I struggle to think of a more unified game in terms of presentation and gameplay. Outrun is so much more than a game, it's a perfect pearl.
You ride a Ferrari Testarossa with your girlfiend and the objective is to simply reach checkpoints before the time runs out, in essence a concept that hasn't changed since Sega's Hang-On from the previous year, and even though gameplay wise it hasn't changed much either(except having maybe slightly tighter controls), Outrun has fantastic presentation. It's the little things that count, like being able to change the song you want to play on the station(most will agree that Passing Breeze is still the best), riding on a seaside, and having the choice to drive in various locales on the map of your choosing, which all have beautiful scenery for a 1986 arcade game. Yu Suzuki has stated that he considered this a driving game than a racing game, and getting submerged inside it is marvelously zen.
The arcade version and its timer are completely brutal, but that's not what matters, does it? It's the unforgettable experience of riding next to sea waves along with other people's cars, trucks, reading whatever billboards you're passing by, shifting gears in time before you crash. And even if you lose, the sighs you let out at the warm sunset of the game over screen, are not of frustration: but out of relief and contentedness, because you just witnessed an unforgettable experience. You deck out your initials and then quit just as the sun sets over the cozy, glamorous world of Outrun. The palmtree backrdop indeed makes all the difference between "Damn you, I lost!" and "Aw, shucks, I lost..."
That's not to say this game wouldn't benefit from a free ride mode, which some future port would certainly need at some point.
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It hasn't lost much of its power in the decades since, reducing every non-essential element of a video game and still being the most memorable road trip in gaming history.
This is truly a game at it's purest form
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Played this at an arcade with the moving seat last weekend and holy shit guys it's so fucking good. Like still one of the best machines in the whole place good. Hasn't ages a day in 35 years. Got better if anything.