SEGA Rally Championship (SEGA Saturn)

Sega Rally Championship (セガラリー・チャンピオンシップ), also known as Sega Rally Championship 1995, is a Sega Model 2A CRX arcade rally racing game developed by Sega AM3 and manufactured by Sega. Released to arcades worldwide in February 1995 to critical and commercial success, it is the first entry in the company’s popular Sega Rally series, and has since been considered a classic and seminal Sega arcade game.

The game has been ported to a number home systems, most notably the Sega Saturn, PlayStation 2, and Windows PCs

Following the arcade release, plans were put in place to bring the game in an enhanced form to the Sega Saturn. Marketed as a killer app for the system, the Saturn version arrived in late 1995/early 1996 to critical acclaim, and is often regarded as one of the system’s best racing games. In the lead up to its launch, the game sponsored Yoshio Fujimoto’s Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD ST185 at the 1995 Safari Rally^[36].

The Saturn release retains all the features of the arcade version, although due to the Saturn being less powerful than the Model 2 arcade board, significant cuts were made to graphics, namely polygon counts, texture quality, draw distance and screen resolutions. To compensate, the Saturn Sega Rally has a full Red Book audio soundtrack created by Naofumi Hataya. Also missing is the arcade version’s force feedback (which was to be expected for the time) and the rear view mirror.

As well as retaining the arcade mode and its original rules, the Saturn version contains a time attack mode in which you can race across multiple laps against a player ghost, as well as a split-screen two-player mode with similar track options. The primary difference is the ability to create and use customised variants of the Celica and Delta, with added adjustments for handling, tyres, front and back suspension, and even the blow-off valve to give the car a different noise when moving. The Saturn version also keeps a more detailed record of lap times and statistics of that nature. There is also a two-player cooperative mode.

The Saturn version was converted by Sega of Japan‘s CS Team, under guidance from Sega AM3. The differences in architecture mean the game was almost completely remade for Saturn hardware^[37]There are minor differences between regions – generally the US version has fewer graphical details than its Japanese and European counterparts, and its replay mode has fewer camera angles^[38]. All versions are compatible with the Arcade Racer.

In the UK, Sega Rally was the fasted selling CD game in history, beating Destruction Derby‘s record by 10%^[39] (although conflicting reports suggest the PlayStation version of FIFA Soccer 96 held the record prior^[40][41]. It represented 74% of all UK Saturn titles sold in its week of launch^[41], and 13% of the full CD software total^[40]. Sega also released a press kit marking the game’s release, complete with novelty tax disc telling car owners to “Play, don’t pay!”^[41]. Andy Mee calculated that if every UK car owner took this advice, the UK government would lose £3 billion, but traffic congestion and air quality would be improved^[42].

Mint Condition Box with Instruction Manual.