The game was initially suggested by Sega's distributor in Brazil, Tec Toy, but developed by Sega in Japan. The game's development was also assisted by Senna, who personally supplied his own advice about the tracks featured in the game. Reception to Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II was mixed to positive, with reviewers praising the gameplay and the graphics but criticizing too few changes from Super Monaco GP.
Gameplay
A typical in-game screenshot. The player is racing a car from the driver's seat, while a rear view is above, a tachometer is to the left, and a map is to the right.
Based on Formula One,[2]Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II features 19 race tracks: unnamed recreations of the tracks in the 1991 Formula One World Championship, and three fantasy tracks in the Senna GP mode.[3] Players take control of a race car from the driver's seat view, with a rear view at the screen top. The display also includes a map, tachometer, and speedometer. Six individual save slots are included to save games.[4]
In the game's World Championship mode, players have a choice of Beginner or Master difficulty. In addition to the difficulty of the competition, Beginner races take three laps while Master races take six.[3] Each season takes place over sixteen races, in which the player races against fifteen computer-controlled opponents. Players can also enter their name and nationality when starting the mode.[4] Before a race, players can choose their car's transmission: automatic, 4-speed semi-automatic, or 7-speed manual. While automatics are easier to control, manuals provide greater speed.[5] Players must qualify before each race or else start in 12th place.[3] Additionally, the Senna GP mode features races on three tracks, completion of which will earn the player an Ayrton Senna Super License.[3] A Free Practice mode is also available.[4]
Development
The initial pitch for Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II came from Tec Toy, Sega's distributor in Brazil. Tectoy approached Sega with the concept of developing a game starring Brazilian F1 driver Ayrton Senna,[6] who was the 1988, 1990, and 1991 World Champion.[7] Sega executive vice president Shoichiro Irimajiri personally knew Senna, having previously been an executive at Honda with its F1 division, the engine provider for Senna's team at McLaren, under his oversight. As development of the game began, Senna was personally involved in providing direction for the game and ensured he saw to changes he suggested.[6] Among Senna's suggestions was a lack of speed reduction when driving over stripes in the corners, which the first game had done.[8] A visit Senna made to Sega's Japanese headquarters shortly before the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix resulted in a three and a half hour visit, with developers flocking to meet with him. Senna also recorded voice segments commenting on each of the F1 tracks in the game, except for still under construction Circuit de Catalunya, which had not opened at the time. Segments about that circuit were recorded after the Gran Premio Tío Pepe de España, which opened the circuit to major competition.[6]
The game was announced in Japan by October 1991.[9]Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II was released on July 17, 1992 in Japan,[10] August in PAL regions,[11] and September in North America.[5] For an article in their magazine, Mega Drive Advanced Gaming had F1 racing driver Johnny Herbert play the game.[12] In 1994, an article in Computer and Video Games called the game "easily the biggest selling driving game for the Mega Drive".[13]
GamePro praised the speed of the Genesis version and highlighted its improvements in graphics and sound over Super Monaco GP.[5]Player One gave the Mega Drive version a positive review, but posed that owners of the first game would have difficulty understanding why to purchase the sequel.[18] Two reviewers for Mean Machines praised the game as being one of the best racing games on the console but as too similar to Super Monaco GP;[19] the same sentiment was echoed by Tim Boone of Computer and Video Games.[20] Vince Matthews of Game Players was critical of the lack of improvements compared to the original game, focused mainly on control pad issues.[21] In reviewing the game for Hobby Consolas, Giancarlo Vialli gave high praise for the game's improvements over the original, but found the lack of setup adjustments that were present in the first game as a negative.[2]Mega placed the game at #5 in their "Top Mega Drive Games of All Time".[22]
In reviewing the Master System version, German magazine VideoGames gave praise to the game's controls while also critical of the lack of perception of speed.[23] Reviews for Player One and Sega Power shared the same criticism of the Master System version.[24][25] For the Game Gear version, German magazine Power Play praised the improvement of the graphics over the first game.[26] In 2017, GamesRadar+ ranked the game 25th in their "Best Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games of all time".[27]
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