Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off-Road (Leland Corporation, 1989) - Part 1

A FEW WORDS BEFORE WE START...

Now quite a long time ago, a request was made by a reader who commented by the name "The Gambler" to write a comparison of one of my all-time favourite arcade racing games that has been ported to pretty much all the major computers and consoles at the time. As Super Off-Road had been on my to-do list for a long time already, I decided to tackle it now, because there's already a video comparison of it on YouTube from Gaming History Source - which will naturally be linked at the end of the comparison. Despite of that, Super Off-Road proved to be such a large undertaking, that I'm going to split this comparison in two parts - the first time doing so since I did the Epyx sports games comparisons many years ago.

Because there are so many versions of Super Off-Road, and so many different people working on most different versions, it was necessary to write this pre-amble, and do a separate Credits section for a change. Hold on to your cowboy hats and click to read on!

(Note: The entire comparison just went under slight maintenance due to neglect in checking for proper information on the release dates. The originally mentioned 1994 release date for the Sega Megadrive/Genesis version was suggested by MobyGames.)

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CREDITS

Designed by John Morgan
Programming by John Morgan, Hartono Tjitro and Earl Stratton
Graphics by Steve High, Kevin Lydy, Dok Whitson and Jerry Huber
Music by Sam Powell
Sound effects by Mike Enright and Michelle Simon
Directed by John Rowe, Medo Moreno and Dan Viescas
Hardware by Eric Henderson, Dennis Sable and Dave Scott
Technical advisory by Ivan Stewart
Released to the arcades by Leland Corporation in 1989.

Amstrad CPC & Sinclair ZX Spectrum versions:
Programming by Steve Turner
Amstrad graphics by John Lilley and Michael A. Field
Spectrum graphics by John Cumming and Michael A. Field
Music and sound effects by Jason Page
Technical support by Andrew Braybrook and Dominic Robinson

Commodore 64 version:
Programming by Steve Turner, Gary J. Foreman, David O'Connor and Jason Page
Graphics by Jason Cumming and John Lilley
Music and sound effects by Jason Page

Atari ST & Commodore Amiga versions:
Atari programming by Gary J. Foreman
Amiga programming by Steve Turner, Gary J. Foreman, David O'Connor and Jason Page
Graphics by John Cumming
Atari additional graphic support by Michael A. Field
Music and sound effects by Jason Page
Technical support by Andrew Braybrook and Dominic Robinson

IBM-PC compatibles version:
Programming by David O'Connor
Graphics by John Cumming and Michael A. Field
Music and sound effects by Jason Page
Technical support by Andrew Braybrook and Dominic Robinson

Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Commodore Amiga, IBM-PC and Sinclair ZX Spectrum versions published by Virgin Mastertronic in 1990.

Nintendo Entertainment System version:
Programming and graphics by Paul J. Machacek
Music and sound effects by David Wise and Sam Powell
Published by Tradewest, Inc. in 1990.

Nintendo Game Boy version:
Music and sound effects by Mark Cooksey
Published by Tradewest, Inc. in 1992.

Super Nintendo Entertainment System version:
Programming by John Buckley, Tony Pomfret and Michael Webb
Graphics by Lyndon Brooke
Music and sound effects by Tim & Geoff Follin
Published by Tradewest, Inc. in 1992.

Sega Megadrive/Genesis version:
Designed by Tradewest
Programming by Paul D. Marshall
Graphics by Martin Holland
Music and sound effects by Tony Williams
Published by Ballistic for the European regions in 1992, and in North America in 1993.

Sega Game Gear version:
Programming by Steve Turner
Graphics by John Lilley
Music and sound effects by Krisalis Software
Published by Virgin Games in 1992.

Atari Lynx version developed by Leland Corp. and published by Telegames, Inc. in 1993.
No other credits are known.

Sega Master System version
converted by Darran Eteo, Rod Mack, Steve Turner, John Lilley and Iain Wallington.
(Further details unknown.)
Published by Virgin Games in 1993.

