For once, I'm entering a review with zero idea of what final score I'll give the game. Sonic R's flaws and oddities have been dissected like an open book, not that identifying them takes much work: the controls are slippery and weird for an on-foot racer, the course design is surprisingly labyrinthine, made worse by how the game makes use of tank-like turning, there's an embarrassing lack of content compared to other racing games, and the soundtrack is definitely love-it-or-hate-it.
If you walked up to me and told me that you dropped the game immediately over each one of these points, I'd definitely see where you're coming from. This isn't my first playthrough - I've already been somewhat acclimated, even though my last playthrough was probably a decade ago at this point (oh no, how the time has flown).
Sonic R is clearly not perfect, and I'm not going to even attempt to make a case that it's anything but absolute 90's jank. But I'm the kind of person who adores Super Mario 64, and defends Super Mario Sunshine, games with their fair share of jank that people these days find themselves split on.
And you know what? If you're willing to give this game a chance to speak for itself, I think it's possible you could see like I do how much of its oddities can be charming.
You might call me crazy for attempting to defend the loose, imprecise controls (especially considering both Sonic's reputation up to this point as a series with immaculate control, and my love for Super Mario 64), and honestly, you should. But... hear me out, if you will - and I assume you will if you've gotten this far into this review.
Like I mentioned earlier, Sonic R is extremely thin on content. With only four initial courses, one unlockable course and six unlockable characters that either have overly pathetic or overly broken stats, Sonic R would be exhausted in about fifteen minutes if it were structured like any other racing game. But Sonic R sprinkles in collectables within the first four courses: one or two Chaos Emeralds, and five coin... token... Golden Circular Things With Sonic's Face On Them.
But why on earth am I describing game mechanics? Wasn't I supposed to be making a defense for controls that don't deserve defense?
It turns out that in order to actually retain the Chaos Emeralds you collected, you need to finish a race in first place, and in order to challenge (not unlock!) an unlockable character, all five tokens need to be collected within a single race. These two objectives can be done separately, but this means that Sonic R asks for players to demonstrate a grasp on both execution and navigation.
Even if you hypothetically knew where all the Emeralds and tokens were from the start, it's quite possible that you might slip up on getting one your first time because of the controls, and by the time you've circled back to get it, you might have fallen quite behind on the competition. That doesn't mean it's a wasted run, though - by freeing yourself from the thinking that you have to win this race, it opens you to explore the whole map without the pressure of competition. And that's when Hirokazu Yasuhara's mentality of Sonic-like multiple paths shine brightest, turning these places into playgrounds to explore and find details, discovering how to get to a part of level in the distance, figuring out what's the fastest routes for the unlockable character races and... even taking in all the scenery in.
Did I mention Sonic R is a brilliant, impressive game for its time? Its graphics are gorgeous, having fully modeled 3D environments and characters in contrast to Mario Kart 64's rather basic geometry and pre-rendered character sprites. The fog and fade-in is done with excellent taste, allegedly all the more impressive considering that the Saturn had difficulty with effects like fog and transparency.
It's this level of visual fidelity that lets each individual route and the entire vast, open track as a whole breathe. And on the topic of the sheer amount of alternate paths that exist in Sonic R's tracks: you know how Mario Kart 64 doesn't show you racer positions in Yoshi Valley because the game can't actually determine it alongside gameplay? Sonic R manages to pull it off with every single track, while still keeping the visuals pristine and the gameplay smooth.
And no review about Sonic R and letting it speak to you would be complete without a mention of the music. Super Sonic Racing, Can You Feel The Sunshine and Living In The City are simply anthemic - there's no way denying that.
Funnily enough, I started this playthrough with the vocals disabled, only to get this nagging feeling that something was missing. Upon switching the vocals back on, I found myself singing along to the three songs above, and even to bits and pieces of Back In Time and Work It Out that found themselves lodged in my brain.
(I should note that I initially wanted to include a section of why I think Can You Feel The Sunshine is great, actually, but it basically ended up turning into a script for a video essay. I'll link it here if I ever complete it!)
For one short, janky mess of a game, all this adds up to something that's honestly really fun to complete, to go back to tracks multiple times to find and unlock everything. What Sonic R doesn't have in breadth, it offers in depth - it only makes me wish it wasn't as horribly rushed as it was because of the Saturn's lifespan.
