Scud Race: The retro review we've all been waiting for.

Isamu · Apr 25, 2024

The GOAT himself, Mr Thunderwing, has just put up another retro review, this time for Sega's iconic classic arcade racer Scud Race. This is one of the best reviews for an old arcade racer I have ever watched. He even managed to get Bart T, the developer behind Supermodel, to make a rare on-camera appearance talking about what Scud Race means to him. I urge anyone that has even a remote fondness for this brilliant game to give it a watch ASAP!

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scrQ49KDezg

just_myles · Apr 25, 2024

This should have been ported 50 times over. Licenses be damned.

Jubilant Duck · Apr 25, 2024

amazing mechanically but one of the worst AM2 games from an aesthetics POV. just looked so incredibly un-SEGA.

Not heard of this Mr Thunderwing before but shall be keen to give this a watch.

PassiveObserver · Apr 25, 2024

This game looked like the future, and all I'd seen of it were screenshots in gaming rags.

Huey · Apr 25, 2024

Jubilant Duck said:
one of the worst AM2 games from an aesthetics POV. just looked so incredibly un-SEGA.

I... could not disagree more. Love the way Scud Race looks and it's vintage blue skies Sega to me at least. Very visually reminiscent of Outrun 2006:

To me the kind of controversial element of Scud Race is it's controls, which are incredibly touchy (by design). I love em, but can see how some wouldn't necessarily.

tapedeck · Apr 25, 2024

My GOAT arcade racing game..it is criminal we still dont have a port. An AM2 collection needs to happen.

Edit: and I totally disagree that it looks 'un-SEGA'..umm no it absolutely looks like 100% pure uncut SEGA.

shadowman16 · Apr 25, 2024

The game is another amazing Sega racer. I was so happy that I could emulate it properly and get it running on my Steam Deck(thanks Huey !)
Its a blast to play, once the handling clicks its basically impossible to put down. Its up there, even above Daytona 2 for me. Its just such a shame it never got ported (Dreamcast was right there!)

metsallica · Apr 25, 2024

Jubilant Duck said:
amazing mechanically but one of the worst AM2 games from an aesthetics POV. just looked so incredibly un-SEGA.

Not heard of this Mr Thunderwing before but shall be keen to give this a watch.

this is a wild hot take

this was the most sega-looking thing ever at the time. i was BLOWN AWAY the first time i saw this game in an arcade, and it just heralded how far ahead they were when compared to everyone else tech-wise in arcades in those days. every time a new sega machine showed up it ran circles around what everyone else was doing; that was the sega arcade way of the 90s. that is what sega in arcades has always meant to me

kidnemo · Apr 25, 2024

Huey said:
I... could not disagree more. Love the way Scud Race looks and it's vintage blue skies Sega to me at least. Very visually reminiscent of Outrun 2006:

To me the kind of controversial element of Scud Race is it's controls, which are incredibly touchy (by design). I love em, but can see how some wouldn't necessarily.

Seriously! This is one of the most blasphemously incorrect statements I've read about a game in a while.

When I think of the blue sky/green grass sega aesthetic scud is one of the games that pops into my head.

metsallica · Apr 25, 2024

i never made the connection at the time that scud was a reference to the missile but it seems so obvious in retrospect

every time i played the game or walked by it i wondered what the name meant

what was the licensing issue that prevented home ports?

NinjaScooter · Apr 25, 2024

It was one of the most impressive things visually to see in an arcade at the time. Nothing really like that at home back in those days.

J75 · Apr 25, 2024

Damn, the work Bart has done for Supermodel 3 cannot be understated. One of my fav emulators ever. Great stuff.

How the fuck is that game from '96. Could pass for early mid 2000s. Fantastic hardware that M3.

CanUKlehead · Apr 25, 2024

I was really hoping we were going to get this on Dreamcast.

shadowman16 · Apr 25, 2024

metsallica said:
i never made the connection at the time that scud was a reference to the missile but it seems so obvious in retrospect

every time i played the game or walked by it i wondered what the name meant

what was the licensing issue that prevented home ports?

