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F1 Circus MD
Title screen
Developer(s)	Micronics[1]
Publisher(s)	Nichibutsu[1][2]
License	Commercial
Engine	Proprietary
Platform(s)	Sega Mega Drive[1]
Release date(s)	JP December 20, 1991 [1]
Genre(s)	Racing (Formula One)[1]
Mode(s)	Single-player (career, training, time trial)
Rating(s)	CERO: n/a (not rated)
Media	6-megabit cartridge
System requirements	No Special Requirements
Input methods	Sega Mega Drive game controller

F1 Circus MD (Ｆ１サーカスＭＤ^?, Formula One Circuit Mega Drive)^[3] is a Sega Mega Drive video game using the vehicles and the basic regulations of the Formula One circuit. The "Circus" part of the title is actually a mistranslation of the word Circuit. The view is top-down which is considered a tricky view for most gamers.^[4] All the important text is in Japanese^[5] with only the menus and a few minor features in English.

Players must try to either win as many races as possible or achieve a podium finish. Every newGrand Prix at worldly destinations like the Canadian Grand Prix and the Japanese Grand Prixrequires the player to learn new skills and new turns. The racing action consists of open wheel vehicles capable of going more than 200 miles per hour (321.8 kilometres per hour) on the long straight portions of the track. However, players must qualify (through the practice mode) for every race. Failing to qualify will force the player to repeat the qualification process until he manages to make the starting lineup (unlike real life).

While loosely based on the 1991 Formula One season, the game uses drivers and racing teams with similar names to the officially licensed counterparts of that era. Career mode only permits racers to race up to eight seasons; retirement is mandatory after the eighth season. Preparing for each and every indvidual race requires setting up the right racing parts for the individual demands of that particular course. Team Lotus is considered to be the official co-sponsor of this video game along with its publisher Nichibutsu.

[edit]Gallery

A crowd is watching as a Formula One driver is making some practice laps in preparation for the1991 United States Grand Prix.

 

I find it hard to write a proper review for this game. Not because it is outstandingly good. Not because it is horribly bad, either – though there are both good and bad parts. No, it\'s because most of the time, this game is overwhelmingly mediocre in almost every regard! It doesn\'t stand out in any technical area, in terms of racing it doesn\'t cover a particularly exciting variety – heck, it isn\'t even endorsed by a very familiar racer/celebrity!

Granted, Nigel Mansell won the Indycar (known as CART at that time) Championship in 1993, following right after his first (and only) Grand Prix win on the Formula One Circuit, but in terms of well-known drivers 1994 had far more famous people to offer (Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, or – in terms of Indycar racers – Al Unser, Jr. and Bobby Rahal come to mind). It was a rather short-lived celebrity status, that\'s what I\'m getting at, one whose fame definitely didn\'t last into more recent days. Pretty much the same could be said for this game.

Apologies to any Indycar fans who might be reading this, but I don\'t find this particular kind of racing all that appealing. Maybe that\'s because, being from Europe (most of the Indycar tracks are in the USA – as reflected in this game: Most of the sixteen tracks available are located in the U.S., a few in Canada, and one in Australia), all I know about this circuit I learned from games like this. And honestly, what I see here isn\'t very interesting. With a few exceptions, most of the tracks are more or less simply ovals with only a few have steeper curves or chicanes thrown in.

The presentation is a bit confusing. In the start menu you have six options, four of which are represented by huge symbols while two of them (the password section and "Exit" symbolizing the start of the game confusingly enough) are small text options that get lost in between the icons easily. Other than that the options are represented in text boxes, with only a tinny main theme as the sole soundtrack. This doesn\'t really set the mood for an exciting race. A propos setting the mood, games are saved by means of a twenty-six-character password – that spoils the fun quite a bit right here.

You have quite a few options, which range from more or less useless (like setting the speedometer display from mph to kph for those who prefer metrics) to usual (automatic or manual gear shift) to rather nice (more or less free button configuration of your three-button game pad). At the start of each race, you have three further options (Yeah, this game is keen on options): you can practice the course as often as you like without any opponents, you can opt to "qualify" (racing the empty track for two laps in order to reach a good time) and finally start the race itself. If you select "race" right away you have to start from the twelfth and last position, making the race a bit harder than when you placed yourself ahead with a good qualifying time first. You get only one shot at qualification though. At least some thought went into this, but it gets kind of bland after a while, and once you know the tracks by heart the qualification doesn\'t make that much of a difference.

The gameplay itself is... okay. Really, I can\'t say much more about that. The controls aren\'t bad, but they aren\'t too good, either. You\'ll slide from left to right in no time and don\'t get a decent feeling of traction, but the controls aren\'t sluggish either. The tracks themselves, while plentiful, are rather boring however. Most are variations of simply oval courses and are way too easy to win since you can pretty much just race through with hardly any braking and with only some left turns. Once you have to race corners, though, the difficulty takes quite a leap. This is mainly because objects don\'t zoom in but rather skip towards you. For example, when you crash into a roadside sign it seems as if you were teleporting across the screen.

If you crash too often into buildings or opponents, your car can actually be damaged so far that you are unable to further complete the race. Also, with more collisions you may increase the risk of running out of gas. It is here where the main difference between "arcade" and "simulation" mode is located. In arcade mode, you hardly notice any consequences of crashes besides of a rudimentary graphical indicator on the bottom right of the screen. Therefore, it comes as a huge surprise when you suddenly find yourself unable to move because the game has decided that you now have officially "crashed." Also, in "arcade" mode refueling is pretty much unnecessary (except on a few occasions): Even if the game indicates that you might run out of fuel shortly before the end of the fourth lap, you can still complete the fifth and final round without doing a pit stop. In simulation, damage and fuel play a slightly bigger role, but not by an incredibly huge margin.

