Sonic Riders Coming

SEGA
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computerandvideogames.com/ne … ?id=125072

[quote] If you ever owned a Sega Saturn - and if history tells us anything, it’s that you probably didn’t - you might remember a little racer by the name of Sonic R. The blue hedgehog’s first foray into the world of racing is generally heralded as a bit of a classic in the right circles (presumably the kind of circles that really like playing Sonic R) and is set for a grand comeback when it’s released as part of Sega’s Sonic Gems Collection later this year.

Now, by way of Famitsu magazine, Sega has unveiled Sonic Riders - the spiritual successor to Sonic R. Instead of kart-style racing though, this time around Sonic’s strapped to an air board for some “eXtreme” airborne antics. While we muse on that uppercase X, why not pour over these details?

It seems that Dr Robotnik, in a display of truly unspeakable evil, has invited everyone for a bit of a race and the chance to win a Chaos Emerald. Playing as one of a variety of Sonic characters, including Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Storm the Albatross and Jet the Hawk (whoever they might be), you’ll careen around tracks based on classic Sonic locations like Egg Factory, Green Cave, Sandy Ruins and Splash Canyon, using your special moves to swing the race in your favour. Sega is promising split-screen, two to four player head-to-head racing, but there’s no indication whether any online components are planned.

Sonic Riders is being produced by Sonic Team veteran Yuda Koshi and is due to hit the PS2, GameCube and Xbox in Japan this Winter. No word on a European release just yet, but we’ll send a fat man with a pick axe round to wake you up in the middle of the night and point excitedly at your monitor just as soon as we have more details.[/quote]

A sorta non official sequel to Sonic R apparently…

Only a few things are known and they are all bad… Apparently Sonic uses a hoverboard instead of his legs…

I don’t understand how they can want to make a “different” racer that doesn’t use cars, pick up the Sonic series which is famous for its fast RUNNING character and decide to put him on a hoverboard…

Hopefully the characters still retain their special skills somehow, though I can’t imagine Knuckles climbing walls with a board attached to his feet…

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Oh dear lord. Sega has no shame.

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Hmm… for all we know, this could turn out to be a fun game that rivals other Sonic games in terms of sheer speed, even if Sonic is not running on his feet. I’m not holding my breath (going by what Sonic Team have released in recent years), but I do think that the concept of a Sonic air boarding game has potential.

Remember that Sonic has ridden various boards in the past… the snowboard in Sonic 3, the snow and sand boards in Sonic Adventure, and the first stage of Sonic Adventure 2. Looking at it from this angle, it wouldn’t be entirely untrue to the Sonic series.

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I’ll only get it if it has music as good as what was in Sonic R.
i.e - only if Mr. Jacques does it.

The music made Sonic R!

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So true…

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The only thing I can compare this to is being told Santa doesn’t exist.

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SONIC R is heralded as a bit of a classic in the right circles?

Keep in mind that there are “circles” of people that enjoy all sorts of things…like, getting whipped or pooped on…

I guess that Sonic Shuffle is a classic too?

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I think it’s pretty obvious it wasn’t a serious statement at all. CVG rocks, it’s a serious website (and magazine, I think) but the editors often write lighthearted and sometimes even hillariously… It’s awesome when they decide to totally trash a crap game… I tried to find the Counter Strike: Condition Zero review they had done but I couldn’t… Shame because it was a classic, that game got so much punishment. Mind you they had gotten the chance to review not the Condition Zero that actually got released but another version. After seeing the review, Valve pulled the game back and made it completely different. The “deleted scenes” in the final are part of the game they had initially reviewed (they did do a review of the proper game later and explained the situation).

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There’s quite a lot of Sonic Riders screenshots on Gamespot now…

gamespot.com/xbox/driving/so … index.html

Incidentally, has everyone heard about the next-gen Sonic game yet? It was apparently announced at the same time as Sonic Riders, but I only just stumbled across news of it myself - here’s a link to the news article:

gamespot.com/news/2005/09/08 … 32842.html

…and the first screenshots of that, too:

gamespot.com/xbox360/action/ … index.html

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Nice find, I was going to search for that sonic game today cos I had seen kikizo write that Sega would unveil it soon. I must say both games look really good.

And while I do agree with Solo that there’s potential for a hoverboard racer, I think there’s even more potential for a game that would be like a next gen Sonic R with more emphasis on making it feel like a platform racer where every character has his own special skills and such…
I guess Sega liked their experience with F-Zero GX and the comments it received so they will try something along those lines perhaps.

