it seems the more realistic the picture the less chance I’d had of selling it. Generally more abstract shapes (big blocks of cheese went down well for a while), cartoony characters (a number of pictures staring a muscular crab sold for a high price) and those ever loved caterpillars allowed me to progress.

By the third act, it was clear that my clients just wanted grey pillys with big eyes, so I plied them with many variations on the same theme. Eventually I created one that was grey and red, and the massive bid I received for it basically completed the game for me. Which is just as well, as after five hours of creating things that either didn’t sell or were virtually the same as previous paintings, I’d started to flag. There’s probably a message in the end sequence where Passpartout is said to have become very rich, but I suspect he was just a caterpillar sellout and drank himself into oblivion to save the agony of 50 years of repeating himself.

Here’s a load of my “arts”, for your perusal:

The post Passpartout: The Starving Artist (Mac): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Filed Under: Gaming Diary Tagged With: completed, Mac, passpartout, Post, Steam

You Have to Win the Game (Mac): COMPLETED!

Posted on 11/12/2017 Written by deKay

A relatively simple platformer, that sits somewhere between Jet Set Willy and VVVVVV, You Have to Win the Game was a random choice to play for five minutes and I got a bit hooked on.

It’s pretty short, not too difficult, but after about half way through I decided to buy it (for just a dollar) even though it’s free just so I could “own” it permanently in Steam.

And then I went on to Lose the Game (when you complete it the first time), and after that Win the Game (the second time, after finding the secret code).

Enjoyable and not too stressful. I don’t think I’ll be able to track down the last few things I’m missing to get from 95 to 100%, but it was fun getting as far as I did.

The post You Have to Win the Game (Mac): COMPLETED! appeared first on deKay's Gaming Diary.

Filed Under: Gaming Diary Tagged With: completed, Mac, Post, you have to win the game

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94: Secrete Yellow Ooze From Their Knees
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Another period of time has passed, bringing with it news of both digital wonders and corporate woes! Join us as the ugvm podcast team unpacks the latest in gaming, from unexpected purchases to industry shake-ups. That was a terrible pair of inaccurate sentences brought to you by an AI analysis of our podcast and we’re very sorry.

In this episode, deKay, Toby, and Orrah are on hand to guide you through a fresh batch of discussions. We talk about the news that Everybody Is Fired At Microsoft, have a riveting and detailed Switch battery replacement chat, and someone pops their Battle Pass cherry. Plus, Subnautica 2 Drama, deKay Has A Switch 2, and these games!

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92: You Do Realise You Can Take The Discs Out
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