[quote name='Richlough']You're right I never did understand the difference .
That is why I never had an incentive to buy Coast to Coast .[/quote]
Well you should buy C2C because it's the best version of the best driving game ever.
Also , I meant just Outrun 2 and Coast to Coast for Xbox , not the arcade versions .
I know. I was just trying to give you an overview of the general history of the different versions of Outrun 2.
[quote name='Chuplayer']Actually, this Outrun Online thingy appears to be based on Outrun 2 SP SDX or whatever that weird arcade upgrade to SP was. I think it was just a graphical upgrade. They may have redone a couple things on a couple tracks, but it's mostly just a graphical update of SP.[/quote]
I think you're misinformed about what DX/SDX is. It's not really a graphical update, in any major capacity. The only significant graphical difference, compared to the older arcade versions of Outrun 2, is that it runs at 800x480 resolution, versus the original release's 640x480; this is obviously to take advantage of the new cabinet's widescreen monitors. That it runs at 800x480 is actually quite strange, seeing as how the cabinets use 720p DLP monitors. It upscales the 480p image to 720p, and thus it's quite muddy-looking. The Lindbergh should be able to run it at native 720p in it's sleep, so that Sega overlooked this is quite strange and doesn't really make much sense.
I think that some of the confusion about DX/SDX being a major graphical update might stem from the fact that it
does run on Sega's newer Lindbergh arcade hardware, which is massively more powerful than the Xbox 1-based Chihiro hardware that the older versions of Outrun 2 ran on (the Lindbergh, by comparison, is more on the order of the PS3 or 360, in terms of power), which led people to assume that they'd update the visuals to take advantage of this. The reason that DX/SDX runs on this newer hardware is simply that the original Chihiro hardware wasn't in manufacture anymore, so it was ported to the Lindbergh more out of a necessity for any platform for it to run on at all, rather than any intention to upgrade it to take full advantage of that new hardware.
Anyways, on to what DX/SDX actually is. The main gameplay difference in DX/SDX is that it features a new co-op team mode, where two players, each with their own wheel and pedals, control a single car in shifts. One player will be in full control of the car, and when they pass a checkpoint, or if they crash, control shifts to the other player. This sounds fun, but it's actually kind of lame in the arcade, in some ways. Each player has to pay for their own credit, but only gets half the playtime.
Aside from that, there are no changes to the gameplay, aside from a few obscure bug fixes. Certainly, there are no new tracks or cars or anything like that.
The rest of the differences are all cabinet gimmicks. Ferrari-shaped cabinets, motion feedback, a PA system for an arcade attendant to officiate the races (though supposedly no one ever uses it), and an electronic leaderboard on top of the cabinets, as well as cameras fixed on each of the separate teams of players, with the video feed of the current race leader's face being displayed on a monitor next to the leaderboard.
Oh, and lastly, you've probably noticed that I've been referring to it as DX/SDX. There are two different versions of this cabinet, DX and SDX, the difference being that
DX has two cars for up to four players and lacks the PA system and cameras, whereas
SDX has four cars for up to eight players, as well as the extra cabinet gimmicks.
So anyways, that's what OutRun 2 SP SDX is. As you can see, it doesn't really change the gameplay much, so I doubt that Outrun Online Arcade is specifically based on SDX. I'd imagine that Sumo Digital is basing Online Arcade on their earlier portwork of Outrun 2/SP.
Honestly, I'd take older-looking original Outrun 2 tracks mixed in with the extra nice SP SDX tracks just to get them. Coast 2 Coast was epic for its mix of the two games in the challenge modes.
As stated, SDX doesn't have any new tracks or anything, nor does it look significantly different from the original Outrun 2. And indeed, it is a bummer that Online Arcade won't include the complete OutRun 2 + SP experience. Still, I'll buy it for sure.
And it's not like the original graphics looked bad in the first place. They're still highly impressive. Anybody who says they're dated needs their eyes checked, and all the people who said that they were dated back when it first came out have no eyes to begin with.
OutRun 2 is the most beautiful driving game ever.
