Sonic Riders

Sonic Riders^[a] is a 2006 racing video game for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox in which the player controls characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog series on hoverboards. In the game’s 16 tracks, the player competes against characters—either controlled by computers or other players—in story and battle modes. It was developed by Sonic Team and Now Production, published by Sega, and released in February 2006 in Japan and North America. It was released in Europe the following month and for Windows at the end of the year. A Game Boy Advance version developed by Backbone Entertainment was canceled.

The game was produced in commemoration of the Sonic series’ 15th anniversary and was the first Sonic racing game since the 1997 Traveller’s Tales game Sonic R. Sonic Team wanted to make their own game that was superior to any previous Sonic racing game. It was designed to appeal to fans of Sonic as well as extreme sports video games; the development team did not take inspiration from any prior games. Sonic Riders was also the last Sonic title produced with the involvement of franchise co-creator Yuji Naka, who acted as executive producer and left Sega shortly after its release.

Sonic Riders was released to mixed reviews from critics, but was a commercial success and was later re-released under the GameCube and PlayStation 2 bestseller lines. Reviewers mostly criticized the gameplay, controls, and overall design; while praise was directed at the game’s visual style, soundtrack and sense of speed while racing. Many deemed it a lackluster game—both within the Sonic franchise and the racing game medium—that did have its highlights but ultimately fell to its shortcomings. The game received two sequels, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity (2008) and Sonic Free Riders (2010), which were developed and released to similar commercial success.

Gameplay – Sonic Riders

Sonic Riders is based around characters racing each other using devices known as “Extreme Gear”, anti-gravity-equipped vehicles consisting of hover boards, hover skates, and hover bikes.^[1] Players compete to finish three laps around a racetrack before their opponents and complete the race in first place. Each race features up to eight characters competing. A key component of gameplay is the air tank, displayed in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. Air serves as the fuel for Extreme Gear, and is depleted gradually as the race goes on.^[2][3]

 Characters can also perform a Boost, which will give them a sudden burst of speed at the cost of a significant amount of air. If a player boosts into an opponent, their character will attack and stun the opponent for a brief period. Air is also more quickly spent using techniques like drifting, which allows the player to round sharp turns with ease, and building tension before a jump, which involves using the air to propel the player higher off the edge of ramps.^[3] 

Reception – Sonic Riders

Reception – Sonic Riders

Publication	Score
Eurogamer	5/10[23]
GameSpot	6.6/10[4]
GameSpy	[24]
GamesRadar+	[25]
IGN	6.2/10[2]
Nintendo World Report	6/10[3]

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Sonic Riders received “mixed or average” reviews.^[20][21][22] Throughout 2006, the game sold 930,000 copies.^[26] The GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions were later branded as part of the Player’s Choice and Greatest Hits budget lines, indicating strong sales.^[27][28]

The game’s presentation received mixed reactions from reviewers. GameSpot thought the visuals were well-produced and praised the brightly colored levels and character models, but noted frame rate drops and thought the environments looked “kind of drab and muddy” when the gameplay slowed down.^[