...Wow. All this sounds like I love Sonic R to death. To be clear, I don't - I haven't played this game in a decade for a reason, and I probably won't play it again for another decade for those same reasons.
But the more I think about it, the more I feel like Sonic R is a classic example of my video game hypothesis that feels all the more relevant with each passing day:
That a key factor that's essential for games to remain interesting over time... might be a little bit of jank.
If you walked up to me and told me that you dropped the game immediately over each one of these points, I'd definitely see where you're coming from. This isn't my first playthrough - I've already been somewhat acclimated, even though my last playthrough was probably a decade ago at this point (oh no, how the time has flown).
Sonic R is clearly not perfect, and I'm not going to even attempt to make a case that it's anything but absolute 90's jank. But I'm the kind of person who adores Super Mario 64, and defends Super Mario Sunshine, games with their fair share of jank that people these days find themselves split on.
And you know what? If you're willing to give this game a chance to speak for itself, I think it's possible you could see like I do how much of its oddities can be charming.
You might call me crazy for attempting to defend the loose, imprecise controls (especially considering both Sonic's reputation up to this point as a series with immaculate control, and my love for Super Mario 64), and honestly, you should. But... hear me out, if you will - and I assume you will if you've gotten this far into this review.
Like I mentioned earlier, Sonic R is extremely thin on content. With only four initial courses, one unlockable course and six unlockable characters that either have overly pathetic or overly broken stats, Sonic R would be exhausted in about fifteen minutes if it were structured like any other racing game. But Sonic R sprinkles in collectables within the first four courses: one or two Chaos Emeralds, and five coin... token... Golden Circular Things With Sonic's Face On Them.
But why on earth am I describing game mechanics? Wasn't I supposed to be making a defense for controls that don't deserve defense?
It turns out that in order to actually retain the Chaos Emeralds you collected, you need to finish a race in first place, and in order to challenge (not unlock!) an unlockable character, all five tokens need to be collected within a single race. These two objectives can be done separately, but this means that Sonic R asks for players to demonstrate a grasp on both execution and navigation.
Even if you hypothetically knew where all the Emeralds and tokens were from the start, it's quite possible that you might slip up on getting one your first time because of the controls, and by the time you've circled back to get it, you might have fallen quite behind on the competition. That doesn't mean it's a wasted run, though - by freeing yourself from the thinking that you have to win this race, it opens you to explore the whole map without the pressure of competition. And that's when Hirokazu Yasuhara's mentality of Sonic-like multiple paths shine brightest, turning these places into playgrounds to explore and find details, discovering how to get to a part of level in the distance, figuring out what's the fastest routes for the unlockable character races and... even taking in all the scenery in.
Did I mention Sonic R is a brilliant, impressive game for its time? Its graphics are gorgeous, having fully modeled 3D environments and characters in contrast to Mario Kart 64's rather basic geometry and pre-rendered character sprites. The fog and fade-in is done with excellent taste, allegedly all the more impressive considering that the Saturn had difficulty with effects like fog and transparency.
It's this level of visual fidelity that lets each individual route and the entire vast, open track as a whole breathe. And on the topic of the sheer amount of alternate paths that exist in Sonic R's tracks: you know how Mario Kart 64 doesn't show you racer positions in Yoshi Valley because the game can't actually determine it alongside gameplay? Sonic R manages to pull it off with every single track, while still keeping the visuals pristine and the gameplay smooth.
And no review about Sonic R and letting it speak to you would be complete without a mention of the music. Super Sonic Racing, Can You Feel The Sunshine and Living In The City are simply anthemic - there's no way denying that.
Funnily enough, I started this playthrough with the vocals disabled, only to get this nagging feeling that something was missing. Upon switching the vocals back on, I found myself singing along to the three songs above, and even to bits and pieces of Back In Time and Work It Out that found themselves lodged in my brain.
(I should note that I initially wanted to include a section of why I think Can You Feel The Sunshine is great, actually, but it basically ended up turning into a script for a video essay. I'll link it here if I ever complete it!)
