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Playing v0.3.4b Alpha of Turbo OutRun free fan game Turbo OutRun Reimagined on PC! It's available to download or play in-browser from https://sk1ds.itch.io/outrun-clone ; I was playing the downloaded version.
Don't go into this expecting OutRun-2-style drifting (oh man I was forgetting at first that the original OutRun didn't have drifting anyway, haha), because that just isn't the type of racing the developer wants: this is straight-up driving, gotta steer around them turns! I didn't get along with the M2-emulated OutRun arcade game in Yakuza 6 that I played a couple years back https://youtu.be/Gaog3xP2ycQ?t=1179 --it threw me all over the road! ; DD But Reimagined is really nice and smooth! And the colors are really fantastic!
It didn't work with my DS4 when I ran it directly, and according to the developer you do get better steering control with the analog stick on a supported "Xbox controller"--but once I set it up as a non-Steam game in my Steam library, and activated Steam Input for it by clicking on the little controller icon in the upper left of its generic Steam library page and accepting the default set-up, and then launched the game from the shortcut Steam made for me, the DS4 worked perfectly with it! ^ D^
(Although hm, my dumb ol' right shoulder WAS kinda sore after playing and holding Throttle on X or Right Trigger. I noticed before when I played Wolfenstein 3D on PS3 and had to hold Left Trigger for run the whole time that that didn't bother me, so maybe I should try Throttle on Left Trigger--or OutRun 2006 face-button style, since those buttons take less force to hold down--ooh ooh or L1; Reimagined currently has no control remapping, but I can remap it through Steam input. : ))
(Hey yeah my body seems lots more okay with L1. Hey maybe I CAN play racing games...as long as I can remap Throttle to L1. ^ _^^_ (So yeah more reason to rip OutRun 2006 and run it in an emulator. = D))
Thinking more about the whole silly tracking down physical copies just to emulate thing, I think maybe I do this in large part to limit myself. While in theory I'd have more money to buy new games if I wasn't also spending some on tracking down old games to dump, I worry that if I got used to playing all the old games for free, I'd start to think, consciously or otherwise, well why pay for games anymore--and then I might not, say, support a developer/publisher/whoever when they put out a new port of an old game, or even a new title in an old franchise. I worked in games once upon a time and I want to support developers of stuff I like, so I worry about my dumb thoughts going in that direction.
Second, if I let myself just play anything I can download, I would totally overload myself with games and go insane, because I'm an obsessive idiot. (Heck just this morning I woke up three hours early and couldn't go back to sleep because I started thinking maybe I could buy and rip PS3 games and play them in RPCS3 and gosh what disc-only PS3 games would I get if I could rip them, ie which games wouldn't be so bad with RPCS3's additional input delay, and would benefit from access convenience, improved load times, maybe slightly improved graphics, control remapping, etc? But it turns out there's some piracy involved in getting decryption files for dumped PS3 games so whew, I don't have to lose sleep over that anymore. (Only game I'd come up with so far anyway was OutRun 2006 developer Sumo Digital's (they handled the console ports of Sega's OutRun 2, which got renamed OutRun 2006 Coast to Coast or other things for home ports) Sega Superstars Tennis, which looks kind of bad but I sort of want to play anyway for the cheesy character minigames but not really enough to inflict a disc on my PS3. ; D))
How's that for elaborate self-justification! = P
(Haha I couldn't remember that "rip" is the term for discs so I kept saying "dump." ; DD)
I said "get out my old emulator and probably spend hours updating Windows on it"--meant old laptop. : P (Probably just leave it offline and transfer the ripper/iso on thumbdrive, anyway. ^_ ^)
I was complaining in the video about how I never got along with 2D OutRun games...but I think I was only thinking of recently having played the M2-emulated arcade version of OutRun in Yakuza 6 on PS4 (see entry 1475), 'cause I never played it much in the arcade, or at all in old console ports. Maybe I'd better play it again to compare. ^ _^ |
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| | | | The whole having the analog stick in the lower-right position (PS) rather than the upper-left position (XB) started cramping up my left hand/wrist after a bit actually, so I ordered an 8bitdo Ultimate. = P |
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| | | Download added: 01_icon.png (1465 bytes)
"24px icon for taskbar"
The developer mentioned that the manual transmission isn't actually faster, it's just more fuss. ^ _^ Which is good 'cause I really like the automatic!
My laptop fan was going hard and something in there was making a tiny shrill squealing sound too even when the game was on the title screen; the dev mentioned the game doesn't have a frame limiter, so I gave it one using RivaTuner Statistics Server and that seems to have done the trick. (That squeal was a bit scary, in retrospect! = o)
Can't use RTSS when running the game as a non-Steam game through Steam for the perhaps improved Xbox analog stick input, but digital steering via Joy2Key is all right. And now I can run it from a taskbar icon and use the little icon image I'd made for it ^ _^
The new 0.3.5 alpha makes the previously unlockable Lambo available from the start. |
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| | | Download added: 02_mint_lamb.jpg (203865 bytes)
"v0.3.5 Mint Lambo; cliffs, Moon, suns, tunnels in later races"
available-from-the-start mint-green Lamborghini in the new v0.3.5 Alpha
24:44 - off the cliff 'p'
34:22 - stage with multiple suns! = D
35:27 - punched car through tunnel wall!; tan cliffs
40:13 - Knocked car off cliff
Oh, it wasn't "BC's Quest for Tires" those brown cliffs were reminding me of, it was the sequel, "Grog's Revenge" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa3dYoeOD24 -- and those cliffs are gray so that shows you how good my memory is. ; D (Huh they're yellow and brown in the MSX version but I never saw that one! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_rwr9sHHKs )
Ah no no time penalty when getting reset onto the track--aside from the second or so to reappear, and having to get back up to speed of course.
