Sonic R
Sonic R is a 1997 racing game developed by Traveller's Tales and Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn. It is the third racing game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and the first to feature 3D computer graphics. The player races one of ten Sonic characters in various Sonic-themed race tracks as they attempt to stop Doctor Robotnik from stealing the Chaos Emeralds and enslaving the world. Sonic R features single-player and multiplayer game modes, and while similar to kart racing games such as Mario Kart, it places an emphasis on jumping and exploration. By collecting items and completing objectives, players can unlock secret characters.
Development began after the completion of Sonic 3D Blast in 1996 and took nine months. It was the second collaboration between Traveller's Tales and Sonic Team, and was designed to take advantage of the Saturn hardware. Sonic Team designed the race tracks, while Traveller's Tales handled implementation and programming using a custom game engine. The soundtrack was composed by Richard Jacques; Sonic R tracks, most notably "Super Sonic Racing", have been reused in subsequent Sonic games. Sega released the game for the Saturn in late 1997, for Windows the following year, and for the GameCube and PlayStation 2 as part of Sonic Gems Collection in 2005.
Sonic R was the only original Sonic game released for the Saturn; Sonic 3D Blast is a port of the Mega Drive game, and Sonic Jam is a compilation of the first four mainline Sonic games. Initial reviews for the game were mixed, with retrospective reception being more negative. It was praised for its visuals and level design, but criticised for its poor controls, high difficulty and short length. Meanwhile, Jacques's soundtrack polarized audiences, who either found it catchy and well-produced or out of place in a racing game. Fan interest in Sonic R inspired Sega to revisit the racing genre with games such as Sonic Riders.
Gameplay
Sonic R is a racing video game with single-player and multiplayer modes. The player selects a character and participates in a footrace on one of five race tracks, competing for the fastest time ahead of the other racers. Four characters are initially available, while the other six are secret characters that become available when the player completes certain in-game objectives. Although the gameplay is considered similar to kart racing games such as the Mario Kart series, Sonic R places an emphasis on jumping and exploration, as each track has multiple paths and hidden areas. The tracks, although original creations are thematically based on the art style and environments of classic Sonic games such as Sonic the Hedgehog's "Green Hill Zone" and Sonic the Hedgehog 2s "Chemical Plant Zone". Players can also race through each track in reverse.During each race, the player can collect items scattered across the track, bestowing advantages. Rings, a staple Sonic series item, are abundant; the player can exchange rings to gain a temporary speed boost or open doors leading to shortcuts or special items. "Item Panels" give a random temporary advantage, such as a speed increase or shields that grant abilities such as being able to run across water or attract nearby rings. Collecting five hidden Sonic tokens on a track and placing in the race will allow the player to challenge one of the secret characters; defeating them unlocks the character for play. Chaos Emeralds are similarly hidden on different tracks, and the player must find them and place first during a race to obtain them. Obtaining all seven will unlock Super Sonic as a playable character. Sonic R allows the player to select the type of weather seen during races. There is also a "Time Attack" mode, where the player races solo to get the fastest time, and a two-player competitive mode, increased to four-players in the Windows port. In addition to the standard time trial mode, there are two others: "Get 5 Balloons", where five balloons are scattered across the track and must be located, and "Tag 4 Characters", where the player chases and must catch four others.
Characters
Sonic R features ten playable racers, each with unique attributes and abilities falling in line with their usual abilities. Sonic the Hedgehog is the fastest and can "double jump". Tails is able to fly through the air for a short time, and Knuckles the Echidna can glide through the air upon jumping. Amy Rose, the last initially available character, drives a car, allowing her to hover over bodies of water and receive extra speed from driving over boost spaces. Secret characters include Sonic's archenemy Dr. Robotnik, who flies in his Eggmobile hovercraft and resists differences in terrain; robotic clones of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles ; Robotnik's robotic assistant EggRobo; and Super Sonic, a faster version of Sonic powered by the Chaos Emeralds.Amy's car, Dr. Robotnik's Eggmobile and Eggrobo are the only characters that cannot jump unless they hit a spring pointing up. Instead of the jumping ability, Amy's car is equipped with a turbo that reloads after a certain amount of time, and both the Eggmobile and Eggrobo can fire homing missiles capable of stunning opponents.
