GAME CLEAR No. 176 -- OutRun 2 SP

OutRun 2 SP (2004, Multiplatform)

Arcade Developer: SEGA AM2
Port Developer: Sumo Digital
Publisher: SEGA
Clear Version: OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast (2006, Multiplatform)
Clear Platform: PSP
Clear Date: 6/20/24

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Why should I care?
OutRun 2 SP is more OutRun. It’s not revolutionary, but it’s a quality iteration on the established racing formula.

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Let’s go away

One of the very fist GAME CLEAR posts was about OutRun 2, a fun arcade racer in which you drive a Ferrari across Europe with the top down, your girlfriend by your side, and one of several great original tunes blasting. It’s an excellent polygonal take on the ’80s original and proof of what a great concept it was to begin with. OutRun 2 SP could be identically described, except this time you’re driving across the United States.

It was released in arcades just one year after the arcade release of OutRun 2, and if you were to go to your local arcade and play it without looking at the marquee, you could be forgiven for not knowing you’re playing a different game. The stage layouts and vistas are indeed distinct, though, making it a welcome iteration on what was already an excellent game. A couple extra licensed cars were thrown in too.

The gameplay is as simple as ever. You drive a cannonball run across the States, drifting around curves, dodging traffic, and hopefully staying in high gear as often as possible. The sense of speed is great, and nailing your drifts just right feels great. While you’re trying to do that, though, your game time is constantly counting down. Run out, and it’s game over, but checkpoints throughout each stage will top it up, and as long as you’re not constantly crashing, you should be able to clear it in a few tries.

But you’ll have seen far from all there is to see. At the end of each stage is a fork in the road. Left goes to an easier stage, and right goes to a harder stage. All end on the fifth stage, though, where your total time and score are determined. The result is a great deal of route permutations you could master if you were truly obsessed. I know this type of arcade game that expects you to play it over and over doesn’t appeal to everyone, but I appreciate that this system ensures that unless you make the same choices, you can replay the game a great number of times without taking the exact same path twice.

It’s worth noting that I played the home version included with OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast, which itself serves as a compilation of both versions of OutRun 2. Its eponymous “Coast 2 Coast” mode is loaded with missions, mirror modes, and unlockables that span both games and amount to hours and hours of gameplay. Some of them are damned hard, and I genuinely don’t know if I’ll finish them. If I do, I’ll naturally do a separate writeup.

What I did finish was the port of SP included with the game. While the Coast 2 Coast mode will have you racing through these stages countless times, it’s nice that they included a mode that more or less perfectly replicates the experience of playing the actual arcade game.

Well, okay, I played the PSP version. It’s definitely not “arcade perfect,” but it’s a hell of an effort for the handheld system. It gets choppy here and there, but it keeps up for the most part and offers a great way to play the game in short bursts, which the game is awfully well suited to. A single run through one of the game’s many routes takes 4-5 minutes, and many of the missions are even shorter. I’ve enjoyed taking little bites out of it here and there as a break from work or while watching TV. I’d argue the PSP may be the best version of the game on those merits!

But however you choose to play it, don’t miss this game. Even without appreciation for the original, OutRun 2 SP offers good, quick fun that respects your time.