It uses a number of real licensed cars (much like Sega Rally, Outrun 2 etc.)

DrFunk · Apr 25, 2024

It can't be stated enough how impressive model 3 was back in 1996. First time I saw this in the mall I was floored

Kirksplosion · Apr 25, 2024

PassiveObserver said:
This game looked like the future, and all I'd seen of it were screenshots in gaming rags.

Not familiar with this game, but I'm blown away by how good this looks for when it came out. Holy shit. This would have blown my mind was I aware of it back in the day.

metsallica · Apr 25, 2024

shadowman16 said:
It uses a number of real licensed cars (much like Sega Rally, Outrun 2 etc.)

did those games not? i never looked super-closely at that stuff in the arcade, i was just happy to be playing something that looked so cool

Huey · Apr 25, 2024

DrFunk said:
First time I saw this in the mall I was flooded

lol... I think we've all been there

Seriously VF3, Scud Race, and Daytona 2 in the arcades were just almost comically above what everyone else was doing. Probably Sega's hardest flex ever. They were pretty rare cabs where I lived unfortunately, but I goddamn well knew where to find them

metsallica · Apr 25, 2024

DrFunk said:
It can't be stated enough how impressive model 3 was back in 1996. First time I saw this in the mall I was floored

it was a generation ahead of any other cab at the time. felt like more than 1. my brain couldn't process it. it was so fun in those days to see people crowding around new arcade tech when cabs would show up

DrFunk · Apr 25, 2024

CanUKlehead said:
I was really hoping we were going to get this on Dreamcast.

I'm sure you're aware, but a port was in development for the Dreamcast. And of course it was cancelled

shadowman16 · Apr 25, 2024

J75 said:
Damn, the work Bart has done for Supermodel 3 cannot be understated. One of my fav emulators ever. Great stuff.

How the fuck is that game from '96. Could pass for early mid 2000s. Fantastic hardware that M3.

Yeah, the emulator is legit amazing. The work done on it is second to none.

As for your other point - Sega's arcade side of things was always years ahead of everyone and everything else. Even in the 80s its nuts to look at what Sega was doing, then what everyone else was doing. For the 90s - everyone doing 2D fighters, Yu Suzuki decided to blow peoples minds with Virtua Fighter (then blow them even more with how quick we got VF2 which was absolutely a generational leap in quality).

I REALLY miss this era of Sega. Dont get me wrong, I adore Yakuza (obviously), but Sega back in their heyday is unmatched.

mavericktopgun · Apr 25, 2024

Love playing it on my Android device with Winlator. Runs 60fps, widescreen, 1080p.

shadowman16 · Apr 25, 2024

metsallica said:
did those games not? i never looked super-closely at that stuff in the arcade, i was just happy to be playing something that looked so cool

All of those games I listed use licensed cars yes. My point is - they cant re-release these games these days because of the cars. They'd either need to re-license them, or change the cars into ones that arent real... its such a shame - either a retro collection or Yakuza mini games where you could play this stuff would be amazing, but its a complete non starter unless they can sort out the licensing issues ;(

metsallica · Apr 25, 2024

shadowman16 said:
All of those games I listed use licensed cars yes. My point is - they cant re-release these games these days because of the cars. They'd either need to re-license them, or change the cars into ones that arent real... its such a shame - either a retro collection or Yakuza mini games where you could play this stuff would be amazing, but its a complete non starter unless they can sort out the licensing issues ;(

Yeah, totally get that. I just thought at the time they'd make whatever modifications they needed to for home ports. Alas. Maybe one day!

Jubilant Duck · Apr 25, 2024

Huey said:
I... could not disagree more. Love the way Scud Race looks and it's vintage blue skies Sega to me at least. Very visually reminiscent of Outrun 2006:

To me the kind of controversial element of Scud Race is it's controls, which are incredibly touchy (by design). I love em, but can see how some wouldn't necessarily.

kidnemo said:
Seriously! This is one of the most blasphemously incorrect statements I've read about a game in a while.