For one short, janky mess of a game, all this adds up to something that's honestly really fun to complete, to go back to tracks multiple times to find and unlock everything. What Sonic R doesn't have in breadth, it offers in depth - it only makes me wish it wasn't as horribly rushed as it was because of the Saturn's lifespan.
...Wow. All this sounds like I love Sonic R to death. To be clear, I don't - I haven't played this game in a decade for a reason, and I probably won't play it again for another decade for those same reasons.
But the more I think about it, the more I feel like Sonic R is a classic example of my video game hypothesis that feels all the more relevant with each passing day:
That a key factor that's essential for games to remain interesting over time... might be a little bit of jank.
Played as part of the Sonic Gems Collection for the GameCube.
I played and reviewed the Sega Saturn version of Sonic R less than a week ago and did not anticipate logging it twice in such a short span of time, but what started as a jog through a couple of courses in the Sonic Gems version of the game became a full playthrough, and I must abide by the accord to review every game I play or else the people under the floor will steal my soul as I sleep.
It's been almost twenty years since I played the PC version of Sonic R, so prior to playing the Saturn release (and buying a wholeass reproduction copy) I was unaware that the PC edition made significant improvements to handling. Given that was my chief complaint and that I very arbitrarily set the expectation that I play a bit of everything before logging Sonic Gems, which uses the PC version, I figured I was obligated to jump in and check it out. And, yeah, it's definitely improved. I was expecting it to be very minor overall, but it's like playing a totally different game. The graphics are also a lot sharper and the added weather effects and time of day feature really adds to the presentation.
In the comments of my previous review, I mentioned being unable to beat Metal Sonic without first unlocking Super Sonic. The sloppy controls coupled with the unforgiving AI made it a cheap race that I could only clear through cheating, but I am happy to say that the improved handling in the PC version allowed me to beat Metal on the game's terms using regular Sonic. I think that's pretty significant! I also would not say it's so much of an improvement that it turns Sonic R into this incredible racing game that everyone is missing out on, but I did end up actually having fun with it the second time around and I think that's worth something.
If you get it into your head to play Sonic R, I'd suggest abandoning that thought and playing something exceptional like Ridge Racer Type 4 or Daytona USA and just like, imagining really really hard that your car is Sonic or whatever. If you're still so deadset, then for the love of god skip the Saturn version and find an iso of Sonic Gems Collection to play instead.
I played and reviewed the Sega Saturn version of Sonic R less than a week ago and did not anticipate logging it twice in such a short span of time, but what started as a jog through a couple of courses in the Sonic Gems version of the game became a full playthrough, and I must abide by the accord to review every game I play or else the people under the floor will steal my soul as I sleep.
It's been almost twenty years since I played the PC version of Sonic R, so prior to playing the Saturn release (and buying a wholeass reproduction copy) I was unaware that the PC edition made significant improvements to handling. Given that was my chief complaint and that I very arbitrarily set the expectation that I play a bit of everything before logging Sonic Gems, which uses the PC version, I figured I was obligated to jump in and check it out. And, yeah, it's definitely improved. I was expecting it to be very minor overall, but it's like playing a totally different game. The graphics are also a lot sharper and the added weather effects and time of day feature really adds to the presentation.
In the comments of my previous review, I mentioned being unable to beat Metal Sonic without first unlocking Super Sonic. The sloppy controls coupled with the unforgiving AI made it a cheap race that I could only clear through cheating, but I am happy to say that the improved handling in the PC version allowed me to beat Metal on the game's terms using regular Sonic. I think that's pretty significant! I also would not say it's so much of an improvement that it turns Sonic R into this incredible racing game that everyone is missing out on, but I did end up actually having fun with it the second time around and I think that's worth something.
If you get it into your head to play Sonic R, I'd suggest abandoning that thought and playing something exceptional like Ridge Racer Type 4 or Daytona USA and just like, imagining really really hard that your car is Sonic or whatever. If you're still so deadset, then for the love of god skip the Saturn version and find an iso of Sonic Gems Collection to play instead.
I don't care what people say. Game's butt, yeah, but this game hits pretty much every vibe with its spiky polygon models and especially its music. Besides, everything in this game being broken makes it really fun to break all the tracks and I enjoy the challenge.
