Battle of the Ports - Top Gear 2 (トップギアー２) Show

[@malvessidrums]

Top Gear 1 and 2 were absolute classics back then in Brazil. We loved it.

[@RetroCore]

Great games to become classics. The second game was fantastic in 2 player mode.

[@fungo6631]

Back before James May

[@221b]

Tonight! Richard wears a hat, James falls over, and a dog won't get into a car.

[@RetroCore]

Lol, nice👍

[@dse763]

I always wondered if someone will do this joke.

[@iwanttocomplain]

@@dse763 That took skill.

[@magoid]

Seems like the Mega Drive version might be missing some of the benefits stereo can provide.

[@RetroCore]

Haha, it sure is. The sound designer for that version wasn't very good.

[@Lightblue2222]

Coolest lyrics ever. "You might be missing some of the benefits stereo can provide." -top gear ii snes intro

[@magoid]

Apparently, the voice sample "you might be missing some of the benefits that stereo can provide", came from a music called "The Man With The Masterplan", from some band called Quadrophonia. You can rear it here on YT.

[@dangwoot]

Fantastic video as always mark! That SNES version still looks really darn good to this day! I can also see how some newer games like Horizon Chase Turbo drew heavy inspiration from old classics just like this one!

[@ElBlogdeThePunisher]

If you enjoy the Top Gear Series, you MUST try Horizon Chase, available in almost every modern console/computer/mobile systems. It's a great homage to the Top Gear and Lotus series, with music from the great Barry Leitch, the composer of the Lotus/Top Gear saga.

[@RetroCore]

It's sure is. I have it on my phone. A great game!

[@david-spliso1928]

Another goodun is 80s Overdrive.

[@philmason9653]

Wow, all these years I had no idea Top Gear was the successor to Lotus! Lotus Esprit was the gold standard for racers in my head canon growing up, but I didn't own it myself so I the developer name never stuck with me. I was kind of bummed to watch the comparison videos you did on those games and see they were nowhere near as good as I remembered. But this puts salve on the wound.

[@RetroCore]

Oh, believe me when I say I also thought the lotus games were better than they actually are. Rose tinted glasses are not always a good thing I guess.

[@turrican4d599]

Top Gear was not developed by Shaun Southern. The Lotus Games also have far better graphics! Just look at the gorgeous rain effect in Lotus II and how awfully it was handled in Top Gear 2.

[@amerigocosta7452]

I had no idea Top Gear 2 was on the Mega Drive. It looks more like a prototype than a finished game! I'm familiar with the Amiga versions, they are top games there along with the Lotus series and in my opinion above other great games like Jaguar or Lamborghini American Challenge/Crazy Cars III. Man, in 1994 the Amiga was on its last leg as Commodore was going bankrupt. So seeing a console port that wasn't a quick cash grab was becoming quite rare. It was unfairly bashed by Amiga magazines at the time for being too old school. What did they expect to see on the Amiga, Ridge Racer?!

[@iwanttocomplain]

No it is old school. This kind of game is exactly what you would expect on an 8bit micro. But now it's snez so it's blurry and muffled with the ever present input delay (to get a game which shouldn't be running, running, but with a delayed response. Other solutions to insufficient hardware are slow-down, frame-skip, letterboxing, lower res, frame-drops (painting less than all the frames for jittery motion, is hard to identify expressely, it takes a keen eye). Loads of other tricks the slow would not recognise. I think this snez game is running at around 20-25fps in the lower section.

[@alecjahn]

I remember I picked this up (SNES), cheap, when I was kinda fed-up with 16-bit racers (I was probably too enamored with the new 3D titles). I'm lucky I did, though, because a few years later I finally brought it out again and realized I had no reason to question it and I've been a proper fan of this era of racers ever since.

[@iwanttocomplain]

I remember seeing Virtua Racing when I rented it and bought it over to a friend's house. I was so impressed. But we all had Pentium PC's so the res was a bit low. It was too hard so I passed. Also because my friend was just dead set against the Mega Drive. Which was weird because he loved his Master System. A line scrolling racer isn't even getting plugged in at that point. I wish I wasn't so easily influenced because Mega Drive Virtua Racing is one of my favourite racing games. It's the only racing game I genuinely fear. It's balls hard and masochistic to even play. But what a game. Thanks Luke, you -fing loser.

[@iwanttocomplain]

I had Screamer on DOS running at least at 20fps so forget about it.

[@iwanttocomplain]

But Top Gear 2 on snez was available a month prior to Virtua Racing on smd where I live. So it's clearly the more powerful machine I guess.

[@ToNyG78]

I love your comparison videos. I like seeing what the consoles were capable of back in the day.

[@RetroCore]

Thanks, Antony.

[@iwanttocomplain]

These comparisons don't tell you about the machines, but about the state of companies and the myriad issues involved in making a game.

[@Cyberbrickmaster1986]

It's great to see these games get re-released, even if they had to go by the original Japanese name for legal reasons. Also, looking back at the series, it's clear to see where the Horizon Chase series got its primary influence.

[@krazislav]

That music is so Amiga. I loved it back in the day and I love it still.

[@RetroCore]

Yep, good old mod tracks. It would seem that the SNES version is using a mod player too.

