Super Off Road
TECHNICAL DATASHEET
Game name: Ivan “Ironman” Stewart's Super Off Road
Manufacturer: The Leland Corporation
Year of development: 1989
Category: Racing
Hardware Platform Info:
- Video resolution: Landscape orientation 456 x 336
- CTR: 256 colors
Main developer: Earl Stratton and John Morgan
Music compositor: Sam Powell
GAME STORY
History of development:
Ivan 'Ironman' Stewart's Super Off Road is an arcade video game released in 1989 by Leland Corporation. Virgin Games distributed it for home computers (Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64…) in 1990. In 1991, Tradewest, a subsidiary of Ledlan Corporation, marketed it for Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear, SNES, Amiga and MS-DOS.
Although the game was marketed in 1989, we can consider it completely 90s, because it was in the 90s when conversions to all kinds of computers and consoles made it possible for everyone to enjoy it in any format, a sign that it was a tremendously successful game in arcade games and at every conversion.
The Leland Corporation was an unknown American company that started programming arcade games in 1987. Their machines are unknown to the public, as the only title that stood out is Super Off Road. Their last game is dated 1991, and in their short history they released a total of nine completely different games. Leland was actually the result of the union of the LaserDisc games company Cinematronics together with Tradewest, who were the developers of the console versions of this Super Off Road. Finally Leland was bought by Midway (currently WMS), which a few years later released the Off Road Challenge and Off Road Thunder sequels, which went largely unnoticed.
Game Overview:
It is a pick up vehicle racing game, from a zenith view. Four pilots participate and in arcade cabinet there are three steering wheels with their respective accelerator pedals, with which up to three people can play. There are eight different circuits and 99 races in total, repeating circuits. The player who finishes in first place gets more points and money, continues in championship and with that money he can improve his vehicle with shock absorbers, tires ... and the precious "nitro".
The main problem will be Ivan Stewart "the iron man" and his gray truck. To try to make things easier we have the "nitros", which will give us a push when we press the button to the right of the steering wheel, and money, which we will collect throughout the race and also at the end of the same, depending on our position. Another quick way to get money is by putting coins into the machine on the store screen after each race. In this way you can buy all kinds of improvements to our car. Anyway, even if we have the car at the top of everything, Ivan will end up beating us in a few races.
Super Off Road is a twist (and an unofficial sequel) to the Super Sprint.
Curiosities:
- This is one of the first games where player could improve his vehicle for points or money obtained, a system that is used today in almost all racing games.
- The machine was shipped from the factory with three separate wallets, one for each player, but some operators changed this system to a single wallet and added three lighted push buttons to transfer credits to the corresponding player.
- The later console versions already differed more from the original, with the absence of Ivan Stewart, the redesign of the graphics (pilots and girls), and the incorporation of the new circuits of the "Track Pack" together with the originals. What does not change is the premise of the game.
HISTORY OF THE MACHINE IN ARCADE VINTAGE
Status: OPERATIONAL
Links to other related websites:
https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Ivan_%27Ironman%27_Stewart%27s_Super_Off_Road
http://arcadevintageshop.blogspot.com/2013/09/otro-de-nuestros-clasicos-super-off-road.html