Super Hang-On

Super Hang-On © 1987 Sega.

Super Hang-On is a checkpoint-based racing game and is the sequel to the acclaimed Hang-On, released two years earlier. As with the prequel, players take control of a superbike and must race over twisting road-based circuits, avoiding rival bikers and trying to reach the end-of-stage checkpoint before the time limit expires.

For the sequel, Sega introduced the hilly, undulating roads that had been executed so superbly in 1986's Out Run. The gameplay was further enhanced with the introduction of the 'turbo' button. Upon reaching the bike's maximum speed of 280kph, players could press and hold the turbo and push the bike up to 324kph - something that was necessary to beat the game's extremely tight time limits. This had to be used carefully, however, as the increase in speed made the bike harder to control and accelerating at the wrong time would invariably see a head-on collision with either rival bikers or the road-side objects that litter the stages.

Players could chose to race on any one of four courses: Africa, Asia, America and Europe. Africa is the easiest and shortest of the four, with each subsequent course becoming both more demanding - with tighter bends and more aggressive rival racers - and having a greater number of stages to have to beat. Africa, for example, is made up of only six stages, while the hardest course, Europe, has eighteen stages.