The OST is so good I fucking rated each song lol
The OST is so good I fucking rated each song lol
Eu me forcei a gostar desse jogo, principalmente porque a trilha sonora é INCRÍVEL. A ideia é genial, até porque, penso que não faz sentido o Sonic dirigir carros nos jogos atuais kkk.
Porém MEU AMIGO, que controles bizonhamente ruins. Sei que é um jogo 3D dos anos 90, mas fazer uma curva nas fases beira a insanidade (pelo jeito precisa ter um Bacharelado em Geometria para isso).
E os personagens são os mais desbalanceados que já vi na história dos jogos, é impossível ganhar algo com a Amy/Eggman, enquanto o Knuckles consegue cortar metade do percurso voando por aí.
Basicamente: conceito genial, execução imbecil. Mas muito, muito charmoso.
Porém MEU AMIGO, que controles bizonhamente ruins. Sei que é um jogo 3D dos anos 90, mas fazer uma curva nas fases beira a insanidade (pelo jeito precisa ter um Bacharelado em Geometria para isso).
E os personagens são os mais desbalanceados que já vi na história dos jogos, é impossível ganhar algo com a Amy/Eggman, enquanto o Knuckles consegue cortar metade do percurso voando por aí.
Basicamente: conceito genial, execução imbecil. Mas muito, muito charmoso.
I wish there were more on-foot racing games, this concept can work well...but as it stands, Sonic R is okay yet cutesy.
one of the greatest soundtracks SEGA has ever cooked up
If you don't close the game using Task Manager, it keeps playing Super Sonic Racing in the background.
I need to make love to someone with this ost in the background.
it's weird that sonic r is probably one of the games in the sonic franchise i have the most history with, and one of the ones i probably in turn have the most to talk about. being that i was really fascinated as a kid by the bizarre outliers in franchises i was growing up with - as i've noted in the past for instance, i've always had a fascination with super mario bros. 2 - it made perfect sense that one of the first games i'd buy for myself was sonic gems collection. sonic cd was a longstanding gap in my collection of the other genesis titles, sonic the fighters seemed interesting enough with its wide cast of literally-who's, and then there was sonic r...
i've made no secret of the internet being a readily available and immediately influential piece of my culture and specifically my gaming journey, so yes, let's get this out of the way - my first exposure to sonic r even existing was the 'tails doll curse' creepypasta. ultimately, for what it's worth, that was the lasting legacy of this game... for better or worse (mostly worse) but i remember fondly calling my best friend over the landline at 9, 10 years old - he much less world-exposed than i (sort of the tails to my sonic if you will) and leading him through old tails from the crypt stories (basically a weebly site dedicated to hosting stories about the tails doll) and practically hearing him cower in novice fear on the other end. how i've kept his friendship for like 15 years boggles me, too, reader.
anyhow, i got my copy of sonic gems collection, and i admit even now recalling a level of unease to the whole thing. something about the bizarre music to the english release of sonic cd, the spacey, ambient menus and accompanying theme, this sort of... emptiness to the whole experience, that's the place sonic gems collection still occupies in my mind. i like it that way. i like how weird and almost taboo the concept felt at an impressionable age like that - these were the sonic games lost to time, that you weren't supposed to get... something like that. 9 year olds are creative like that. interestingly, i ended up sinking a lot more time into sonic r than one might expect, especially considering that review score (but didn't i tell you not to take my scores all that seriously? ;) ) and it's a game i hold pretty fondly.
sonic r is a pretty unique concept - something of a platformer-racer hybrid where you need to explore the courses as you would a sonic title, grab character coins and chaos emeralds along the way and use them to unlock characters and eventually, the final stage. i'll get my criticisms out of the way first, because i'd really like to spend more time enjoying this game.
it controls terribly, there's basically no cohesion to anyone's flow of movement. but even if there was, the stages expect you to deliberately go out of your way to stop progressing, take completely opposite directions, narrowly grab the coins/emeralds, and then still manage top 3/first place respectively. collecting the goods is counterintuitive to winning the race. it doesn't work, but that isn't due to a flawed concept, it's flawed execution, namely in controls and stage layout. the character roster is absurdly unbalanced - amy rose, eggman, and egg-robo are all legitimately useless and once you unlock super sonic basically any competition besides maybe like metal knuckles is null. the amount of content here is pitiful, especially when compared to contemporaries of the era like mario kart 64 or crash team racing. only five stages means that if you're not going for the collectables, you'll beat the game in maybe a half hour with only a time attack and objective-catcher mode to really show for it.