[@MichalBergseth-AmitopiaTV]

@@RetroCore But it is Paula that is the modchip. There is nothing better like the SID chip in C64. You cant put that in a cartridge. No way!.. and when You know that Paula is 14bit. It blows you even further. In theory, an Amiga 1000 from 1985 or any other Amiga with the Paula chipset could produce the best sound quality of all until the 16bit soundcards came for the PC. And then when you now can play 14bit MP3s out of the box from any 68060 or 68080 FPGA Amiga. You sort of cry inside as so many game makers for Amiga didn't use the Amiga computer capabilities at all. Just look at games like Menace, Hard 'N Heavy, Turrican, Stardust etc+++ that have music and sound effects,.. they have parallax scrolling and more. Also, watch the newest Reshoot R shooter that came for Amiga AGA in 2019! Amiga was and still is way more than meets the eye. I so respect NES, SNES, and Japanese consoles. I just wish that Japanese arcade shooter makers that released their games for X68000 etc also made Amiga versions. Maybe X68000 could have AmigaOS instead of using its own really hard to use the system. Amiga can detect memupgrades instantly. The X68000 needs you to go into the BIOS after installing the memupgrade and tell it that it got a memupgrade ;) Great review anyway!

[@vix_in_japan]

Well I found it today for the super famicom in the last book off I visited in Hachinohe, 900 yen cartridge only but in great shape happy with that, and then found the original top racer for 500 yen. Looking forwards to enjoying these!

[@RetroCore]

Nice finds!

[@Larry]

Are the Top Gear/Lotus games any relation to Jaguar XJ220 on the Amiga/Mega CD too? They feel incredibly similar.

[@RetroCore]

Probably not since Top Gear and Lotus are by Gremlin while Jaguar XJ220 is by Core

[@Colin_Ames]

Nice to see the Super Famicon win something.

[@TheAmigaGuru]

PLEASE: Can everyone stop saying that the Lotus series and Top Gear series are made by the same developers! The ONLY two things the series got in common are : 1. The musician which is Barry Leitch reused some of the music tracks from the Lotus games in Top Gear 2 due to time constraints. 2. Both series are under the Gremlin Graphics banner. 2a. Lotus series published by Gremlin Graphics. 2b. Top Gear Series Developed by Gremlin Graphics. The developer of the Amiga series LOTUS is the legendary MAGNETIC FIELDS which had absolutely NOTHING to do with the Top Gear series at all. By the time Top Gear 2 was even a thing, the guys at MAGNETIC FIELDS had already gone to OCEAN with their upcoming game KID CHAOS. Barry Leitch was never part of MAGNETIC FIELDS.

[@iwanttocomplain]

Magnetic Fields amazing developer. Gremlin, actually a bit average.

[@zanegandini5350]

I'm impressed with the Top Gear games on SNES in general. They give a good sense of speed on a system not particularly known for being fast, without using any enhancement chips (save for Top Gear 3000 using the DSP4 chip). Top Gear 2 is no exception, once again being a very solid racer for the system. None of the ports quite stack up, but they're interesting nonetheless. The Genesis port has the best framerate of any version, which comes as no surprise given the power of the Motorola 68000 cpu. By all means, the Genesis SHOULD have the best version of the game, but poor controls, graphics and sound design cripple it too much. The Genesis had a much lower color palette than the SNES, but surely they could have done better than this, and for a system with 6 FM channels (5 if the DAC is used, but this game doesn't), 3 PSG channels and a white noise channel, along with a DEDICATED sound cpu, there is absolutely no excuse not to have music and sound effects playing at the same time. The Amiga and Amiga CD32 ports, while having the worst framerate, are actually surprisingly good. It's clear there was more effort put into them than the Genesis port, and if I were a European with just an Amiga back in the day, this would be one of the few ports I wouldn't feel ripped off playing.

[@Jac2Mac]

Top Gear 2 would have worked FAR better on the Sega CD rather than the Genesis.

[@iwanttocomplain]

I checked and it wasn't released in Europe.

[@solarflare9078]

LMAO, the rain graphics on the Amiga port, looking back Still better than the GTA Trilogy remakes' rain.

[@metalcoola]

I remember Lotus 2 didnt worked on my A1200, so this was pretty good substitute, worst part was when you accidently bought worse car part, it was automatically equipped and you had to farm money again.

[@RetroCore]

Oh yes,. That had happened to me a few times.

[@teromustalahti2903]

Compulsory nerdy correction: tanks and other tracked vehicles actually have very tight turning circles :D

[@RetroCore]

Yeah, I know. They can do a 360 on the spot😁 but you know what I mean.

[@oscarzxn4067]

This game was very popular in my country Chile, way more than the first Top Gear, a lot of people remember it fondly.

[@RetroCore]

It's a great game. In Japan the 1st and 3rd were the most popular. Funny how this one wasn't.

[@S.Madman]

I am simple man, I see Battle of the Ports, I like.

[@RetroCore]

And I like that 👍😉

[@Asphodellife]

Nice vid as always. I remember the Amiga version(s) making use of higher cpu for higher frame-rate, also in NTSC mode it was a lot smoother. CD32 should be the same as AGA; emulation maybe? Winuae emulation is not perfect.

[@enigma776]

I am guessing we were not suppose to see this yet. Always preferred the Lotus games to these to be honest, not sure what Gremlin were thinking when they made these.

