Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat (NES)

Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat

Platform: NES Year: 1992 Developer: Rare Coin-It, Inc.

For other games in the series, see Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat.

Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat is a top-down racing game originally developed and published by Leland Corporation and Tradewest as an arcade game, before arriving to the NES just a year later, courtesy of England-based Rare. It can be considered the "sister" game to Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road, as both games were made by the same companies and feature identical gameplay.

The player starts out selecting the player's avatar. Then, they can purchase certain upgrades to their car. If the player is unsure of what to get, the player can select the Danny's Choice option, which will buy the recommended upgrades. Upon winning races, the player can earn prize money to buy more upgrades.

There are nine tracks in total, as opposed to the arcade version's fourteen. The missing tracks are Phoenix, Brooklyn, Lexington, Elkhart Lake, and Monterey. In addition, while the NES version received Danny's endorsement, it did not receive endorsement from some of the speedways, and so the tracks have been renamed; Vancouver is W. Canada, Indianapolis is Tradewest Speedbowl, Detroit is Michigan, Pocono is Illinois, Meadowlands is New Jersey, Toronto is E. Canada, and Denver was renamed to Colorado.

Like the original arcade games, there are five racers total, with up to three human players being able to play. In the NES version, this is done via the NES Satellite or Fourscore adapters, whereas in the arcade version, three people had to huddle around the cabinet to play.

The NES version of the game received mostly positive reviews from critics. Despite the limitations of the NES, it manages to be quite a faithful port of the arcade original; most of the graphics and music are still present, and the game controls well, too. The only drawback is, like in the arcade version, Danny Sullivan (yellow car) drives very fast and aggressively, making for quite a challenge.

The game also has an interesting feature; if an opponent goes into the pit stop, the player can slam into the back of the opponent's car to force them back onto the track with their car weakened. In addition, any pit crew members who were hit will have a chalk outline.

Screenshots

The title screen. The shop screen where upgrades can be purchased. South California. Michigan. East Canada. I win!

Music

Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat has a nice soundtrack, taken from its arcade counterpart. Most of the music consists of hard rock with some country elements thrown in; fitting considering the theme of the game. Each track has its own theme, which is nice to hear something new when a new track is raced on. In addition, each song is fast-paced to get the player immersed in the action of the game.

The original arcade game was scored by Sam Powell, and was adapted to the NES by David Wise. According to Wise, for Super Off Road, he received transcriptions of the game's score, and so it's possible the same scenario was done in this game. Powell wrote his music on Master Tracks for the Macintosh, which was converted to Leland's sound driver by Michelle Sorger. Wise had to take a more tedious approach; he wrote the music in a custom MML using hexadecimal numbers for notation. However, by 1992, Wise was well-versed in this method.

The tracks Race Over and Unused appear to be exclusive to the NES version, and were most likely written by Wise himself, but verification should be made. In the original arcade version, there was no jingle when a race was over. The unused song may have been intended as a game over theme, or an alternate victory theme, but it doesn't seem to be called in the game.

The PAL version is a little different from the North American release; some of the instrument designs were altered, and a couple songs play at different tempos. Other than that, the songs remain identical, except of course for the 2A07 of the PAL NES playing a half-step flat. Though the game was developed in England, a country that used the PAL format, Wise most likely intended the NTSC version to be the correct version, as it matches the key of each song in the arcade version.

Recording

1. - NTSC (USA)
2. - PAL (Italy)

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
101	Title Screen	Sam Powell	David Wise	2:37		Download
102	Shop	Sam Powell	David Wise	0:31		Download
103	W. Canada	Sam Powell	David Wise	2:21		Download
104	New Jersey	Sam Powell	David Wise	1:40		Download
105	S. California	Sam Powell	David Wise	2:27		Download
106	Michigan	Sam Powell	David Wise	1:23		Download
107	Illinois	Sam Powell	David Wise	1:37		Download
108	Ohio	Sam Powell	David Wise	1:41		Download
109	E. Canada	Sam Powell	David Wise	2:16		Download
110	Colorado	Sam Powell	David Wise	1:35		Download
111	Tradewest Speedbowl	Sam Powell	David Wise	2:36		Download
112	Race Over	David Wise	David Wise	0:03		Download
113	Winner's Circle	Sam Powell	David Wise	0:16		Download
114	Unused	David Wise	David Wise	0:11		Download

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
201	Title Screen	Sam Powell	David Wise	2:37		Download
202	Shop	Sam Powell	David Wise	0:31		Download
203	W. Canada	Sam Powell	David Wise	2:21		Download
204	New Jersey	Sam Powell	David Wise	1:53		Download
205	S. California	Sam Powell	David Wise	2:27		Download
206	Michigan	Sam Powell	David Wise	1:23		Download
207	Illinois	Sam Powell	David Wise	1:39		Download
208	Ohio	Sam Powell	David Wise	1:41		Download
209	E. Canada	Sam Powell	David Wise	2:16		Download
210	Colorado	Sam Powell	David Wise	1:35		Download
111	Tradewest Speedbowl	Sam Powell	David Wise	2:37		Download
212	Race Over	Unknown	David Wise	0:03		Download
213	Winner's Circle	Sam Powell	David Wise	0:16		Download
214	Unused	Unknown	David Wise	0:11		Download

Credits

• Ripper: MrNorbert1994
• Recorder: Doommaster1994
• Game Credits:
  • Sounds (Uncredited): Sam Powell
  • Sounds (Uncredited): Michelle Sorger credited as Michelle Simon
  • Uncredited Arranger: David Wise
  • Uncredited Programmer: Mark Betteridge credited as Mark.

(Sources: Arcade, NES version's high scores, verification from David Wise; Game lacks credits.)

The original arcade version had an accessible staff roll by simply waiting through the demos. What's interesting is that this same staff screen was programmed for the NES version. However, only the DESIGN TEAM text remains, and no credits are present. This was most likely due to Rare having a no-credits policy at the time, to prevent other companies approaching their staff. However, like a lot of Rare games, many of the developers snuck their names in the high scores. MARK. is among one of these names, and most likely refers to Mark Betteridge, a programmer for Rare at the time. Betteridge had previously been credited in Cobra Triangle and Solar Jetman. Wise also explained Mark reprogrammed Rare's NES driver to expand upon it.

Michelle Sorger is credited in the original arcade version as well, but she explained that Sam composed all of the music while she was the game's sound programmer.

Game Rip

Format	Download

Audio Devices

The game uses the 2A03 of the NES. It uses Rare's sound driver.

Releases

USA Title: Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat Platform: NES Released: 1992-08-?? Publisher: Tradewest     Italy Title: Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat Platform: NES Released: 1992-??-?? Publisher: Tradewest Sports

Links

• gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/587357-danny-sullivans-indy-heat - GameFAQs.
• mobygames.com/game/nes/danny-sullivans-indy-heat - MobyGames.