Sure, you had the launch game Ridge Racer as an impressive arcade port to a home console on the PS1, probably one of Sony’s best cards to play against Sega’s Saturn and Daytona USA, but there’s another launch title for Europe that caught my eye back in the day: WipEout. Developed by Psygnosis in Liverpool, England, during the mid-nineties with heavy influence from F-Zero and the rave music scene. WipEout debuted on the PlayStation 29th of September in Europe, followed by it’s US market launch in November. Japan had to wait to March next year, thus the game is a late bloomer on the console over there. WipEout blew 32-bit gamers away with sharp and futuristic graphics, excellent electronic music score and super fast anti-gravity gameplay.
Wikipedia:
The concept of Wipeout was first discussed during a pub conversation, when one member of Psygnosis’ staff envisioned an idea of creating a futuristic racing game which featured anti-gravity ships. Some elements of the game were inspired by Matrix Marauders, an Amiga game released by the Liverpudlian studio in 1990. A beta version of Wipeout appeared in the cult film Hackers, in which the game was being played by the protagonists in a nightclub. The game’s appearance in the film led to Sony purchasing the studio in the following months after its release. The Wipeout franchise has been well received by critics, with Wipeout 2097 in particular being listed as among the PlayStation’s best games. Wipeout 2048 was the last game to be developed by Studio Liverpool prior to their closure in August 2012. The series was later revived, with Wipeout Omega Collection being released in 2017.
So without further delay, lets take a look at alle the WipEout games!
WipEout
Formats: PlayStation (1995), PC (1995) & Sega Saturn (1996)
Factoids:
-2 speed classes, 4 ships with 2 liveries, 8 racing tracks + 1 hidden, unlockable.
-Music mainly by Cold Storage, but also features The Chemical Brothers, Orbital and Leftfield. Music varies for each format, check Wikipedia for info.
-Music CD score available seperatly; “Wipeout: The Music”
-PS1: 30fps NTSC & 25 fps PAL. Supports NegCon for analogue controls. Supports Link cable for LAN play.
-PC: Based on PS1 version, allows texture smoothing on certain 3D cards. 16-bit application, MS-DOS based.
-Saturn: 30fps NTSC & 25 fps PAL, drops often. New crash physics done by the company porting the game, that are slightly more forgiving than the PS1/PC’s “one touch stops your momentum”, but also a little “off” for purists.
-The Designers Republic art design.
-Sold enough to reach the PlayStation Platinum range.
-PS1 game available in a rare PS1 long-box for the US release.
-In the manual of the PS1 release there’s a mention of add-on CD planned. This was never released.
Best way to go retro: PS1, it’s smoothest of the console versions and the although the orginal crash physics are unforgiving, they feel right compared to the game. The WipEout games also look rather nice emualted with a resolution boosted imo thanks to the fairly simple and angled geometry. Preferably play the PS1 version with a NegCon! PC version is probably tricky to get running properly these as it’s a 16-bit based program.
WipEout 2097/XL
Formats: PlayStation (1996), PC (1997), Sega Saturn (1997), Amiga Warp OS (1999) MAC OS (?)
Factoids:
-New, more forgiving physics that allow the ship to scrape against the sides without being completely halted.
-Revamped game progression.
-4 speed classes, 8 racing tracks, 5 ships.
-Music is best and most diverse on PS1 featuring The Prodigy, Fluke, The Chemical Brothers, The Future Sound of London and Cold Storage. Saturn, PC and MAC feature only Cold Storage music.
-Music CD score available seperatly.
-PS1:30fps NTSC & 25 fps PAL. Supports NegCon for analogue controls.Supports Link cable for LAN play.
-Saturn: 30fps NTSC & 25 fps PAL, framedrops consistently and hovers at 20fps. Supports 3D analogue pad, new music tracks, longer draw distance, 2D effects replace 3D ones.
-PC: Longer draw distance like Saturn, retains 3D effects from PS1 (if memory serves me right). 16-bit application, MS-DOS based.
-The Designers Republic art design and Red Bull endorsement with in-game advertising.
-Sold enough to reach the PlayStation Platinum range.
Best way to go retro: Once again the PS1, original or emulated. Preferably play the PS1 version with a NegCon! PC version is again an old and difficult game to get running. Saturn version is just bad.
WipEout 64
Formats: Nintendo 64 (1998)
Factoids:
-30fps NTSC & 25 fps PAL, drops quite a bit. Splitscreen is much lower.
-First WipEout with analogue stick steering and rumble, d-pad is sadly not supported.
-First splitscreen for WipEout and only local game with 4-player.
-Some racing tracks are alterations or mirrored versions of classic WO1 and WO2097 ones, new design and textures though.
-Music features shorter, looped midi versions of songs by bands like Propellerheads and Fluke. Does the work, but feel repetitive compared to the previous games full length CD based songs.
Best way to go retro: Original hardware, preferably a RGB or HDMI modded N64. I’ve seen a lot of nasty artifacts in emulation, though this may be better now.
WipEout 3
Formats: PlayStation (1999)
Factoids:
-30fps NTSC & 25 fps PAL.
-Runs in PS1 “hi-res” mode.
-Sony moneyhats the series to the PlayStation brand for good.
-Has splitscreen for the first time on PS1.
-Supports Link cable for LAN play, cheat code to open the option!
-Supports NegCon and DualShock for analogue controls.
-Music mainly made by DJ Sasha specifically for WO3. Also includes The Chemical Brothers, Orbital and Propellerheads.
-The Designers Republic art design.
-Japanese version is the most recent with bug fixes.
