“This is not a game” the Manx TT SuperBike manual warns, where “fearless competitors from every corner of the earth blaze through the usually peaceful countryside like screaming Viking warriors from the past.”
Manx TT Superbike is a motorcycle racing game based on the famous Isle of Man Tourist Trophy (TT) race. Representative of the mid-90s, the game features full motion video (FMV) footage of the course.
Originally an arcade game, Tantalus were contracted for the Sega Saturn port by Perfect Entertainment with key development personnel from Sega of Japan to assist. The game was overall well received for its graphics and controls capturing the well-loved arcade game.
Version Information
Manx TT Superbike was originally an arcade cabinet with motorbike seat controls, developed by Sega AM3 & Sega AM4 in 1995. It was converted to the Sega Saturn by Tantalus and to PC by Perfect Entertainment (who part-owned Tantalus at the time) in 1997.
The Saturn version features an “Arcade Mode” which replicates the arcade machine’s two race courses and transmission selection (automatic or 6-speed manual), and “Saturn Mode,” which features four tracks (the two original tracks and mirrored versions of both of them), practice mode, and the ‘MANX TT CHALLENGE,’ a difficult race mode that unlocks the ‘Superbike’ race mode if you can complete it. You’re given more options here, and in practice mode you can select how many laps you race. There’s also a time trial mode, ‘ghost’ racing that lets you race against your own fastest time, and a 2-player mode.
All these extra modes were likely needed when it came to converting a coin-op arcade game to console. Console games are more expensive and consumers came to expect longer lasting play-time than the fast-paced sessions of coin-op games.
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Screenshots
Screenshots via YouTube – World of LongPlays “Saturn Longplay [057] Manx TT Superbike”
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