When Senna and Mansell dueled in video games

In the last column, we talked about the tributes paid to drivers like Ayrton Senna, Ken Block, Colin McRae and Michael Schumacher in games. And pulling my memory back to the year 1992, when several games about Formula 1 were released, each one signed by a driver.

Quite different from current F1 games, which have updated teams, drivers, layouts and sponsors, at that time everything was a bit shabby. That’s because licensing and image rights were still in their infancy.

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Thus, the Formula 1 games of that time had a driver on the cover and appear in some of the internal art. Interest in racing games was directly related to the popularity of Ayrton Senna, especially among the Japanese.

Beco was (and still is) idolized there. And it was no wonder, between 1988 and 1991, Senna and Prost starred in duels that earned titles at the Japanese GP, in Suzuka.

And the games industry saw that it could take advantage of the interest in the category, but instead of generic games, take a bit of Formula 1 to the TV room, with the stars signing the games. Check out some of these games.

Ayrton Senna

After winning two consecutive championships, three-time champion Ayrton Senna was the face of Formula 1. Adored by the Japanese, Sega saw the opportunity to make money with the pilot’s image.

The console manufacturer and game producer wanted at all costs to prove that the Mega Drive could compete against the Super Nintendo. And it needed a strong name. Senna was perfect as he was loved in Japan, a true hero.

She invited the pilot to sign the continuation of “Super Monaco GP”, a game that was born in arcades, but gained popularity in the Mega Drive. On July 17, 1992, Sega released “Ayrton Senna’s Super Monaco GP II”.

The game reproduced the 1991 championship, with layouts very close to the circuits on the calendar. The game even had different challenge modes and Senna’s appearances were limited to photos of the pilot and brief animations.

The game was a great marketing move and helped to bond Sega with the competition. Sonic became a poster child in the category, with the right to the 1993 European GP trophy, won by Senna, and even his image stamped on the fairing of Nigel Mansell’s Williams.

Nigell Mansell

If Senna was the driver of the Mega Drive, Nigel Mansell became the driver of the Super Nintendo. In 1992, Gremlin Graphics released “Nigel Mansell’s World Championship Racing” for Amiga and Super NES.

The game also reproduced the circus of Formula 1, as in “Super Monaco”. It even had a cockpit view. The game had a hint of carbon from the Sega game, but excelled in the great visual quality. The game still featured drivers and circuits of the season.

But what raised the morale of the game were not its technical requirements, but what Leão did on the tracks. Mansell won the world championship that year. The Englishman had an impeccable season, with his Williams equipped with the famous active suspension.

Aguri Suzuki

The career of the Japanese Aguri Suzuki, in Formula 1, was reduced to a single and simple podium, in a total of 65 starts. But not really, he had his story thrown into a puddle of oil in the pits.

On July 14, 1992, Genki finished “Aguri Suzuki F-1 Super Driving”, with editions for Super Nintendo and Game Boy. Unlike the Senna and Mansell games, the view was external, as in the 1980s racing games.

The game featured cars with the colors of the single-seaters of the time and drew attention to the difficulty. Keeping the car on the track and holding the corners required a lot of practice.

Satoru Nakajima

In addition to Senna and Mansell, another Japanese driver who was also unsuccessful in Formula 1, but won his games was Satoru Nakajima. Published in 1992, “Nakajima Satoru Kanshū: Super F1 Hero” was released for the Super Nintendo.

This game looked for realistic elements, with car adjustments (which were inspired by the formulas of the time), a series of options and resources that promised a sophisticated game.

But the game sinned bizinho at the time of release. The game had imprecise commands and rudimentary visuals. Keeping control of the car was also impractical. Elements that made it a game inferior to the others of its generation.

If “F1 Super Hero” was bad, worse was “Nakajima Satoru Kanshū F1 Super License”, published for Mega Drive, in December of that year. With a Top View view, it was a game below criticism.

With each race, the player received “valuable” instructions from old Naka. This explains a lot, after all, what’s the use of advice from those who have never seen a podium after 65 starts? I wish they were tips from Ayrton Senna or Leão!