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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS

Even had it not had a celebrity endorsement, Super Off-Road was always going to be a hit because of its largely unutilized genre, but also because Atari messed up their winning streak. Since Atari's original single-screen top-down racers Gran Trak 10 (1974) and Sprint (1977), this style of a racing game has been one of the most cloned ones, at least until Sega's Out Run came along. Atari's Super Sprint-sequel BadLands from 1989 went largely unnoticed, very likely due to its title, but also because the game was nothing more than a post-apocalyptic Super Sprint with weapons and shields. Meanwhile, the company previously known as Cinematronics (who made Dragon's Lair and Space Ace) had dabbled with Super Sprint's genre with Redline Racer in 1986, before the company was bought by Tradewest in 1987 and was renamed Leland Corporation. The project leader, John Morgan, had a hit game under his belt with John Elway's Quarterback, and was designing a 4x4 truck racing game with the basic building blocks snatched from Super Sprint, when he reportedly met professional off-road racing driver and winner of many championships, Ivan Stewart, in a restaurant, quite by a chance and got him to be the game's technical advisor, as well as an endorser. I could say the rest is history, but of course the reality is, the game was not as universally celebrated as it might seem.

At any rate, it was released for too many platforms for my mental health, and not all platforms were created equal. The original arcade game is a fairly common item, although it has only been rated by 9 people at the Arcade Museum, centering at 3.76 out of 5.00. At Lemon64, a whopping 92 voters have given the C64 version a well-rounded 8 out of 10. The two scores at the usual Amstrad sites are 7/10 at CPC Game Reviews and 15/20 at CPC-Power. The archived World of Spectrum score was 7.70 from 43 votes, while the current Spectrum Computing score is a less flattering 6.6 from 7 votes. LemonAmiga's score is 7.66 from 134 votes, while the Atari ST version has a 7.4 from mere 21 votes. Moving on to consoles, the now defunct Questicle website (with the quest to review every NES ever made) had given the NES version a B- rating, but I'd rather trust the 14 voters at MobyGames with the 3.7 out of 5.0 rating at the moment. Also from MobyGames, the SNES version has a 3.8 from 9 votes, and the Game Boy version has a 2.6 from 8 votes. Finally, the three Sega ratings from the Sega Retro site are currently 74/100 for both the Genesis/Megadrive and Master System versions, with 23 reviews for the former and 11 for the latter; and the Game Gear version has a score of 83/100 from 21 reviews. The only version that doesn't seem to have any ratings around currently is the Atari Lynx version, but I suppose we'll find about that sooner or later. We're definitely in for an interesting comparison, so hold on to your wheels, here we go!

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DESCRIPTION & REVIEW

What Leland Corp. essentially did was inherited the Sprint series from Atari, when they failed to continue its success, and moved it to a slightly more interesting direction. Using 4x4 trucks as the basis for a racing game wasn't a common thing - I can only think two prior games to give the off-road truck racing genre a chance: Epyx's 4x4 Off-Road Racing and Electronic Arts' Racing Destruction Set, neither of which got the speed and fun of the motorsport quite right.

Super Off-Road, a worthy title to continue the tradition of Super Sprint, kept the formula fairly simple. Like in Super Sprint, the original coin-op had three wheel controllers attached to it, and like Super Sprint, you could upgrade your truck with better engines, tyres and a better acceleration (which I guess it actually a better gearbox, not a better rev counter), but instead of bonus score, the other items in the shop here are shocks (for better handling in rough terrain) and nitros, which give you a very short burst of extra speed. Somewhat differently to Super Sprint, the truck upgrades are bought with money you win and collect from races, instead of just wrenches. You can also collect nitro when racing.

The original Super Off-Road featured 8 tracks, which equals to the amount of tracks in Super Sprint and BadLands, but the success of the game lead to a demand for more content, so Leland published an add-on board called "Track Pack" later the same year, containing 8 more tracks. The add-on also allowed the player to choose between two vehicles, the new one being a dune buggy. There is some variety in the amount of tracks in the home conversions, but we shall get to that soon enough.

