Written by Stephen H. Landrum and Dennis Caswell for the Commodore 64.
Converted for the Atari 8-bit computers by Lloyd D. Ollman Jr. for Synergistic Software.
Converted for the IBM-PC compatibles by Lauren Guimont for Synergistic Software.
Converted for Apple II by Ivan Manley, R. Clardy and D. Stinnett for Synergistic Software.
Also converted for TRS-80 Color Computer, but no credits are known.
Published by Epyx in 1984, except Apple II and TRS-80 CoCo versions in 1985.
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INTRODUCTION & GAME STATUS
Doing a comparison of Pitstop II always felt to me like the last resort - such an obvious choice of a C64 classic to tackle, that it wouldn't even make sense to compare it. However, thanks to the Reset64 magazine's request for a racing game comparison for their now to be the final issue, I took the chance to do a comparison of both Pitstop games, just to see how they compare against each other. Although the first Pitstop comparison ended up as the last comparison to be written for, and (still to be) published in the Reset64 magazine, I decided to release the two Pitstop comparisons on the blog almost back-to-back, just to get it done.
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DESCRIPTION & REVIEW
Pitstop II continues where its predecessor left off, now adding a forced second player into the mix - whether it's a computer opponent or a human one. The screen is constantly split into two parts during the races, and the point of view is lowered from the first game in such a way as to view some background graphics in the horizon. There are also more commonly recognized tracks in Pitstop II, which I suppose makes it more relatable somehow. Overall, it's a much nicer looking and smoother playing game, with more replay value, than the first Pitstop, and back in its day, Pitstop II was considered as the behind-view racing game that set the bar before the likes of Super Monaco GP and Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge would reset it years later.
Gameplay-wise, Pitstop II isn't all that much different from its predecessor, although it is certainly an upgrade, particularly due to having no bumpy roadside bumpers. It really is thanks to its more appealing look and the two-player mode, which made it the classic it has always been known to as for most C64'ers. Whether it was considered such a classic on other platforms is less certain, but it does definitely have a place in gaming history as one of the most important racing games of all time.
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PLAYABILITY
Thanks to Pitstop II's availability on cassette being marginal, we skip the Loading segment (again), and move on to the start of the game straight away. Starting Pitstop II is similar enough for all five versions - just wait for the game to finish loading, and you will get to the game options menu. The options screen allows you to change the number of players between one and two, a specific track or the Grand Circuit of all available tracks, the number of laps (three, six or nine), and the difficulty level (rookie, semi-pro and pro). Starting the race is the final item in the options screen, so you don't accidentally start a game that you didn't intend by pressing a button at the wrong time.
Already in the options screen, we can witness our first differences. The COMMODORE 64 original features six tracks: Brands Hatch, Hockenheim, Rouen les Essarts, Sebring, Vallelunga and Watkins Glen - and this exact set is only available in the TRS-80 COCO version, additionally. The ATARI set also features six tracks, but Vallelunga and Rouen les Essarts have been replaced with Fuji and Kyalami. The IBM-PC and APPLE II versions both only feature three tracks, from which the IBM tracks are strangely taken from the first Pitstop game: Monaco, Le Mans and Albi; and in the APPLE version, the tracks are unnamed, and are only referred to as numbers.
As it happens, the number of tracks, and the tracks themselves, are the least of worries when we truly get to compare the gameplay differences. A few essential things should be noted from the original C64 version, which really make Pitstop II what it is. First, the only way to crash your car is to bust your tires, which takes a good while - the disintegration model is taken pretty much straight from the original Pitstop, only the visual effect is more subtle. Second, you have some kind of a boost thing in your car, which can be activated and deactivated at any given time, and it doesn't really cost you any extra fuel, as far as I can tell. While the car's top speed without boost is 209 Mph (or whatever it is, the game doesn't actually specify), the boost turns it up to 251 Mph. Also, the acceleration up to top speed is much quicker with boost than without. Third, when playing any track of a Rookie game with three laps, you should be able to finish the race without stopping at the pits once, unless you need to change tires. Finally, the pit sequence has a free-roaming cursor, the car is viewed from the front, the new tires are all placed on the right side of the screen, and perhaps most importantly, the pit area is clearly shown in the main race screen as a widened part of the road, separated by a line, and you can easily enter the pits just by steering your car into the specified area. The difficulty level actually shows in the way your computer opponent and other traffic behaves, so Rookie level is clearly the easiest and Pro level is clearly the most difficult to even finish, but in a good way.
