Sonic R
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| Sonic R | |
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| Developer(s) | Traveller's Tales |
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Release date(s) | 1997 (Sega Saturn), 1999 (PC), 2005 (Gamecube, PlayStation 2) |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB:Kids to Adults(K-A) |
| Platform(s) | Sega Saturn, PC, GameCube, PlayStation 2 |
| Media | 64-Megabit Disc (8MB) |
Sonic R (ソニック 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 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 strong soundtrack by Richard Jacques (including songs performed by British singer T. J. Davis). Running the game on XP successfully depends very much on the hardware of the PC it is being run on.
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[edit] Gameplay
There are several collectible rings across each of the five racetracks. Each ring regenerates after a short period of time. These rings can serve one of three purposes.
- Stepping on a speed boost will consume 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 game.
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 bubble and lightning shields that appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. The bubble 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 limited period of time, and all characters can "swim" in it indefinetely, 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Courses
Sonic R has five racetracks, based on staple Sonic level themes. They are very complex, with many alternate routes to take through the race. 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.
- Resort Island: The traditional tropical opening Sonic level, based around a beach environment with mountains, a waterfall and small ruins. Flickies from Sonic 3D Blast watch the race. 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, with pyramids, hieroglyphics and obelisks, as well as Sphinxes topped with echidna heads, suggesting that this level is set on 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 factories. The course song is Work it Out.
- Radiant Emerald: A surreal course seemingly set inside a giant Chaos Emerald in space. It may be inspired by the Rainbow Road track in Mario Kart 64, which was released the year before Sonic R. In the Saturn version, the course is completely transparent, but this transparency is gone in the PC version. To make up for the lost effect, the PC version includes more robust lighting effects, giving the course a psychedelic feel. 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.
[edit] Characters
[edit] 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 high acceleration and high top speed.
- Miles "Tails" Prower: Can fly at a fixed level for a limited period of time. He can take shortcuts that the others (except for Knuckles) couldn't while doing so.
- Knuckles the Echidna: Can glide for an unlimited period of time, gradually losing altitude. He can take shortcuts that the others (except for Tails) couldn't while doing so.
- Amy Rose: Amy drives a car and can hover over water. She also has the ability to use a speed boost, although she can't turn very well while doing so. She has good acceleration and low top speed and is extremely slow. However, she can squish down racers that run when they crash behind her, on the side of her, or when they start after losing speed.
[edit] Secret characters
- Dr. Robotnik is unlocked by completing Radiant Emerald in first place with any character. He races in his personal hi-tech aircraft, can do a short-range heat-seeking attack roughly every five seconds. The attack will eliminate the target's shield if it has one and slow it down if it does not. He is not particularly fast, but can hover over water.
With the exception of Dr. Robotnik and Super Sonic, all other secret characters can be unlocked by collecting all five tokens on a racetrack and finishing first, second, or third. Upon doing so, the player will be challenged by one of the following characters, depending on the racetrack:
- Metal Sonic: An improved version of its counterpart. He has a very high single jump and doesn't fall into water if he constantly jumps. He is unlocked in Resort Island.
- Tails Doll: A strange stuffed puppet modelled after Tails, can hover on water. Additionally, it can hover indefinetely a certain distance above the ground or water. It is also seen in Sonic Adventure (see Minor Characters) It is unlocked in Radical City. This character has since gotten a cult following from fans due to its somewhat creepy look.
- Egg Robo: 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. It is unlocked in Regal Ruin.
- Metal Knuckles: An improved version of its counterpart. He has a much better glide than Knuckles. He is notably fast. Also, he is one of the more difficult secret characters to obtain. He is unlocked in Reactive Factory.
Defeating the secret character in this first race makes it playable. Otherwise, the process has to be done all over again.
[edit] Super Sonic
Super Sonic 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. To unlock him, the player must collect all seven Chaos Emeralds scoured throughout the first four racetracks. When a player collects one, he/she must finish in first place to keep it.
If Super Sonic is used in the last track, Radiant Emerald, a different theme song will play, changing from A Diamond in the Sky to the full version of the theme song Super Sonic Racing
[edit] Reaction
After a poor E3 reception, original Sonic designer Hirokazu Yasuharawas drafted into the project by Sega, having previously left the series with the completion of Sonic and Knuckles.
Fan reviews were overall positive, praising its wide variety of unlockables and well-done music. However, some critics were far less positive, and the game was panned by the critics, saying it had poor graphics and sub-par gameplay.
2-player split screen gameplay on Saturn suffered due to the close draw distance of the horizon, meaning a new player who didn't know the tracks well couldn't see far enough to fairly compete with an experienced player. This was not an issue on 1-player games, which didn't have this problem. Aside from this, fans felt the graphics were some of the most impressive on the Saturn, some going as far to say that they were better than what Sonic Team had achieved with Nights, and rivaling PlayStation and N64 graphical offerings.
The soundtrack had some controversy too. Some fans liked the light hearted tunes as they felt like it was the right direction for the music in Sonic games. However, it is estimated that a fair number of fans 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). The game also featured an option to toggle the vocals on and off, should the player desire.
[edit] Versions
For the PC version the graphics were somewhat modified. 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 version also allows one to select between software rendering and 3D acceleration. When using 3D acceleration, track lighting is far less dramatic, almost unnoticable and occasionally too dark, when compared to the software rendered or original Saturn versions.
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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Trivia
- Every stage title begins with the letter R.
- On the Title screen, you are able to rotate the R and change its color.
- Placing the game disc into a CD player will allow you to listen to the game's music because the game's music is on Red Book CD Audio.
- One of the courses(Reactive Factory) has a machine that dispenses an unlimited amount of rings.
- The PC version has the instrumental music truncated from the original Saturn tracks. This carried over to the Sonic Gems Collection version.
- This is one of the few games in which you can control Dr. Robotnik, the others being Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Riders (the latter of which gives a nod to this game with the design of the 'R' in Riders)
[edit] External links
- Sonic R at MobyGames
- Sonic R page at The GHZ - features info, screenshots and a walkthrough
- Sonic R (PC version) skin editing guide (Internet Archive) - A guide on how to edit the character skins in the PC version of Sonic R
- Wiki Guide
