Its hard to believe that its been four decades since Outrun was released back in 1986. OutRun was quite possibly one of the most iconic arcade games to have emerged from the 80’s decade. OutRun considered to be one of the most popular racing video games ever before the Gran Turismo series emerged back in the late 90’s. OutRun was considered to be a basic yet very impressive 2D racing title that felt like it was ahead of its time before its 1986 release. OutRun was developed by Yu Suzuki and his team AM2 and came out during a time period where the video game industry experienced a boom period. OutRun was a game that influenced numerous arcade titles that emerged from the 90’s like Scud Race, Daytona USA and Crazy Taxi. In the eyes of many people OutRun was a racing title that set the standard for 2D racing games before the genre started to evolve during the late 90’s and 2000’s. Outrun was a checkpoint racing game with only five stages.

Despite Outrun lacking variety compared to modern day racing titles it was considered to be memorable. Outrun felt like a larger than life racing title with its own unique identity. Most AAA racing games nowadays feel generic and forgettable compared to Outrun from 1986. The original OutRun game from the 80’s felt like the Super Mario of the racing genre in terms of success and cultural impact. OutRun was ten times better than anything Nintendo had produced during the 80’s on the NES console. During the 90’s and 00’s we got to see numerous sequels for OutRun but none of them came close to the level of success and popularity of the original. There were titles like Turbo OutRun, OutRun 2019, Outrun 2 which were all good but not necessarily revolutionary. If the original OutRun game did not exist we might not have racing franchises like Need For Speed which is still somewhat relevant today. OutRun was a family-friendly arcade racer that did not require in-depth gameplay mechanics to be a big attraction. If anything OutRun was a racing title which heavily focused on glitz and glamor. Despite, OutRun being released four decades its still a game that looks visually appealing and has managed to stand the test of time more than a quarter of a century later.