Turbo Out Run (Plus/4) [2024]

[mombasajoe]

[ Show youtube player ]

It is amazing how these guys push the machine to its limits. After the great port of Lemmings now Turbo Out Run has been released. Very playable. I like it.

[DanyPPC]

Yes, great conversion for 264 Commodore series.

C64 version gives more sense of speed, sprites are used to simulate the weather, sound is obviously better, but Plus 4 version is quite good and playable.

[TEG]

Originally Posted by DanyPPC

C64 version gives more sense of speed, sprites are used to simulate the weather, sound is obviously better, but Plus 4 version is quite good and playable.

Great resume!

[Seiya]

the conversion for +4 is from arcade (there an animation from original game that in C64 there isn't). The +4 verfsion support a second button on joystick for "Turbo" that on C64 yhou must use the keyboard and the risk to ruin the gameplay. Dashboard on +4 is bettere drawn and detail then C64
On C64 there is better colored objects along the road and better scrolling speed.

I think +4, this time, is better in global than C64 version.

[kremiso]

nice! the scrolling ingame seems pretty good

[mombasajoe]

@Seiya

In the C64 version I have played in the video the turbo is triggered by fire+up, not by the space bar. But the rpm have to be beyond the „yellow“ line. Same controls in the Plus/4 version. There is no need to use the keyboard in both versions.

[DisasterIncarna]

for a +4 game it runs and looks great.

[DanyPPC]

Due to memory available there are less objects on screen in the Plus 4 version, which also load, every checkpoint.

C64 load less, every 4 checkpoint.

[Megalomaniac]

+4 owners got a raw deal back in the day, with little more than C16 games available. This certainly doesn't match one of the C64's most impressive racers, but it looks pretty playable, and the audiovisuals are more than good enough. Certainly faster and smoother than the 16-bit version. I'm assuming that the C64's memory handling is more efficient in some way, given that the +4 version multiloads more often despite having less on-screen effects? Forgive my ignorance, but I never owned either system BITD.

[Bren McGuire]

the Plus/4 is such a horrible machine the sound alone makes me want to rip my ears off

i can appreciate the effort in getting this running but ultimately it's still an awful game on an awful platform. the pace does not compare to the C64

[Cris1997XX]

I mean, you could also say the Commodore 64 is a horrible machine compared to the Amiga...

[Seiya]

Turbo OutRun for +4 is the demonstration of the real power of this machine never esploited
If you watch his games and you campare with C64, rigtly you think it is a awful platform. Me too i tought that, but with this game i have to open my mind.

[Megalomaniac]

My broad understanding is that the +4 had twice the clock speed of the C64, the same resolution but greater colour depth, but no fancy graphics or sound hardware? Broadly speaking, with as somewhere in between the strengths and weaknesses of the C64 and the Spectrum (perhaps closest to the Amstrad CPC as a result?). Also, it was intended as a budget business system, more than a games one.

Still, C64 Turbo Outrun is generally seen to have exceeded the perceived potential of the machine for 2.5D racers (though Buggy Boy, Power Drift and Turbo Charge are well-regarded too - all made long after the machine's original launch), which makes me think it's one area where the +4 might be especially competitive - whereas for scrolling shooters and platformers I guess the C64 does have a good lead in potential?

[skyzoo73]

Background, back in the day the Commodore 16 was given to me instead of the much more expensive Commodore64. And even the kid me didn't take long to understand the substantial differences in audio and video capabilities. Nevertheless, it was my first home computer, as they were called at the time, with which I took my first steps into the world of computing thanks mostly to its fantastic Basic, the latter being much better than its big brother C64. The games, with very few exceptions were bad and that is a fact. To see after all these years a conversion albeit with some missing details of Turbo OutRun was fantastic. Thanks also to other recent games I knew you could get more out of these machines (with a little help from 64k ram expansion), but here we are beyond unimaginable, even quality digitized sounds mixed with an incredible use of the very poor sound of the series 264, added to a palette even more vivid than the C64 counterpart is something unexpected and unbelievable. Recreated is the phenomenal intro, the colorful route map, the dancing titles and the other incredible music. Turning to the game itself it is pretty much the same, the main difference being the slightly poorer framerate and some minor detail like in the winter part where the falling snowflakes are missing, but nothing that important given the limitations like the total lack of hardware sprites. Ultimately a conversion that all, the "unfortunate" owners of these computers would have only dreamed of having available to them back then. Congratulations to the developers, for creating something incredible. I actually played it on my real C16(expanded) connected to a Commodore crt monitor and still couldn't believe it. Really a fantastic job.

[CCCP alert]

Originally Posted by mombasajoe

[ Show youtube player ]

It is amazing how these guys push the machine to its limits. After the great port of Lemmings now Turbo Out Run has been released. Very playable. I like it.

TED and VIC-II non sprite functions are pretty much identical, Plus/4 has 75% faster CPU/system clock. Would expect better framerate. The TED rendition of the intro music by Jeroen Tel however is nothing short of world class TED coding. Bit of an odd mix.

[DanyPPC]

Plus/4 hardware is not so bad, depends on how it's programmed, these are a little examples (homebrew) released in the last years:

https://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Adventure_Park
https://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Alpharay
https://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Arkanoid_Plus4
https://plus4world.powweb.com/softwa...ersary_Edition
https://plus4world.powweb.com/software/CarTeD
https://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Commando_Plus4
https://plus4world.powweb.com/softwa...ing_Fist_Plus4
https://plus4world.powweb.com/softwa..._Mission_Plus4
https://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Pets_Rescue
https://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Slipstream
https://plus4world.powweb.com/software/Stunt_Car_Racer

I think every machine is good (MSX, C64, Atari XL, Amstrad CPC, Plus 4, etc...), all is relative to Programmer's abilities.

[britelite]

Does seem like a bit of an weird comparison, considering they seem to be using a PAL Plus/4 and an NTSC C64 on the video.

EDIT: To clarify, the aspect ratios seem different which makes me think it's PAL vs NTSC

[mombasajoe]

Originally Posted by britelite

Does seem like a bit of an weird comparison, considering they seem to be using a PAL Plus/4 and an NTSC C64 on the video.

EDIT: To clarify, the aspect ratios seem different which makes me think it's PAL vs NTSC

It is a real PAL Plus/4 and a real PAL C64.

[britelite]

Originally Posted by mombasajoe

It is a real PAL Plus/4 and a real PAL C64.

Alright, I stand corrected

[mombasajoe]

The C64 version uses even the lower border for gfx, plus4 version does not.