Thinking back to the early 1990's, when the majority of time spent on this game happened, it was really the visuals and highly entertaining soundtrack, which hooked us into Super Off-Road. Also, the way the game was structured was very much a key factor in its addictiveness. Unfortunately, Super Off-Road is one of those games that can easily suffer from a rose-tinted glass disease, as it doesn't play nearly as well as you might hope or remember. It is a key moment in the history of racing games, however, and should be experienced by every retrogaming scholar in their lives, if only briefly.

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PLAYABILITY - PART 1: STARTING THE GAME AND CONTROLS

For those of you, who are not particularly interested in the start-up sequence of Super Off-Road, I have decided to divide the Playability section in three parts, so you can scroll down to the actual meat of the game if you choose to.

We skipped the usual Loading section this time, because it truly offers nothing of value to a comparison with most versions only ever having been released in cartridge or disk format. Having said that, it might as well be noted that all the 8-bit home computer versions were also released in disk format, so a full-blown cassette loading time comparison would be useless. If you're desperate to know, however, the C64 tape loads the quickest, with almost a minute less than the quickest SPECTRUM tape loader, and almost 2 and a half minutes than the AMSTRAD tape version. For the AMIGA vs. ATARI ST supremacy clansmen, the ST version comes with two disks, while the AMIGA version has everything fitted into one.

Picture of the original arcade cabinet,
taken from partypals.com.

Now, let's start properly with the controls. The original ARCADE game is played with a racing wheel, and there's also a gas pedal and a button for using nitro, which also acts a selection button. Obviously, I have no way of actually simulating the proper arcade experience on MAME, so I shall have to base my information on keyboard controls.

The usual joystick-driven method is rather self-explanatory: up for throttle, down for brakes, left and right for turning and fire button for nitro. As there are only two joystick ports available, the third potential human player uses the keyboard. The PC version can be played with a joystick, but at least two players can play the game on keyboard. The keys in the PC version are, for the red car: Q for acceleration, A for brakes, X for left and C for right; and for the blue car: } for acceleration, @ for brakes, < for left and > for right, assuming you're using a UK or US keyboard. On a Finnish keyboard, the blue car controls are ^, Ä, ; and :, but that's hardly important for most of you. I couldn't find the controls for the yellow car, so I assume it's either joystick or mouse-driven. At least it is in the AMIGA and ST versions, and the red and blue car have optional keyboard controls as well. If you have any more solid information on the PC keyboard controls, please feel free to leave a comment.

On the pad-operated machines, the pads with two action buttons are simple enough to figure out, as the other one accelerates and the other one is for nitro, and the D-pad is used for turning left and right. Start-button toggles pause, if available. When you move to the 16-bits, though, the MEGADRIVE/GENESIS version gives you the two buttons to be selected freely from the three available ones, and the SUPER NINTENDO version has B for acceleration and Y for nitro. In all console versions, the truck brakes automatically when you let go of the gas pedal.

The original ARCADE game actually starts with a full registration sequence, in which you type in your three given initials (or pseudonym), your full birthdate, and one of eight possible countries: USA, Mexico, Canada, Japan, Germany, Italy, UK and France. If you have kept your previous registration information in memory, you will find that the game actually remembers all your achievements so far. The PC, AMIGA and ST versions also feature this full registration sequence, only the countries appear in a different order and Mexico has been altered to Australia. Just as a reminder, all the versions mentioned in this paragraph can be played with three players, with the exception of some of the two-players-only arcade versions, but the fourth truck is always driven by Ironman himself.

Keeping with the 16-bit versions still, the SEGA MEGADRIVE/GENESIS version only needs your initials as the actual registration bit, but the start-up sequence also includes the button configuration and the choice of having music on or off. The SUPER NINTENDO version is also happy with just your initials, and the game starts right after having done that. Both of these versions only allow two human players to participate simultaneously.