At this point, it could be said that the C64's primary contestant was the 8-bit home computers from ATARI, on which most of the contemporary versions were fairly similar. In the case of Pitstop II, it's certainly much closer to the C64 version than the previous, but there are still some odd differences that make little sense. On the plus side, the boost button is properly implemented, but that's about it. The visual differences in speed are practically non-existent after you move at speeds anything above 40 mph. They also cut some corners with the cornering, as there seem to be no corners steep enough that would make your car veer off to the side even at full speed. Fuel consumption is, in a word, catastrophic, as you need to enter the pits after each lap even in Rookie mode. Finally, the pit controls are a bit odd, since they use two control styles: selecting the mechanic (or flag man) is menu/icon-based, where you only need to push the joystick once in a direction to change the highlighted person, and then moving the men around uses the same method as in the C64 original. The pit area itself is viewed from the side of the car, so the new tires are placed on both sides of the car, above and below from the player's point of view.
Considering the APPLE II's close relationship to the C64 in the United States, it came as a bit of a shock, at least to me, that the APPLE version is so different from the C64. For starters, the difficulty differences are a bit strange. On Rookie level, your top speed is 150 Mph, and your car accelerates on its own accord to circa 120 Mph, and if you give it some more throttle, it can go up to 150 Mph, but no further. Semi-Pro gets you up to 180 Mph, but otherwise, it's the same thing. On Pro level, the opponent car is slightly more aggressive, you need to take control of acceleration, and there seems to be a bit more traffic on the road. It is also possible to crash your car with just a few bumps into another car, even without damaging the tires, which is superbly annoying, since the car you're supposed to be passing never shows its correct lane until it's right in front of you - or perhaps it is programmed to always veer off to whichever lane your car is on. Although these faults are heavy indeed, the biggest problem I encountered was how to enter the pit area, which itself is more difficult to even notice in higher speeds, since the area is marked by two P-signs at both ends of the pit area entrance, but just driving into the pits doesn't work, nor can you actually slow the car down to 0 Mph. So, what you - apparently - have to do is slow down enough and get close to the edge of the road where the pit lane supposedly is, and press the fire button while there, to get into the pits. Otherwise, you're just going to drive past it. The way the pit personnel are controlled is similar to the ATARI version.
The IBM-PC version is the most different one of all. It has no boost button whatsoever, for starters. The difficulty options work in the same way as in the APPLE version, except the Pro mode has a top speed of 212 Mph - and this time the game actually points out that it is Mph specifically. While it sort of explains the difference, it's not quite exact, since 150 Mph is only 241 Kph, but whatever. There is comparatively very little of other traffic in the DOS version of Pitstop II, which makes the game a bit too comfortable. That is perhaps somehow compensated with a design problem with corners, which are built more angularly and your car controls through them with a very different feel to all the other versions. It's not as problematic as the ATARI version, but it doesn't feel like the same game, really. Entering the pits is more a matter of chance than skill, although it seems as if the closer you are to the sign indicating the beginning of the pit lane, the more likely you are to enter it, and I suppose this is the way the APPLE version is also supposed to be, but it just isn't. Controlling the cursor at the pits is similar to the C64 version, so although it is viewed from the side like the ATARI version, it feels closer to the original. One big problem I noticed with the DOS version is, that when you play a longer than a 3-lap race against a computer opponent, it doesn't do anything in the pits, so the game effectively becomes a never-ending wait while the computer hits the pits. Therefore, the IBM-PC version can only be truly played in proper two-player mode, against a human opponent.