[@RetroCore]

nah, it's okay. I just took it down until the subtitles were ready :)

[@arioca]

Finally the SNES won something! 😉

[@oscarzxn4067]

​@Benjamin Owuye Jagun I'm not quite sure about fighting games, while the better CPU and six button controller should have made the genre better on the Mega Drive by default, and in fact there are more multiplatform fighting games that are better or slightly better on the Mega Drive (not all of them though), however the non multiplatform fighting game line up of the console is rather bad, Yuyu Hakusho is pretty good and there are a couple of decent ones like DBZ or Eternal Champions but that's really it, the SNES did have a lot of more arcade ports than the Mega Drive and there are many more exclusive games, a lot more actually, there are some pretty good and decent games you can find on the SNES library if you like fighting gamesm though many of them were Japan only. While talking about genres that are better on the MD I personally would have mentioned run and guns, RTS's and some sports like American Football or hockey.

[@elbitxo5945]

Sunset Riders, Turtles in Time, TMNT Tournament Fighters, Rock n' Roll Racing, King of the Monsters 2, Alien 3, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Super Street Fighter 2, Saturday Night Slam Masters, Mortal Kombat 2, Fatal Fury Special, Street Racer, Super Smash T.V., International Superstar Soccer.. and that's only some the undeniable better on the SNES ones. Thing is western developed multiplatform games were usually better on the MegaDrive because western developers were more skilled with the Motorola 68000 CPU and struggle to get something good out of the SNES, but in general, the better develpment team got the better game, and the original game was usually better than the port.

[@ryzmaker11]

@@elbitxo5945 "Sunset Riders, Rock n' Roll Racing, Alien 3, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Super Street Fighter 2, International Superstar Soccer" "undeniable better on the SNES" no

[@ryzmaker11]

@@oscarzxn4067 the mega drive also has the mega-CD and 32X though, and while this doesn't add much to the fighting game genre, eternal champions 2 and virtua fighter are huge and the latter is something completely unique compared to the SNES offering. and the SNES also has nothing like the mega drive yū yū hakusho fighting game. so with better multiplat fighting games on average (incl. important ones like street fighter II, fatal fury 2, MK1 and UMK3..) and some more unique games in the genre, the mega drive clearly seem to edge out the SNES in terms of fighting games

[@elbitxo5945]

@@ryzmaker11 LOL I love the MegaDrive and had both systems back in the day. I prefer the MegaDrive version in many cases, but someone believing Sunset Riders, Rock n' Roll Racing or International Superstar Soccer are better at anything on the MegaDrive must be a zealot Sega extremist. No point in debating with someone with that mindset. I'd said enjoy the best of two worlds, dude, but I guess you just wont. Cheers!

[@TheMrMaynard]

"You might be missing the benefits that Stereo can provide.." Top Gear Series ALONE is so damn good, and Barry Leitch doing most of the OST work is very worth it too. Thank goodness for Horizon Chase Turbo, now we need a squeal of that that does it like Top Gear 2.. and then another Like 3000. Great work Mark!

[@RetroCore]

Barry Leitch makes some awesome music tracks.

[@RetroCore]

Absolutely. Whoever did the Mega Drive version should be embarrassed. It's terrible.

[@RetroArcadeGuy]

The first thing you gotta do in the Genesis version is to buy wet and dry tires before the very first desert track... And AI is not as much as cheap as in SNes, you can eventually reach first place without the need to spam Nitros.

[@solarflare9078]

For anyone who wants more like this game, I highly recommend trying Horizon Chase Turbo. It even has the first game’s composer!

[@RetroCore]

Yep, it sure does. Good game that's quite playable without having to buy micro-transactions on the mobile ver.

[@tatertot64]

holy crap that title theme. seinfeld gear 2.

[@fungo6631]

Oi, Jeremy, I'm in a SNES videogame, m8!

[@Charlie-Cat.]

Like the Top Gear series Mark, but just enough to rent them at Blockbuster growing up. I personally thought there were better options when it game to racers IMO. Anthony..

[@NeZ_CooL]

This is the best racing game on SNES/SUFAMICOM.

[@RetroCore]

Better than Top Gear 3000? I've not played that one much so I'm not sure.

[@NeZ_CooL]

@@RetroCore better than Top Gear 3000 IMO.

[@iwanttocomplain]

Sad, isn't it.

[@alexismazzanti6929]

Top Gear 2 looks really cool. I had Lotus: The Ultimate Challenge for MS-DOS back in the day. Also, Horizon Chase (wich is a Top Gear clone, basically) is really cool. I've bought the Android version and play it on my GPD XD :P.

[@RetroCore]

Yep, I have Horizon on my Android phone too. Great game.

[@GamayObera]

The MD version of TG2 was the closest thing of Kemco publishing a game on the system itself (or all Sega systems overall). Despite Stone Protectors having a prototype on the system, it was meant to be published by Eurocom.

[@RetroCore]

This was actually published by Vic Tokai though.

[@StarFox85]

top gear the OG still playing 2wice a year

[@AmbersKnight]

I've never owned a console, so I can't comment on the other versions. I have played the Amiga versions, both the OCS and AGA editions and they aren't bad wee racers. Not as good as the Lotus series or Jaguar XJ220 for me but still a solid racer and I do love the soundtrack on the Amiga.

[@Consolegas]

My second favorite snes racing game (hi fzero). Very nice video, congrats!

[@RetroCore]

It's a classic for sure. Thanks for watching.

[@Midwinter2]

Strange that the Amiga AGA version isn't miles better: it's not doing anything that Lotus 2 isn't doing - and yet Lotus 2 clearly has better performance on a standard OCS Amiga. I suspect there was an extremely tight deadline in which to make the port.