As we downgrade to the 8-bits, we find the NES version is able to utilize the all-too rarely utilized Four Score device, or Satellite, if you want a more wireless experience, both of which allow four players to play simultaneously. Of course, you need to actually own one, or play the game on an emulator - otherwise you're restricted to two players. After having chosen the number of players, the players need to input their initials as usual, but they also have to choose a country from the same list as you saw on the 16-bit home computers. From SEGA's competitor, MASTER SYSTEM, the title screen allows you to enter an options screen with togglers for music and sound effects, as well as a difficulty level chooser with three levels to choose from. To enter the options screen, press button 2 on the gamepad, but if you want to go start the game, press button 1. Then, you need to enter your usual three initials before the countdown for level 1 starts. Since the MASTER SYSTEM didn't have a Four Score equivalent, only two human players are allowed.

Let's take a detour to the 8-bit home computers before ending this section with the handheld consoles. The AMSTRAD and SPECTRUM versions are very much from the same cloth, and they both start with control options for two possible human players. After that, you are taken to the title screen, where pressing the fire button takes you to the countdown screen. The C64 version doesn't give you any control options, so the first thing you see after the game has loaded is the entrance screen with three unoccupied player slots. Pressing any fire button starts the countdown for the first track. So, none of the three 8-bit home computer versions have anything even resembling a high score table.

Naturally, the handheld versions can only support one player, although I cannot confirm whether there's any support for a link cable in the GAME BOY version, since I don't have one. Speaking of which, the GAME BOY version gets you to the registration screen once you have pressed the Start button in the title screen. Here, the name entry can hold up to five letters, which is unique, and also uniquely, the same screen holds a country selection part, which is accessed by pressing the B-button. In a similar vein, the GAME GEAR version gets you to the registration from the title screen by pressing the Start button, but you only need to enter the usual three initials. The LYNX version begins with a couple of skippable intro screens, after which you're taken to a gameplay demonstration video. Skip that, and you're taken to the name entry screen, which gives you the usual three letters, but here you can also change the colour of your truck.

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PLAYABILITY - PART 2: THE VARIOUS ORDERS OF TRACKS

Sidewinder (Arcade)

If we follow the original ARCADE version of Super Off-Road, the game should launch into the first track as soon as you (and your opponents) have registered into the game. There is a time limit to even registering, though, and if you wait long enough, the game just fades the screen by itself without asking you anything, and enters the first track. This is true for all the 16-bit Graftgold versions.

There are a few versions, though, that by taking you straight to the shop, with a starting money of $100000. This adds some strategics to the game, because you start with nothing, not even nitros, and you need to figure out the best way for you to beat the others. The few versions that do this are: ATARI LYNX, SEGA MEGADRIVE/GENESIS, SUPER NINTENDO and GAME BOY. More about that in the next part.

Any gamers who have played more than one version of Super Off-Road, will likely be aware that there are almost as many track orders as there are versions. Before I get into any further details about the tracks, I'll just throw in a list of all the tracks here, numbered with the most common order, and compare that to all the others.

Huevos Grande (Arcade)

Most of the Graftgold home conversions come with this tracklisting:
1. Sidewinder
2. Wipeout (arcade name: Huevos Grande)
3. Big Dukes
4. Hurricane Gulch
5. Huevos Grande (arcade name: Wipeout)
6. Fandango
7. Blaster
8. Cliffhanger

The way these tracks are circulated differs a bit, and the tracks are driven alternatingly in both directions. For the C64, AMIGA, ATARI ST and DOS versions, the formula for the track circulation is: 1-2, 1b-2b-3, 1-2-3b-4, 1b-2b-3-4b-5, etc., in which #b stands for the track being driven backwards. For the SPECTRUM, AMSTRAD and SEGA GAME GEAR versions, the tracks are circulated as: 1-2-3-4, 2b-3b-4b-5, 3-4-5b-6, 4b-5-6b-7, etc., so you won't be racing Sidewinder for the second time in these three versions until you have raced Cliffhanger twice.

