Video Game Vintage Title: Super Sprint

Super Sprint

Super Sprint is a 1986 arcade game by Atari Games. The player drives a Formula One-like car on a circuit that is viewed from above.

Super Sprint Plot

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Super Sprint Gameplay

Super Sprint is a simple racing game. Up to three players drive simultaneously on a circuit against opponents controlled by the computer. The circuits are viewed from above and always fit on the screen, so the game never scrolls. After three laps the winner advances to the next circuit. There are 8 circuits in total, but the game only ends if gamers can get to race 85 where the bonus Super Speedway circuit is played. As the player goes to higher levels, more and more obstacles appear on the track, like oil puddles and tiny moving tornadoes. If the car touches them, the player loses control over the car for a short time while it is sliding and spinning. Driving into a wall with high speed or falling from one of the bridges destroys the car, but a helicopter will appear to replace it.

The car can be customized by collecting wrenches that lie on the track. The player can exchange three of them for improved traction, better acceleration or higher top speed.

The game is a successor to Gran Trak 10 and the Sprint series, which were black-and-white games with very primitive graphics from the 1970s. Later in 1986 Championship Sprint was released which is almost identical, but with different tracks, and with a standard-size two-player cabinet instead of Super Sprint's wide 3P cabinet.

Because Super Sprint was so simple and this type of game is relatively easy to create, it inspired many similar games, mostly from hobbyists. However some published games contain a tribute with similar mini games including Jet Force Gemini and The Simpsons Hit & Run. The Skidmarks series of games for the Amiga and Mega Drive/Genesis also shows a strong Super Sprint influence in terms of gameplay and graphics, as does the Super Off Road arcade game.

In the 2000s, overhead racing provides a "retro" niche in contrast to the popular and high-tech 3D games of the day. For example "PadRacer" became a top-100 iPad game, although the Super Sprint -style overhead racing is tremendously simpler than the many high-tech, very realistic 3D race games (such as "Real Racing") popular on the iPad.