Best way to go retro: You have to go PS1 with this one, original or emulated. Preferably play the most recent updated Japanese version, with a lot of fixes later implemented into the SE version. Plays great with a NegCon! Scales lovely to higher resolution and texture smoothing in emulators thanks to the more subtle colour scheme.
WipEout 3: Special Edition
Formats: PlayStation (2000, PAL only)
Factoids:
-25 fps PAL.
-Runs in PS1 “hi-res” mode.
-Splitscreen.
-Supports Link cable for LAN play, option is now default visible.
-Supports NegCon & DualShock for analogue controls.
-The Designers Republic art design.
Best way to go retro: PS1, original or emulated. Preferably play the PS1 version with a NegCon!
What is this SE business: WO3:SE is basically everything in vanilla WO3, with 8 classic racing tracks selected from WO1 and WO2097 added, enhanced into WO3 graphics. The classic tracks are the real seller her, although they miss some of their unique visual flair when converted to the WO3 engine. I’ve done a comparison of WO1’s Altima VII running on an emulator, check it out on YouTube here!
SE fixes compared to vanilla WipEout 3:
- 8 extra “classic” racing tracks, 3 from WO1 (Altima VII, Terramax, Arridos IV) and 5 from WO2097/XL (Talons’ Reach, Sagarmatha, Phentia Park, Gare D’Europa, Odessa keys)
- 2 tracks from the Japanese version of WO3
- AI bugfixes & enhanced game physics
- Assegai craft upgraded (speed +1) & Icaras craft upgraded (handling +1)
- “Next race” option after gaining a gold
- Auto-load of saved data on game boot-up
- Brighter visibility in tunnels (this a preference thing, but I feel the darker tunnels in vanilla are more “correct” and WipEout-ish)
- Certain “invisible walls” removed
- Larger text size on the menu screens and numeric characters available for player name
- Shadows under AI craft
- Perfect lap indicators (a red “P” next to a lap time)
- Console link-up feature now visible in menues, compared to vanilla’s hidden menu
- NegCon replay bug fixed
- Weapon pads grey-out for a second after use (in W3O you had to judge for yourself if they were active)
- Different system for unlocking the tracks/craft.
- SE asks you to confirm if you want to overwrite your saved game. W3O just goes ahead and overwrites your data
- Slightly enhanced graphics on the four standard prototype tracks
Best way to go retro: Once again the PS1, original or emulated. Preferably play the PS1 version with a NegCon! This is a tricky one for US or JP gamers though, it’s only available in 25fps locked PAL version, the reason I play the whole original trilogy on PS1 in PAL format, to get some continuity to the whole first part of the franchise.
WipEout Fusion
Formats: PlayStation 2 (2002)
Factoids:
-First 60fps (with drops galore) WipEout game.
-50Hz/60Hz toggle for PAL version.
-Splitscreen 2 player.
-Supports NegCon for analogue controls, although the support is badly implemented imo.
Best way to go retro: (just skip this game, lol) PS2, although with some emulation expertise I guess you can get that framerate and resolution improved. Although Fusion supports the NegCon, I do not recommend it; horrible translation to the analogue twist.
WipEout Pure
Formats: PlayStation Portable (2005), PSVita (digital only)
Factoids:
-PSP firmware capped at 30fps, but 333Mhz PSP hack can make it 60fps.
-Music CD score avaialable seperately.
-DLC packs with racing tracks, new ships, music and liveries. These are no longer available for download, but can be found online and transferred to your Vita or to use in an emulator.
Best way to go retro: Emulation on PC gives you a resolution boost and framerate lock to 60fps. PSVita gives you a bilinear filtering and extended colours. DLC can be trabsferred from your PSP to PSVita, but can not be bought on the Vita.
WipEout Pulse
Formats: PlayStation Portable (2007), PlayStation 2 (2009, EU only), PSVita (digital only)
Factoids:
-PSP firmware capped at 30fps, runs 60fps in time trail, but 333Mhz PSP hack can make it 60fps.
-DLC packs with more racings tracks, these are still available for purchase on PSVita.
Best way to go retro: Emulation on PC gives you a resolution boost and framerate lock to 60fps. PSVita gives you a bilinear filtering and extended colours. DLC can be transferred from PSP to PSVita and bought on the PSVita PSN store. WARNING: Steer away from the buggy PS2 version, it has a nasty saving bug that can wipe your memory card. I couldn’t even get it to save most of the times I tried.
WipEout HD + Fury
Formats: PlayStation 3 (2008, Fury: 2009)
Factoids:
-60fps with dynamic resolution up to 1080p. 30fps with dynamic in splitscreen. 720p max in 3D mode.
-Supports 3D TVs.
Best way to go retro: Just buy the Omega Collection on PS4; locked 1080p@60fps.
WipEout 2048
Formats: PlayStation Vita (2012)
Factoids:
-30fps with drops.
-WipEout HD & Fury are available as DLC, these packs drop framerate more consistent.
-Touchscreen and touch backpanel functionality.
Best way to go retro: Just buy the Omega Collection on PS4; up from 30fps with drops to solid 60fps. Lots of texture upgrades and visual enhancements. Very good looking showcase for your Vita if you want to see that the system can do.
WipEout Omega Collection
Formats: PlayStation 4 + Pro (2017)
Factoids:
-60fps@1080p on PS4, 60fps@4K (dynamic, but doesn’t drop) for PS4 Pro.
-Includes remastered versions of WipEout HD, Fury and 2048 in one package.
Best way to go current: Turn off the horrendous motion blur and realise how razor sharp it is! PS4 Pro boosts you up to a solid 60fps@4K.
Sources: WipEout Zone forums, Wikipedia & my head.