Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II

Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II[lower-alpha 1] is an arcade-style Formula One racing video game developed and manufactured by Sega for the Sega Genesis and Mega Drive, Master System, and the Game Gear in 1992. It is a follow-up to Super Monaco GP. The game was also endorsed by, and had technical input from, the then-Formula One champion Ayrton Senna. Gameplay includes a World Championship season, along with a three-race "Senna GP" mode.

Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II
European cover art
Developer(s)Sega
Publisher(s)Sega
SeriesMonaco GP
Platform(s)Master System
Sega Genesis / Mega Drive
Game Gear
Release
  • JP: July 17, 1992
  • PAL: August 1992
  • NA: September 1992
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player

The game was initially suggested by Sega's distributor in Brazil, Tectoy, but developed by Sega in Japan. The game's development was also assisted by Senna, who personally supplied his own advice about the tracks featured in the game. Reception to Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II was mixed to positive, with reviewers praising the gameplay and the graphics but criticizing too few changes from Super Monaco GP.

Gameplay
A typical in-game screenshot. The player is racing a car from the driver's seat, while a rear view is above, a tachometer is to the left, and a map is to the right.

Based on Formula One,[1] Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II features 19 race tracks, including three tracks in the Senna GP mode.[2] Players take control of a race car from the driver's seat view, with a rear view at the screen top. The display also includes a map, tachometer, and speedometer. Six individual save slots are included to save games.[3]

In the game's World Championship mode, players have a choice of Beginner or Master difficulty. In addition to the difficulty of the competition, Beginner races take three laps while Master races take six.[2] Each season takes place over sixteen races, in which the player races against fifteen computer-controlled opponents. Players can also enter their name and nationality when starting the mode.[3] Before a race, players can choose their car's transmission: automatic, 4-speed semi-automatic, or 7-speed manual. While automatics are easier to control, manuals provide greater speed.[4] Players must qualify before each race or else start in 12th place.[2] Additionally, the Senna GP mode features races on three tracks, completion of which will earn the player an Ayrton Senna Super License.[2] A Free Practice mode is also available.[3]

Development

The initial pitch for Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II came from Tectoy, Sega's distributor in Brazil. Tectoy approached Sega of Japan with the concept of developing a game starring Brazilian F1 driver Ayrton Senna,[5] who was the 1988, 1990, and 1991 World Champion.[6] Sega of Japan executive vice president Shoichiro Irimajiri personally knew Senna, having previously been an executive at Honda with its F1 division, the engine provider for Senna's team at McLaren, under his oversight. As development of the game began, Senna himself was personally involved in providing direction for the game and ensured he saw to changes he suggested for the game.[5] Among Senna's suggestions were a lack of speed reduction when driving over stripes in the corners, which the first game had done.[7] A visit Senna made to Sega of Japan's headquarters shortly before the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix resulted in a three and a half hour visit, with developers flocking to meet with him. Senna also recorded voice segments commenting on each of the F1 tracks in the game; he refused to record a segment for the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya until he had raced on it at the 1991 Spanish Grand Prix, his first time on the track.[5]

The game was announced in Japan by October 1991.[8] Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II was released on July 17, 1992 in Japan,[9] August 1992 in PAL regions,[10] and September 1992 in North America.[4] For an article in their magazine, Mega Drive Advanced Gaming had F1 racing driver Johnny Herbert play the game.[11] In 1994, an article in Computer and Video Games called the game "easily the biggest selling driving game for the Mega Drive."[12]

Reception
Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
CVG84% (MD)
GamePro4.0/5 (GEN)
Video Games (DE)67% (SMS)
Player One80% (MD)
40% (SMS)
Mean Machines87% (MD)
Sega Power53% (SMS)
Sega Force88% (MD)
94% (SMS)
Beep! MegaDrive7.25/10 (MD)[13]
Hobby Consolas90/100 (MD)
Joystick88% (MD)[14]
Mega Drive Fan21.4/30 (MD)
Power Play70% (GG)
Game Players7/10 (GEN)

