Super Monaco GP

Super Monaco GP
Cover art
Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	Sega (arcade & consoles) U.S. Gold (computers)[1][2][3][4][5]
Designer(s)	Kaki
Platform(s)	Arcade, Mega Drive/Genesis, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Game Gear, Master System, ZX Spectrum
Release date(s)	Arcade May 1989 (X Board)[6] 1990 (Mega-Tech)[7] Mega Drive/Genesis JP: August 9, 1990 NA: September 1990 EU: January 4, 1991 Master System NA: 1990 EU: 1990 SA: 1992[8] Game Gear JP: October 6, 1990 NA: April 26, 1991 EU: April 26, 1991 AMI, ST, C64, CPC, ZX EU: 1991[1]
Genre(s)	First-person racing Racing simulation[9][10][11]
Mode(s)	Single-player
Arcade system	Sega X Board, Sega Mega-Tech

Super Monaco GP (スーパーモナコGP) is a Formula One racing simulation video game released by Sega, originally as a Sega X Board arcade game in 1989,^[6] followed by ports for multiple video game consoles and home computers in the early 1990s. It is the sequel to the 1979 arcade game Monaco GP.

The arcade game consists mostly of one race: the Grand Prix of Monaco (though represented by a totally different track, albeit with the same features of the real-life Circuit de Monaco). The player simply chooses a transmission type, qualifies, and race. The player must qualify in under 45 seconds in the shortened track in order to actually race. If he fails, the game ends (though, in the home versions, even if the player fails to qualify, he still starts off the race at the last position). When in the race itself, there is also a position limit, which starts off on 20th (15th in the home versions) and decreases as the player bypasses checkpoints along the track, ultimately stopping on 3rd. If the player falls behind the indicated position and does not manage to recover fast enough, a game over happens.

The game was one of the first games to include a rear-view mirror, along with Winning Run. The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version of Super Monaco GP adds a World Championship mode. In the World Championship mode, the goal is to win a season of races, and then go on to defend the title. The circuits are modeled on the ones used in the 1989 Formula One season, with background scenery similar to the real-world circuit venues, though without the wealth of details the Arcade version had. This Mega Drive/Genesis version was also released in arcades for the Sega Mega-Tech system board in 1990.^[7]

Gameplay (Genesis version)

The world championship mode starts with a relatively slow car in the Minarae (the game's equivalent of Team Minardi). Drivers are able to name other drivers as rivals, and if a driver's rival defeats him in two consecutive races, the loser's team will offer a seat to the winner. Should the winner accept the seat, the loser will be fired from his team and take an open seat with another team which is usually ranked lower than the team the loser was fired from. This allows good drivers to get into teams with better cars, but also can punish drivers including the player for being poor drivers.

The goal is to win the F1 World Title by earning more driver's points than all other drivers. Once the player has won a season for the first time they are given the opportunity to join Madonna (the game's equivalent of McLaren), the game's best team. At the start of the title defense year, the player is then challenged by a new rival, G. Ceara, who is seemingly impossible to beat in the first two races. If the player loses the first two races of the defending season to Ceara, he is dropped by team Madonna and goes to Team Dardin (the game's equivalent of BMS Scuderia Italia-Dallara) . The challenge is then to get back to the top and win the second season, or if G. Ceara is defeated, to retain the Championship in the Madonna car. Once two championship seasons are won, the player beats the game.

Reception

The arcade version was a critical and commercial success in Japanese arcades. On Famicom Tsūshin's arcade earnings chart, it was number-two in August 1989, just below Namco's 3D polygon racing game Winning Run. In September 1989, Super Monaco GP became number-one, overtaking Winning Run.^[12] Super Monaco GP remained number-one in October 1989, above Sega's arcade version of puzzle game Tetris at number-two.^[13] In Europe, the arcade version of Super Monaco GP was highly acclaimed by reviewers.^{[9][10][11][14]} It came second place on Computer and Video Games magazine's list of the top arcade games of 1989.^[15]

The Mega Drive/Genesis version was also highly acclaimed. On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored it a 34 out of 40.^[16] It garnered an at-the-time unprecedented 10–10–9–9 rating from Electronic Gaming Monthly's Review Crew^[17][18] and a 93% from Mean Machines.^[19]

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Scores
	ARC	MD/GEN	SMS	GG	AMI	C64	ST	CPC	ZX
GameRankings		88%[20]
Review scores
Publication	Scores
	ARC	MD/GEN	SMS	GG	AMI	C64	ST	CPC	ZX
ACE	[14]	590/1000[21]			871/1000[22]
Amiga Action					91%[23]
Commodore User	91%[11]				85%[24]
Computer and Video Games	94%[9]	95%[25]	92%[26]		85%[27]		83%[28]
Datormagazin					90%[29]
Electronic Gaming Monthly		38/40[17]
Famicom Tsūshin		34/40[16]
Joystick		98%[30]	75%[31]		90%[32]			71%[32]
Mean Machines		93%[19]
Mean Machines Sega		87%[33]	79%[34]	58%[34]
Mega		90%[35]
MegaTech		94%[36]
Player One		95%[37]	90%[38]
Raze		91%[39]	87%[39]		83%[40]
Sega Power		10/10[41]	74%[42]	6/10[43]
Sega Pro		90%[44]	69%[44]	65%[44]
Sinclair User	9/10[10]								84%[45]
Your Sinclair									82%[46]
Zero		91%[47]		88%[48]	85%[49]		85%[50]
Zzap!64					91%[51]	90%[52]

See also

• Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II

References