Interestingly, it's the TRS-80 CoCo version that gets the closest to the C64 original. It could well be, that it was written by the same team who made the original, but since there are no known credits, we can only make assumptions. The only two things that I could feel were notably different were: 1) the overall feel of handling your car, which feels like it kind of stutters along, which has more to do with the lack of animation frames than actual gameplay, and 2) the difficulty level differences are more notable - the CPU driver has a clearly higher AI in Hard mode than in Easy mode, and the other cars have a tendency to change lanes more often. Perhaps this could be considered as an upgrade, but it's really a matter of preference. Also, similarly to the DOS and APPLE versions, your car's top speed is determined by the difficulty level. From the point of view of a gamer who doesn't really know much about the TRS-80 computers, it might be good to point out, that at least while using the XRoar emulator, you will need to use CoCo 2 as the machine for the game to work properly, and even then, you're going to need to use the keyboard in the menus and joystick during play. Feels like a weird design choice, but as long as it works, then why not. For the sake of matters of convenience, I will not give the TRS-80 a shared top spot with the C64 original, although otherwise, it's the next best thing.
What I cannot properly test for this comparison is the joystick controls for the IBM-PC and possibly APPLE versions, which most likely utilized those old analog joysticks in an arguably non-analog manner, so I can only suppose the gameplay is pretty much exactly the same on joysticks than on keyboard. If any one of you readers out there know better, please do leave a comment about it so I can make the necessary adjustments.
As things are, though, the C64 version is the obvious winner, with the TRS-80 a close second. For the rest of them, I would say the ATARI version is close enough to take the second place, followed by the IBM-PC version. The last place shall have to go to the APPLE II version, which feels either broken or otherwise uncooperative. If you know how to pitstop, or know of a version for the APPLE II that works better and lets you actually enter the pits somehow, a link for it would be nice.
1. COMMODORE 64
2. TRS-80 COCO
3. ATARI 400/800
4. IBM-PC COMPATIBLES
5. APPLE II
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GRAPHICS
Thanks to the majority of Pitstop II's versions being available on disk only, we can start this Graphics section with the loading screens, or title screen, depending on the versions.
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| Title/loading screens. Top row, left to right: Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II. Bottom left: TRS-80 CoCo. Bottom right: IBM-PC. |
The other three versions use a side-view of the car in front of a wall, over which we see the title card in three design variations. To be brutally frank, none of the three variants look good in any way. In the ATARI screen, we can see some mountains and trees in the background, and the car itself is large and has barely any real details, and it is slapped into the middle of the road. In the APPLE and DOS versions, there is no additional background, but instead, the car is at the left end of the screen, and you see some pit people working their pit stuff. Strictly concerning graphical details, I would say the DOS title screen looks the nicest. The APPLE screen feels the most colourful, but for me, it is the ugliest.
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| Options screens. Top row, left to right: Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II. Bottom left: TRS-80 CoCo. Bottom right: IBM-PC. |
Compared to the C64, TRS-80 and ATARI, the APPLE and DOS versions get the options displayed one by one, and are selected by using the keyboard. In the DOS version, all the options are shown very simply in a black screen with white text, while the APPLE version takes you already into the split on-track screen, and the option prompts are written into the players' info panels.
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| Racing screens from the Commodore 64 version. |
Looking critically at how the C64 version's graphics are built, you cannot help but notice, that while pretty enough for 1984, the graphics are rather scarce. There is absolutely nothing on the sides of the road, except for the circuit location display on the right side, and the backgrounds in the distance is always the same exact mountain range, regardless of which track you are racing on. However, the cars look very nice, colourful and detailed, and the additional cars racing on the track appear in different colours also. The info display is basic, but clear, and works perfectly to fulfill its purpose. Most importantly, though, the game scrolls blisteringly fast, and the little lines on your tires displaying their condition are tastefully done.
