LAI OutRun Restoration Update 7

Lots has been going on with OutRun restore over the last month or so and it’s not just me sticking a screwdriver into my finger so here goes……..

It’s take about 4 weeks to put in the wire harnesses and repair damaged ones. Several wires in the machine had been twisted together and taped. So all of these were remade with new wire and some new connectors were also required as pins broke trying to remove them.

Everything now pretty much in place. No more tape on the monitor wires, monitor isolator. I also fixed up the eight 5v power cables to the PCB.

Next the control panel was re installed. Since this pic below everything has been greased too with will miniseries wear but also makes the mechanical parts quieter when moving.

I’ve bought 2 new coin mechs and the back plate and pedals have been sent off to be chromed

A new LED light has been wired to the AC power box and then after 13 months of restore I finally turned it on.

Some adjustments were made to the monitor and then all electrical parts were checked. No sound was coming from the machine so after a few days of investigation I found both speakers were shot. Will need to pick some up soon.

So here’s a few pics of the machine with some work still to do which includes installing –

Brake

Coin mechs

Monitor Bezel

Control Panel Bezel

New Speakers

One or two more updates to completion 👍

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LAI SEGA OutRun Restoration Update 6

Last weekend my wife kindly helped my take the cabinet for a ride from the garage to the house. It wasn’t an easy process as it had to go along the road (where several cars passed us) and down a second driveway at around a 40 deg drop. Then it had to go down and up a few stairs. It was kinda scary and I had a feeling that we would all end up in a heap at the bottom of the house. I’m happy to say we all survived !
The cab is now in the house and my wife couldn’t be happier …..mmmm #arcadewife 
I lined up the side art and found it needed trimming around the top curves. After taping  it down to the cab I used a specially crafted piece of Lego taped to a pencil to mark a 6mm line around the edges and then trimmed it.
The final result came out really well and there’s a nice even edge between the side art and the Newly fitted T-Molding.

I will do a further update to this post later this weekend with progress to the CP.

Finally after many many hours of work it’s starting to all come together.

SEGA LAI OutRun Restoration update

Yesterday I received a parcel of more parts from the U.K this time. A fellow OutRun restorer and amazing OutRun buddy (I won’t mention his name so he doesn’t get hounded by people) was very kind to send me this awesome parcel below.  
It contained various decals, SEGA security screws, wire harness clip, complete gear shifter and a custom chrome plated accelerator pedal. (And the OutRun mug minus the tea) which was a nice surprise 😄

A huge thank you mate (you know who you are) this will be a big help in making the OutRun dream come true!
   

Awesome Mini OutRun Cabinet

Check out this cool looking mini arcade machine with SEGA Outrun artwork. Who wouldn’t want one of these.

  
We’ve seen a couple of really cool minis in the past from Steve Carpenter using the GBA SEGA Arcade Gallery and one from mini arcade extraordinaire Luchio. You can fun both of these within the sites past News.

OutRun features in 3D Thunderblade end credits

Thunderblade is probably one of the lesser loved games during the SEGA Super Scaler era but M2 have done a great job of the game and during the end credits there are many homages to classic SEGA games and characters.

OutRun is featured several times and below are a few fun OutRun clips to share.
Congratulations!

Domestic….. She’s high maintenance 

OutRun Vs Alex Kidd

3D OutRun Nintendo 3DS impressions

  
Last week finally saw the release of 3D OutRun in Australia after a long and painful wait, luckily we also got Thunderblade and the two Fantasy Zone game on the same day. Obviously I downloaded them all as soon as I was near a Wi-Fi point.

Below is my impression of the game after having it for a week.

I like the icon and the OutRun music sample when you hover over the selection. The 3D rotating model of the deluxe cabinet is wonderful.

  
[Above – rotating cabinet of the classic arcade machine]

The OutRun title screen is adapted from the Artwork that is also seen on a Stand Up OutRun cabinet. [Below]

  
I had a play around in the options and tried out the different screen settings for playing the game. This includes  adjustment to the screen size and moving HUD. I’ve enjoyed playing games like Afterburner with the screen bezel visible but with OutRun Ive found the options below have been my personal choice.

 
I didn’t like having the bezel visible as it made the play area look to compressed and gave a poor car image resolution. Same goes for having a moving cabinet. Right now Widescreen mode with” HUD OFF” seemed the best option.

What is everyone else’s thoughts on this?