[@daishi5571]

It is rather odd that the Amiga/CD32 version of this game isn't based on the Mega Drive/Genesis version. With the MD/Gen using the same family processor and that neither have sprite scaling. Also previously they ported Lotus from the Amiga to the MD/Gen so it would seem to make sense. Don't get me wrong I'm glad they didn't, but just find it odd.

[@RetroCore]

It is very odd. I guess they realised the MD version was pretty awful.

[@shotgunl]

Good comparison, Mark. I actually don't believe I've ever played Top Gear 2, or the first Top Gear game for that matter, but I do own Top Gear 3000 on SNES. I prefer Lotus III/II RECS on the Genesis, but it's still a fun game. It's too bad the Genesis Top Gear 2 didn't turn out so great, since, like you said, it seems to run a lot smoother. Also, it's probably sacrilegious, but, back in the day, I actually preferred Lambourgini American Challenge on DOS over Gremlin's racing games. I haven't played that in decades; where as, I do pop in the Genesis Lotus games sometimes, so maybe my tastes have changed...

[@RetroCore]

I remember Lambourgini American Challenge on the SFC. BY Titus, wasn't is? I can't remember much about the actual game though besides it being colourful.

[@shotgunl]

@@RetroCore Yeah, it was Titus. It's actually an edited version of Crazy Cars 3, which I didn't know until I saw that in a video from old style gaming a few weeks back. I had only ever played the original Crazy Cars briefly back in the day.

[@thrillington2008]

It's up there with some of the all time greats and plays better on the Japanese consoles than the Western hardware.

[@enrimc8454]

Mega Drive , Amiga and CD32 might be missing some of the benefits that stereo can provide ...

[@ryzmaker11]

mega drive can do stereo but AFAIK amiga can't. the amiga sound chip has 4 channels with 2 of them in the right output and the 2 others in the left. this might also mean that, outside of the music, the CD32 can't do stereo either :v

[@daishi5571]

@@ryzmaker11 It is possible to do stereo, but you would have to use one channel from both left and right while doing so. This would only allow for two instruments/Sfx (all 4 channels) to be played at once (it is also possible to record using a sampler in stereo). While there are ways around this hardware limitation, they use extra resources from both the CPU and memory. A good example of this is Super Stardust (also a fun game)

[@iwanttocomplain]

SMD has 'hard panning' which essentially switches off a left or right channel if you want. Amiga and CD32 have linear panning of, I'm guessing here, 256 levels of granularity. The same sound is made from each channel. But the left or right 'stereo-channels' of the respective sound channels are all alterable.

[@johns6265]

All these games blurred into an indistinct mass for me, TopTurboChallengeEspritRacer. Just that racing game that looked like a lot of other racing games I couldn't remember either. They didn't seem to have anything distinct to give them any flavour. Everybody remember Outrun because it's distinct, crop the hud from screens of this game and mix them in with screens of all the other similar titles and barely anybody could pick out which game was which.

[@turrican4d599]

Bullshit!

[@daniel_lucio]

After Frogger, Top Gear II is a type of rest with only 4 ports!

[@RetroCore]

It sure is. The main reason why I chose it 👍

[@iwanttocomplain]

Turbo Outrun is 10 times the game this is on smd. The smd version isn't a soulless empty port though. It's actually decent if you get into it. But they shoved this out the door because smd owners aren't interested in this lesser version of Lotus 2 or 3. The CD32 version has increased the speed of the movement but the frame rate is the same. So it is cutting frames, which is what EA did with Road Rash on Mega Drive. The Amiga version of Road Rash moves more slowly but with almost completely smooth motion on sprite scaling all of the objects. The Mega Drive may actually be a similar frame rate of actually lower, but with huge amounts of frame skipping. I prefer that honestly. I can see why SNEZ owners like this game as it's probably the most functional racing game available apart from maybe Nigel Mansell's World Championship. The music is irritating.

[@topofbones]

Never played this game, but I think for the comments that I"ll start and finish playing SFC version.

[@fulgenzio1973]

LOL for thirty years I believed Top Gear was a direct (and badly done) conversion of Lotus from the Amiga, which always seemed odd to me because Lotus 2 (and even Jaguar XJ220) is vastly superior to Top Gear.

[@RetroCore]

Ah, now you know it was originally a SNES game based upon Lotus.

[@hababacon]

I had this on the SNES and no other version made me regret my decision so SNES it is for this port.

[@itzspencerr1403]

*HAMMOND!!!!!*

[@spacefractal]

For the Amiga one, you might have played it in 60hz in the AGA version and 50hz on the Amiga CD32? This could explains the slightly slower framerate.

[@DeedleTech]

Excellent video! I have always loved the music that Part 1 and 2 provided. Very unique. And you are right. The Sega version is horrible. Not sure why as the console was capable of so much more!

[@ryzmaker11]

Yeah, having only the choice of music or sound FX is understandable on ST (3 sound channels, no sound CPU) or Amiga (4 sound channels, no sound CPU) but on Mega Drive??! It's just plain underuse of the hardware (10 sound channels with a dedicated sound CPU). Surprised though about the frame rate on Amiga being so average, just look at how smooth Lotus 1 and 2 run on that system! Must have been a different team handling the port. It really is a shame about the handling in the Mega Drive version because when you look at every versions side-by-side from here 10:18, the Mega Drive version runs sooo much smoother than the Amiga and CD32 versions and also quite smoother than the SNES original. Anyway never been too attracted by this game, it feels unfittingly goofy compared to the Lotus series (or compared to Jaguar XJ220 for that matter).