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| Racing screens from the TRS-80 CoCo version. |
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| Racing screens from the Atari 400/800 version. |
Oddly, in a certain way, the ATARI version looks the closest to the original Pitstop game, and that little detail is in the way your tires get worn. Compared to the previous two versions, the tires here change their entire colour, and they do it in the same order as they do in the first game. Furthermore, the cars are not animated to tilt a little to the left or to the right when cornering. Otherwise, the layout and style is similar enough to the C64 original, although the road is slightly off-center, the pit lane appears on the right side of the track instead of left, and the info panels have no colour at all, and the track location indicator is of an ugly mustard colour. In contrast, the background mountains are more visible and the sky is of a pretty purple gradient, if you're more into that sort of a thing. Additionally, the ATARI version is the first one to feature roadside signs, including publisher adverts. Unfortunately, the ATARI version is severely lacking in sense of speed, and the animations are choppy, so perhaps the attempted upgrade was a bit too much.
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| Racing screens from the IBM-PC version in three screen modes. |
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| Racing screens from the Apple II version. |
In visual terms, the APPLE version could be considered the furthest off the mark from all the conversions, although there's no differences that are all too drastic here, either. Basically, you get the same amount of details for the roadsides and backgrounds as you get in the original, but due to the APPLE II's restrictive palette, the tire wear indication has been dealt with differently. This time, you get a tire condition indicator below the track location indicator. Also, the way the actual road you race on is drawn and handled, is more similar to the original Pitstop than any other version of Pitstop II. The cars are animated sparingly, perhaps even more so than in the ATARI and IBM-PC versions, and this version scrolls kind of dodgy and sluggishly. It is, all in all, really rather unpleasant.
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| At the pits. Top row, left to right: Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II. Bottom left: TRS-80 CoCo. Bottom right: IBM-PC. |
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| Crashing screens. Top row, left to right: Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II. Bottom left: TRS-80 CoCo. Bottom right: IBM-PC. |
In the other three versions, the event is much more dramatic and effective. The car that has taken enough damage to be taken out of the race actually explodes in a bundle of fire, while your opponent is taken straight to the finish line, so that the game can end more quickly. In the C64 and TRS-80 versions, they still let the opponent play, even if it's just the computer driving the other car.
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| Race standings screens. Top row, left to right: Commodore 64, Atari 400/800, Apple II. Bottom left: TRS-80 CoCo. Bottom right: IBM-PC. |
I suppose there's enough of details taken into consideration to make the standings in the section rather clear.
1. COMMODORE 64
2. TRS-80 COCO
3. ATARI 400/800
4. IBM-PC COMPATIBLES
5. APPLE II
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SOUNDS
If the previous sections weren't looking good enough for the C64 version, then I don't suppose comparing the sounds won't make much of a difference. But if you're hoping for something unexpected as results for this section, remember that this game is still from 1984, and the real SID wizards hadn't properly started doing their magic yet.
However, Epyx were nothing, if not pioneers in making high quality C64 products, which includes sound design. Pitstop II doesn't include all that many sound effects, and only a single fanfare (in three channels, at least) that plays when the final race standings are shown. The first thing you hear in the game is the take off counter (three lower dings and one ding octave higher than the others), after which you will hear the two constantly visible cars' engines revving, until either one of you bumps into another car - which makes a bump sound; one of you crashes - which makes a notable crash noise; or one or both of you enter the pits. At the pits, refueling makes a constant dinging sound until you withdraw the fueler; taking the tire from the car and putting the new tire back into the car makes a nice scrunchy noise, and changing tires from the pile of tires makes a weird muffled booping sound. When one of the visible drivers reaches goal, three bell rings are heard. It's not much, but considering all the serious racing simulators - from the 1990's at least - feature no music during play, Pitstop II was only doing what it ought to, to make a serious racing game. The only thing I can think of that is missing is tire squeal, but on the other hand, that could have made the game sound too chaotic.
When the TRS-80 version has been in its loading/title screen for a while, the audience will be pleasantly surprised by a completely new opening fanfare, which feels like a much longer version of the C64 version's race standings screen fanfare, and it sounds equally good, too. The finishing fanfare does play just the same way and same length, in the race standings screen. When you get into the game, though, the familiar take-off dings are followed by the two cars' engine noises, which this time are more tractor-like low, staccato rumbly noises. The sound effects at a pitstop are funnier and more carefully designed, but have equally little to do with the actions as in the C64 version. Finishing a race offers no acknowledging effects, nor does crashing, although you wouldn't hear much over the infernal rumbling tractor noises, anyway.
