Played on June 18th, 2023 and June 19th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 15/160)

I should go ahead and note that even though I've never "finished" the game. By that, I mean not having seen the Senior or Expert course to the end, I have at least played enough of the overall game to form an opinion. I'm labelling as "Shelved" until I clear those courses.

I'm not really a racing game fan. I'll play them if prompted to, and I do like the genre, but sometimes I just get bored of it after awhile. My bias aside, Super Hang-On is a good game for both the genre and for it's time.

If you've played an Motorcycle Arcade game, you can come to grips on how it works. You press a button and you steer. But much like an Arcade game, this can be very difficult. In fact, I thought even the Beginner course was difficult until I realized the "Nitro" button which allows you to boost your speed when you get to 280km which could then boost you to 324km, but it would worsen your steering capabilities in the process. In fact, the faster you go, the more narrow your steering becomes and you'll need to know when to hit the brakes just a little to be able to steer. Not only because you'll slow down out of the road, but also because there are obstacles that will knock you off your bike which is almost an instant loss. You may be able to recover if you play well enough, I've managed to barely clutch Junior despite being knocked off once, but any more than that, I'd been done for.

But even with all of that, you have to worry about the bikers that are in your path and they don't move as fast as you do at max speed, so it's like playing a racing game where you are the fastest racer, but you're forced to start late to give everyone a chance. While they won't knock you off on their own, they will slow you down and knock you around, occasionally into the obstacles that knock you off. The issue comes in the further you get because there will be more and more, sometimes even three clumped together that you need to dodge all at once, and that can be really annoying. But I'll admit, when you're going fast, it could feel quite satisfying maneuvering against the bikers.

The visuals are fine, they change scenery every two laps which I think makes it feel less monotonous at the least and there's four songs you can choose from. My favorite of which is Winning Road because in Arcade mode, it syncs at the point where you are able to use your nitro boost which I think is a nice touch.

I didn't really like how you need to press buttons in order to move, but having the benefit of playing on emulator, I decided to remap the controls to use the trigger buttons for accelerate and nitro, and it made the experience a lot better. So if you want an easier time, you should try that. Just remember to remap the controls back when you're done.

Overall, it can be frustrating and take so many hours of your time trying to clear a course because some of them can take a while to beat, but it's not a bad option for a quick racing round.

One of the things I love most about racing games, espeically arcade ones, is the feeling of being on the absolute edge of control. Taking all the risks, braking just before the limit, brushing against the walls, and entering this zone in your mind where all you see is the next apex.

And yeah, a lot of the time you'll eat shit, landing in the nearest hedge. But thats well worth the thrill.

Super Hang-On is a game also dedicated to this exact feeling, and very little else. It's far from the only arcadey racing game to incite the feeling - see Ridge Racer Type 4, Wipeout 3 - but the sheer ease with which it's able to achieve this mindset, in me at least, is remarkable. It only takes a few corners of blasting through traffic for the mindset to take hold. Push every corner tighter, boost as early as I can, see if I can shoot for a vanishing gap.

An awful lot of it is just in pure gamefeel. It's a bit boring to say, but the bike just controls super well - way better than the cars of outrun (partially because the way super scaler games do turning is way more appropriate for a motorbike). The sense of speed is also utterly incredible, especially when you boost.

And that boost is such a great gameplay addition. It has unlimited use, but can only be used at top speed and is incredibly satisfying to use. Which means the game heavily encourages carrying as much speed as possible through corners, and also abusing the boost button as far as you can take it.

The game is also quite difficult - clearing anything other than the beginner course being quite a task itself even if you knock the dipswitches down a bit. This only feeds more into the desire to push even harder, because those split seconds absolutely count.

On top of that, you get the great looking super scaled landscapes to blast through and some of Sega's absolute best music to choose. And that's about it. But who needs anything else?

Super Hang On is simple bliss. The problems I have with it are so miniscule - basically just that I think it's a little too punishing sometimes - that I think it's up there with Ridge Racer Type 4 and Wipeout 3 Special Edition in the Arcade racing stakes. It's an absolute joy.

The fact the same man designed this as Shenmue 3 terrifies me.

Played via Yakuza 0.

Easier than Out Run, and I love the vibes, but I don't think they mapped these games to the gamepad very well. Seems like there's no analogue steering at all for some reason even though the original cabinets would definitely have had it.

Anyway I got 500'000 points for the Completion List and never touched it again.

honourbound to leave it at played instead of completed, but i've played enough to call. knowing me, i will 1CC all the tracks one of these days, but i do think getting to that point is more difficult than power drift, hang-on, and outrun, respectively. despite its uncompromising difficulty and reliance on route memorization, super hang-on is yet another point of evidence in favour of yu suzuki being the archduke of arcades, a true romantic in every sense of the word. suzuki and co. have a singular, striking vision of what games should be - tires should be wailing on the tarmac, all games should be expansive journeys, bright and bold skies should be your voiceless narrator. more committed to individualist and insular mastery than outrun's chill vibes - a game that recognizes giacomo agostini and dale earnhardt were the last samurai. debatably a better soundtrack than outrun as well, just a totally impressive package from top to bottom. master the roads contours, treat every passing corner as a duel, and hang on for dear life