is an
arcade racing game released in 1981 by
Sega. Designed and coded by Steve Hanawa, the game received positive reviews upon release, with praise for its challenging and realistic gameplay for its time, three-dimensional full-color graphics with changing scenery, and cockpit sit-down
arcade cabinet replicating a race car. It became a commercial success, topping the monthly ''
Play Meter
''Play Meter'' (initially ''Coin Industry Play Meter'') was an American trade magazine focusing on the coin-op amusement arcade industry, including jukebox and arcade game machines. It was founded in December 1974 by publisher and editor Ralph C. ...
'' arcade charts in North America and ranking highly on the ''Game Machine'' arcade charts in Japan.
The game was manufactured in three formats: standard upright, cabaret/mini, and a seated environmental/cockpit. All three versions feature a steering wheel, a gearshift for low and high gears, and an accelerator pedal. The screen is a vertically oriented 20-inch raster display. In addition to the on-screen display, ''Turbo'' features an LED panel to the left of the screen that displays the current player's score and the high score table. ''Turbo'' also features lighted oil and temperature gauges on either side of the steering wheel.
[Turbo - video game by Sega](_blank)
''Killer List of Videogames
Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) is a website featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for pl ...
'' ''Turbo'' was ported to the
Colecovision
ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco and launched in North America in August 1982. It was released a year later in Europe by CBS Electronics as the CBS ColecoVision.
The console offered a closer exp ...
and
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a home video game console released by Mattel Electronics in 1979. The name is a portmanteau of "intelligent television". Development began in 1977, the same year as the launch of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. In 1984, ...
home consoles.
Gameplay
''Turbo'' requires the player to navigate a road race through different urban and rural locations, through differing weather conditions, and during changing times of day.
The cars in the game resemble
Formula 1
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
race cars. In order to proceed, the player must pass and stay ahead of at least 30 competing cars before time expires. Some opponents drive predictably, while others swerve across the road suddenly.
In the first round, the player has unlimited lives;
collisions
In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great fo ...
with other vehicles will return the player's car to the bottom of the current screen. In subsequent rounds, the player is limited to two lives (one on the screen playing and the other in reserve) and awarded an additional life (up to a total of four in reserve) for each completed round. In addition to competing racers, an ambulance occasionally comes along from behind and overtakes the player - they must be avoided, as contact with them will cause the player to lose a life; the game will be over when all player lives are gone in addition to the time expired before reaching 30 passed cars.
Development
''Turbo'' was designed and coded by Steve Hanawa. In an interview, Hanawa stated that despite its historical significance as a precedent-setting racing video game, he considers the process of creating it to have been his worst development experience at Sega. Development of ''Turbo'' required such a difficult and protracted schedule of coding and debugging that he was hospitalized for a month following its completion due to stress, exhaustion and a spontaneously collapsed lung.
[Steve Hanawa's Tech Talk](_blank)
''smstributes.co.uk''
Reception
In the United States, ''Turbo'' was the top-grossing arcade game on the ''
Play Meter
''Play Meter'' (initially ''Coin Industry Play Meter'') was an American trade magazine focusing on the coin-op amusement arcade industry, including jukebox and arcade game machines. It was founded in December 1974 by publisher and editor Ralph C. ...
'' arcade charts in May 1982, taking the top spot from ''
Donkey Kong
is a video game franchise created by Shigeru Miyamoto and owned by Nintendo. It follows the adventures of a gorilla named Donkey Kong and his clan of other apes and monkeys. The franchise primarily consists of platform games—originally s ...
''.
In Japan, ''
Game Machine'' listed ''Turbo'' as the 18th highest-grossing
arcade video game of 1981 (tied with ''
Defender'' and ''
Galaxian
is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade video game developed and published by Namco. The player assumes control of the Galaxip starfighter in its mission to protect Earth from waves of aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of aliens, who ...
''), and then the 19th highest-grossing
arcade video game of 1982. ''Game Machine'' later listed ''Turbo'' in their June 1, 1983 issue as the fifth top-grossing upright/cockpit arcade unit of the month.
The arcade game received highly positive reviews upon release. In January 1982, ''
Cash Box'' magazine called it "a challenging and colorful" game while praising the "realistic, three dimensional, full color imagery which allows drivers to experience the sensation and thrill of being in the thick of grand prix action" as well as the "excellent sound systems".
Daniel Cohen in his book ''Video Games'' called it a "brilliant" new driving game providing a "challenging and remarkably realistic" experience, with praise for the cockpit cabinet that replicates the sit-down feel and controls of a real car, and the graphics which has changing scenery including the day, night, city, highway, oceanside curve, tunnels, twisting roads, and icy roads.
In June 1982, ''
Computer and Video Games
''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...
'' magazine praised the "realism, controls, marvellous graphical capabilities" and the "variety of backgrounds and racing conditions on the screen".
In early 1983, ''Turbo'' was reviewed by ''
Video
Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
'' magazine in its "Arcade Alley" column where it was hailed as "the king of the video road". The ColecoVision version was praised for the effort that had gone into replicating the visuals of the original arcade version, with reviewers making special note of the varied, non-repetitive backgrounds that enticed players to play in order to see "never-before-seen play scenes". Reviewers also commented favorably on the realism-enhancing use of steering wheel, gas pedal, and gear shift peripherals.
''Arcade Express'' reviewed the ColecoVision version in January 1983 and scored it a perfect 10 out of 10, remarking that the "king of the coin-op driving games arrives in the home market". They stated that while it isn't "as graphically arresting as the" arcade version, it "comes reasonably close to matching the multi-scenario brilliance" and "the special control panel lifts this cartridge to greatness".
Legacy
An
Atari 2600
The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocess ...
port by
Coleco
Coleco Industries, Inc. was an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as The Connecticut Leather Company. It was a successful toy company in the 1980s, mass-producing versions of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game consol ...
was in development and advertised by Coleco, but it was never completed, due in part to the lead programmer, Michael Green, having been struck and seriously injured by a drunk driver while riding a bicycle. The prototype, estimated to be about 80% complete, was found by another Coleco programmer, Anthony Henderson, in his attic in 2006.
[http://www.atariage.com](_blank)
Turbo - AtariAge
A ''Turbo''
board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a ...
was released by Milton Bradley in 1983.
Notes
References
{{reflist
1981 video games
Arcade video games
Cancelled Atari 2600 games
ColecoVision games
Intellivision games
Sega arcade games
Racing video games
Video games developed in Japan
Vertically-oriented video games
Single-player video games