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Sonic Drift

-- Intro --
   Y'know Mario Kart? This game is a shameless rip-off of that. It might not be considered as such today, where the whole "kart racing" thing has become a full-fledged genre encompassing every license from Crash Bandicoot to Mickey Mouse to South Park...but way back in 1994, it was still a shameless rip-off. Miyamoto should be smiling in fiendish glee.


-- Story --
   This game was only released in Japan. Which means the instruction manual is in Japanese. Which means I can't read it and won't be able to for another ten years or so. And that's if I even had the instruction manual. Uh...so what all this boils down to is that I haven't a clue about the story, but I doubt it's anything worth microwaving popcorn over.

-- Gameplay Info --
   Sonic and racing, it's as natural as peaches and cream. So why, oh why did they feel it was necessary to slap our naturally-speedy heroes in GO-KARTS?! Okay, technically they aren't go-karts...but they may as well be on that dinky little screen. And I guess it would've been odd to have Eggman and Amy in vehicles while Sonic and Tails ran on foot...oh shoot, I'm thinking too hard. Anyway...

   Gameplay is pretty much like any other kart racer. Accelerate, brake, and turn. The key to cutting corners is drifting (the "Sonic Drift"), and in essense it turns into a mimic of classic 8-bit arcade racers like Outrun. It's actually kind of fun, and the music is top-notch.

   But this is still a Sonic game (sort of), and there are a few items to collect scattered around the courses. You've got Rings, of course...it costs two to use each character's special ability. Then there's Springs, which quite obviously bounce you into the air...sometimes over opponents. You'll find item monitors of two colors: red ones give you a brief dash of extra speed, and blue ones make you temporarily invincible. (The invincibility music is based on "Sonic: You Can Do Anything", the Sonic CD theme!)

   The courses themselves are all from the classic Sonic: Green Hill, Marble, Spring Yard, Labyrinth, Star Light, and Scrap Brain. They come in three different difficulty flavors: the Green Emerald Prix, the Yellow Emerald Prix, and the Red Emerald Prix (Green being the easiest, Red being the hardest). This makes 18 tracks in total. (The difficulty setting of your opponents can be altered in the options screen.) The cast of racers includes:
  • Sonic (in the Cyclone) -- Fast, but has poor handling. His special move is a brief dash of super speed, having the same effect as a red monitor.
  • Tails (in the Whirlwind S7) -- The all-round balanced one. His special move is a leap, having the same effect as a Spring.
  • Amy (in the Breeze) -- Slow, but with good handling. Her special move is the "Heart Attack", a tiny heart which she tosses onto the track. Anyone who hits it becomes confused and slows down.
  • Eggman (in the Egg Typhoon) -- Good cornering, but poor traction. His special move is a Mine, which he hurls onto the track. Anyone who hits it is temporarily stalled.

   Complete the Green Prix or the Yellow Prix and you get to see your character's face on a flag. Complete the Red Prix and you get a brief animation starring your character along with the credits. There's also a versus mode provided you've got a Gear-to-Gear cable and know someone else with the game...

 

Information

Review By:
Green Gibbon

Debut:
Japan: March 18, 1994 (Sonic Drift)

Players:
1

Publisher:
SEGA

Developer:
Sega of Japan

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Codes & Cheats

(None Available)
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Music

(None Available)
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Pictures

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