The IBM-PC version, having only a single-channel beeper in use, obviously gives us only the engine noise of the primary player, so some sort of tire squeal equivalent noise has been produced for cornering. There are no sound effects for the pitstops, and no bumping or crashing noises either. Instead, we get a fanfare to begin the race, another fanfare to finish the race, and a third one for ending the race in a crash, all in glorious beeping.
Compared to the IBM-PC version, the APPLE II version feels barren. You do get similar single-channel beepy fanfares, but the engine noises are barely audible, akin to ticking or faint scratching, and there are no sound effects at the pits or anything more interesting while on the track. It's just woeful.
Another new fanfare gets aired in the ATARI version, which sends the racers off with an abrupt end, immediately switching into even more infernal engine noises than those staccato tractor noises in the TRS-80 version. The noise is so harsh, it's hard to even figure out, how they did it, but it feels like there's at least five different noises and odd pitches playing simultaneously. There also seems to be some sort of approximated tire squeal included, because you get another long overlaid beep when cornering. The best part of the game comes when one or both of you enter the pits - hopefully simultaneously - because the engine noise stops for the duration, and you are given a slow repeating ping for filling up the tank, wobbly beep sound for picking up and attaching a tire from your car, and another blip sound for changing the tyre from the pile. The finishing fanfare is similarly awkward as the take-off fanfare, since it ends abruptly and feels sloppy.
While all these different fanfares are good and pleasant to listen to when they appear, they can hardly be called an important part of the game. That honour goes strictly to the engine noises, which have to be at least tolerable, in order to be able to enjoy the game at least somewhat. I suppose the APPLE II version's engine noises are tolerable, because they're almost non-existent, but for a racing game, you do want to hear the race actually happening as much as see and feel. The IBM-PC version works surprisingly well considering the lack of sound capabilities, and it sure is a lot more pleasant to listen to than the infernal noise that the ATARI version makes. The TRS-80 version could have been a lot better, but the engine noises are more than adequately annoying to have the spot dropped from second to third. And of course, there is no question on which version wins this round, either.
1. COMMODORE 64
2. IBM-PC COMPATIBLES
3. TRS-80 COCO
4. ATARI 400/800
5. APPLE II
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OVERALL + VIDEO
Yes, it's time for the obvious, and I suspect, what anyone is actually really interested in, is how the other versions fared against the original C64 version. Personally, what I found even more interesting than the end results of this comparison, was how different of a line-up Pitstop II has compared to the first Pitstop, and you still get no versions for either Sinclair ZX Spectrum or Amstrad CPC, which would have been particularly interesting to have in this comparison. Perhaps some day. Well, here are the results:
1. COMMODORE 64: Playability 5, Graphics 5, Sounds 5 = TOTAL 15
2. TRS-80 COCO: Playability 4, Graphics 4, Sounds 3 = TOTAL 11
3. ATARI 400/800: Playability 3, Graphics 3, Sounds 2 = TOTAL 8
3. IBM-PC: Playability 2, Graphics 2, Sounds 4 = TOTAL 8
4. APPLE II: Playability 1, Graphics 1, Sounds 1 = TOTAL 3
Despite sharing the same title and the same publisher, the last three versions feel almost like a completely different game - particularly the PC and APPLE versions. The TRS-80 version is surprisingly close to the original, but is let down by its horrible engine sounds and choppy gameplay, and the ATARI version sounds even worse and gameplay-wise, falls somewhere between the two proper ones and the two completely different ones.
Because I originally intended the two Pitstop comparisons to be released as a two-fer, after the final Reset64 magazine had been published, I had early on prepared a video accompaniment in that vein, so I couldn't be bothered to re-edit them as separate videos anymore. So here's both games in one video, so you can see the whole thing as intended.
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