Developer: Sega Publisher: Asmik Release: 04/13/90 Genre: Racing
Sega’s Super Scaler series of titles remains some of the most technically impressive arcade games that did not receive widespread ports. Some of the most popular like Outrun and Thunder Blade made the rounds. But there are many lesser known games in the bunch that are just as deserving of attention. Power Drift is one of the most interesting of Sega’s racing games, both because of its look and gameplay. You could look at this as the precursor to Super Mario Kart and while not as raucous as that game is still pretty gnarly. The PC Engine edition is a respectable version of a technically brilliant game that retains most of the look and gameplay and is probably the best you can expect given the gulf in technology.
Like many of the Super Scaler series Power Drift uses hundreds or even thousands of scaling sprites to simulate 3d. However Power Drift uses it differently and dare I say it in a more advanced way. Rather than using a simple flat road with sprites comprising the track side objects instead each piece of the road is composed of individual bitmaps pieced together. In motion it looks like you are driving over a series of logs which sounds goofy. But in practice it enables wild turns and changes in elevation not possible before. The inclines, hills, and jumps give the game the feeling of a roller coaster which is astounding given the technology.
The PC Engine version does an admirable job replicating most of this effect. The system cannot scale sprites so instead it uses different size sprites that it interchanges on the fly. The effect is not as smooth as the arcade and you can see the individual pieces of the road more clearly. But this ramshackle approach enables it to keep most of the wild course design. There are concessions that had to be made however. There are only six racers per track instead of twelve and there is some sprite flickering. This allows the game to maintain performance but it also has an impact on game balance. There are also fewer tracks sadly but there is still plenty of content.
The control in Power Drift is not as responsive as its Sega brethren. There is a brake button but it is woefully inadequate to suitably help you with the turns. You will have to master shifting between high and low gear to fully grasp the gameplay. Personally I have never been a fan of manual transmission in games. I prefer to set it and forget it. But I can at least appreciate the nuance here. Oddly enough for a game with drift in the title there is none of that here. Some form of power slide would have really opened this one up.
For the home part things have been paired back. Where the arcade game had twenty five tracks you could pick from this version only has nine. You do not get to choose freely either; you play through all nine sequentially. This is still a lot of content but there is no denying that it is a huge loss. The tracks they have included are essentially a greatest hits collection from the arcade and do a good job of showing you the best it has to offer. The peaks and valleys of each track is unlike the vast majority of racing games from that era. While the courses are short in length each race is four laps which is enough to provide a suitable thrill. You will have a rough time seeing all of the game’s content as it is pretty tough, possibly more so than the arcade.
The difficulty is very high in this one due to the reduced number of racers. With six competitors on the track you must place third or higher to progress. You will have to work to reach that position as the AI racers are ruthless. The touchy controls make it too easy to fall off the track which guarantees you will never place high enough to move on. I wish the controls were better as even after some time with the game it still felt like I was being thrown around the track. I was eventually able to attain some level of mastery of the game’s handling but it never feels as natural as something like Outrun. You will need to be a god among men to place first in every race to unlock the hidden After Burner course. Good luck with that.
In Closing
Power Drift turned out better than it had any right to and is one of the better racing games for the Turbo Grafx. Granted it is not like there is much competition but that is beside the point. As a conversion it is amazing. As a game it is solid fun in spite of its high difficulty.