Big Dukes (Arcade)

The ARCADE circulation of tracks is similar to the latter Graftgold style, but the order of tracks is different. Looking at the Graftgold list, the order of the ARCADE tracks is 6-2-1-3, 2b-1b-3b-7, and then add 4, 8 and 5 for the following rounds. The last one that uses these tracks only is the NES version, which goes with a similar track circulation style as the C64 and its comparatives, but the track order is: 6-1-5-3-7-8-2-4, with Wipeout and Huevos Grande this being correctly named according to the original.

Uniquely, the GAME BOY version only seems to feature 7 tracks out of the original 8, dropping Hurricane Gulch from the set. The order of tracks doesn't seem to follow any particular logic, as most of the tracks are played back-to-back, except Wipeout is played backwards before the final track in the set, and the rest of the backward races and other repeats appear in a random manner. The order of the tracks' first appearance here is 2-5-3-6-1-7-8, again with correct naming for Wipeout and Huevos Grande.

Hurricane Gulch (Arcade)

At this point, the Track Pack add-on for the ARCADE original should be mentioned, because it adds an exclusive new vehicle to the game, which doesn't affect the gameplay notably; but it also features 8 new tracks, which are played in the same sort of circulation style as in the original set:
1. Redoubt-about
2. Rio Trio
3. Leapin' Lizards
4. Cuttoff Pass
5. Volcano Valley
6. Pig Bog
7. Shortcut
8. Boulder Hill

The Track Pack could originally only be played as its own thing, without the original tracks included. The versions that use all tracks from both the original Super Off-Road, as well as the Track Pack, are SUPER NINTENDO, SEGA MEGADRIVE/GENESIS and ATARI LYNX. The LYNX and MD/GEN versions use the exact same order of tracks, which is neatly divided in half - first the original tracks and then the add-on tracks: 7-3-1-8-6-4-2-5 (orig.) and 4-8-1-2-3-7-6-5 (adds). Only after you have raced all 16 tracks through, you get to race them backwards. The SNES version uses another rather random order, with the first backwards track coming after the 5th normal one, and scattering the rest in equally odd places.

Wipeout (Arcade)

Because the order of first appearances for all tracks is mixed in the SNES version, here's the list separately from the rest, disposed of the in-between repeated/backwards'ed tracks:
1. Fandango
2. Huevos Grande
3. Sidewinder
4. Big Dukes
5. Redoubt-about
6. Blaster
7. Hurricane Gulch
8. Cliff Hanger
9. Wipeout
10. Rio Trio
11. Leapin' Lizards
12. Cutoff Pass
13. Boulder Hill
14. Pig Bog
15. Shortcut
16. Volcano Valley

Finally, we have the SEGA MASTER SYSTEM version, which has 12 tracks altogether, but uniquely, it only features two add-on tracks along with all the original tracks, some of which are renamed (Wipeout is now Skid Row, Hurricane Gulch is Windy Gulch and Huevos Grande is Wipeout). The last two tracks are completely unique to the SMS version - Dustbowl (track 3) and Rattler (track 7). Redoubt-about starts the whole set, and Rio Trio is the fifth track... well, actually, Rio Trio itself has been redesigned a bit, so basically it's three unique tracks and one add-on track. And everything else is in yet another weird order. Like the MD/GEN and LYNX versions, all tracks are played in order, before you get to play them backwards.

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PLAYABILITY - PART 3: THE ACTUAL GAMEPLAY DIFFERENCES

Having grown with the Graftgold conversions, at least the C64, Amiga and DOS ones, playing the original ARCADE game for the first time came as a bit of a shock. Not just the order of tracks, either, but rather, how much more difficult it was. Rather unfortunately, this game also happens to be one of the rare games that uses no difficulty switches.