[@Fularu]

The ST and Amiga both have a dedicated sound chips. The ST has the Yamaha YM2149F (same soundchip as the MSX2+/TurboR) and the Amiga has the Paula soundchip. The lack of an SFX track for the Amiga version is more on the development team properly using the hardware available than any Amiga limitation (percieved or existing).

[@ryzmaker11]

@@Fularu "The ST and Amiga both have a dedicated sound chips" I didn't say otherwise. read again ;) and it's not just top gear 2 but also *many* other amiga games that have only music or sound FX (galahad, dynamite dux, midnight resistance, lotus 1-2-3, jaguar XJ220, chuck rock, etc.). it's because the amiga sound chip has only 4 voices and hard-panned at that (2 voices to the left and 2 voices to the right) so in some cases, developers had to do compromises (and this also means that amiga games aren't in stereo) it's still possible to have music + sound FX at once, of course, even much older systems could do that, but at the expense of sound quality and/or sound "fullness" i.e. some sound FX that cut some instruments

[@solarflare9078]

Top Gear 2. What a fantastic game. I didn't know it was based off the Lotus games though, which is an interesting fact, but then we get onto the ports.... The Mega Drive version... it makes you wonder wtf the developers were on. It looks, sounds, and plays like an Amiga game, complete with the sfx or music only BS, poor use of color, and bad playability. It does run smoother than the SNES version though, as expected, but that's the ONLY thing it has over it. Strangely, the Amiga version, besides the music and sfx only problem, is the complete opposite from the Mega Drive version (well, the AGA version, that is). AT LEAST the Amiga CD32 version isn't identical to the Amiga version.... it's actually WORSE, with a bland CD score and worse framerate. It's just a lazy port all-round. Thanks again for another fantastic episode!

[@RetroCore]

What's even more bizarre is that Lotus 2 and 3 where ported to the Mega Drive and meant to be good! I need to check them out.

[@ryzmaker11]

@@RetroCore lotus 2 and 3 on mega drive are actually rather on the lazy side (low res, simpler graphics, only music or sound FX (just like the amiga versions, btw, but the mega drive could have improved that as well)) BUT ultimately they might still be better games because apparently the gameplay has been tweaked, with better course layouts or something. I don't remember the details but this is something that I've read from an amiga fanboy so this was quite surprising and this might be worth something ^^ I do have both games on mega drive but I didn't play them so far but I'm really curious. this might be a case of the original versions being, you know, "flashier" but the ports having underlying and, ultimately, more valuable qualities..

[@ryzmaker11]

@@RetroCore actually I also plan on getting the whole lotus trilogy on amiga so I'll be totally at ease to compare those games but, like I said, lotus 1 and 2 on mega drive might be lazy ports but ultimately still as good if not better games, just like speedball 2 if you remember that one

[@ryzmaker11]

@Benjamin Owuye Jagun I prefer the music of lotus 2 on mega drive compared to lotus 3 on amiga (and the mega drive version also got a fantastic exclusive track) but yeah, they went cheap with the sound FX (the racing game with the best sound FX on mega drive is probably "F1")

[@ryzmaker11]

@Benjamin Owuye Jagun amiga version does not "blow the Mega Drive version away" and mega drive version does not have "low quality". the music in lotus 2 on mega drive is in stereo (unlike amiga) and has some great instruments, the bass and kick drum in particular but not only. it's just a shame that with 10 sound channels, they couldn't get sound FX on mega drive to go along the music

[@The90sGamingGuy]

I have the Genesis version of TG2 and its tough due to crappy cornering and yes it does seem like you are a moving magnet cgeating AI cars. I'll be trying SFC port.

[@RetroCore]

You'll like the SNES version. It's much better.

[@rafaellima83]

I have never played the AGA version of this (as I don't own an AGA machine). But I dont think the ECS version suffers just from "Crap color". It's hard for me to compare by just looking at the video here... but the ECS version has a *really* shitty framerate, to the point of being bordeline unplayable to me. It was a very low key release on amiga (And very late on the Amiga lifetime, it was released late 1994), it doesn't have credits anywhere on the game and it was released with very low fanfare and no promotion at all (Which got me by surprise when I suddenly saw a review of it in a magazine out of nowhere, since the SNES game was so freaking popular). But I don't think this was made by the same *developers* of the Lotus games. Lotus was made by Magnetic Fields, Top Gear was made by Kemco. Both games were produced and published by Gremlin Graphics and share the same musician, but they weren't developed by the same team.

[@RetroCore]

I played both Amiga versions and they seemed to run pretty much the same in terms of frame rate. The colours were pretty poor on the base version though.

[@rafaellima83]

@@RetroCore Yes, it doesn't look very good indeed. It's hard to port a SNES game to an ECS system, color-wise.

[@helldog3105]

Well it seems that they weren't taking advantage of the Akiko chips ability to convert chunky to planar graphics to improve speed on the CD32. Kind of a bummer, because it could have made the CD32 version much smoother.

[@iwanttocomplain]

no it's planar. Amiga is planar.

[@helldog3105]

@@iwanttocomplain Sorry planar to chunky. I always say that backwards.

[@iwanttocomplain]

@@helldog3105 is the CD32 chunky?

[@helldog3105]

@@iwanttocomplain I don't think it's fully chunky? I remember hearing in one of these multitude of synopsis of the CD32 architecture that the AKIKO chip which was a custom chip in the CD32 could do something regarding chunky graphics, and I always get it backwards. It apparently was something that was going to be added to the CD-ROM module for the A1200 and A4000 at some point. I can't be 100% because my memory isn't the best but it could do some sort of graphics conversion. I need to break out the literature I have and read up on it again.

