Tragedy today at Radical City after Sonic the Hedgehog took a turn too wide too quickly, breaking through the catch fence and injuring more than two dozen spectators. Experts are calling it the deadliest crash in Sonic R history.
I was such a huge fan of Sonic the Hedgehog back in the day that I had a copy of Sonic CD and Sonic R for the PC despite not having a computer to play them on. About the only time I could play either was when I stayed with family that did have a PC, which more often than not was my mom, who I stayed with for a few weeks each Summah. So, imagine my Sonic-loving ass holding onto this copy of Sonic R like it's some precious thing, a Sonic game I've never played before, getting on a plane for four hours and flying out to Montana in breathless anticipation, and then, finally, I put the disc in...
Oh, it's bad. Real bad. Can you feel the sunshine? Absolutely, brother. I'm gonna go lay down on the front lawn and stare at the sun for a while as penance for my foolishness.
The idea of a Sonic racing game where all the characters are on foot makes total sense and it's wild to me that it's considered more novel at this point than throwing them all in cars. At the same time, it's a shame that I can drive a car better than I can drive Sonic, so I can kind of understand why they haven't revisited this concept. Everyone's handling is awful and the dedicated drift is ineffectual, just keeping your racer aligned on the track and not bouncing between barriers or careening into water is a challenge in itself. Every racer feels like an out-of-control animal, and if you're persistent enough you might be able to get them to do what you want, but you cannot embody them.
Everything else Sonic R is wrapped in I'm pretty cool with. I think collecting tokens and chaos emeralds is a smart way to help the player learn the ins and outs of each track, and Metal Knuckles and the Tails Doll are some peak mid-1990s Sonic characters. The soundtrack, composed by Richard Jacques with vocals by Jane "TJ" Davis, is not something I was initially hot on back when I first played the game, but which I have warmed up to over the years. I still don't think any of these tracks are quite as strong as anything else Jacques has composed for the Sonic series (like Sonic Boom), and some of his best work lies elsewhere, like in Jet Grind Radio, but Sonic R's Eurobeat inspired soundtrack has an appeal all its own. I used to think people liked it ironically, but that's just a half-step towards liking it for real, and I've already crossed that threshold. It's too bad the official CD now sells for nearly $300, although if you have a totally official Sega Saturn disc, you can put it in your PC and just rip all the tracks, including some that didn't make it on the soundtrack.
I don't think Sonic R is good, but it's also not so frustrating that I ever felt I needed to bail on it, and after falling into a sort of Stockholmish trance from sheer over-exposure, I kinda had a little fun. Just a little, though. Not enough that I would recommend this over like, Daytona USA. That'd just be crazy.
ADDENDUM: I'm reading that the handling is improved in the PC version of the game, which is what Sonic Gems Collection uses. When I play Sonic the Fighters this week, I'll make sure to do a few courses and touch on this in my Gems review.
I was such a huge fan of Sonic the Hedgehog back in the day that I had a copy of Sonic CD and Sonic R for the PC despite not having a computer to play them on. About the only time I could play either was when I stayed with family that did have a PC, which more often than not was my mom, who I stayed with for a few weeks each Summah. So, imagine my Sonic-loving ass holding onto this copy of Sonic R like it's some precious thing, a Sonic game I've never played before, getting on a plane for four hours and flying out to Montana in breathless anticipation, and then, finally, I put the disc in...
Oh, it's bad. Real bad. Can you feel the sunshine? Absolutely, brother. I'm gonna go lay down on the front lawn and stare at the sun for a while as penance for my foolishness.
The idea of a Sonic racing game where all the characters are on foot makes total sense and it's wild to me that it's considered more novel at this point than throwing them all in cars. At the same time, it's a shame that I can drive a car better than I can drive Sonic, so I can kind of understand why they haven't revisited this concept. Everyone's handling is awful and the dedicated drift is ineffectual, just keeping your racer aligned on the track and not bouncing between barriers or careening into water is a challenge in itself. Every racer feels like an out-of-control animal, and if you're persistent enough you might be able to get them to do what you want, but you cannot embody them.
Everything else Sonic R is wrapped in I'm pretty cool with. I think collecting tokens and chaos emeralds is a smart way to help the player learn the ins and outs of each track, and Metal Knuckles and the Tails Doll are some peak mid-1990s Sonic characters. The soundtrack, composed by Richard Jacques with vocals by Jane "TJ" Davis, is not something I was initially hot on back when I first played the game, but which I have warmed up to over the years. I still don't think any of these tracks are quite as strong as anything else Jacques has composed for the Sonic series (like Sonic Boom), and some of his best work lies elsewhere, like in Jet Grind Radio, but Sonic R's Eurobeat inspired soundtrack has an appeal all its own. I used to think people liked it ironically, but that's just a half-step towards liking it for real, and I've already crossed that threshold. It's too bad the official CD now sells for nearly $300, although if you have a totally official Sega Saturn disc, you can put it in your PC and just rip all the tracks, including some that didn't make it on the soundtrack.
I don't think Sonic R is good, but it's also not so frustrating that I ever felt I needed to bail on it, and after falling into a sort of Stockholmish trance from sheer over-exposure, I kinda had a little fun. Just a little, though. Not enough that I would recommend this over like, Daytona USA. That'd just be crazy.
ADDENDUM: I'm reading that the handling is improved in the PC version of the game, which is what Sonic Gems Collection uses. When I play Sonic the Fighters this week, I'll make sure to do a few courses and touch on this in my Gems review.
6 Comments
This comment was deleted
@BlazingWaters Reception was "mixed" when it released in the mid-90s and grew more negative over time, and the overall decline in positive reception for the Sonic franchise in the 2000s probably led to some of that. I also just don't think it's good, the handling really drags the whole thing down. There are definitely worse contemporary racing games, but I think there's much better ones, too.
I have a feeling that when I play this, the ost alone with alleviate some of the grievances I may have
I was in secondary school when this came out. Me and 3 friends all had Saturn's and all bought, loved and played this to death. Like despite the stiff controls we got really good at it competing for level times.
We discovered Super Sonics jump allowed you to skip half a level jumping over the invisible wall doing a lap in a few seconds hilariously.
We discovered Super Sonics jump allowed you to skip half a level jumping over the invisible wall doing a lap in a few seconds hilariously.
I remember playing this at a kiosk at Wal-Mart and wanted to play it again for the longest time, then I played it on Gems Collection and didn't care for it. Was heartbreaking, I remember Knuckles was hands down the best character and the only one where it felt fine to control at least in the Saturn version when I last played.
Once again not helped that I ended up growing up with Running Wild on PS1, which I STILL MAINTAIN is better.
Once again not helped that I ended up growing up with Running Wild on PS1, which I STILL MAINTAIN is better.
@FallenGrace I didn't want to make my review run long but did want to share an anecdote about the AI, and how Metal Knuckles and especially Metal Sonic are brutal. I eventually got Metal Knuckles but Metal Sonic beat me with every character I picked until I got Super Sonic and had my revenge. Felt good, even if I was basically cheating.
BlazingWaters
6 months ago