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Sonic R

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Sonic R
box cover
European Sega Saturn Boxart
Developer(s)Traveller's Tales
Publisher(s)Sega
Designer(s)Yuji Naka (General Producer/Supervisor)
Tetsuo Shinyu (Producer)
Masamitsu Shiino (Director)
Takashi Iizuka (Game Design Director)
Hirokazu Yasuhara (Map Design Director)
Artist(s)Yuji Uekawa & Yoshitaka Miura (Character Designers)
Naoto Ohshima & Hiroshi Nishiyama (Graphic Advisors)
Composer(s)Richard Jacques (also Sound Effects)
Naofumi Hataya (Sound Advisor)
Platform(s)Sega Saturn, PC
Release1997 (Sega Saturn)

1998 / 2004 (PC)

2005 (GameCube, PlayStation 2)
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single player, multiplayer
File:Super Sonic Racing.jpg
Screenshot of the PC version of Sonic R.

Sonic R is a racing game developed by Traveller's Tales and Sonic Team for the Sega Saturn and PC, the latter version being ported to the GameCube and the PlayStation 2 in Sonic Gems Collection. It features characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The game is characterized by the same sense of environmental openness in the Sonic platformers. It contains colorful 3D graphics combined with a Powerpop soundtrack by Richard Jacques (including songs performed by British singer TJ Davis).

Gameplay

There are several collectible rings across each of the five racetracks. Each ring regenerates shortly. These rings can serve one of three purposes.

  • Stepping on a speed boost will consume up to 50 of a player's rings, and boost the player ahead along a preset path. The boost is at a speed approximately three times the normal maximum speed of a character and lasts for a duration proportional to the number of rings deducted. If a character has more than 50 rings, only 50 will be used.
  • Special doors on the tracks can open if a player reaches them with twenty or fifty rings (depending on the door). Twenty-ring doors frequently hide tokens, shortcuts, or both. Fifty-ring doors frequently hide Chaos Emeralds, shortcuts, or both. After being opened, the doors remain open for all players for the duration of the race.

There are also inexhaustible emblem bonuses. Touching an emblem gives the racer one of multiple possible rewards, including a random number of rings and the water and lightning shields that appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The water shield allows the racer to walk on water once, after which it disappears. The lightning shield attracts rings to itself, but is eliminated upon touching water (or after having it for a long enough time).

There are five racers in each race. The four racers selected depend on what character the player chooses. If the player chooses a secret character, he'll face the other secret characters that have been unlocked. If the player chooses a starting character, he races against the other starting characters. For the purposes of selecting the racers, Dr. Robotnik is treated as a starting character.

Some racers can run on water for a while, and all characters can "swim" in it indefinitely, at greatly reduced speed. In addition, each of the ten playable characters has a different speed and a unique set of abilities. Unlike most racing games, these abilities are designed such that certain characters, even among characters that are initially playable, have a clear edge over others.

Other modes

Aside from the main game, there are three special gameplay modes accessible from Time Attack mode: reverse, in which racing occurs facing the opposite direction, break five balloons, and tag four players.

Courses

Sonic R has five racetracks, based on staple Sonic level themes. The first four are playable from the start, and the final, Radiant Emerald, is unlocked by completing the initial tracks in first place with any character. Also, the environment for the courses will change at random. For example, it will sometimes be raining or dark outside (If it is snowing on the course, all the water will freeze, allowing the character to walk on it).

  • Resort Island: The traditional tropical opening Sonic level, based around a beach environment with mountains, a waterfall and small ruins. The course song is Can You Feel the Sunshine?.
  • Radical City: A night-time city that includes casino elements, among which is a giant pinball table. The course song is Living in the City.
  • Regal Ruin: An Egyptian-themed course at sunset, resembling Angel Island. The course song is Back in Time.
  • Reactive Factory: This zone is a future-set, metallic, industrial factory setting based on Robotnik's fortress. This is the only level with a "fountain" of rings where you can obtain an infinite amount of rings. The course song is Work it Out.
  • Radiant Emerald: A surreal course seemingly set inside a giant Chaos Emerald in space. In the Saturn version, the course is completely translucent, but this transparency can be toggled on and off using an F-Key function in the PC version. The course song is Diamond in the Sky, but when the course is played as Super Sonic the full version of the main theme Super Sonic Racing plays. To unlock the track you must win in 1st place in the other race tracks.