GamePro praised the speed of the Genesis version and highlighted its improvements in graphics and sound over Super Monaco GP.[4] Player One gave the Mega Drive version a positive review, but posed that owners of the first game would have difficulty understanding why to purchase the sequel.[15] Two reviewers for Mean Machines praised the game as being one of the best racing games on the console but as too similar to Super Monaco GP;[16] the same sentiment was echoed by Tim Boone of Computer and Video Games.[17] Vince Matthews of Game Players was critical of the lack of improvements compared to the original game, focused mainly on control pad issues.[18] In reviewing the game for Hobby Consolas, Giancarlo Vialli gave high praise for the game's improvements over the original, but found the lack of setup adjustments that were present in the first game as a negative.[1] Mega placed the game at #5 in their "Top Mega Drive Games of All Time".[19]

In reviewing the Master System version, German magazine VideoGames gave praise to the game's controls while also critical of the lack of perception of speed.[20] Reviews for Player One and Sega Power shared the same criticism of the Master System version.[21][22] For the Game Gear version, German magazine Power Play praised the improvement of the graphics over the first game.[23]

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See also

Notes
  1. Japanese: アイルトン セナ スーパーモナコGP II Hepburn: Airuton Sena Sūpā Monako GP Tsū

References
  1. Vialli, Giancarlo (August 1992). "Lo más nuevo: El señor de la velocidad". Hobby Consolas (in Spanish). No. 11. pp. 62, 71.
  2. Mellerick, Paul (June 1992). "Reviewed! Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II". Sega Force. No. 6. pp. 10–11.
  3. Marriott, Scott Alan. "Super Monaco GP II - Overview". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  4. Capt. Controller (October 1992). "Genesis Pro Review: Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II". GamePro. No. 39. p. 52.
  5. Sponsel, Sebastian (November 16, 2015). "Interview: Stefano Arnhold (Tectoy)". Sega-16. Ken Horowitz. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  6. "Formula 1's greatest drivers. Number 1: Ayrton Senna". BBC Sport. November 20, 2012. Archived from the original on 21 June 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  7. "Super Monaco GP II – O clássico de corrida de Ayrton Senna completa 28 anos!" (in Portuguese). Tectoy. July 17, 2020. Archived from the original on July 18, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  8. "News & Information". Beep! MegaDrive (in Japanese). December 1991. p. 35.
  9. "Monthly Hit Chart". Mega Drive Fan (in Japanese). October 1992. p. 67.
  10. "ProDates". Sega Pro. No. 10. August 1992. p. 7.
  11. "Star Play: Formula One Driver Johnny Herbert". Mega Drive Advanced Gaming. No. 3. November 1992. pp. 12–14.
  12. "Top Gear Group Test: What's the Best Driving Game Ever?". Computer and Video Games. No. 150. May 1994. pp. 108–113.
  13. "GP II". Beep! MegaDrive (in Japanese). August 1992. p. 26.
  14. "Super Monaco GP II". Joystick (in French). No. 29. July 1992. p. 170.
  15. "Super Monaco GP II". Player One (in French). No. 23. September 1992. pp. 64–65.
  16. Julian and Rad (June 1992). "Super Monaco GP 2 review - Sega Megadrive" (PDF). Mean Machines. pp. 20–21. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 3, 2014. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  17. Boone, Tim (July 1992). "CVG Review: Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II". Computer and Video Games. No. 128. p. 68.
  18. Matthews, Vince (October 1992). "Reviews: Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II". Game Players. Vol. 3 no. 5. p. 66.
  19. "Top Mega Drive Games of All Time". Mega. No. 1. October 1992. p. 76.
  20. "Kampf dem Meister Super Monaco GP II". VideoGames (in German). February 1993. p. 107.
  21. "Super Monaco GP II". Player One (in French). No. 23. September 1992. p. 122.
  22. "Power Review: Super Monaco GP II". Sega Power. July 1992. p. 30.
  23. "Computerspiele/tests". Power Play (in German). December 1992. p. 160.
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