[@helldog3105]

Okay I read more into it. What it could do was take Chunky graphics and at the copy speed of the CPU convert to planar graphics which the Lisa Chip in the CD32 and Amiga machines could understand. It was not very fast, but it was useful. But sadly it appears to not have been used much if more than just a couple games. The one that is mentioned frequently is Wing Commander for the CD32. So technically, no the CD32 can not do Chunky graphics. But it has something to aid in the process of converting from chunky to planar to use on the system.

[@orderofmagnitude-TPATP]

Literally just about to comment about isn't this the lotus turbo challenge engine.....It was like you read my mind.

[@Scopie33]

Lotus and top gear, same publisher different developer.

[@MrNightshade2010]

you know what I loved about this game series ? for some reason the worse you did the higher you started in the next race since I was terrible at it I won every other race simply because I was starting at the pole and managed to get ahead of everyone else .....

[@RetroCore]

At least it can make use all feel like a winner 👍🥇

[@iwanttocomplain]

That is Nintendo game design philosophy in effect.

[@revengenerd1]

Ah that funky retro music.

[@double-helix-22x22y]

Hold on, the FX in the snes version is so damn loud it drowns out the music. Wouldn't be a problem if there was an option to turn them down/off. Well apart from muting the whole game there isn't. I'd rather have music only than constantly having to listen to those bloody engine farts.

[@iwanttocomplain]

No. I think you will find a snez game has no imperfections. Only the developers are at fault. Ever.

[@juanmartinstehle5047]

My suggestion for the next 'Battle of the Ports'... Resident Evil 2.

[@RetroCore]

That would be nice but I don't have the time to do that one. Maybe in the future but we should start off with the first game.

[@Wuggyboobeaufuf138]

Wow, you're early this week! Nice surprise!

[@RetroCore]

Yep, because I'm in work this Saturday 😭

[@Wuggyboobeaufuf138]

@@RetroCore Sorry man. Hope you can bring a Switch or 3DS with you!

[@ricksloan5588]

Great vid as always

[@stephenhall2980]

Strange how lotus 2 on a bog standard a500 looks,runs,sounds and plays a thousand times better than any version of top gear 2.

[@turrican4d599]

Shaun Southern made Lotus, while Kemco made Top Gear.

[@iwanttocomplain]

That's because the Amiga hardware is roughly 2-3000 times more powerful than a snez.

[@krazycharlie]

"Sega does what Nintendon't"... Well, not really this time. I remember playing the Genesis/MD port on emulator a few months ago and thought that maybe the emulator wasn't doing any justice to the game. Oh boy, did this BOTP sober me up. I admit that graphics and framerate are nice but everything else got smashed by a piano falling on the roof. A shame, really. Considering that the Genesis/MD is more than capable of going heads-up with the SNES/SFC, this a serious letdown. Have a good one, Mark!

[@RetroCore]

What's even more crazy is that the Lotus games that Top Gear is based upon are actually on the Mega Drive and are way better than this.

[@alexisken3824]

SNES MOMENTS 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 9:56 dance dance dance dance yeah

[@inceptional]

Eh, I didn't feel anything smoother about the Genesis version when I played them both a moment ago. And the SNES version looks like a solid 60fps to me, which, if it is, means it's kinda impossible for the Genesis version to be smoother. Did you actually check the fps of each game and can show the SNES version is dropping frames or something? I'm literally waiting for you to objectively/factually and measurably prove the Genesis version is smoother. . . . Also, is it just the way you've filmed them or are there actually large black borders at the top and bottom of the Genesis, Amiga and CD32 versions?

[@RetroCore]

For the SFC and Mega Drive I used real hardware so I can't messure the frames unless I count them which I'm not going to do because this isn't an indeph analysis video. The keyword is "feels smoother". Playing via an emulator may have different results so I wonder if you were using emulation or real hardware? Regarding the black boarder, yes, that's how the games look. Neither are full screen, especially the Amiga version.

[@inceptional]

@@RetroCore Yeah, well I think someone should do a proper framerate check before we auto-declare "this is definitely smoother than the Super Famicom version . . . smoother for sure" based on our feelings. If it is smoother then it is, okay, but I'm not happy with what I suspect is going on, and that's the Genesis version automatically getting the "smoothness" badge because it's the Genesis and surely it must be smoother than the SNES version because SNES is so "slow" and the like. Like I said, I played both and didn't notice one being "smoother" (but, yes, it was on an emulator--hence why I'm not stating anything factually regarding the framerate or smoothest because I couldn't properly test it) It seems to me that in modern times it's just automatically assumed everything on Genesis must be smoother, even with crap versions of games on the system that fall short in every easy to see way, just because the CPU is faster. But I think this actually has to be checked properly, measuring actual framerates and stuff, before it's formed into a statement like it's an objective fact in each case. Again, like I said, if it actually is smoother then okay, but I'd like it to be officially factually true before such declarations are just thrown out there. Like it's objectively true that the SNES version doesn't have borders, it has more colours, the car sprite is larger, the road has more stripe detail and a smoother gradient as it goes into the distance, it has both the sound and fx playing together, etc. Those things can be stated like objective facts because they are. Anyhoo, I think I've made my point. PS. This is also a UK-developed game, so I expect it's actually optimized for PAL first and running at a steady 50fps there, which could mean it actually plays smoothest on the PAL version, albeit slightly slower, with potential stuttering manifesting on the NTSC version if it wasn't then fully optimized for that. So it might be something to double check too. Like, are you playing the best optimized version on each console, or are you playing the NTSC Genesis version, which on that console pretty much every game is apparently optimized for NTSC and not at all for PAL, against a similarly NTSC SNES version, which, like I said, may in fact not be the version that it was properly optimized for since it wasn't originally meant to be running at 60fps. This is just speculation on my part, but I'd personally want to check that just to see. I know for example that most SNES games were not optimized for PAL, so they basically just ended up worse all round when put on PAL, but companies like RARE, who are based in the UK, almost certainly made the PAL version as the lead and really optimized the game for PAL, which actually means the odds are most of their games actually run a little worse on NTSC (albeit faster). Although, in RARE's case, they were so good at what they did that it's possible both PAL and NTSC versions of all their games ran equally brilliantly. I'm not so confident about that being the case with the company that made Top Gear 2 for SNES though. Again though, all of this can't be checked properly objectively unless it's done so with actual framerate counters and the like.