Anyway, it looks like Sega will be doing more than fine atleast graphics wise come next gen. Sonic’s pose and style reminds me of Sonic Jam’s 3D section (and that’s a good thing as I always found it as a wasted opportunity for an amazing 3D Sonic game).

Sonic Riders look pretty good as well but uh… surfer style? No thanks… That looks just ridiculous imo. Atleast it seems to be just the start of the race where they are moving in position… I like this screenshot the most so far:
image.com.com/gamespot/images/20 … een005.jpg
It’s gonna have 4 player split screen too, yay.

Edit: They also have recent screens from Chrome Hounds… Looks damn amazing too…
gamespot.com/xbox360/action/ … index.html

Edit2: And why on earth doesn’t Sega make Sonic games cell shaded? Look how out of place he appears in the middle of that uber realistic environment and robots… Why don’t they make the game cell shaded, I think it would make the whole thing look much better and much more fitting as I never really liked Sonic’s 3D look apart from the simplistic and bright 3D section of Sonic Jam which looked pretty cartoony in itself…

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Sonic Team Japan should have followed Sonic Team USA’s footsteps and loaded the gang up with guns and missile launchers on the airboards, and then hook up with prostitutes if you get first place in each race for the full effect, since Grand Theft Auto is all the rage now. They’re about a half-decade too late for the whole “eXtreme” effect, heh…

Edit: On a positive note, Sonic Next has been revealed for Xbox 360 and PS3. Yuji Naka’s throwing out some promises… have to just say that I’ll wait and see.

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Umm… Did you read the two posts above your own? Sonic next gen screenshots found by Lance :anjou_love:

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Well, if they did, I’d wager you fifty pounds sterling that in an instant there would be an immediate volte face from fandom, with a torrent of protests and a tempest of abuse demanding the head of Yuji Naka on a silver platter for removing the sleek style and making Sonic “look like a kid’s cartoon”… :anjou_sigh:

Maybe I’m just being cynical… but I doubt it.

Anyway, I’m willing to approach this title with an open mind - the game looks as if it has received quite a substantial amount of polish (although Tails’s fringe is outrageously large!) and the gameplay itself seems to be unique and consciously stylised, not just a generic racer with the Sonic brand pasted onto the boxart. Furthermore, I think it’s exaggerating to castigate Sonic Team for gross heresy for putting Sonic on a hoverboard - has everyone forgotten the Ice Cap Zone or City Escape? :anjou_happy:

I also have a suspicion that Sonic Riders may be intended in part to compete with this:

And why not?

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I think the airboarding game has potential as well. =D So what if Sonic isn’t running, as long as we get a fun end product.

And that next-gen Sonic doesn’t look THAT much better from Sonic Adventure methinks. But hey, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. =D

Edit: image.com.com/gamespot/images/20 … een026.jpg Bwahahahahaha XD Seems that Sonic conveniently forgot their 1138th attempt at Amy’s “first date” with Sonic XD This game will rock!

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Meh, I think it’s quite a huge leap in quality. Perhaps not on Sonic himself (how much can you do with a character this simple anyway) but the environments (and the robots too) definitely look better. And we haven’t seen the speed of the thing or the size of the levels yet :slight_smile:

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Are you kidding ?? :wink: The game looks amazing. The E3 demo was insane and all in real time. This game is so fast, it makes one eyes bleed

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Well, upon further and closer inspection of the screenshots I must withdraw my initial statement. XD You rock on, Sonic Team!

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Wow…

That next gen Sonic game looks rather amazing. Lets just hope that the camera angles remain consistant with the speed of the game, and that the player always feels in control when he or she should be.

I wonder if the new game will be all about Sonic, or if it will be littered with more secondary character sections. I’m hoping that it will be all about speed.

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Which means that it could be open for Sonic, Tails and Knuckles like in the good old days. XD

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That next-gen Sonic looks really great. Far better than the restrictive levels of Sonic Adventure 2 or Sonic Heroes, in which I found myself falling off levels FAR too often.

Sonic Riders may or may not be good. Sonic R was fun but I guess I’m the only person who thought that the music lyrics were total crap. I mean “can you feel the sunshine?” is not Sonic music at all, nor is it racing music. I’m very happy it had the option to turn off vocals.