Sonic Rush
Sonic Rush is a Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by Dimps under the guise of Sonic Team and published by Sega. The game was released in North America on November 15, 2005, and in Europe on November 18, 2005.
Sonic Rush's use of the DS hardware
Sonic Rush is a traditional 2D platformer much like the Sega Genesis and Game Boy Advance titles in the series. However, the main characters, as well as the bosses, are fully polygonal as opposed to use of sprites as all 2D Sonic games had previously used. Stages are sidescrolling. The two DS screens are used to double the display of the play area, joined seamlessly at the bottom of the top screen and top of the bottom screen. The characters will generally be displayed in the center of one screen, only to run, fall or jump into the other screen, making full use of both screens. A different perspective is used during boss battles as they are in 3D.
While not used in stages, the DS stylus touch-screen functionality is used in the game's special stages, and for making selections in menus.
Characters
There are two playable characters: the titular character, Sonic, and a new face, Blaze the Cat. Blaze has the ability to hover and make use of fire created from her own two hands. Both characters have mostly separate adventures (the levels are the same, but in very different orders), but as each character's story progresses, they occasionally bump into each other, and end up working together in the final story.
Story
The story involves Sonic trying to obtain the Chaos Emeralds as usual, while Blaze is trying to get the Sol Emeralds (which came from her dimension) to keep both worlds from being destroyed. There are also two versions of Eggman; the normal Doctor Eggman, and another, Eggman Nega.
Sidekicks
Tails and Cream the Rabbit show up in cutscenes and cheer you on during bosses; Sonic having "Tails" tag along, while Blaze is followed by Cream, who found her and earned her trust due to Blaze's lack of knowledge of Sonic's universe. Knuckles and Amy also appear, but for little more than cutscenes.
Gameplay
Sonic Rush also builds on the trick system introduced in Sonic Advance 2 adding a point combo system to it and a grade system, both of which had been introduced into the Sonic series in Sonic Adventure 2. Also added to the game is a "Tension Gauge" which can be filled by using tricks and defeating enemies. It can be used to dash faster in stages, and in accessing the Special Stages within the levels.
Multiplayer
Sonic Rush uses single card and multi-card wireless play; there is also an option within the game to send demos to your friends. The multiplayer mode in Sonic Rush features a race between Sonic and Blaze in one of the many levels in the game, much akin to that of the multiplayer mode in the Sonic Advance series; the biggest difference is that now on DS, even if you're playing with DS owners without the game, you can race on the levels in-game rather than a download only course. More multiplayer only power-ups have also been added.
Music
The music is a rather unusual genre for the Sonic series, with said genre being funk. This is most likely due to the fact that the composer is Hideki Naganuma, known for his work of a similar style for Jet Set Radio. His fresh and interesting sound work has been noted as a primary factor in driving sales of the game. Also of note is that sonic's end of level celebration dances are similar, if not identical to the victory dances of some of the jet grind radio characters.