let's move on. aesthetically, this is everything i'd want out of a sonic racer - i love the look of the saturn-era designs, i love the course concepts which feel ripped directly out of the sonic games of the era, i love the sound effects, i love the idea of alternating times of day and weather... and sonic r not only boasts one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time, but genuinely my favorite dance album of all time - and that i come from a musical background first and foremost means that's particularly praiseworthy. i'd seriously love a live house, almost underworld-ish recorded performance of this soundtrack, maybe borrowing from later drum n bass style soundtracks like the fifth/sixth gen ridge racers.
sonic r is a game i attest to caring about and one i do ultimately recall fondly, even knowing it's a poorly designed and frustrating game. it's got vibes and it charmed me at a young age, both through the innocent era of creepypasta that brought me to it and its own merits of goofy late-90s charisma. i hear tails doll's in that friday night funkin game now or something? good for the kids. let them take the reigns and creep each other out or something. godspeed.
i've made no secret of the internet being a readily available and immediately influential piece of my culture and specifically my gaming journey, so yes, let's get this out of the way - my first exposure to sonic r even existing was the 'tails doll curse' creepypasta. ultimately, for what it's worth, that was the lasting legacy of this game... for better or worse (mostly worse) but i remember fondly calling my best friend over the landline at 9, 10 years old - he much less world-exposed than i (sort of the tails to my sonic if you will) and leading him through old tails from the crypt stories (basically a weebly site dedicated to hosting stories about the tails doll) and practically hearing him cower in novice fear on the other end. how i've kept his friendship for like 15 years boggles me, too, reader.
anyhow, i got my copy of sonic gems collection, and i admit even now recalling a level of unease to the whole thing. something about the bizarre music to the english release of sonic cd, the spacey, ambient menus and accompanying theme, this sort of... emptiness to the whole experience, that's the place sonic gems collection still occupies in my mind. i like it that way. i like how weird and almost taboo the concept felt at an impressionable age like that - these were the sonic games lost to time, that you weren't supposed to get... something like that. 9 year olds are creative like that. interestingly, i ended up sinking a lot more time into sonic r than one might expect, especially considering that review score (but didn't i tell you not to take my scores all that seriously? ;) ) and it's a game i hold pretty fondly.
sonic r is a pretty unique concept - something of a platformer-racer hybrid where you need to explore the courses as you would a sonic title, grab character coins and chaos emeralds along the way and use them to unlock characters and eventually, the final stage. i'll get my criticisms out of the way first, because i'd really like to spend more time enjoying this game.
it controls terribly, there's basically no cohesion to anyone's flow of movement. but even if there was, the stages expect you to deliberately go out of your way to stop progressing, take completely opposite directions, narrowly grab the coins/emeralds, and then still manage top 3/first place respectively. collecting the goods is counterintuitive to winning the race. it doesn't work, but that isn't due to a flawed concept, it's flawed execution, namely in controls and stage layout. the character roster is absurdly unbalanced - amy rose, eggman, and egg-robo are all legitimately useless and once you unlock super sonic basically any competition besides maybe like metal knuckles is null. the amount of content here is pitiful, especially when compared to contemporaries of the era like mario kart 64 or crash team racing. only five stages means that if you're not going for the collectables, you'll beat the game in maybe a half hour with only a time attack and objective-catcher mode to really show for it.
let's move on. aesthetically, this is everything i'd want out of a sonic racer - i love the look of the saturn-era designs, i love the course concepts which feel ripped directly out of the sonic games of the era, i love the sound effects, i love the idea of alternating times of day and weather... and sonic r not only boasts one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time, but genuinely my favorite dance album of all time - and that i come from a musical background first and foremost means that's particularly praiseworthy. i'd seriously love a live house, almost underworld-ish recorded performance of this soundtrack, maybe borrowing from later drum n bass style soundtracks like the fifth/sixth gen ridge racers.
sonic r is a game i attest to caring about and one i do ultimately recall fondly, even knowing it's a poorly designed and frustrating game. it's got vibes and it charmed me at a young age, both through the innocent era of creepypasta that brought me to it and its own merits of goofy late-90s charisma. i hear tails doll's in that friday night funkin game now or something? good for the kids. let them take the reigns and creep each other out or something. godspeed.