Story
Sonic and Tails are about to take a holiday when Tails notices an advertisement for a "World Grand Prix". While not initially interested, Sonic notices that Dr. Robotnik is also participating, which persuades him to change his mind and enter the race. It is revealed that Robotnik has recently learned of the whereabouts of the rare and powerful Chaos Emeralds, with which he aspires to enslave the world, and that he intends to gather them during the World Grand Prix while using a group of robotic henchmen he has built to best Sonic. Knuckles and Amy overhear of Robotnik's plan and decide to compete. Together, the four must balance both winning races and obtaining the Chaos Emeralds to keep them out of Robotnik's reach.Development
After the completion of Sonic 3D Blast in 1996, Sega approached Traveller's Tales about working on a Sonic racing game. Traveller's Tales, who had been working on a 3D graphics engine without a clear purpose at the time, found this to be a logical progression. Traveller's Tales chose to rebuild a Formula One game they were developing into a Sonic game. Development started in February 1997 as a joint project between Sega's Sonic Team and Traveller's Tales. The game was originally known as Sonic TT. It was first publicly announced as "Phase Two of Project Sonic". The schedule was tight, and Traveller's Tales requested more freedom than they had with Sonic 3D Blast.Sonic Team designed the race tracks and the game's general flow, and Traveller's Tales were responsible for the implementation and programming. Each track was inspired by levels from previous Sonic games such as Green Hill and Casino Night, and it was due to the tight schedule that there were only five. Secret areas and exploration phases were added to follow the series' traditions, and for this reason a map was developed. Sega of Europe producer Kats Sato handled communication with Sonic Team, as he was the only person who could speak both English and Japanese. Discussions led to the reward mechanisms, which Sato believed broadened the game. The courses' look and feel were inspired by other Sonic games, including Sonic 3D Blast. The 3D models were based on 2D sketches from Sonic Team. All models and animations were developed using Softimage 3D, while Traveller's Tales created their own tools for the remaining game development. Implementing the two-player split-screen mode proved difficult; programmer Jon Burton stated that this was mainly because it was difficult to ensure cheating was not too easy, so shortcuts were made challenging, with a penalty incurred if players got them wrong. A major development goal was to maintain a consistent frame rate of 30 frames per second during gameplay. A custom game engine was developed to take full advantage of the Sega Saturn hardware, and a graphical technique, described as "12 layer transparency", was used to make distant textures somewhat transparent to conceal the Sega Saturn's limited draw distance. Burton claimed that Sonic R could not have been replicated on other consoles during the timeframe, such as the PlayStation console, due to the technique developed specifically for the Sega Saturn hardware. Environment mapping was achieved by writing what Burton described as a software version of the PlayStation's hardware rendering, as the Saturn's hardware was incapable of it.
An early build was unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Atlanta, Georgia in June 1997, with Sega releasing screenshots of a "40% complete build" to various magazines shortly afterwards. The builds would be largely the same as the final game, with the exception of minor tweaks, such as the "Resort Island" level being in sunset, rather than bright sunshine, a change that was made because of the level's music track titled "Can You Feel the Sunshine?". Traveller's Tales had used programming techniques inspired by those used on the Nintendo 64, such as a type of fog known as "Pixie Dust".
Hirokazu Yasuhara of Sonic Team went to England and fine-tuned the game due to lack of time for communication. Technical and scheduling issues caused Sato to change the game design, leading to a dispute with producer Yuji Naka, and Sato removed his name from the credits. The game's final release would be first in North America on 18 November 1997, with releases in other regions occurring in late 1997 for the Sega Saturn, and into 1998 for the PC version. The PC versions allowed the user to alter graphics details such as allowing to change between software rendering and 3D acceleration or adjusting the game's draw distance, affecting how soon objects in the distance are visible. Like many other previous Sonic games during this time period, a largely unrelated Sonic R game was released as a Tiger Electronics LCD handheld game around the same time in 1998.