Sonic races into action with the Sonic Drift series…..exclusive to Japan for a very long time until they got localized for English in NA/EU with Sonic Adventure DX & Sonic Gems Collection.
So, are they fun racing games, or poor Mario Kart clones? LETS RACE!
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The game has all the settings/modes you would expect from a kart racer; time trails, GP mode, verses mode with buddies or the CPU and some options to play around with.
But the gameplay is the most interesting element as…..its Mario Kart in some ways.
You have the map on the top of the screen to see where you & the other racers are and you have the rest of the screen for yourself and the race track. How you race with sonic is that one button is to accelerate, one button is for breaking, and one for items you find on the track. This is a bit different with Sonic Drift 2 but will get to that in a minute.
The controls can be really bad if you don’t know how the breaking system works, which is where Mario Kart and this differ greatly. In Mario Kart, drifting can be used to build up nitro/energy (shown with colored sparks), and once you let go, you get a boost forward. With this game, you have a set speed and you get faster over time, but the drift element is for the tracks.
The tracks are built to be very curvy, leading to you focusing on making hard turns and letting go of the gas at the right points. If you time your inputs right, you can fly past the competition!
Don’t have much to say with how items work, as they can either hinder progress or make you go faster. But I understand Sonic Drift 2’s systems better, so will talk about that now.
Sonic Drift 2 adds a bit more to the mix, with ring collection (which is in the original) being used to build up a special ability for each racer. Sonic for example gets a boost when enough rings are collected.
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Lets get to the racers now, as each game has unique racers.
Sonic Drift 1 has the above cast; Sonic, Tails, Amy and Eggman.
But Sonic Drift 2 adds our boy Knuckles, Fang/Nack the Sniper (which will be talked about with the Triple Trouble thread ;)), and Metal Sonic.
Sonic Drift 2’s track design is a bit better then the original’s as new elements like Ice and Sand enter the scene and effect the track design in new ways. Having Ice, Sand and Space settings make tracks visual look more interesting and allows the curvy design become more noticeable. Ice Cap was my favorite track from Sonic Drift 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCneRP371nk
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The tracks in each Sonic Drift are named after other zones in the series and like every Sonic title, they have some amazing themes.
Green Hill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-nx…BafBa1Cf_YMHuA
Labyrinth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r2h…_YMHuA&index=7
Scrap Brain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU_6…YMHuA&index=11
Star Light: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hupW…YMHuA&index=13
As one can see, Sonic Drift 1 is heavily rooted within Sonic 1 locations and themes.
But Sonic Drift 2 is more interesting with not just zones from Sonic 1 & 2 appearing:
Balloon Panic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCAc…btKmxFUE9QbwuA
Casino Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0V7u…9QbwuA&index=2
Dark Valley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzUn…9QbwuA&index=4
Desert Road: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpQJ…btKmxFUE9QbwuA
Ice Cap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vAv…btKmxFUE9QbwuA
Rainy Savannah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoZ7…QbwuA&index=23
Final GP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkVZ…9QbwuA&index=9
Sonic Drift 2 has a better balance of original themes and new themes to play with for tracks and that is always a great thing.
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So, what are my thoughts on this racing classic? Meh :l.
I do feel Drift 2 is the better game here, with the same modes as the original but with more content to dig into (tracks and characters) it feels more interesting then the original Drift. But the games are just okay, not great or amazing, just good.
For a racing game on the Game Gear, its impressive they made the game to begin with (as I would imagine something like Outrun would have a big issue making the handheld leap at this time period). So, I enjoyed both of these games. They are just not my favorite pair of Sonic Racers.
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The Sonic series didn’t ditch racing completely though…….it came back to it with some Super Sonic Racing, hoverboard action and a return to the kart racer in the future and they got better and better over time!
Robert Kellett - Retrospectives of Gaming History 