Conversion Capers

SNES

There were clear differences between the two home console versions, but neither was the definitive winner. The SNES version, for example, had more detail in various backgrounds and menu screens, even going so far as to including higher quality, rotating planets in the driver select screen – something that the Mega Drive could not match. However, its colours were a little more muted, which meant detailing in the cars and the levels was more restricted.

MEGA drive

The higher contrast of the Mega Drive meant there was a noticeable difference between the two versions. Some areas suffered, such as the darker tracks barely showing up any detail at all, but for the most part it was a visually better product. The sound was also better, particularly the voice recordings. But where it really shined was with the its speed, utilising the Mega Drive to empower the high octane antics and to allow for subtly smoother steering too.

GAME Boy ADVANCE

Considering the hardware downgrade, the portable version of the game was a surprisingly solid port of the bigger version. The viewpoint was brought in quite a lot – which made it harder to see corners coming – but for the most part it was a like-for-like recreation. The finer points were still included on the vehicles and stages, and while the colours were a little garish it still managed to include all the different details – and, most importantly, play really well too.