Power Drift

Power Drift
Japanese arcade flyer
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Yu Suzuki
Producer(s)Yu Suzuki
Designer(s)Yu Suzuki
Composer(s)Hiroshi Kawaguchi
Platform(s)Arcade, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Dreamcast, MS-DOS, MSX, PC Engine, Saturn, ZX Spectrum, Nintendo 3DS
Release
August 5, 1988
  • Arcade
    • JP: August 5, 1988
    • NA: August 1988
    • EU: September 1988
    Amiga, C64, CPC, DOS, MSX, ST, ZX
    PC Engine
    • JP: April 13, 1990
    Saturn
    • JP: February 26, 1998
Genre(s)Kart racing
Mode(s)Single-player
Arcade systemSega Y Board

Power Drift (パワードリフト, Pawā Dorifuto) is a kart racing game released in arcades by Sega in 1988. More technologically advanced than Sega's earlier 2.5D racing games, like Hang-On (1985) and Out Run (1986), in Power Drift the entire world and track consist of sprites. The upgraded hardware of the Sega Y Board allows individual sprites and the background to be rotated—even while being scaled—making the visuals more dynamic.

Designed and directed by Yu Suzuki, the game was a critical and commercial success upon release in arcades. It was subsequently ported to various home computers in Europe by Activision in 1989, followed by a PC Engine port published in Japan by Asmik Ace in 1990. It was not released on Sega consoles until the Sega Ages release for the Sega Saturn in 1998.