2-Player Battle - Victory Run (TurboGrafx-16) btbfilms76 vs. Justin

[Justin 7,957]

WINNER: @Justin
Victory Run
TurboGrafx-16
January 2, 2021

ROUND 1: @Justin
ROUND 2: @Justin

 

@btbfilms76 and I got to talking about Victory Run and ended up doing a 2-Player Battle over Christmas and New Years. Since the game is so challenging we decided to race for best time on the first lap only. I won best 2 out of 3. The first match I beat him with a lap time of 2° 05' 00" to BTB's time of 2° 37' 52". The second match I beat him with a lap time of 1° 57' 56" to BTB's time of 2° 12' 25".

We chose Victory Run to celebrate the 2021 Dakar Rally happening January 3rd - 15th. BTB and I got to talking about how certain video games had impacted and inspired our lifestyles. Victory Run is definitely one of those games. It inspired my interest in the annual Dakar Rally (which in turn inspired our annual Pole Position and F-ZERO rallies in the forums) and we agreed Victory Run is a "Gentleman's game".

When I was young and Victory Run was brand new, I saw it in Toys R Us, with the red Ferrari convertible on the cover racing towards the Eiffel Tower, and I thought Victory Run would be like Out Run for the TurboGrafx. To a great degree that's true. But it's tough as nails! Even now, as an adult, the game is incredibly challenging. What I really appreciate about Victory Run is that it stays true to life, especially for an 8-bit or 16-bit game. All of the details are there. You have to shift manually through four gears. Your tires and shocks wear out. Steering is difficult. Speed matters. The sun rises and sets, and if you're late to the finish line you find yourself racing through the pitch black night. Your race car is a pixel-perfect rendition of the winning Porsche 959 that set new Paris-Dakar records back when Victory Run was brand new. And BTB also pointed out that the yellow car you pass so often in the game is a spot-on rendition of Mad Max's yellow Interceptor. The attention to detail is masterful. It's a challenging game, and I would imagine it frustrated a lot of younger players who were expecting Out Run, Rad Racer, Pole Position or Hang-On.

However when we picked this game up again a few years ago, it inspired new interests for me. "Where's that red Ferrari convertible from the box art? What's this white Porsche 959? Why does it look like a 4x4 truck? This doesn't make sense?" It makes perfect sense if you read the manual and understand that you're racing the Paris to Dakar Rally. I never knew a sports car could do this! I never knew there were support trucks and crews that had to race to keep up with the cars. This is the coolest thing! Ever since then I've had a few new interests stemming from my love of Victory Run, primarily a fascination with these interesting cars, the fantastic Dakar Rally, and this idea of a multi-day expedition into new lands.

If you're new to the Dakar Rally or wondering what I'm talking about, check out this new video that just came out today "The Dakar for Newbies":

 

 

 

 

[Justin 7,957]