Sega Super Scaler Games #7

Super Hang-On (1987)
By: Sega AM2 Genre: Racing Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 9,950,140
Also Available For: Mega Drive, X68000, Nintendo 3DS, Game Boy Advance, Amiga, Atari ST, PC, Apple Mac, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum

Just thinking of the great names of the other 'Super Scaler' games automatically reminds me of giant hydraulic machines with excited crowds around them in bustling amusement arcades, but that's not the case with Super Hang-On. I had it on my Speccy and later I also had it on my mighty Mega Drive, but I was never fortunate enough to encounter the original in any arcades I visited, so I guess I've always associated it with those two systems. I suppose the Speccy more than the MD, though the version for Sega's own console was obviously far more accurate. The Speccy version was good too, though. As far as I recall, anyway, though I haven't played it for many moons. It may even be among the best racing games on the little home micro. Not that that's saying much, I know. But regardless of all this, I'm way overdue in checking out the super-scaling original, so let's go!

As an actual machine, Super Hang-On is similar to its predecessor in that players had a full-size (albeit wheelless, this time) bike to straddle, assuming they were lucky enough to encounter this 'ride on' version, as Sega called it. The game itself also looks very similar (even the bike and rider look the same), but it's soon clear there has been a step up in presentation. You get to choose a choon here, Out Run-style, for starters, and while the compositions don't match those found in Sega's earlier all-time great, they are still more than decent. Another choice prior to starting your race is offered by way of a world map. I actually thought this was an addition to the Mega Drive version when I played that, intended to increase longevity, but no, it was apparently part of the game from the start and offers players four different continent-based 'courses' around the world.

Each course is harder than the last and is made up of more and more stages. The easiest option is Africa which consists of 6 stages, while the next easiest is Asia featuring 10 stages. Then comes America (north and south) made up of 14 stages, and lastly comes Europe, the longest and most challenging course consisting of a mighty 18 stages. As before, there are many other riders on every stage (a seemingly infinite number, in fact) but there are no race positions, they are just there to get in the way. Reaching each checkpoint and ultimately the course goal is the only objective. So what's different? Well, aside from the different courses on offer, not a great deal. The bikes/riders look pretty much the same but there's a greater variety in the courses and more roadside objects. I was going to say that this is a bad thing as there are more things for you to hit, but it doesn't really make a great deal of difference. More on that later though.

One addition is the 'turbo' function which gives you an extra 44kph on top your normal maximum speed. You can only use it when you're at your top speed but use thereafter seems to be unlimited. Not that you're likely to use it for more than a few seconds at a time, of course, as you have to slow down a bit for most corners already, never mind if you're boosting. It works well on straights though, obviously, and you'll need to use it pretty often if you want to keep racing. The first game, as good as it was in its day, was very short (around six minutes); this game is hardly a multi-hour adventure which branching storylines, but it will last any gamer much longer - partly because there are way more stages but also because it's pretty damn tough, mainly with regards to the time limit. Indeed, for I quickly found that making even a single mistake will basically make the course unwinnable.

Obviously this happens if you keep crashing into the roadside scenery, but even just bumping another rider a couple of times can cost you too much time too. Still, at least playing the game via emulation, as most would have to nowadays, offered me the chance to see the whole game by using save states. Or so I thought. But no, even with me reloading my game after every mistake, I still really struggled to get through even the two easiest courses, never mind the later ones which give you even less time and even more bikers to deal with. Of course, it could just be that I'm crap, but I don't normally struggle that much in games of this type (I can even finish all courses in Out Run without cheating), so I'd say Sega have been particularly frugal with the time limits. Still, it is an arcade game, right? Many arcade games don't even have an ending just to keep you pumping in those coins.

And despite being, to me at least, a rather unforgiving game, I still really enjoyed my time with it. The courses are nice looking and good fun to race though. They aren't too difficult either. There are tight turns here and there but the most challenging parts are down to the game's fondness for multiple 'S' bends in succession which, even when you're used to them, will still catch you out now and then, even with the excellently responsive controls. The courses are no longer flat either, which means dips and bumps and hills and all that stuff. The differences between this and the original game, slight as most of them are, must do the trick though, for I prefer this game by some margin. It's tough but there is more game and a (slightly) greater variety while you're playing it, and it has some great choons to accompany you as you weave in and out of infinity other riders. It literally is a 'Super' version of Hang-On; I'm just glad I don't have to insert actual coins to play!

RKS Score: 8/10

Gameplay Video: here's a video of the whole game being played by one of the talented fellows at AL82 Retrogaming Longplays (check out their great channel here). Oh, and don't watch if you want to avoid spoilers!