The player assumes the role of a police officer named Tony Gibson, member of the "Chase Special Investigation Department".

Along with his partner, Raymond Broady, he must stop fleeing criminals in high-speed pursuits in a black Porsche 928.

was ported to many home computers by Ocean Software in 1989, including versions for the ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, MSX, Amiga and Atari ST. Taito produced versions for the Family Computer (1989), Game Boy (1990), Master System (1990), TurboGrafx-16 (1990), Game Gear (1991), and Saturn (1996).

At the start of each level the player is informed who they are pursuing, a great distance away: They must apprehend the criminal before their time limit expires.

Although superficially similar in technology to Sega's Out Run, Chase HQ features significant technical advancements over that title in the presentation of perspective, hills and track splits.

In December 1990, the game was included on the Wheels Of Fire compilation, which also featured Hard Drivin, Power Drift and Turbo OutRun on the Commodore 64.

In June 1991, the game was released on the Power Up compilation, which also featured also on the C64 Altered Beast, Turrican, Rainbow Islands and X-Out.

In 1996, Taito released an emulation of the arcade original for the Sega Saturn in Japan, bundled together with Special Criminal Investigation on one disc.

The game play deviates from the traditional third-person driving and is instead a side scrolling type shooter.

[50] The ZX Spectrum version of the game was later number 2 on the UK sales charts in early 1990, behind Rainbow Islands.

They concluded that it is "fast and challenging with great graphics" and "good clear sound effects" and is "definitely a winner".

[1] ACE said that the "Out Run theme keeps being expanded and presented in different ways" like Power Drift but considered Chase HQ better than the former.

[52] According to Arcade History, it "was arguably the first sprite-scaled racer since" Out Run "to truly capture the gaming public's imagination".

The 16-bit Amiga and Atari ST versions received positive reviews, while the 8-bit ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC conversions received high review scores and are generally recognised as the most accurate and most playable of the Ocean Software home computer releases.

[29] At Japan's 1989 Gamest Awards [ja], the arcade version was nominated for Hit Game of the Year, for which it was voted 10th place.

[54] The Spectrum version was voted number 1 in the Your Sinclair poll of Readers' Top 100 Games of All Time in 1993.

Robert Gray from Dumfriesshire, Scotland holds the official MAME world record with a score of 11,490,280 points achieved on 13 June 2010.

It also earned two spin-offs - the run and gun Crime City, and the quiz game Quiz H.Q..[citation needed] Special Criminal Investigation expands on the original with the addition of guns - the passenger can rise out of the T-top of his Nissan 300ZX Z32 and shoot at oncoming targets.

Deviating from the relatively realistic tracks on offer in the original, the sequel features pursuits through waterfalls and unfinished sections of elevated highway.

- An Urgent Call From Nancy) was presented at the Arcade Operator's Union (AOU) trade show in Tokyo.