The graphics are a mixed bag. The main screen is just horrible, with an ugly pixilated mug shot of celebrity endorsement Nigel Mansell gracing the main menu. The menus are very bland, and the scenes that play after a race has been completed are barely 8-bit worthy. The in-game visuals are decent, however. Buildings are simply huge white or orange blocks, but otherwise the looks are colorful and with a bit of detail. Nothing to write home about, but at least they look like they belong on a 16-bit-machine.

The sound, on the other hand, is bland and boring. Besides of the aforementioned tinny soundtrack, the engine sounds are rather monotonous, and aurally your opponents are next to nonexistent. It isn\'t ear-rapingly bad, but it should be more than just tolerable in order to make for an enjoyable experience.

Noteworthy is the inclusion of a two-player mode. While it may seem neat at first, the implementation is awful, because the frame rate drops immensely, and the object skip becomes unbearable. Racing into a corner on a split-screen with two or more opponents onscreen becomes a slow and near uncontrollable experience. So, while a neat feature, the two-player mode is pretty much unbearable and useless.

So overall, we get a rather tepid mix of a racing game, boasting a few nice features and decent race controls buried in a bland presentation, with many options but few diversions...

...kind of like real Indy car racing, actually.

Read More...
Sega16.com

Download

Newman Haas Indy Car Racing: Featuring Nigel Mansell - 1,7 MB [GameGuerilla.com]

Screenshots:
GameFabrique.com

Super Hang-On
Developer(s)	Sega-AM2
Designer(s)	Yu Suzuki
Platform(s)	Arcade, Sega Mega Drive, GBA,Commodore Amiga, Atari ST,Macintosh, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64
Release date(s)	1987
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single player
Cabinet	Upright, sit-down

Super Hang-On (also known as Hang-On 2) is a 1987 motorcycle racing arcade game fromSega, and the sequel to the acclaimed Hang-On. A version of this game, in the full simulated-motorcycle cabinet used by the original Hang-On was released in 1991 as Limited Edition Hang-On.

It was released for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Commodore Amiga, Atari ST, Macintosh, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 in 1989. Super Hang-On was also released for theSharp X68000 computer in Japan. The game also appeared on several Mega Drive compilations, namely Mega Games I (bundled with the console as Mega Drive Magnum Set), and Sega Genesis Six Pack.

Sega renewed the Super Hang-On trademark with the U.S Patent Office in early April 2006.^{[citation needed]} There is speculation that a new Super Hang-On game might be released on one of the new-generation consoles or off the Sega Lindbergh architecture.

Contents  [hide] 1 Gameplay 1.1 Arcade Mode 1.2 Original Mode 2 Other appearances 3 Endings 4 External links

[edit]Gameplay

[edit]Arcade Mode

The arcade mode is Super Hang-On is similar to the original Hang-On. However, there is a choice 4 tracks to race on which are based on continents, each containing a different amount of stages. Each stage is roughly half the length of a stage in the original Hang-On. Africa is the easiest and shortest out of the four courses (6 stages). Asia is the second easiest and is similar in length to the course from the original Hang-On at 10 stages long. The Americas is the second to toughest course, containing 14 stages and Europe is the hardest course, being 18 stages long. When the player starts a race, they have their choice of 4 songs that will play during the race, a feature borrowed from Out Run.

[edit]Original Mode

Original Mode is only found in home versions and is much more in depth than the arcade mode, though the gameplay in the races is the same. The main screen is a menu where the player has several options, much like the main screen in Rock N\' Roll Racing. The player can buy new parts for their bike, hire a new mechanic, or start a race. This screen displays the player\'s current money as well as password for continuing his or her game.

In Original Mode, the bike can be upgraded by buying new parts for it, and they will be better maintained by paying for better mechanics. Upgradable parts include the frame (determines maneuverability), engine (acceleration), brake (deceleration), muffler (aids in acceleration), oil (aids in acceleration), and tires (improves steering).

[edit]Other appearances

• In the 1988 arcade game Power Drift, the motorcycle appears as a hidden vehicle that can only be accessed by winning first place on all five tracks for courses A, C, and E. It is only playable in the Extra Stage.^{[citation needed]}
• In Ayrton Senna\'s Super Monaco GP II, there is a cheat which allows the player to race as a Super Hang-On bike, including working brake lights. Gameplay is otherwise unaltered.^{[citation needed]}
• In the 1994 arcade game Daytona USA, there\'s a short version of Sprinter which can be accessed by giving "SHO" as initials in the name entry screen.^{[citation needed]}
• In Sonic Riders, there is an unlockable Gear called the "Super Hang-On", which plays the song Outride a Crisis, the first of the four songs featured in Super Hang-On. In Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, however, the Hang-On is unlockable for around 6,000 rings. Collecting 100 rings and pressing a button during a race in this gear changes the gear from a Hang-On sit-down arcade machine to the sit-down cabinet to this game. It also changes tunes from the main theme of the 1985 classic to Outride a Crisis.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]Endings

The endings for this game are much like those in Out Run, with the endings changing depending on the locale. The "best" ending is the Europe stage, when a news crew comes to cover the end of the race and faints once the in-game rider takes off his helmet and is revealed to be an elderly man with a long beard, who smokes a pipe.

In the Genesis version, finishing the Europe stage shows an ending where a woman approaches the rider (presumably to kiss him), but she walks away awkwardly when the rider pulls off her helmet, and is shown to actually be a woman.

[edit]External links

• Super Hang-On at the Killer List of Videogames
• Super Hang-On at MobyGames
• Super Hang-On at World of Spectrum