When I think of the blue sky/green grass sega aesthetic scud is one of the games that pops into my head.

It has a desaturating bloom filter over the top of everything that makes it look like an mid-gen 360 game where colour was the enemy. Everything looks overprocessed and fudged with. The sky is technically on the blue part of the colour spectrum but it's a weird, metallic blue that looks rather sickly.

In the linked video there is footage of earlier titles such as SEGA Rally which do not do this and so to me personally more better fit the SEGA aesthetic.

That's just to my tastes though.

shadowman16 · Apr 25, 2024

metsallica said:
Yeah, totally get that. I just thought at the time they'd make whatever modifications they needed to for home ports. Alas. Maybe one day!

At the time I guess home ports fell within the existing license agreements, or they drafted up ones for those ports (honestly, no idea which). But since said agreements were decades ago, and how this stuff is for such a niche audience now, it sadly probably isnt worth Sega paying the fee to re-license it. And modding the games to replace said cars would need them to change the games, instead of just emulate the games (which is - in theory - much easier).

Basically my guess is it'd cost too much, or take too much work to get this stuff on modern platforms and the audience would be limited at best.

That's all my take on things. No idea how accurate it is though!

metsallica · Apr 25, 2024

Jubilant Duck said:
It has a desaturating bloom filter over the top of everything that makes it look like an mid-gen 360 game where colour was the enemy. Everything looks overprocessed and fudged with.

In the linked video there is footage of earlier titles such as SEGA Rally which do not do this and so to me personally more better fit the SEGA aesthetic.

That's just to me tastes though.

tastes are one thing but it, uh, predates the 360 by a decade and looks better than (or can hold its own with) the first couple years of that system's output... easily

Merton · Apr 25, 2024

That SCUD not this SCUD, dissappointed now - thought it was a racer I never knew about

Sumio Mondo · Apr 25, 2024

There was a leak of a tech demo for the Dreamcast many years ago:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4ZyI_x_zVk

Nagoshi was asked in an interview once why it never released but he forgot the reason why.

Tailzo · Apr 25, 2024

Incredible game. Still looks amazing. Decades ahead of the competition.

Jubilant Duck · Apr 25, 2024

metsallica said:
tastes are one thing but it, uh, predates the 360 by a decade and looks better than (or can hold its own with) the first couple years of that system's output... easily

sure? I'm not criticising it technically but aesthetically. It has those desaturated aesthetics. It doesn't (to me) look as nice or colourful as AM2's other arcade work.

mute · Apr 25, 2024

I was on a Carnival cruiseship in the late 90s sometime and it had one of these machines. I spent probably more time playing this than doing anything else.

Emulating it today while nice in high res/framerate doesn't really do it justice. The controls on a real machine were sublime.

metsallica · Apr 25, 2024

Jubilant Duck said:
sure? I'm not criticising it technically but aesthetically. It has those desaturated aesthetics. It doesn't (to me) look as nice or colourful as AM2's other arcade work.

did you ever see it running on a crt in an arcade? i would never call it desaturated. maybe compared to daytona it's a little less vibrant but under ideal conditions it was very vivid.

Huey · Apr 25, 2024

Sumio Mondo said:
Nagoshi was asked in an interview once why it never released but he forgot the reason why.

lol so much more painful than any actual reason he could have given

Temp_User · Apr 25, 2024

It's always cool to see late Sixth/early Seventh generation console graphics in 1996.

metsallica · Apr 25, 2024

Huey said:
lol so much more painful than any actual reason he could have given

probably tanning and missed the call... though this was before he turned into a jojo's character

Isamu · Apr 25, 2024

metsallica said:
probably tanning and missed the call... though this was before he turned into a jojo's character

LMFAO!!!

