Remembering classic games: driving a yellow Ferrari F40 in Round Up 5 (1989)

Now we know what you’re thinking: will I understand Round Up 5: Super Delta Force if I haven’t played the previous four games? Well don’t worry because, not only were there no ‘previous four games’, you’ll definitely understand Round Up 5 if you ever played Chase HQ, which was the game this merrily and shamelessly ripped off.

Round Up 5 did offer its own spin on the formula. For a start, rather than settling for a relatively modest Porsche 928, Round Up 5 opted for a bright yellow Ferrari F40. If you’re not going to pay manufacturer licensing fees anyway, why settle for less?

It also borrowed OutRun’s schtick of splitting the road at the end of each stage, giving you the option of which criminal to pursue next. Given that these locations tended to involve blasting across state lines, it does raise some questions about the jurisdiction in which cops in Ferrari F40s tend to operate.

Round Up 5’s truly unique contribution to the genre, though, was the fact that every end of stage boss was protected by a cadre of robots on motorcycles. To stop the criminal’s car, you first had to ram these androids off their bikes. There was no story explanation as to how this gang had got hold of this sci-fi technology, but we reckon the truth has something to do with how horrifying it would be to watch a supercar scything through the bikes, sending bodies careening in all directions.

Successfully clearing the motorcycle escort and crashing into the target vehicle three times made the suspect surrender by waving a white flag, which they presumably stashed in the footwell. Best of all, two further police F40s then screeched to a halt, demonstrating that whoever was in charge of vehicle procurement absolutely had their priorities straight.