Played as part of the Sonic Gems Collection for the GameCube.
I played and reviewed the Sega Saturn version of Sonic R less than a week ago and did not anticipate logging it twice in such a short span of time, but what started as a jog through a couple of courses in the Sonic Gems version of the game became a full playthrough, and I must abide by the accord to review every game I play or else the people under the floor will steal my soul as I sleep.
It's been almost twenty years since I played the PC version of Sonic R, so prior to playing the Saturn release (and buying a wholeass reproduction copy) I was unaware that the PC edition made significant improvements to handling. Given that was my chief complaint and that I very arbitrarily set the expectation that I play a bit of everything before logging Sonic Gems, which uses the PC version, I figured I was obligated to jump in and check it out. And, yeah, it's definitely improved. I was expecting it to be very minor overall, but it's like playing a totally different game. The graphics are also a lot sharper and the added weather effects and time of day feature really adds to the presentation.
In the comments of my previous review, I mentioned being unable to beat Metal Sonic without first unlocking Super Sonic. The sloppy controls coupled with the unforgiving AI made it a cheap race that I could only clear through cheating, but I am happy to say that the improved handling in the PC version allowed me to beat Metal on the game's terms using regular Sonic. I think that's pretty significant! I also would not say it's so much of an improvement that it turns Sonic R into this incredible racing game that everyone is missing out on, but I did end up actually having fun with it the second time around and I think that's worth something.
If you get it into your head to play Sonic R, I'd suggest abandoning that thought and playing something exceptional like Ridge Racer Type 4 or Daytona USA and just like, imagining really really hard that your car is Sonic or whatever. If you're still so deadset, then for the love of god skip the Saturn version and find an iso of Sonic Gems Collection to play instead.
I played and reviewed the Sega Saturn version of Sonic R less than a week ago and did not anticipate logging it twice in such a short span of time, but what started as a jog through a couple of courses in the Sonic Gems version of the game became a full playthrough, and I must abide by the accord to review every game I play or else the people under the floor will steal my soul as I sleep.
It's been almost twenty years since I played the PC version of Sonic R, so prior to playing the Saturn release (and buying a wholeass reproduction copy) I was unaware that the PC edition made significant improvements to handling. Given that was my chief complaint and that I very arbitrarily set the expectation that I play a bit of everything before logging Sonic Gems, which uses the PC version, I figured I was obligated to jump in and check it out. And, yeah, it's definitely improved. I was expecting it to be very minor overall, but it's like playing a totally different game. The graphics are also a lot sharper and the added weather effects and time of day feature really adds to the presentation.
In the comments of my previous review, I mentioned being unable to beat Metal Sonic without first unlocking Super Sonic. The sloppy controls coupled with the unforgiving AI made it a cheap race that I could only clear through cheating, but I am happy to say that the improved handling in the PC version allowed me to beat Metal on the game's terms using regular Sonic. I think that's pretty significant! I also would not say it's so much of an improvement that it turns Sonic R into this incredible racing game that everyone is missing out on, but I did end up actually having fun with it the second time around and I think that's worth something.
If you get it into your head to play Sonic R, I'd suggest abandoning that thought and playing something exceptional like Ridge Racer Type 4 or Daytona USA and just like, imagining really really hard that your car is Sonic or whatever. If you're still so deadset, then for the love of god skip the Saturn version and find an iso of Sonic Gems Collection to play instead.