Let's Compare - S.T.U.N. RUNNER

[TrekMD]

S.T.U.N. Runner (Spread Tunnel Underground Network Runner) is a fast-paced, racing/shooter arcade game released by Atari Games in 1989. The player pilots a futuristic speed bike which can exceed 900 mph through various tunnels and courses, with changing environments, hazards and enemies. S.T.U.N. Runner was notable for its early use of high-speed 3D polygonal graphics, and was based on an evolution of Atari's pioneering Hard Drivin' hardware.

Gameplay:

The final goal is to reach the "Ultimate Challenge", an endless race filled with surprises, where the player must simply get as far as possible in the allotted time. Markers on the Ultimate Challenge course show the names of the five players who have traveled the farthest, who are tracked independently of the game's traditional high score table.

Source:  Wikipedia

https://youtu.be/gcGPL5o5i5I

[DeadVoivod]

I never liked the game, was not into those early 3D games, plus I played it on the Amiga, which was nearly unplayable, very slow. But for that time, the game was stunning, pun intended.

We had a discussion yesterday about early 3D games, as somebody mentioned Lara Croft on the PSX, OMG, what did I dislike that stuff. I think that a lot of game companies forced themselves to make everything in 3D, but in my opinion the visuals were suffering from it. I loved isometric games so much, I loved the pixel art, I could also just have lived with 2D, and now everything gets swapped because there was the technology which allowed it? Not for me.

I never had a console before, coming from C64, Amiga, then PC, I eventually bought a PSX, late after the initial release, as I enjoyed FF7 and FF8 so much (on the PC), a friend told me that the PSX had many more JRPGs that were great, I never was into them, basically not knowing that specific genre. So I ended up buying the PSX. Fine, for the JRPGs, but most of all the other games, for me that looked horrible. Played NFS 3: Hot Pursuit that time on the PC, and with the newest 3dfx Voodoo 3 3000 GPUs, that looked amazing. Unreal too was a blast. Comparing it to the PSX, eye cancer.

Later I was wondering, how could people even like the N64, that was even worse, sorry, not wanna bash around here but I just never understood.

Eventually the 3D gaming became better and better, introduced with the PS2 and XBox, and we are where we are now. But the early 3D gaming years, don't wanna hear about them

[zapiy]

Not a game I loved either. I have it on the Lynx and i liked it on this but not enough to go and get in on other systems.




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[TrekMD]

I always liked this game.  I was hyped when I saw it was available for the Lynx.  Yes, it is early 3D but it was what could be done at the time.  The Lynx version is an excellent adaptation also. 

[DeadVoivod]

One of the early 3D games I liked is Stunt Car Racer, great game. Had to get used to the visuals and especially the gameplay itself.

[Spector]

I never liked the game, was not into those early 3D games, plus I played it on the Amiga, which was nearly unplayable, very slow. But for that time, the game was stunning, pun intended.

We had a discussion yesterday about early 3D games, as somebody mentioned Lara Croft on the PSX, OMG, what did I dislike that stuff. I think that a lot of game companies forced themselves to make everything in 3D, but in my opinion the visuals were suffering from it. I loved isometric games so much, I loved the pixel art, I could also just have lived with 2D, and now everything gets swapped because there was the technology which allowed it? Not for me.

Eventually the 3D gaming became better and better, introduced with the PS2 and XBox, and we are where we are now. But the early 3D gaming years, don't wanna hear about them

The very early 3D perspective games have an interest, though I get why people today won't want to touch the Spectrum version of Hard Drivin', for example. I admit I still like to play it every so often, especially now I can load it instantly using an emulator or one of the flash card devices currently available. Stunt Car Racer is the best of the 3D racers back then IMO. A game like Driller though - which got 97% in Crash (!) - is just too darn slow.

[ArcadeAction]

I have a nice condition S.T.U.N. Runner arcade machine and I think it's a really state of the art game for the time, just like Outrun did three years earlier. I may do a view review of the arcade machine sometime. The yoke control is essentially the same as the Star Wars arcade. This specific game actually inspired me towards certain directions in my career and got me into 3D modeling early on, so I'll always be thankful towards S.T.U.N. Runner.

[TrekMD]

That is cool.  Did they use the Star Wars arcade cabs for this game?

[ArcadeAction]

It has almost a jet ski type of cabinet and mimics the vehicle in the game in that respect. The yoke controller is like Star Wars but the cabinet is very different than my SW cockpit. There was a prototype standup version, but all production ones I believe were the sit down version. I like that the graphics in the game do not really have jagged edges and appear smooth unlike many later mid 90s 3D games before the 3DFX and voodoo cards came out. iRobot was a 3D game truly ahead of its time in 1984.

[TrekMD]

OK, so they only had the one style out there.  I actually never played the game in the arcade.  Can't even remember seeing one live, even at retro conventions. 

[Greyfox]

S.T.U.N Runner was a serious all-around classic for me when it was released, I used to go to a professional Snooker club called the Pierri Club who was the only Arcade in Dublin, Ireland to have such a treasure of a game, the full sit down version of STUN Runner, making hitting those speed pad an absolute thrill ride of high speed and excitement. Now, where do games provide this type of entertainment? ...Nowhere is where!.

So expectations were high when I discovered Domark was to bring this arcade smart hit in 1990 from Tengen and by Jesus it was such a let down, clearly the task given to a team that simply couldn't produce what has been seen in other vector based action games on the Amiga and Atari ST could have easly been achieveible here, the team behind the version I played at the time the Amiga version was simply shambolic to say the least, but the opening music was classic to which I ripped my deadly Datel Action Replay 2 addon device

Welcome Stun Runner!..................