Atari ST - 2026

Out Run

1 / 8

Genre: Racing - Cars
Year: 2026
Language: Machine Language
Publisher: [no publisher]
Controls: Joystick / Mouse
Distributor: AtariCrypt
Players: 1 / Demo
Developer: Probe
Resolution: Low
Licensed from: SEGA
Programmer(s): Morrison, Ian
Country
Graphic Artist(s): McMillan, Stuart / Grier, AlanTomkins, Alan
Software: English
Game design: Sega
Box/Instructions: English
Musician(s): Brooke, Jason C.
License: Hack
Sound FX: [unknown]
Serial: —
Cover Artist(s): —
ST Type: ST, STe, TT / 0.5MB
MIDI: —
Version: [Blitter]
Dump: Download
Number of Disks: HD Installable
Dump format: Zip-packed folder
Protection: —

OTHER VERSIONS WITH THE SAME TITLE (5)

OTHER VERSIONS WITH A DIFFERENT TITLE (1)

Out Run STe

INSTRUCTIONS

Here are two versions of Outrun using the ST/STe's Blitter. 
The only intended changes were to the terrible framerate - using Claude AI.  
Sadly, the results aren't great when trying to optimise already poor programming.

I made this as a silly surprise gift for Atarimania's Marko. However, it's free for 
everyone, but consider it nothing more than a simple experiment to see what 
AI was capable of. Perhaps it'll provide an incentive for others to do the job better. 
Until then, enjoy Outrun. If you can.

All credit to these guys https://www.atarimania.com/games/atari-st-games-out-run-10149
Greetings and credit to Peter Putnik for the excellent HDD hack.
Credit to Claude AI for attempting an impossible job!

Steve
https://ataricrypt.blogspot.com

OUTRUN for Atari STe - standalone, blitter-accelerated
======================================================
Run OUTRUN.PRG with the FILES folder in the same folder. Nothing else is needed.

Needs: STe / Mega STe (blitter), TOS 1.02 or later, about 1 MB RAM.
On a machine without a blitter or with too little RAM the unmodified game runs.
TT / Falcon are not supported.

Hold ALTERNATE while starting for unlimited time (cheat).

What is different from the original game:
  * Frame rate: roughly 40% more frames per second (blitter sprites, cached
    projection tables, blitter-drawn mountains/clouds and cloud scrolling).
  * Smoother motion between the game's logic steps: road, traffic, your
    sideways position and the cloud/mountain scroll are all interpolated.
  * Graphics, sound, controls and game physics are unchanged.
Dropped from the original loader: the hardware/CPU-speed screen and F9 screenshots.
Original game by PP. Tested in an emulator only - please report any bombs.

OUTRUN2.PRG - today's build (compare with OUTRUN.PRG, yesterday's)
=================================================================
Identical to OUTRUN.PRG except one change: large roadside scenery
sprites (mainly the big palm trees close to the camera) are no longer
drawn. Cars, traffic, signs, bushes, distant/medium scenery, the HUD,
sound and controls are untouched.

Why: the few big near palms cost about 12% of frame time (blitter bus time).
In my emulator the test drive went from 11.3 to 12.7 frames/second.

Run it from the same folder as OUTRUN.PRG (it uses the FILES folder).
Only emulator/model checks were possible; real-STe results are yours to judge.
If the missing palms bother you more than the speed helps, keep OUTRUN.PRG.

ARTICLE (1)

News

TIPS (3)

TRIVIA (7)

Awards:

Golden Joystick Awards: Game of the year 1988
Golden Joystick Awards: Arcade style game of the year 1988

Origins

Based on Sega 1986 coin-op.

Version differences

European and USA versions of Out Run has some small differences like the title screen, extra music track, a different demo mode and a few extra graphics here and there.
European version on the left and US version on the right.

The first and highest selling 16-bit game version

Atari ST version of Out Run was the first ever 16-bit home computer game to reach UK's TOP-10 charts of best selling games at position 6. It was also the highest selling version of the game in mid May, leaving behind not only Out Run, but also every other game for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64 or Amiga.

In the same issue Amiga was the only machine to feature TOP-5 list instead of TOP-10 that the other platforms enjoyed. C+VG wrote that at the time Commodore 64 marketshare was also fastly dropping below 20% of total game sales first time in its history.

Source: Computer + Video Games issue July 1988

Charts

Top UK ST charts position: 1 (8/1988, 9/1988), 3 (4/1991 budget)
Months on charts: 11 between 8/1988 - 4/1991

Sales

Out Run ST version had sold over 25000 copies by mid 1988
Source: Crash issue August 1988

Releases

The Atari ST version was released first on the 16 bit market in Europe. Published later for other 16 bit systems.
Source: Research of over 16700 software reviews from UK computer magazines between 1985 and 1996.