A lot of the bad reputation this game is most likely due to the fact that the controls make a pretty bad first impression. Even after several races I still had moments where I didn't remember that the shoulder buttons help you turn better, and trying to stop and make a turn in this game is truly patience-testing. But once you get used to the controls, this ends up being a pretty neat game.
I honestly had a lot of fun learning each of the courses in order to find all the coins and chaos emeralds, I like all the different paths and learning the fastest way to navigate all of them. If the controls were a little better and the courses a little less cramped, this could be a racing game I recommend. Not to mention the soundtrack is insanely good. But those previously mentioned problems, along with some course design that makes knowing where to go next occasionally needlessly difficult, hold me back from recommending this to anyone who already isn't a Sonic fan and is looking for a weird but definitely interesting entry in the series history. Also, it was genuinely really fucking cool when I unlocked Super Sonic and raced against all the robot characters I unlocked on Radiant Emerald while Super Sonic Racing was playing.
I honestly had a lot of fun learning each of the courses in order to find all the coins and chaos emeralds, I like all the different paths and learning the fastest way to navigate all of them. If the controls were a little better and the courses a little less cramped, this could be a racing game I recommend. Not to mention the soundtrack is insanely good. But those previously mentioned problems, along with some course design that makes knowing where to go next occasionally needlessly difficult, hold me back from recommending this to anyone who already isn't a Sonic fan and is looking for a weird but definitely interesting entry in the series history. Also, it was genuinely really fucking cool when I unlocked Super Sonic and raced against all the robot characters I unlocked on Radiant Emerald while Super Sonic Racing was playing.
Strangest racing game ever - it's an onfoot racing game and an exploration-based platformer all in one, all topped off and seasoned with some genuinely enjoyable but hilariously cheesy 90's Europop (Diamond In The Sky is legitimately great). It's stiff, it's awkward-feeling, drifting is nonexistent, and the level design is so barebones that it feels like you're jogging through demo stages, but there's something absurdly charming about Sonic R that makes it hard to hate. I will say this: the idea of an on-foot racing game is a terrific idea, one that was just marred with terrible execution by Sonic R. I'd like to see Sonic experiment with this again, but they probably never will. Story of Sonic's life, really - promising ideas that will never get the spit-shine they deserve because of sloppy past performance.
I NEEEVER WAAANNA HEAR YOU SAAY GOOOODBYEEEEE (CUZ YOU'RE MY DIIIAMOND IIIN THE SKYYYYYY)
I NEEEVER WAAANNA HEAR YOU SAAY GOOOODBYEEEEE (CUZ YOU'RE MY DIIIAMOND IIIN THE SKYYYYYY)
Greatest of all time. Zenith of the medium. Hallmark of media. Gold standard of storytelling. Apogee of creativity. Vertex of invention. Crest of ingenuity. Acme of imagination. Pinnacle of innovation. Epic of epics. Legend among legends. Peak fiction.
I'm giving this game a really high rating. Like it's probably less than a 9 more around like a 6, but I just had a lot of fun with it. The vibes and music are immaculate. The frustration to fun factor is perfectly balanced. I love how weird but rewarding the controls are. And like Metal Knuckles is so sick! Like, how can you not like this!
What a legendary clusterfuck of a game. Broken controls, textures that look unfinished, cursed music. Feels like the video game equivalent of "weirdly familiar" liminal images and I kind of love playing it as a result. There's a lot of genuinely great ideas here like all of the characters racing on foot with multiple branching paths (like how 2D sonic levels are designed). It was way too rushed to be executed well but I'd say what we got was a happy accident.
Good luck getting anyone to play multiplayer though lol
Good luck getting anyone to play multiplayer though lol
The tails doll came out of my tv and killed me while can you feel the sunshine was playing.
banger. five stars. love the weather changes, love the music, love the models, love the fucked up unbearable physics. just learn to have some fackin fun mate
I'm gonna say it. All Sonic games should just be racing games. Sega lost the moment they decided to make any non-racing Sonic games. Sure this game isn't amazing by any means but the idea of it is better than I think every other Sonic game I've been exposed to.
