Sega announced today the eagerly awaited sequel to 1986's pioneering arcade racer, Outrun. Tentatively titled Outrun 2, this seqeul, which was first mentioned some four years back via comments from AM2 head Yu Suzuki, is being developed for the Xbox-compatible Chiriro arcade hardware.
According to the game's newly opened website, players can expect another tribute to Ferrari vehicles with this game (see AM2's other Ferrari racer, F355 Challenge). This time around, though, the company is planning to offer a variety of officially licensed vehicles from the maker, allowing you to select the car the behaves and looks the way you like.
Drift-based play mechanics are what gave the original its claim to fame, and that will continue with the sequel, only AM2 has promised more refined movement of the car, adding to the slickness and good feel of the product (their words, not ours).
Also of apparent importance to the sequel is the girl who sits in the passenger seat and cheers you on. You'll be able to select from multiple girls. In the game's Outrun mode, the girl sits next to you just as she did in the original. In Quest mode, things get a bit more complicated, with the girl actually playing a role in how the game turns out. Your goal in quest mode is to make the girl happy by following her commands appropriately. The girl's happiness determines the ending that you see.
Outside of these two modes, you can also expect some competitive modes of play via the time attack mode and versus mode. Time attack mode uses a password system for an internet ranking. Versus mode allows for up to four players to compete against one another simultaneously.
Outrun 2 is targeted for a winter 2003 arcade release in Japan. Check out the first pics of the game in the media section.