[@iwanttocomplain]

The track line scrolling section is what you need to focus on. The other layers have different update speeds. This is strange I know, because the display mode is not being split down the middle like a mode game. The background scrolling and rain is smoothly animated at maybe even 60fps. But the line scrolling routine is clearly half that of the Mega Drive version. Check again, not playing, but going between the versions in this video.

[@nickmalcom6360]

ever plan on doing a BOTP for the lotus games (including the original top gear)? also, they really saw a missed opportunity to get a licence to use "jessica" by the almand brothers for title music? (since I don't know if mark gets the joke, that was the theme song to the similarly named, but totally unrelated, top gear tv series by the bbc, and even then, I don't know if that was carried over to the US localization.)

[@RetroCore]

Lotus 2 is coming next week 👍

[@daishi5571]

@Diskun Don't forget Lotus 1 on the PC is Lotus 3 on Amiga and Lotus 2 on Mega Drive/Genesis.

[@SirJonSoda]

I didn't even know this game had any ports and I was missing nothing

[@RetroCore]

If you have the SNES version then yes, you had the best version.

[@M-NX]

i prefer Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge, Vroom or Technolcop...🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇩🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🤘🤘🤘 ..and some Out Run or Chase HQ.. but who cares 🤣🤣🤣

[@RetroCore]

Technocop? Hey, wonder how many systems that's on.

[@fernandocollazo8705]

As an Amiga guy my favorite version back in time was AGA

[@RetroCore]

It's a very good version. As I said in the video, it plays just like the SNES.

[@danmakuman]

Hate the MD conversion, really cheap and it could have looked and sounded much better. No simultaneous Music and SFX? no way. I got it on a flea market years ago CIB and thought it could be at least similar to the SNES one but no.

[@NotaPizzaGRL]

The MD+ hack at least fixes the music but everything else is a big letdown.

[@danmakuman]

@@NotaPizzaGRL In this case is better to play the SNES original.

[@Sakf504]

I enjoyed this game, sure, it's kind of a step back from the first game, but still a very solid racer. I played both the SNES and MD versions at this point, and yes, the MD is awful and sad looking, at least the the Amiga version it seems to play as well as the SNES version, even thought it could easily run smoother.

[@RetroCore]

Yep, not sure what happened to the Mega Drive game. Especially when the lotus games are better. Same goes for the Amiga.

[@retrorami]

oh top gear, how i love you. if you haven't played it already, i highly recommend you to check out Horizon Chase Turbo

[@RetroCore]

I have it on my phone 👍. Its top gear for the new age 😉

[@malvessidrums]

Interesting fact, for me, anyways, is that Horizon Chase Turbo is made near my hometown in Southern Brazil. Not many, if any, decent games originate from there!

[@ChaunceyGardener]

Had a lot of fun with TG2 back in the day but it's quite a letdown compared to the first game. Gone the unique cars and fuel management. The soundtrack is just functional instead of the amazing arpeggio-driven style of the first. The sound of the tyres is maddening!

[@RetroCore]

I haven't played the first one in quite some time (I have the Top Racer release) but I do remember liking the music more.

[@jesuszamora6949]

Best port would have to be CD32, but really none of them come close to the SNES original. The Genesis version SHOULD have been far better. There's no excuse for how badly the ball was dropped.

[@iwanttocomplain]

IMHO the _reason_ it is as bad as it is, is to discredit the Genesis console for it's sole, US release.

[@MR7604]

There is a unofficial SNES MSU1 version with enhanced CD music tracks. That would have won

[@solarflare9078]

MR MR Does it use the Amiga CD32 tracks? If so, I wouldn't say it would have won....

[@RetroCore]

Depends on the music used I guess.

[@MR7604]

@@solarflare9078 you can choose from various track lists. I personally prefer the enhanced SNES music tracks.

[@joeconti2396]

the SNES version of Top Gear 2 is so superior to the Genesis version it isn't even funny.

[@RetroCore]

I know. The MD version is really bad. I wonder who did the actual port? It's not even the same game.

[@RetroCore]

This isn't one of them. Top Gear 2 on the Mega Drive is bad. I'm a massive Sega fan too but I can't enjoy the Mega Drive version.