This game objectively isn't very great like, at all, but it also objectively has the best video game music ever composed so naturally it is the best game ever made. I'd make a sweep joke but I have a lot of random Sonic games no one cares about that I may play soon so I'll hold off on it for now.
a much better adventure-racing game than people give it credit for but it really suffers from a lack of content
It's not 2010 anymore we can stop pretending Jontron's video was a legitimate review of the game.
The controls are very responsive. Watching some people play, it seems like some don't know you can press a shoulder button to turn. Beyond that I have no idea what issues one could have controlling this game. The short length on top of optional collectibles gives different satisfying ways to beat the game. Could go for just the emeralds or you could get the emeralds AND the 5 coins while still having to win the race. Great for speedrunning.
It's not super balanced but come on, it's a Sega Saturn 3D platformer racing game not the next Esports craze. I actually like challenging myself with some of the objectively bad characters and still winning. On the off chance I get a 2nd person to play this with me it's cool I can handicap myself playing as Amy while they pick Super Sonic or something. And it's really nice the characters all are actually different in their own ways.
One of the best soundtracks in the industry. Just floating around with tails doll listening to "livin in the city" is a better experience than most things on this planet. And I struggle to think of a single album that's filled with exclusively bangers like this game's ost.
I honestly couldn't ask for more. Besides maybe more content but honestly only 5 tracks helps make it very replayable. Years later I got into Retroachievements and someone made a great set for this game that makes it feel a bit meatier relatively speaking so that's cool.
Love the graphics too. There really isn't a single thing I can really think to complain about. Nothing whatsoever I don't like. One of those games that proves a game CAN be perfect.
The controls are very responsive. Watching some people play, it seems like some don't know you can press a shoulder button to turn. Beyond that I have no idea what issues one could have controlling this game. The short length on top of optional collectibles gives different satisfying ways to beat the game. Could go for just the emeralds or you could get the emeralds AND the 5 coins while still having to win the race. Great for speedrunning.
It's not super balanced but come on, it's a Sega Saturn 3D platformer racing game not the next Esports craze. I actually like challenging myself with some of the objectively bad characters and still winning. On the off chance I get a 2nd person to play this with me it's cool I can handicap myself playing as Amy while they pick Super Sonic or something. And it's really nice the characters all are actually different in their own ways.
One of the best soundtracks in the industry. Just floating around with tails doll listening to "livin in the city" is a better experience than most things on this planet. And I struggle to think of a single album that's filled with exclusively bangers like this game's ost.
I honestly couldn't ask for more. Besides maybe more content but honestly only 5 tracks helps make it very replayable. Years later I got into Retroachievements and someone made a great set for this game that makes it feel a bit meatier relatively speaking so that's cool.
Love the graphics too. There really isn't a single thing I can really think to complain about. Nothing whatsoever I don't like. One of those games that proves a game CAN be perfect.
Shout-out to the early episode of Malcolm in the Middle where this is the only game Stevie's overbearing parents will let him play
Come on, run away
You don't have to stay
We're nearly out of time
But you're doing fine
So stay on track
And don't look back
Just feel the pace
Come on, now race!
Everybody's Super Sonic Racing
Try to keep your feet right on the ground
When you're Super Sonic Racing
There's no time to look around
We're just Super Sonic Racing
Running to the point of no return
Everybody's Super Sonic Racing
Come on, let the fire burn
Everybody, everybody, everybody
Everybody, everybody, everybody
Everybody, everybody, everybody
Everybody, everybody!
Everybody's Super Sonic Racing
You don't have to stay
We're nearly out of time
But you're doing fine
So stay on track
And don't look back
Just feel the pace
Come on, now race!
Everybody's Super Sonic Racing
Try to keep your feet right on the ground
When you're Super Sonic Racing
There's no time to look around
We're just Super Sonic Racing
Running to the point of no return
Everybody's Super Sonic Racing
Come on, let the fire burn
Everybody, everybody, everybody
Everybody, everybody, everybody
Everybody, everybody, everybody
Everybody, everybody!
