Please read: Timing Change, categories update, December 2019
4 years ago
Cumbria, England

To streamline the board and avoid confusion I have created a Variable to show the romset/track layout that runs were done on. Sitdown/Upright is the default, to view Limited Edition/Mini Ride-On you can use the Filter. By doing this we can group all runs across arcade and modern console conversions in the same place without overcomplication. Please do not worry about selecting the right option in your submissions, I will always double check everything.

Limited Edition/Mini Ride-On is the same track layouts that are present on the Genesis version. LE is generally considered the easier option as it has a longer time limit and tends to have less traffic of AI riders. Sitdown/upright has a more challenging beginner's course and tends to be more ubiquitous and popular. The console ports for PS, Xbox, and Wii all have the option to use either set of track layouts, and you are not restricted in what you choose! The Asia course is the same in all layouts, personally I think it's the best one as it's short enough that you can push hard without having to play a long tactical game or avoid risk. Or am I just saying that cos I stink at weaving in traffic 😂

On timing: Super Hang-On has a bug in the In-Game timer, present in: -Genesis (Rev 00 and 01) -Arcade (all versions) -PS3 -Xbox -WiiVC

across both real and emulated runs.

The second part shows a comparison on the Arcade version with a slower sector 1 against a faster. Both runs follow precisely the same path with speed locked, yet end up with different sector 2 times. I have also verified this bug by syncing playback of different runs' sectors where IGT says run A will reach checkpoint first, but the real time and visual evidence show run B reached it first.

Here are a couple of quick clips of the PS3 and Xbox versions. The timer goes from 31.9 to 32.88 in one frame.

The timer goes from 1:26.29 to 1:26.55 in one frame.

When a checkpoint is passed, the clock is zeroed and that time is written to memory. But then the timer starts counting from whatever fraction of a second was left over.

Due to this, all runs' times have been corrected. It's very simple to work that out: just remove the fractions of a second from each sector time that shows up, except the last sector of a race which doesn't show anyways. Add these up, and subtract them from the IGT. Then you have your True Time. I will always double check these. You may in future wish to complete any run which is close to your PB or a WR: typically an IGT is off by 2-3 seconds in Africa, increasing to 7-8 seconds in Europe.

Here's an example of how to do this from a race in Africa:

S1 35.93 S2 33.1 S3 34.8 S4 31.93 S5 35.8 (S6 time not shown on screen)

IGT showed 3'29"59. 0.93 + 0.1 + 0.8 +0.93 +0.8 = 3.56 3:29.59 - 3.56 = 3:26.03

Thanks very much for reading!

Edited by the author 4 years ago