Full Throttle

39 Years old Arcade Video game Taito Corp. [Japan]

Full Throttle © 1987 Taito corp.

Full Throttle is a point-to-point racing game in which the player drives a Mazda RX-7 [FC] and must reach each stage's end-of-level checkpoint before the time limit expires to progress to the next stage.

The car is equipped with a limited number of nitro boosts (3 by default) that gives the car a temporary burst of speed when engaged. Forked junctions appear mid-way through each stage, allowing players to choose which route they wish to take.

TECHNICAL

Board Number: K1100273A
Prom Sticker: B14

Main CPU: (2x) Motorola 68000 (@ 12 Mhz)
Sound CPU: Zilog Z80 (@ 4 Mhz)
Sound Chips: Yamaha YM2151 (@ 4 Mhz), OKI MSM5205 (@ 384 Khz)

Players: 1
Control: Steering wheel (locked) + 2 pedals (gas and brake, both analog) + high/low gear shift
Buttons: 1
=> Start

TRIVIA

Full Throttle was released in October 1987 in Japan. It was known outside Japan as Top Speed.

The Japanese version has a territorial notice not allowing to play outside Japan.

All versions show speed in a kilometer per hour, even the US release.

Full Throttle can be converted into Chase H.Q. - one of Taito's police themed games.

This game is Taito's response to Sega's Out Run. This game was the forerunner of the Taito Z system on which Taito's driving games were based from 1988-91 (You can spot some similarities with Continental Circus, the first of the Taito Z games).

The player is given to control a red Mazda RX-7 [FC].

Despite having been released in Japan, Full Throttle is fully in English.

Hardware design is misspelled in staff roll as 'Hard wear design'.

Default high-score table (Best Drivers, score, stage, time and 3 initials):
1ST 450000 4 3'44''78 TAK
2ND 350000 3 2'55''45 ESH
3RD 260000 2 1'47''21 I.I
4TH 240000 2 1'50''14 RGV
5TH 220000 2 1'54''19 VFR
6TH 200000 2 1'55''21 YZF
7TH 180000 2 1'59''99 CBR

Pony Canyon / Scitron released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (The Ninja Warriors : G.S.M. Taito 1 - D28B0001) on June 21, 1988.

Zuntata Records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Zuntata History L'ab-normal 1st - ZTTL-0038) on April 1, 1999.

TIPS AND TRICKS

* You don't get bonus points for unused turbos. You don't get a bonus turbo either, so use all the turbos during a stage, but not all at once. Using all 3 turbos one after another results in control loss caused by too high speed.

* Shift gears at around 160 km/h.

* Fastest route: choose the left fork at stage 3, take the right fork, then left at stage 4, whereas stage 5 requires you to take left fork first, then right.

* Watch out at stage 2: you may hit a tree or rock so fast you'll need to wait up to 10 seconds before you return to the road.

* Sometimes pulling the steering wheel to the limits is a wrong move. You should turn the wheel with smaller force, mainly at fast turns.

STAFF

👥

Project leader, game design: Hiroyuki Sakou
Game program: Kyoji Shimamoto, Takeshi Murata, Takeshi Ishizashi
Music composer: Masahiko Takagi
Sound effect: Eikichi Takahashi
Sound adviser: Hisayoshi Ogura
Hardware design: Masahiro Yamaguchi
Custom I.C. design: Shyugi Kubota, Katsujiroh Fujimoto, Toshiyuki Sanada
Graphic design: Yoshihiko Wakita, Tetsuroh Kitagawa, Takako Uenoyama, Naoko Toshimitsu
Mechanical design: Tomio Suzuki
Mechanical engineer: Nobuyuki Iwasaki, Akira Takahashi
Cabinet design: Takeo Shiraishi
Art design: Hiroyasu Nagai

Special thanks: Nenko Nishimura, Miki Matsushita, Genya Kuriki, Hiromiki Racing team

PORTS

CONSOLES

Sony PS2 (mar.29, 2007) Taito Memories II Gekan [Model SLPM-66713]

SOURCES

🔗

ROM dump (MAME).