Everybody's Super Sonic Racing
Ya le gustaría a Mario Kart tener la mitad de carisma que este juego. Una vez le pillas el truco a los controles no es para nada malo y sé que voy a estar tarareando las canciones un par de días. Vamos, llevo haciéndolo desde la semana pasada y ya tenía que jugar el juego o me sentía culpable.
El único problema real que le veo es que solo hay 5 circuitos y uno de ellos no sigue la filosofía de múltiples caminos/atajos del resto. Por lo demás le he acabado cogiendo bastante cariño.
El único problema real que le veo es que solo hay 5 circuitos y uno de ellos no sigue la filosofía de múltiples caminos/atajos del resto. Por lo demás le he acabado cogiendo bastante cariño.
This game gets way too much hate. I think it’s fun as hell and look at those graphics and listen To that soundtrack!!!!
Guys I can't feel the sunshine, what should I do?
OK, I tried to give this one a chance. I put a good few hours into trying to learn the gameplay. I don't like being harsh on things, and I tried my absolute hardest to go in with an open mind.
But my GOD, this game is putrid.
The soundtrack slaps, yes. The presentation is good, and the low-poly environments and models have a ton of charm. But that's ALL I can say that's positive. The gameplay, which is the core of a racing game by the way, is fucking HORRIBLE. You barely have any control over yourself, the player's momentum is somehow both super stiff and super slippery, and turning barely fucking works, forcing you to jerk yourself into a super wide turn well before you actually get to that point on the track, almost always leading to overshooting and going off the track. Oh, and speaking of the tracks, they're WAY too thin for a racing game. They're just barely wide enough for four people, let alone however many NPCs the game plans on throwing on the track later on. There's constant sharp turns in crowded flooring, and going off for even two seconds can completely ruin a run and put you 3 places below.
You think this is a traditional racing game so far, right? NOPE. The tracks are littered with collectibles and gates, which are required to collect to unlock new tracks and characters. You have to memorize where these are, meet their requirements and collect them, ALL while ensuring you stay in first place, because if you aren't then the current race doesn't count. It's an actual fucking mess.
As a longtime Sonic fan who played a ton of what are considered the "worst" in the series... Yeah, I even enjoyed Sonic 06 more than this one. There's SO many better racing games, even from and before the time this released, so I just have to ask...why? How did you screw up an established concept this badly? This now sits alongside Sonic 4 as one of the only Sonic games I will never be returning to.
But my GOD, this game is putrid.
The soundtrack slaps, yes. The presentation is good, and the low-poly environments and models have a ton of charm. But that's ALL I can say that's positive. The gameplay, which is the core of a racing game by the way, is fucking HORRIBLE. You barely have any control over yourself, the player's momentum is somehow both super stiff and super slippery, and turning barely fucking works, forcing you to jerk yourself into a super wide turn well before you actually get to that point on the track, almost always leading to overshooting and going off the track. Oh, and speaking of the tracks, they're WAY too thin for a racing game. They're just barely wide enough for four people, let alone however many NPCs the game plans on throwing on the track later on. There's constant sharp turns in crowded flooring, and going off for even two seconds can completely ruin a run and put you 3 places below.
You think this is a traditional racing game so far, right? NOPE. The tracks are littered with collectibles and gates, which are required to collect to unlock new tracks and characters. You have to memorize where these are, meet their requirements and collect them, ALL while ensuring you stay in first place, because if you aren't then the current race doesn't count. It's an actual fucking mess.
As a longtime Sonic fan who played a ton of what are considered the "worst" in the series... Yeah, I even enjoyed Sonic 06 more than this one. There's SO many better racing games, even from and before the time this released, so I just have to ask...why? How did you screw up an established concept this badly? This now sits alongside Sonic 4 as one of the only Sonic games I will never be returning to.
I am this game's strongest soldier
Unironically think this game is great. Control and character balance could be better, but I think it's a good time beyond that.
Como que um jogo tão ruim tem uma trilha sonora tão maravilhosa meu Deus do céu
While I admit this game isn't great it is unique and flavorful game. It's really short too. I like the dumb novelty of the game and can easily put up with the jank for a short GP. Can you feel the sunshine? A bit but if I had paid full price for this back in the day I think I'd stick to the shadows.