Blaster (Arcade)

It's not that the game is particularly difficult to control - quite the opposite. Although it's barely noticeable, at least on a keyboard, the original's gameplay does feel a little bit more in harmony than even on the 16-bit conversions, which are more or less the closest ones to the arcade, depending on which version you're playing. The thing is, as you make progress, the CPU-driven racers will become constantly more difficult to beat (particularly Ironman in his grey Toyota), often beating your previous best time with ease, and without using any nitro at all during a level. The only way to beat the game with any certainty is to carefully study the terrain, use nitros sparingly and when you're winning, try not to win by a large margin so the AI doesn't think you're in need of a proper challenge. Only use nitros when there's no other choice. But it's a coin-op, and they made it that way so people would feed the game more coins.

Controllability is really where the crux of the matter lies for most versions. From the 8-bits, you will get closest to the arcade experience on the C64, but even there, your truck can get stuck in walls, if you're too trigger happy with nitro. Also, your opponents are quite happy using nitro as much as you are, if not more so, depending on their status, but they also make a lot more mistakes than their arcade counterparts.

Fandango (Arcade)

There is a visually related problem in pretty much all the 8-bit conversions, which makes your truck somehow seem to slide slightly diagonally when you're trying to drive straight down. Of course, the game is viewed from a slightly skewed angle from above, which is not exactly isometric, but an odd angle to be sure, and it produces its own share of problems with the gameplay. Really, the 8-bits weren't exactly fit for this sort of a thing, because you would need to not only have as exact as possible terrain maps for each level in an odd angle, but also the trucks would have to follow these terrain maps as naturally as possible.

The SPECTRUM and AMSTRAD versions do their job remarkably well in terms of terrain mapping and the trucks following that, but the trucks have a tendency to suddenly turn around 180 degrees whenever bumping into a wall or another car, often resulting in you suddenly driving backwards without even noticing it happening. The diagonal sliding issue is among the worst on these two versions, while on the C64, it has been somewhat contained. Another problem in the SPE/CPC versions is the screen size, which by necessity has made the tracks slightly narrower all over, so your truck doesn't seem quite able to properly use the given space to race through each level without useless bumping. The most infuriating problem here, though, is that you can get stuck into other cars - a problem strongly related to the bumping and turning around effect - and be stuck to each other for a long while with not even nitros being helpful in getting you out of your predicament. Still, not the worst versions around, as they do run at an acceptable speed, if notably slower than the C64.

Cliffhanger (Arcade)

From the 8-bit consoles, the NES version plays the slowest, even when you have bought all the upgrades to your truck. And I have tested this even in NTSC format, so PAL speed has nothing to do with it. Controlling the truck feels kind of unnaturally slick, as driving over bumps doesn't actually affect your speed, but rather makes the truck bounce exaggeratedly. Using nitro isn't as randomly effective as it is in most other versions, but it rather gives you a burst of speed for a very precisely measured short distance before switching back to your original speed, precisely as if flicking a switch. The opponents never seem to lose their nitros, and they are almost uniform in their skills and style of driving, which makes the game feel even more unnatural. The NES version suffers also from the same bumping and sudden turning problem that the SPE/CPC versions have, but it's not quite as big of a problem here. At least the truck's visual alignment thing is not an issue on the NES.

But it is on SEGA's 8-bits - both MASTER SYSTEM and GAME GEAR. There's also some collision detection problems with the bonus items, as you can often drive over them and not pick them up. On the plus side, the trucks don't bump into each other nearly as much here, at least unless you bump head first. The terrain map and your truck's reactions to them are handled with more grace than on the NES, but as I said, the alignment/sliding problem makes these two versions a bit uncomfortable.

Sega Master System exclusive tracks, left to right:
Dustbowl, the redesigned Rio Trio and Rattler.

The handheld versions are their own specific breed in one particular way: instead of a solid single screen for each track, the screen is zoomed in such a way that the tracks are now 4 screens worth, and they scroll along with your truck. Considering the screen sizes, it's a logical design choice. The GAME GEAR version is easily the most playable of the lot, being just about as good as the MASTER SYSTEM version in both speed and general playability. The GAME BOY version is rather slow, but manageable, and there are some notable hit detection problems with walls that don't necessarily always exist, as well as when trying to pick up bonus items.

