What's the least plausible version of Hard Drivin'? Which is the best to play? And how do the more technically interesting ones work? I go on a journey to find all the versions I didn't play in my video about Hard Drivin' for the Mega Drive which, thanks to that video's topic and the fact I spent most of it explaining how graphics work... is most of them.
In amongst the loops and jumps we have unreleased prototypes, weird Japanonly variants, and some dire 8bit home computer ports. Did they really make Hard Drivin' work on the GameBoy? Find out!
Skip to your (least) favourite:
0:00 Timberwolf at the wheel
1:28 Really the first?
2:00 I am not good at Winning Run
3:16 Something about graphics accelerators
5:01 System 21 is not a PC.
6:12 ...but Hard Drivin' kinda is.
7:13 The arcade sequel and its physics
9:11 A little bit about Street Drivin' and Airborne
9:38 16bit home computer versions
10:44 Hang on, isn't this supposed to have a wheel?
11:32 Good Times Unlimited
11:57 Hard Drivin' 2 doesn't join up.
12:34 Race Drivin' on an A1200 is nice!
13:20 Race Drivin' on the Mega Drive is OK.
14:42 A version more ridiculous than the Mega Drive
15:05 3D on the ZX Spectrum
16:00 Let's explain attribute clash
17:35 Include this if you mention the Spectrum. It's the law.
18:12 Oh wow I'm bad at Starglider
19:15 Madlads.
21:14 Alan Sugar's Electronic Discotheque
22:27 The C64? Really?
23:00 The one which didn't get finished
24:18 They did WHAT??
26:44 A 16bit 8bit version
27:23 The tale of Mikey and Suzy
28:54 How to live without a GPU debugger
30:40 Yes, I played the SNES version. Sigh.
32:54 Maybe I'm just bad at all games with "Star" in the title.
34:16 A plethora of expansion chips
34:56 SNES Race Drivin' is good! If you cheat.
35:45 I just wanted to include the PS1 boot sound
37:07 Back to SEGA for another excellent '90s boot sequence.
38:10 Bus Bending Simulator is a Hard Drivin' game?
39:13 I put my own car on the line
40:31 The ultimate version of Hard Drivin'
41:00 Credits.
Music by:
Something Sinister by ant512 (CCBY 4.0)
FCHP by elPatrix (CCBY 4.0)
Instant Suppression by KJ Jose (CCBY 4.0)
Lonely Heart by Andreas Viklund (CCBY 4.0)
Dreams 3 by The Solid Energy Crew (CCBY 4.0)
Endless River by Zilly Mike (CCBY 4.0)
Hannibaugh by Pip Malt (CCBY 4.0)
Faraway Love by Andreas Viklund (CCBY 4.0)
Amber by Jan125 (CCBY 4.0)
Bounce by ant512 (CCBY 4.0)
IceBreaker by Zilly Mike (CCBY 4.0)
Fresh Bits by KJ Jose (CCBY 4.0)
Down the Elevator Shaft by Pip Malt (CCBY 4.0)
Where indicated, music files licensed under CCBY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Alan Sugar photograph by Damien Everett
Console images by Evan Amos
Games featured:
Oh bloody hell.
Hard Drivin' (Arcade)
Winning Run (Arcade)
Race Drivin' (Arcade)
Street Drivin' (Arcade)
Car & Driver (PC)
Hard Drivin' (PC/Amiga)
Grand Prix Unlimited (PC)
Hard Drivin' 2: Drive Harder (PC)
Stunts/4D Sports Driving (PC)
Race Drivin' (Amiga)
Race Drivin' (Mega Drive)
Hard Drivin' (ZX Spectrum)
Driller (ZX Spectrum)
Everyone's A Wally (ZX Spectrum)
Magic Mushrooms (Acorn Electron)
Manic Miner (ZX Spectrum)
Starglider (ZX Spectrum)
Hard Drivin' (Amstrad CPC464)
Hard Drivin' (Commodore C64)
Hard Drivin' (NES, unreleased)
Race Drivin' (Gameboy)
Hard Drivin' (Atari Lynx)
Race Drivin' (SNES)
Starfox (SNES)
Super Mario RPG (SNES)
Hard Drivin' A Go Go (PlayStation)
Race Drivin' (Saturn)
BeamNG.drive (PC)
BeamNG track: The Nostalgia 1989 by mike22 (https://www.beamng.com/threads/theno...)
Comments are prereviewed to avoid spam. I aim to publish all comments, including dissent, but overly pedantic or negative ones may be moderated. Hearing about different experiences and what things were like in other countries adds a lot to the video! Please try to do so in a positive way while remembering that if I had to explain every minor international difference the video would be 7 hours long and boring, rather than 41 minutes long and boring. Failing that, at least make me laugh.
Bonus fact: while it may seem implausible, several of the Hard Drivin' stunts including the loop and bridge jump have been completed in real life. While a loop requires a reasonably high performance model to reach the speed required to successfully traverse it, it is entirely possible in a standard road car.