Outrun 2 - Daytona USA 2 bonus tracks JPN/UK comparison

So, as I've demonstrated and talked about in previous videos, the Western and Japanese versions of Outrun 2 on the Xbox have got some big graphical differences in their representations of the Daytona USA 2 and Scud Race themed bonus stages.
The story I read somewhere ages back, is that the UK, Euro and US games were produced and released first. When it came to releasing Outrun 2 for the Japanese market, apparently Sega of Japan ordered Sumo Digital to make a few changes to make the bonus stages more visually accurate to the original arcade Daytona USA 2 and Scud Race source material.
This lead to some significant changes between the Eastern and Western version. I've done numerous comparisons between them before, but as I'm now finally able to do decent quality component cable capture of the JPN tracks running on my softmodded OG Xbox (as opposed to the composite cable video capture I relied on before), I though, eeehh, what's the harm in doing one more.
The difference in brightness between the 2 is, I think, just a byproduct of slightly different capture methods. The UK version of Outrun 2 was being played on my Xbox 360 and captured via HDMI input, Vs the JPN version being captured via component on my OG Xbox. I did think about fiddling with the brightness and saturation on both to make them match, but decided in the end to just leave them alone.
I have done things a little differently here to previous comparisons, by giving the two versions a staggered start. The JPN version of the game starts on the correct section of the track compared to the actual 'Challenge Course' in Daytona USA 2: Power Edition. In the Western one, it starts further back than Daytona USA 2 did. So, rather than syncing the 3-2-1 timers up, I've actually given the JPN game a slightly delayed start, so the games actually sync up in the crazy castle area. Starting further back on the track in Outrun 2 is less accurate to the arcade version, but it does actually make it easier to tackle the first proper corner you get to if you're using manual gears, because in the JPN version you don't really have enough of a run up to get up to the speed to initiate a proper full speed gear drift (I find it easier to just keep the speed down a bit and get through without starting a drift).
In the Japanese game the bunki is covered over as you move from the first stage of the Challenge Course (Joypolis 2020 Amusement Park - advanced) to the second part (Virtua City expert), like in the arcade version of Daytona USA 2. In the western game it just looks like a regular Outrun 2 bunki. This is a big, big improvement. It also means the two versions have different checkpoint exits. I slow down the JPN video for a short period here, to allow the games to be in proper sync once they get into Virtua city.
You come out of the bunki in the correct area in the JPN version compared to the arcade Challenge course (which actually makes it much harder), than you did in the western game. The western game brings you out into a slightly different, earlier part of Virtua city, which is a little easier to navigate... this actually means that although the JPN version is more arcade accurate, you do actually get more bang for your buck as far as the Daytona 2 expert stage goes in the western game, including the big U turn at the end of it by the Great Central Station.
#outrun2 #daytonausa #sega

[@MrThunderwing]

Here's a link to an Outrun 2 and Scud Race 3 way comparison between the UK and JPN versions of Outrun and the actual Scud Race arcade machine.
ua-cam.com/video/4PtmQVxLMis/v-deo.html
This was back when I was still doing the JPN OG Xbox capture in composite, but because it's in shrunk down split-screen form, it doesn't look terrible.

[@SP95]

Thanks for the long description, maybe sega executives were really hooked on outrun 2 to order such an extra improvement, but it also reminds me how Sonic Japan looked slightly better than Sonic Occident

[@thetaffman666]

Wonder why there is huge disparity between the 2 tracks.. Has this ever been explained?

[@MrThunderwing]

Well, as I mentioned in the description, the story I read somewhere ages back (I think it was a retrospective interview with Sumo Digital), is that the UK, Euro and US games were produced and released first. When it came to releasing Outrun 2 for the Japanese market, apparently Sega of Japan ordered Sumo Digital to make a few changes to make the bonus stages more visually accurate to the original arcade Daytona USA 2 and Scud Race source material, which was what led to the significant changes between the Eastern and Western versions.

[@theamazingpuggsy387]

@@MrThunderwing
Yea, but why couldn't they just release an online update for the western versions?
Especially when the western versions have poor performance and bugs when going into first person mode.
It's not like they didn't know how to do it, some games on original xbox had online updates including sega titles.

[@MrThunderwing]

@@theamazingpuggsy387 Good question! I never really think about OG Xbox games getting patches (especially as I never actually used my Xbox online back in the day), but I guess they could've.

[@I_Duc_I]

The love of details❤️

[@alvaroff81]

I looks like the difference is mainly during the intermission parts

[@MrThunderwing]

I go into detail about the differences in the description.

[@outrun9354]

Very cool tracks