- I'm using RivaTuner Statistics Server as a frame limiter--TOR's dev mentioned the game doesn't have a frame limiter of its own--to keep my laptop's CPU from running super-high when playing the game, even on the title screen (ah although it's RTSS's hook into the game that's prevents me from recording it with OBS's game-specific capture, so that's why I had to record my whole desktop this time : P; I've had this trouble when using RTSS with a few games before (Mesen and USFIV; not with Flycast (Dreamcast games), though)
- Can't use RTSS while running the game through Steam for Xbox controls, so I ran the game directly from its own exe and used Joy2Key to map the controls--which ended up being confusing on the Upgrades screen, which doesn't always show the keyboard controls for Select/Cancel/Confirm
- OH! Realized afterwards I can get and remap Xbox controls through DS4Windows, I'll do that next time ^ _^
Don't know if it was the digital control or frame limiter somehow, or the more balanced stats of the Lamborghini, but I did waaay better this time! Didn't flip once! ; D Although I may have sailed gracefully off a couple narrow cliff ledges in later races. ]_]
I got too good at the game! Ended up getting to bed late, thought I'd just be playing for a few minutes but my 1 Original mode game went for 45 mins haha = P ... I suppose it could help if I limited myself to one life, although in theory if I got better that wouldn't matter either, shoot--maybe I'd have to limit myself to just one or two races--at least until the OutRun mode is further along. ; D
Love the multiple suns over the red ground in the last race I got to! o_o_o ^ _^ |
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| | | | The dev mentioned https://itch.io/post/9321815 that the Lamborghini Countach sprite is swiped from Taito's Chase H.Q. (see entry 1163). |
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| | | | Oh yeah they also said the multiple suns in that one stage were a bug. ^ _^ I hope they leave it in1!!! |
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| | | | Since I'm not so sure how cool Taito is with fan games, I guess I'll steer clear of the Lamborghini. : P It doesn't appear as CPU cars yet (the dev said "I haven't ripped all Countach sprites yet. (The ones angled up and down.) If I rip them all, I could add it to the CPU-driven cars.") so if *I* don't drive it, I can pretend it isn't there! = P |
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| | | The developer is https://www.youtube.com/@Sk1ds87 on YouTube. Checking their videos, it's clear the cliff stages were inspired by Test Drive.
They've just mentioned https://itch.io/post/9333292 they're adding a 120 fps frame limiter. They're pondering removing the Taito Lamborghini sprite, with musing of rendering their own from a 3D model. |
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Vette ZR1
Finally realized--I think--that you do have a CPU rival--at least, it seems like that's what the "POS x/2" thing in the upper left is tracking. Darn that white Mustang or whatever it is convertible! ; D
The Vette has a monster engine displacement and my error--aside from some bad crashes ; D--seems to have been upgrading that engine, after which point all the other parts of my car just couldn't hold up!
In the second stab at it, DIDN'T upgrade the engine, and let the brakes get a little loose (otherwise they required maintenance after pretty much every race!); from there, I was able to keep up with maintenance, the car stayed pretty controllable, and I was just kinda blowin' through tracks and looping the darn races over and over (took me a while to realize that's what was happening; I'd expected it to end after the 5 races!!) until I quit.
All the intricacies involved in the parts upgrades and failures are pretty interesting, the Vette kinda breaks the mode though! ^ _^
The finer analogue control on the controller I was using this time was definitely helpful in navigating narrow passages--when I was sufficiently on the ball, anyway. ; D
But the narrow grips or SOMETHING on the 8bitdo Ultimate weren't working out for my wrist. Gonna try a big ol' wide Xbox controller. ^ _^ If that don't work, I'll just stick to d-pad control on the DS4! = P |
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| | | Download added: 03_floatglitch.jpg (298820 bytes)
"Float glitch, new rain feature, brakes out again"
0.3.6c
I couldn't seem to stop crashing in this session! I did really bad! = ooo I mean maybe it won't be so bad going back to digital steering on the DS4's d-pad; can't very well be doing worse than I'm doing here, soon-to-be-returned new Xbox Wireless Controller analog stick and all, can I? = oo
Floating upside-down along the edge of the road was kind of a nice break. ^ _^ It happened after I flipped and then immediately hit another sign and flipped again, dunno if that had something to do with it.
Some silly suggestions I had:
- Option to swap triggers (gas / brake)
- Xbox controller puts gas on X--but there's no corresponding brake face button, which seems strange
- An option to let the game hold the gas button for you (only letting off when you brake) might be a handy ergonomic option ^ _^
- Would be handy to be able to move around the menus with the left analog stick--currently only the d-pad can navigate most of the menus (left analog works in main menu but not in car select, gear select, upgrade screen, maybe others I'm forgetting--well and neither work in the placeholder Options screen, which I thus tend to avoid = o)
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I think overall this original mode is too much for my pea brain to handle and I'm looking forward to the eventual other mode coming along, which if I understand the design intent will be more like just racing from start to finish and not worrying about rivals or looping or blowing out your car's parts constantly. ^_ ^ |
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| | | Wikipedia says the Turbo Outrun arcade game has a CPU opponent in it. Man I wish there was a good port of that I could check out 'cause I really don't know enough about it. It also has three upgrades and cop cars that can pull you over, apparently! = ooo
The developer said "It may appear that you crash/flip more with this car [the cherry red Ferrari], because you can't flip the Countach or the Corvette. I don't have the sprites for it, so they only lose speed.
I'm going to rewrite the whole obstacle collision system and try to balance the cars out. I may even add the option to disable the flips."
I said aw flips are cool, I just hate wrecking all my parts. ; ) |
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