Hello and welcome to Lost Gems, the series where I cover games that have been lost, forgotten or simply removed from distribution. This week we are going to be going back to the SEGA Saturn, checking out one of the more divisive titles in the library, which has become a running gag in the years that followed. So let us take a look at SONIC R, the unusual racing game developed by Traveller’s Tales for the SEGA Saturn in 1997.
Disclaimer: while the title discussed here is no longer officially on sale, there are still ways to obtain the game. This can be via the secondary market, or via unofficial digital roms/rips. I do not condone or promote piracy, so there won’t be any links to roms or rips of the game being covered.
Now with the Introductions out of the way, let’s get started. I will be discussing the general game experience, then give my personal thoughts on the title.
About the Game
Sonic R is an unusual mix between platformer and racing, where the player controls Sonic or one of his friends, taking on DR Robotnik to stop him from collecting the Chaos Emeralds. To keep the world safe from the mad scientist, players take on a series of races as part of World Grand Prix, with the emeralds hidden in the race tracks. In the world Grand Prix, explore the different locations to collect those emeralds and stop Robotnik.
There are three game play modes for this release, with the main meat of the game being the Grand Prix mode. Here the player will take on four other competitors in a race across the track, with four characters to select from at the start. The options are Sonic, Tails, Knuckes and Amy. Robotnik appears in all races, but he is locked until specific conditions are met. There are also additional secret characters, but we will talk about those later.
After selecting a character, the track selection appears with four different options to select right away, alongside a fifth and final track that needs to be unlocked. The courses are Resort Island, Radical City, Regal Ruin and Reactive Factory, with each of the race tracks featuring thematic elements that are related to the franchise. In the courses, players will see spring bumpers, loops and various platform mechanics that give that classic Sonic feel.
In each of the races, the player must navigate the course on foot (or in a vehicle if playing as Amy or Robotnik), running around the twists and turns of the track. During the race, players will be able to freely move around the course, with few limits on exploration as there are several routes to choose from. There are also platforming elements to the races, as players can jump across gaps, hop across bodies of water and take shortcuts by jumping up onto ledges.
Over the course of the three laps of a race, players can collect rings that appear along the track, or from the special spinning emblems at set points. These are important as they will allow two special mechanics to be used, with the first being the boost pad, which will send the player in a set path based on the rings held. Then there are the shortcut gates, which cost rings to open and some of them contain the Chaos Emeralds for that course.
The emblems in the course will also provide players with power ups, with a speed up, lightning shield to draw in rings and a bubble that lets characters run on water. These add a little unpredictability to the races, as all of the competitors can access them, keeping the action rather exciting. There is also light rubber banding during races, with some of the racers keeping close to the player, but not veering off the track except for using ring gates.
With each of the three lap races, there is one core objective and that is to get to the head of the pack, finishing in first place to win the race. If the player gets first, a gold trophy will be added, with four first place finished unlocking the final race. But there are other side objectives, with the first being collecting the Chaos Emeralds hidden behind Ring Gates. If the player grabs the Emerald and finishes first, they get to keep it, but only if they finish first.
Then there are the Sonic Tokens, with five of them hidden in out of the way places throughout each of the tracks. These are an optional objective, but they offer a unique additional challenge for players to take on. If the player gets all 5 of the special tokens and reaches the finish in the top three, they will immediately go into another special race.
In these special races, players will be able to challenge one of Robotnik’s special Badniks, with three of them being related to the core trio of Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. To unlock these robo racers to use in the main game, the player must win the showdown, but they only get one shot at it. If the player fails to win the head to head race, they have to collect all of the tokens again if they want another shot. There are four special showdown races in this game.
The Badniks and Robotnik aren’t the only unlockable racers in this game, as players can also unlock Super Sonic by collecting all of the Chaos Emeralds. This is the fastest racer in the game, with none of the weaknesses of the other characters, allowing him to cross water easily and double jump. The additional characters in the game add to the replay value, as they are added to the other game modes, as well as the Grand Prix mode.
Speaking of the other modes, there are two extra game modes that players can sink their teeth into. We have the Time Attack mode, where players can participate in four different unique challenges. There are the standard 3 lap races, where players try to get the best possible time on each of the tracks, with times being recorded into memory. Players can also challenge the reverse versions of the tracks, offering an alternate take to the existing tracks.
As well as the time trial races, there are two extra challenges to take on. The first is Balloon mode, where the player explores the track looking for five balloons in the fastest time possible, which are hidden on the course. The last mode is Tag Battle, where players play a game of tag with four CPU characters. The timer will stop when all four racers have been stopped, with the best time for both Balloon mode and Tag Battle being added to local rankings.
Finally to wrap up the gameplay, we have the 2 player VS mode. There are two modes that players can access in multiplayer, with head to head races and Balloon mode. In the standard races, the action plays out in the same way as the challenge races against Badniks. Whereas the Balloon races have the two players exploring the track, locating five balloons as fast as possible, with the winner being the first player to find all balloons.
Personal Thoughts
My earliest memories of this game are playing it with my dad, on a big bulky CRT TV in the corner of the living room with the dark of late November outside. I had seen Sonic in 3D before, having experienced Sonic World in Sonic Jam, but the visuals of Sonic R felt like something entirely different. The way that Sonic R looked, made me excited of all the possibilities that other 3D Sonic games could have, but sadly the SEGA Saturn didn’t get another full 3D game.
However, what is here is a solid showcase of what the SEGA Saturn could do, with transparency and reflections that were rather uncommon for the system. There was also the use of dynamic camera angles in the game’s replay mode, which added a lot of charm to watching races back. I also feel that while the gameplay is a little rough around the edges, it plays well and offers something different from other titles in the genre, like SEGA Rally and DAYTONA USA.
There is a lot of negativity around this game, which could be due to discovering it through the PC version that was ported through the GEMS Collection. This led to more negative reviews of the game over time, causing the game to gain a poor reception from the general Sonic player base. Unfortunately, this has led to those who discover the game for the first time to judge it harshly, without approaching it themselves and comparing it to modern games.
I feel all of the negativity is undeserved, as there is a lot of fun to have with this game, both alone and with friends. It has more depth than people give it credit for, as there is a good amount of replay value. The unlockable characters, extra challenges in time trial and 2 player mode make it more than your average racing game of the time. And the soundtrack is a real highlight for the game, with an excellent set of music tracks, with the option for instrumental only versions.
Since the game featured the SEGA mascot, it released in all regions with the game being wildly available. Thanks to this the game is widely available across the world, with the cost of the game on the secondary market being relatively affordable. Yet it is recommended to pick up a Japanese version, as the PAL and NTSC versions can be a little more pricey. There is also the PC version and Sonic GEMS releases, but they aren’t the same as the Saturn release.
Sonic R is one of those games that never got the appreciation it deserved, with the game gaining little recognition from SEGA compared to other Sonic titles. It is likely that it won’t get a second shot at life, as SEGA seem to ignore the Saturn when it comes to ports and remasters. Even though they could easily put this game, as well as their other abandoned titles, like Clockwork Knight and Fighter’s Megamix on new platforms via City Connections Zebra Engine.
If you have enjoyed this feature, then please stick around and see what else catches your eye. I cover a wide range of games in reviews, get special previews and put out regular features. I have Lost Gems, Retro Revival where I discuss re-releases and the occasional Gaming Oddities piece, where I cover weird and wacky titles. So stay a while and have a look around.
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