The improved version of Out Run for Commodore 64 which was released in the USA
There are two versions of the famous racing game Out Run for Commodore 64 , one European (PAL) and the other North American (NTSC), which however differ from each other, even if both can run on the same Commodore 64 PAL.
This case is really interesting because it looks like the US version is the original version with improvements. The programmers of the European version are credited along with two additional members who have done the "upgrade" for the US version.
The US version has, unlike the European version, a second title screen (which tells you to turn the disc) and a track selection screen instead of a menu. The car's graphics are a bit "sportier" and the scrolling is very smooth and jitter-free. Unfortunately, the highscore list is not saved in this version.
Obviously, there will be a slight slowdown if you run the US version (which is NTSC) on a Commodore 64 PAL, as it is calibrated on a slightly faster system, namely the NTSC one. But paradoxically, this makes it less difficult because it also slows down the running of the timer within which to reach a control point.
Raster bars are used to calculate the running time or frames are counted respectively. Since there are more raster bars on PAL systems than on systems with the NTSC standard, playing the US version seems to be easier on a PAL computer than the European version of the game, as time goes down more slowly. If you feel that the US version is too simple, we recommend that you test in the emulator how the game works with the NTSC standard for which it was designed.