Glimlocker · Apr 25, 2024

My personal favorite Sega racing game - beating out any of the Outrun series.
Next closest favorite for me would actually be Daytona 2.
Unfortunately, being an arcade game, it doesn't have nearly the content of the console ports of Outrun 2, but everything else makes up for that.

The rolling start on the first stage, with the 90s house music absolutely thumping and the engines roaring, has got to be the most hype start to any game I can remember - Daytona 1 coming in close on that one as well.
But, that rolling start intro is sheer bliss for an overly nostalgic retro gamer like myself.

kidnemo · Apr 26, 2024

The outrun m2 ports and the home versions of outrun 2006 are just about perfect with all the additional home content.

Would be amazing to see a m2 port of scud would be ridiculous, but if they won't figure out rereleasing the home ports of outrun2006 and afterburner climax, there is a basically a negative zero chance of scud coming home. :(

Isamu · Apr 27, 2024

Glimlocker said:
My personal favorite Sega racing game - beating out any of the Outrun series.
Next closest favorite for me would actually be Daytona 2.
Unfortunately, being an arcade game, it doesn't have nearly the content of the console ports of Outrun 2, but everything else makes up for that.

The rolling start on the first stage, with the 90s house music absolutely thumping and the engines roaring, has got to be the most hype start to any game I can remember - Daytona 1 coming in close on that one as well.
But, that rolling start intro is sheer bliss for an overly nostalgic retro gamer like myself.

Great post. I've debated whether I consider Scud Race my favorite Sega racer for the past couple years as I've gotten a bit better at it. But objectively speaking, I'd still have to with OutRun 2. But believe me, it's very close. Replay and longevity just isn't there as it is in OR2 due to the obvious extra content. But that feeling of pulling off perfect drifts in the Mclaren F1 in Scud is simply unparalleled. Nothing comes close to the handling of Scud Race once you get it right and it clicks with you.

That being said, I would rank my favorite Sega arcade racers as follows:

1)OutRun 2
2)Scud Race
3)Initial D Arcade Stage Zero
4)Daytona USA
5)Daytona 2
6)Sega Rally Championship
6)F-Zero GX
7)OutRunners
8)Outrun
9)Indy 500
10)Sega Rally 2

*BONUS
Ferrari F355
Virtua Racer
Route 66

I haven't played either R-Tuned or Sega World Driving Championship but those two are definitely on my to play list. Not interested in Sega Race TV.

deadfolk · Apr 27, 2024

Damn, totally unaware of any arcade games from this era onwards. Arcades were already a thing of the distant past where I lived at the time. The most modern arcade game I ever saw in person was probably something like Soul Edge.

I feel like I have missed out on so much. Is there a good source of information for this stuff? Like a good YT channel? Other than Model 3 games, can other games from this time and later be emulated? And , dare I ask, on the Deck as I have no gaming PC these days.

Poimandres · Apr 27, 2024

NinjaScooter said:
It was one of the most impressive things visually to see in an arcade at the time. Nothing really like that at home back in those days.

One of the most impressive? The only competition for "most unbelievably eye searing graphics of all time" were other Sega games. Really, it's either this, Daytona or Virtua Fighter 2 in 1994, or Virtua Fighter 3. Sega were impossibly far ahead of the curve with their arcade boards.

Giant Enemy Crab · Apr 27, 2024

Huey said:
I... could not disagree more. Love the way Scud Race looks and it's vintage blue skies Sega to me at least. Very visually reminiscent of Outrun 2006:

Accurate choice, it's also reminiscent of Sonic Adventure, Sega Race TV, Infinite Wealth...

I could accept a debate for Sega Rally:

After all, many staff like Sasaki started at Namco so the blue sky is less obvious than Outrun or Sega Race TV...

As for Scud Race, even the waterfalls remind Outrun 2006, Virtua Fighter 5 et cetera.

Scud Race: The retro review we've all been waiting for.

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