Something I've noticed recently when verifying and watching other players' runs done on Saturn, and then tested myself on Mednaffen.
There's corners that are well known for having mandatory speed drops on Arcade + Emulator, turns that you can't make without either dropping from Max speed or going Gear Gacha.
One of those speed drops is Alps - last big corner: (timestamp 2:49)
One other example is the first sharp corner in Cloudy Mountain. Difficult to pull off on Saturn, but literally impossible on Arcade + Emulator without dropping speed or going Gear Gacha: (timestamp 2:19)
Thoughts and discussions are welcome
In the light of this, I think we should create an entirely new leaderboard in the Series just for the Saturn version and move all the Saturn runs there, personally.
The way I see it, there's no more reason for the Saturn version to be part of this one.
It's disappointing for me, but I gotta be fair and honest.
The videos provided in the original post are excellent examples of the differences between the Arcade (original or emulated) and Saturn platforms. Casual fans might perceive the two versions as being the same, but the differences should be noticeable to experienced players. Regarding the specific turns identified (during the "Alps" and "Cloudy Mountain" stages), I am thoroughly convinced that neither can be navigated at top speed (using MAME) without veering off the main road.
I would be interested to find out what coding changes were implemented by the Saturn programming team to create a more "player friendly" experience: better vehicle handling, slight modifications to the track layout, or perhaps both. In any case, the underlying Saturn code is not identical to Arcade/MAME, and provides a small but distinct advantage.
The leaderboard for the Saturn version has been created: Sega Ages OutRun (Saturn) - Speedrun
All Saturn runs will be moved there shortly.
All Saturn version runs have been moved to the newly created Sega Ages OutRun (Saturn) leaderboard
