Outlander is an action Vehicular Combat game developed by Mindscape and released for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo in 1992 and 1993, respectively. The game was originally under development as a video game tie-in for Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, following Mindscape's 1990 Mad Max tie-in on the NES. The loss of the Mad Max license late into the game's development led to a change in title and the removal of most references to Mad Max, making this a Mad Max game in all but name.
The game's story, as laid out in the manual, takes place over a century after a devastating nuclear war. Most of the world is now a barren and dangerous desert, the oceans are slowly beginning to freeze over, and fresh drinking water has become a rare and highly sought-after commodity. The good news is that a brilliant scientist, Dr. Beaumont, has unlocked the secrets to synthesizing fresh water, thus potentially ending the water crisis. The bad news is that, while flying around the world to share his knowledge, his plane is shot down over Australia, and the good doctor has been taken hostage by raiders led by the devious Duster, who hopes to keep Beaumont's secrets for himself and hold the world's last supply of fresh water for ransom. Enter the Outlander — that's you — a mercenary and native of the Australian wasteland, hired by the United Nations to rescue Dr. Beaumont and deal with Duster once and for all.
Not to be confused with the novel, TV series, film, or fanfic of the same name. See also Mad Max (2015), an official Mad Max video game.
Tropes
- After the End: It's 108 years after the last nuclear war royally screwed the planet up.
- Bottomless Fuel Tanks: Averted. You will need to collect fuel to keep your car running. If you run out, you'll need to go on-foot and scrounge for more gas. Making it to a town gives you a chance to scavenge for more fuel than if you had to stop between towns.
- Car Chase Shoot-Out: You can blow away raiders on your flanks with your shotgun, in addition to gunning them down with your car-mounted weapons.
- Car Fu: You can ram your car into some bike-mounted enemies. Attempting this on enemies riding jeeps and trucks isn't as effective and more likely to damage your car.
- Cool Car: Your car is outfitted with front-mounted machine guns, and can be upgraded with rocket launchers.
- Cool Shades: The Outlander wears sunglasses in the SNES version of the game.
- Flying Mook: After a while, enemies will start coming at you in gyrocopters dropping bombs. You will need surface-to-air missiles in order to take them out.
- Gainax Ending: After killing Duster, you find Dr. Beaumont. Unfortunately, he's gone mad from the stress of his captivity. The game ends with the Outlander taking Beaumont home, with no mention of what has happened to his knowledge of water synthesis.
- Health Meter: Your on-foot and in-vehicle health is shared. While the health meter looks the same for both segments in the SNES version, the Genesis version has your in-vehicle health displayed on a small gauge to the right of your steering wheel. If you run out of health on-foot, the Game Over screen simply shows a desert road; while if you run out of health in your vehicle, you're treated to a scene of the Outlander crashing.
- Land Down Under: Just like the film series it was originally meant to be based off of, the game takes place in a post-apocalyptic Australia.
- Power-Up Food: Food and water restore health. Some food, however, may be contaminated with radiation, and eating it will result in lost health. You will need a Geiger counter to know if food is toxic.
