Chase HQ - Saturn Vs Arcade (new & improved!)

I made a four way Chase HQ comparison awhile back and then with some of the left over footage I made a quick Saturn Vs Arcade comparison betwen the 4th and 5th stages of Chase HQ. It was a bit of a hastily thrown together video (in 4:3) and I kept thinking I could do a better one - so here it is. All five stages compressed into a single 15 minute (the maximum a standard user can make*) YouTube video, in 16:9.

*I'm a fully fledged verified YouTuber now

Before I got into emulators, I was very keen to enjoy a bit of home Chase HQ fun, being a huge fan of the arcade version as I was. So I bought the Japanese Saturn version and an Action Replay cartridge to let me play it on my UK Saturn, thinking it would be arcade perfect.

It was not.

The car's handling in the Saturn version feels like complete ass. At the time I didn't realise it was an imperfect conversion and just assumed the game had aged badly and my memories of it were rose-tinted. It was a relief when I fired the game up in MAME for the first time and realised the proper arcade version is still as much fun to play now as it was when I was an 11 year old kid.

I guess part of the problem of the handling in the Saturn version is that you're using a digital controller, compared to the full analogue steering of the arcade version. Having said that though, the Saturn version of Outrun uses the digital pad and that handles just fine (and it looks more-or-less arcade perfect to boot). So I don't know what the excuse is here for the lame-ass controls and the striking difference between how the Saturn version looks and the arcade version looks.

It doesn't look awful by any means, it's just why isn't it arcade perfect? It wouldn't have been a stretch for the Saturn - again, I'm just thinking back to Outrun here. Another thing I noticed is that when you get to the 'boss' car in the Saturn version, you seem to lose loads of speed every time you bash into him, far more than the arcade version, which immediately makes that part of the game less fun.

For easier video capture I'm using SSF, Sega Saturn Emulator to record the Saturn gameplay footage, but I am using my actual Saturn Chase HQ Saturn disc to play it via my PCs optical drive. I ended up using way more credits in the Saturn version (because = crap handling), so I've edited some bits out to get it to fit into the 15 minute limit, and also to get the stages between the two versions to sync up. I had to cut the ending very short in the arcade version for this reason also (15 minute regular YT user limit).

FYI, these are the boss cars:

1. Ralph, the Idaho Slasher (White Lotus Esprit)
2. Carlos, the New York armed robber (Yellow Lamborghini Countach)
3. Chicago pushers (Grey Porsche 911)
4. L.A kidnapper (Blue Ferrari 288 GTO)
5. Eastern Bloc Spy (Red Porsche 928)

4 way comparison link is below:

   • 4 Ages of Chase HQ