[@ryzmaker11]

@HUB GOBLIN if your conception of "graphics" is only limited to colors then yeah, many games are better on SNES but for those who have a larger and deeper perception of things, then the mega drive usually wins thanx to higher resolution, smoother action, more animation frames, etc. oh and, the mega drive visual advantages mostly happen to be tied with gameplay, which is further win on mega drive side and btw no fanboyism here, grew up with both consoles (and also had atari st, pc engine, neo geo...), but my opinion happens to have evolved with the time, as my experience and knowledge increase

[@daniel_lucio]

@@RetroCore Based on the back cover of the game I suppose it was not Kemco but another "excellent" work by Gremlin :)

[@ryzmaker11]

@HUB GOBLIN err nope, you aren't right at all and mega drive has many games, demos and music that the SNES couldn't handle time to face it! :)

[@aaron_aj_knight_95]

It looks cool, but it's no OutRun. 😅

[@oscarzxn4067]

I wonder why they Made the music slower for the MD and Amiga ports, the game Is usually fast so Is unfitting to do that.

[@RetroCore]

Good point. I can only guess the person who potted the music only had access to A PAL SNES but NTSC game and thought the slower audio was correct. A NTSC copy of Super Aleste running on a PAL SNES also results in slower music.

[@theselfproclaimedretrogame9383]

Loved the first one, played 1000 hours of Top Gear 3000 (I still play to this day) but I never got into this one. Felt rigid, boring and uninspired....

[@pixelythegamer3260]

You could do soccer kid

[@RetroCore]

Oh man, that's a nasty game. I'll add it to the list.

[@iwanttocomplain]

​@@RetroCore A brilliant game by Krisalis. The Amiga, PC and 3DO versions are amazing. This innovative game has a learning curve. It's not a push forward and mash buttons game. I've never seen anyone try to play it without just pushing forward and mashing. Then proudly declaring it trash and them a brilliant connoisseur. Implant Games reviewed it for 3DO. He is a strange robot man who does very poor reviews and he trashed the excellent music by saying "it's not as good as Tommy Talerico.." or something. He's wrong. It's way better. Of course, when you start saying "it's not as good as", if it's not a rival product, but something held up as a shining example of excellence, I guess everything else must fall short. This is a tactic used to degrade your opinion of something that is objectively excellent as you watch it, by inviting you to imagine something vague but definitely amazing and clearly much better. Soccer Kid is one of the best platform games ever created if you understand it is a game which invites you to take your time and roll play a small boy who is practising his ball skills and saving Soccer. The presentation and music and sound are as good as you will find on anything up to the present day. Why trash this game? Because it's not Contra so bad. All platform games must pledge fealty to Contra (the first one on NES) or be angrily tossed aside. Forget the godlike skill on display in all areas from Krisalis.

[@iwanttocomplain]

When viewing trash reviews consider the points they make carefully. Such as 'bosses are trash, because they require you to memorise their patterns...' huh? It goes on like that. 'Levels are bland because not enough variety....' they are? Variety in what sense? Completely unclear. You need to play them to know what he means and if that is accurate. At 28 levels, almost no-one could ever know that and he said it's "not great", like it was reviewed as at the time, because he couldn't go back to get extra health to get all the cards and fight the last boss. So no possibility of trying again, I guess... A great game.

[@iwanttocomplain]

I just did it for you. These are averages taken from the wiki article. Amiga: 9 CD32: 8.5 DOS: 8 3D0: 7.5 Jaguar (unfinished. really needs starting from scratch): 6.5 SNES: 6.5 GBA: 6.5 Avoid Nintendo and you're golden. The unreleased Mega Drive version would probably have been the definitive version.

[@iwanttocomplain]

I think Soccer Kid is as an important game as Sensible Soccer. The Japanese and Americans have an extremely narrow view of acceptability.

[@bighairydel]

megadrive moves better but poor sound and a lower resulution

[@JonGallon]

7:30 Oh crap, my RAM chips went bad. 9:32 Again? Really? 😂

[@cyberpc1333]

Horrible ports and Devs.

[@Clasiku]

My BIGGEST complaint about the SNES/SFC version of Top Gear 2 is the music, I hate how the pitch and speed is high unlike the Amiga version. It's TERRIBLE! Sorry, but the Amiga wins over the music. (Perhaps it has something to do with the region or something else) The Amiga CD-32's music isn't bad, I actually got a kick out of it when I first heard it. It's not as memorable as the SFC and Amiga version. (Mega Drive deserved better)

[@elegunte]

amiga is too slow, the sega is too fast

[@tuvideo87]

The Amiga looks better than super famicom . Fake news here everyone.

[@RetroCore]

You're joking, right?

[@tuvideo87]

@@RetroCore sorry , is just my opinion from the video. i remember lotus but never played the amiga.

[@turrican4d599]

@@RetroCore The Amiga versions are the only ones with a shadow under the car instead of a checkerboard.

[@andreanardo6991]

What a load of c**p, better you review jaguar xj220

[@RetroCore]

It's coming. But Lotus 2 is first.

[@iwanttocomplain]

he just loves the Super Famicom. Nintendo cast an evil spell over Japan is why.

[@geoserenity]

*clicks video humming the Jessica theme* .........what is this rubbish music?

[@RetroCore]

Nope, this isn't related to the TV Show at all. Actually, when this was released I'm not sure Top Gear was even on TV. If it was it would have been in its old format.

[@iwanttocomplain]

Yes it is rubbish. But check out the Amiga original theme for Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 on the Amiga for some blatant copyright infringement on a drum beat and sample from 'Oh Yeah' by Yello but given the cheesy (but good) Amiga music treatment.