Super Hang-On

STORY / GAMEPLAY
You race riding a motorbike through four continents of the world: Africa, Asia, America and Europe. Each continental race is divided into timed stages and failing to complete a stage within the required time, the game is over. Each stage gives you 32 seconds to complete and any seconds left from the previous stage are added to the new ones. The standard acceleration control can be held down for most of the race, but towards really tricky bends you will have to resort to the brakes. The change in speed affects the radius of your turns, which may easily crash you onto road signs or road lights...! What is really exciting on this game is that when you gain enough speed your speedometer will turn red signifying that you can activate your turbo boost (which is not limited at all)! As long as you hold the turbo down you will keep boosting which gives a real rush as your engine screams out higher and higher pitches, the longer you boost! Ok, the computer and console versions are not the same mainly because there were different versions on the arcades. Those differences though, rely only on the position and the type of the (original) bends of each track. Super Hang-On is a tried and true formula like any other great arcade bike (and car) racer released at this period of time. Especially the original (the arcade) version, in which the player plays riding a full-scaled motorbike model, is an enormous experience!

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The Sharp X68000 conversion is technically identical to the original arcade version. The graphics are quite smooth and fast with some nice colors and changing backgrounds as you progress through each checkpoint, which gives a nonstop progression through the game. The sprites (motorbikes) move greatly and are nicely animated. The rest of the objects, such as the road signs, the lights, the trees etc are also nicely done and keep (along with the static backdrops) the game's presentation in a decent level. Ok, it did not set any new standards for outstanding visuals back then but it's fast, colorful and, most of all, it stays on its roots of arcade fun. The game runs equally fast as the Sega Mega Drive conversion. The introductory tune (although short) is cool and was taken directly from the original (though the 16bit home computers tunes sound better!). The in-game sound effects are all sampled (especially the engine sound and the turbo boost sound are awesome!) along with some well composed tunes during gameplay.