Within a week of playing I had completed the game across all Goals A – E which will unlock “Arcade” mode. Arcade mode runs at 50fps like the original where as “Special” runs at 60fps with enhanced coding removing some of the sprite issues etc of the original. (Like the improvements Chris White has made during his OutRun Canonball project)

  
Having completed all Goals within a week I’ve found the default settings perhaps easier than the arcade. I would up the difficulty if you are going to download it.

There are 2 new music tracks and I being a fan of the original music I was a little skeptical, but I have been converted, these new tracks are a beautiful extension to the OutRun experience…….I’ve only really played the game with the new tracks in the first week of play. They really are great and are really just a variation to the original three.

  
M2 have done a great job with this conversion, I’m a huge OutRun fan and  I was gutted that the Testerossa was going to be replaced but one week in I no longer care…it’s still OutRun, OutRun portable, that you can take anywhere and it great!

There are a few other extras that are unlocked when you complete a Goal like  collision slowdown reduction, no skidding etc. These all have their own leaderboards. I’ve not played these variations as yet as I’m a purist but it will no doubt add some long term play factor to the game.

I love 3D OutRun and I think I will keep this for ever! What you experience of the game? Please comment below and let me know your thoughts.

  

Japanese OutRun Toy

Check out this Cool OutRun car toy only released in Japan. This is a vintage item that was released in a series of at least 17 items with other SEGA arcade inspired toys including Hang – On Bike and Thunderblade copter.

 

You might of noticed that the car isn’t a Ferrari  But a Lamborgini Countach which is kinda strange, but hey, for ¥500 the equivalent of $5 or £3 these were pretty cheap toys.

Installing Cannonball The OutRun Enhanced Engine to the JXD GAMEPAD

Cannonball is a re programmed and enhanced version of SEGA’s OutRun by Chris White
http://reassembler.blogspot.com.au/p/cannonball-open-source-outrun-engine.html?m=1

Ported to Android (WIP) by Tim Leader
You can download the Android port at the link below
http://octo-dev.co.uk/projects/octo/outrun/

Below is the additional 15 stage continuous mode rolling through intro mode including in car view. I’ve shortened each stage to make it a 3 minute video. On 15 Stage continuous mode there is no fork in the road, the stages blend together and the music tracks play back to back.

Here’s how to install Cannonball to your JXD GAMEPAD

1. Download the .APK file to your JXD / ANDROID device from the link above.

2. Find the Cannonball.apk file on your JXD using the APKinstaller app that came with the JXD.

3.Select Install using the APKinstaller app.

4.install the file to your device.

5.Open the APKinstaller again and select ‘Manage’

6.Select the Cannonball file and select Export to create a Cannonball app Icon on your home screen.

OutRun and the JXD Gamepad

Over the pass few weeks I’ve been playing around with the Android powered JXD s7800b Gamepad and I can report back that this handheld machine can run OutRun (The arcade version) perfectly.
The JXD was build for games and especially retro games, it has all of the right buttons and controls in the places you would find retro consoles and modern day consoles too.

There are 4 versions of arcade emulation currently on the JXD, 2 versions through an app called Retroarch , Mame4All and Mame4Droid. The Android version of Mame4All when tested was the only version to play the game perfectly.

OutRun is an absolute dream to play with the large screen and great controls.

On top of having the perfect arcade port there are lots of other options if your an OutRun fan too.

Probably the next best version would be a toss up between the Gameboy Advance and PC Engine.
Below is the GBA version from SEGA Arcade Gallery.

It’s a reasonably good port and is emulated perfectly on the JXD with the added bonus of Space Harrier, Super Hang On and Afterburner.

Next up is the PC Engine version running through the App PCE.EMU.

…or maybe all of the OutRun variations released on the Master System and Megadrive??

The list of machines this thing can run goes back way further than the Master System, if you really wanted to you can also fire up the C64 / Amiga Versions!!

If your a big fan of other sprite scaling racers this machine will also delight. Below are some of the other great Yu Suzuki , SEGA or Sprite Scaler games that I have enjoyed using this machine.

Turbo OutRun (HappyChick Arcade Emu)

Virtua Racing 32X (RetroArch – PicoDrive)

Power Drift (Retroarch Mame 2010)

Super Monaco GP Arcade (Retroarch Mame 2010)

Enduro Racer (Retroarch Mame 2010)

If you fancy playing all of SEGA’s arcade racing back catalogue go pick one up now from Funstock (£129)

Recent OutRun pick up

Just thought I would share my recent OutRun item that I picked up at Auction.
It’s a 1986 SEGA game card from the 24th Amusement Show in Japan.

This show was where SEGA first showed OutRun to the press and public and the card could be dispensed from a vending machine and used from credits within the SEGA stand.

Here’s a write up from a while back HERE