Characters

Default characters

The following are the characters that are initially playable:

  • Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic is the fastest of the characters that are initially playable. He can double jump. He has quick acceleration and high top speed, but has poor handling.

Ranking:

Speed Accel Turns Grip Jump
A C C B B
  • Miles "Tails" Prower: Can fly at a fixed level for a limited period of time. He can take shortcuts that the others could not while doing so. He has good acceleration, but is difficult to turn with at high speeds.

Ranking:

Speed Accel Turns Grip Jump
C B C A B
  • Knuckles the Echidna: Can glide for an unlimited period of time, gradually losing altitude. He is an all-round character, not having any major features and Speed and Control is even.

Ranking:

Speed Accel Turns Grip Jump
B C B B B
  • Amy Rose: Amy drives a car (similar to her cart from Sonic Drift) and can hover over water. She is slow but has the ability to boost, giving her a very high top speed. She is unable to jump on her own.

Ranking:

Speed Accel Turns Grip Jump
D A D C D

Secret characters

All of these characters must be unlocked.

  • Dr. Robotnik: He races in his trademark Eggmobile which can fire a short-range heat-seeking missile after collecting ten rings. He is not particularly fast, but can hover over water. He is unable to jump on his own.

Ranking:

Speed Accel Turns Grip Jump
C B A D D
  • Metal Sonic: He has a very high single jump and does not immediately fall into water, instead floating above it while losing speed, and then falling in after he has stopped completely.
  • Tails Doll: A Doll version of Tails. He is slightly faster than Tails, but with worse handling. He can float over water without slowing down or sinking, yet he cannot accelerate over water. Skilled players can win with Tails Doll at first place, Even on Radiant Emerald with Super Sonic as one of the other racers.
  • EggRobo: A humanoid robot whose head and body are shaped like an egg, first seen in Sonic & Knuckles. Its abilities are similar to those of Robotnik, but it is slow compared to the other secret characters. He has a lack of speed and jumping which makes him rather unfavorable in stages with lots of water.
  • Metal Knuckles: A robotic Knuckles who is faster than the original, and has a higher yet slower glide.
  • Super Sonic: It is the fastest racer, and also the hardest to unlock. He can double jump and can run on the surface of water, provided that he does not slow down. His only flaw is that he can be hard to control at times.

Reception

  • The soundtrack also enjoyed a mixed reception. Some fans liked the light hearted tunes, however a large number of fans and critics [citation needed] didn't like the soundtrack due to the abundance of vocals (Sonic R's soundtrack was entirely vocal excluding the end of the race results and the menu systems). However, 'karaoke' versions of the songs are selectable from the Options menu at the title screen.
  • Sonic R holds a Game Rankings review of 70% for the PC version[1] and 69% for the Saturn version.[2]
  • Screwattack named this the "#1 Worst Sonic Game" in one of their weekly videos.
  • Forty0unces (infamous Gamepro game reviewer) was fired from the company after making fun of this game, calling it "A big bowl of wrong" and rating it a 1.5 out of 10.[citation needed]

Versions

For the PC versions the graphics were somewhat modified with better graphics and details. For example, races occur in random weather conditions, either normal, rainy, or snowy, unless the default settings are altered. Snowy weather freezes the water so that racers can run across it without sinking. The PC versions also allow one to select between software rendering and 3D acceleration. When using 3D acceleration, track lighting is far less dramatic, almost unnoticeable and occasionally too dark, when compared to the software rendered or original Saturn versions, a Drawn Distance option is available with either having far-off objects more noticeable or ridiculously close (making it an extra challenge for players). There were at least three PC versions released. The Activision release does not require the network patch, but does not include CD Audio tracks. The ValuSoft version has corrected some gliches and includes native support for Windows XP which is identified by the credits as Sonic R 2004.

The version of the game in Sonic Gems Collection is similar to the PC version. Minor differences include that there is no Network option on the main menu and that the Options menu is slightly different. It uses the lighting style from the 3D accelerated mode. There is no Drawn Distance option as it is in the PC version, the entire level is seen with no drawn distance pop-ups including the multiplayer mode.

Networking Patch

An official patch is available from SEGA which allows the multiplayer modes of Sonic R to be used over a TCP/IP or IPX network. This patch is available on the SEGA website, at http://www.sega.com/support/support.php?item=support_patches

  • It was included as standard in the Expert Software rereleases.
  • (Note: The patch does not work with Windows XP)

References

  1. ^ Game Rankings PC Ranking
  2. ^ Game Rankings Saturn Ranking
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