The LYNX version requires its own paragraph, because it is easily the worst of the lot, and I mean the entire lot. It's animation is so choppy it feels like you're playing a 3D flight simulator on a C64. The opponents are pretty much unbeatable, which has more to do with the fact that your truck has a tendency to get stuck in invisible barriers scattered all over the place, usually just next to any regular wall. The trucks don't even follow the implied terrain map properly, as you can see your truck going through hills and slopes in a straight line, so the otherwise familiar tracks are practically very different to drive than in any other version. On a positive note, the Lynx version has no credit system, and you are allowed to play as long as you can bother, but I dare you to play further than the second level, because coming last in a race earns you no money, and noticing that, chances are you will give up trying to put up with that nonsense.

I mentioned the 16-bit home conversions are more or less the closest you can get to the original, depending on the versions. The AMIGA, ST and DOS versions all feel pretty much exactly the same to each other, but they do have some slight speed differences, the DOS version being the smoothest and fastest of the three. Also, the driving feels slightly... well, "bumpier" feels like a good word to describe it, since the trucks bump into things with more frequency than in the original. It doesn't affect the gameplay all that much, though. The one really notable thing that separates the three 16-bit computer versions from the ARCADE original is the way your opponents act, as they do tend to use nitros more frequently, but still drive around the tracks in a more humanly random manner. In a way, this is preferable to the original.

As for the two 16-bit consoles, in some ways, they both are in line with their 8-bit counterparts, rather than the 16-bit computer versions. The SNES version feels like an upgraded version of the NES version, as the truck still bounces exaggeratedly (if not quite as much as on the NES), yet otherwise acts a bit more sedately than in the original. But that's just the driving feel; everything else is quite different. The grey car, which isn't actually driven by Ironman anymore, is nevertheless almost undefeatable, but you don't have to worry about that too much, since like the LYNX version, the SNES version doesn't have credits either. Uniquely, it does make you lose a bunch of upgrades, though, if you end up on the last place, making further progress even more challenging, but that happens rarely. As another unique feature, the backwards tracks feature hay bales as additional obstacles, which can actually be broken if you bump into them enough times.

Add-on tracks from the Super Nintendo version, left to right:
Redoubt-about, Rio Trio, Leapin' Lizards, Boulder Hill

The SEGA GENESIS/MEGADRIVE version, by a surprising contrast, feels just a bit more finetuned when it comes to the actual driving than the AMIGA/ST/DOS versions, which is an achievement by itself, but it still feels a bit different from the original. It's hard to say whether it's better or worse, but I suppose it's the other aspects of this version that would convince you. By the way, this one has no credits, either.

Now, let's consider how the game begins in each version. As the MD/GEN, SNES, GB and LYNX versions start the game straight with a shop, you have no nitro in the car unless you buy some. The ARCADE version starts with 20 nitros in your truck, and your opponents have 10, but they don't really seem to use them. The C64 and NES versions give all players 25 nitro to start with, and all the remaining versions give the human players 25 nitro, while the CPU drivers have 10. The difference is notable, when you notice your opponents use nitro at least as much as you deem necessary to. The versions that start with a shop also give the CPU drivers the same strategic choice, so you never know what's going to happen.

Traditionally, finishing a race in the 1st place gives you $100000, the 2nd place $90000 etc., but you would need to finish the race 1st so you don't have to use up a credit to continue. In the four versions that start with the shop, the finishing prices are $150000 for 1st place, $100000 for 2nd, $50000 for 3rd and none for 4th. Contrary to the other three, the GAME BOY version has credits, so if you end up last in a race, you also lose a credit. All the other versions follow the original prices and credit rules.

