The Sega Master System version of Taito‘s classic Chase HQ was first released in 1991, and it is a relatively poor approximation of the ground-breaking arcade game.

The road movement is basic; it doesn’t contain any undulations (hills or dips), and can snake erratically at times.

One thing I didn’t ‘get’ about this port were the boxes and barrels that appear randomly in the road, which – when you drive into them – are ejected off the side of the road, but don’t appear to do any damage or slow you down. I just didn’t see the point in them. Crashing into other vehicles will slow you down, however, so must be avoided if at all possible.

My first couple of times playing, I wasn’t able to reach the first checkpoint without running out of time, which meant that turbos were required to do that. You get three turbo boosts per level (and can buy more). Running out of time means that the game ends, but you are given three continues to carry on from the place where you ran out of time.

Reaching the target car requires multiple bumps to make it stop. A damage meter on the bottom panel shows how close you are to stopping it, and it will burst into flames when you hit it enough times.

In-between levels, you can spend the money you earned capturing the previous felons on upgrades for the car. You can add a ‘bumper’, better tyres, an extra turbo boost, oil (surely the car has oil by default? The game must mean better oil than standard…), and a super-charger (although the price of this is ridiculously high, compared to other upgrades). These upgrades, I found, at least do have an impact on the gameplay, and make stopping the target criminal car much easier.

Chase HQ on the Master System is fast and playable enough, but it does lack dynamism, mainly because the roads are so flat and featureless.

More: Chase HQ on Wikipedia