More add-on tracks from the Sega Megadrive/Genesis version, left to right:
Cuttoff Pass, Shortcut, Pig Bog, Volcano Valley

Because of how the shop items are prices, I feel like the original method of price money dividing is much fairer to the one who comes last in a race, and at any rate, you should be happy with whatever bonus money bags you get from a race. You see, the most helpful item to buy if you end up 4th is suspension, because it helps you cross the odd bumps with a smaller loss of speed, and it's the best thing you can buy with less than $70000. In the SNES, GB, LYNX and MD/GEN versions, you need to finish 2nd to have money for the suspension item, but then you can also buy a higher top speed item.

Continuing with the credit usage rules, the ARCADE version allows you to exceed your credit limit, if you have more than one credit available. Each new credit gives you $200000, although the amount isn't limited to that, which you will notice once you start earning more money than spending. This feature was kept in most other versions, excepting the ones that don't even have credits, and a few others. The GAME BOY, NES, SEGA MASTER SYSTEM and GAME GEAR versions do have credits (2 on the Segas, 3 on the Nintendos), but in these versions you cannot spend more than what is the limit in your current credit. In other words, credits are only used for continuing the game if you lose a race.

One more thing worth noting is the way each version handles the random bonus item drops. From what I can tell, the original/usual method is to drop one item per lap, and after each item pick-up, the next one will have one more, as in: 1 nitro -> 2 nitros, and $10000 -> $20000, and so on. The GAME BOY version is unique in that it has a tendency to drop the bonus items at exactly the same spot you just picked one up from, right after the occasion, and the money bags usually contain $10000, regardless of how many money bags you have picked up.

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PLAYABILITY: CONCLUSION

When I took the plunge to start comparing Super Off-Road, I knew it would be a tough cookie to break, but I didn't realize how tough it would actually be. With all the text above, it's really much easier to divide it up to a few clearly defined points, and come to a conclusion in a simpler way.

Number of players:
4 - NES (2 without Four Score or Satellite)
3 - Arcade, C64, Amiga, ST, DOS
2 - SPE, CPC, SMS, SMD/GEN, SNES, Arcade (alt.)
1 - Game Gear, Game Boy, Lynx

Number of tracks:
16 - Arcade (half and half), Atari Lynx, SMD/GEN, SNES
12 - Sega Master System (2 unique tracks)
8 - C64, Amiga, ST, DOS, NES, Game Gear, SPE, CPC
7 - Game Boy

Price money division:
$150000 to $0 - SNES, Game Boy, SMD/GEN, Lynx
$100000 to $70000 - Arcade, SMS, SGG, C64, Amiga, ST, DOS, NES, SPE, CPC

Credits:
NONE - Lynx, SMD/GEN, SNES (sort of)
3 - Game Boy, NES
2 - Amiga, ST, DOS, C64, CPC, SPE, SMS, SGG
## - Arcade

Collision and turn-around problems:
REALLY BAD - Lynx
KINDA BAD - SPE, CPC, SMS, SGG, GB, NES
OK - C64
GOOD - Amiga, ST, DOS, SNES
GREAT - Arcade, SMD/GEN

Game speed/framerate and control responsiveness:
GREAT - Arcade, SMD/GEN, SNES, Amiga, ST, DOS
GOOD - C64, SMS, SGG
TOLERABLE - SPE, CPC, NES
BAD - Game Boy, Lynx

Unnecessarily difficult opponents: SNES, Lynx, Arcade.

Through this method, we can find a good middle point in everything, and there's also a clear winner to all this. The rest of it is more difficult to put in any clear order, but I suppose there's some logic here, if you care to dig through all the above information...

1. SEGA MEGADRIVE/GENESIS
2. ARCADE
3. AMIGA / ATARI ST / IBM-PC
4. SUPER NINTENDO
5. COMMODORE 64
6. SEGA MASTER SYSTEM
7. NES
8. AMSTRAD CPC / ZX SPECTRUM
9. SEGA GAME GEAR
10. GAME BOY
11. ATARI LYNX

Phew! That's it for now, see you later this month with Part 2!