Sonic Dash

is running in the left lane on a beach.|alt=Sonic the Hedgehog collecting rings in the left lane of a road on a beach|upright=0.8 Sonic Dash is an endless runner, similar to Temple Run (2011) and Rayman Jungle Run (2012). The player directs Sonic or another character through levels, collecting rings and avoiding obstacles and enemies. Unlike other games in the series, Sonic automatically moves forward at all times, similar to Sonic and the Secret Rings. Players are able to share and compete for position on leaderboards. Rings can be collected throughout the levels or purchased via microtransactions, along with red star rings. Accumulated rings and Red Star Rings can be used to purchase power-ups, upgrades, or unlock additional playable characters. The game also features a mission system, giving players an objective to target as they play the game. The game features several playable characters from the Sonic universe. Characters are unlocked by purchasing them with Red Star Rings or real-world currency. A similar boss battle against Doctor Eggman was added in a later update. Several characters from other non-Sega franchises have been added to the game as part of temporary cross-promotional events, available to unlock only during a limited time period. These include the Angry Birds characters Red, Chuck and Bomb during June 2015; the Sanrio characters Hello Kitty, My Melody, Chococat and Badtz-Maru during December 2016; Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man in February 2018, and Bongo the Danimals mascot in May 2021. The Android version of the game also features an exclusive character in the form of the Android robot. Content themed around the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog films and IDW comic series has been added, as well as a "Zone Builder" feature. ==Development and release==

Sonic Dash was developed by Hardlight, a development studio under Sega Europe. Hardlight was founded by Chris Southall, a former Codemasters employee who helped to found Sega Racing Studio. According to Southall, Sega's desire to develop more mobile games led to Hardlight's foundation in 2012. Around the time of Hardlight's relaunch of Sonic Jump in October 2012, the studio was working on Sonic the Hedgehog and Crazy Taxi games. Although initially faced with difficulty deciding which to develop, Sega Sammy Holdings president and chief operating officer (COO) Haruki Satomi saw a demo of Sonic Dash and liked it so much that he insisted it be developed. Southall stated that the concept for Sonic Dash began with looking at elements of Sonic games and deciding what gameplay aspects would work on a mobile phone. He called an into-the-screen running game an "obvious thing" and not unlike some sequences in the console game series. On March 1, 2013, Sega announced the game, with an official press release going out on March 4. and a Windows Phone and PC release occurred on December 3, 2014. According to Southall in a November 2017 interview, Hardlight was continuing to work on updates for Sonic Dash. Other versions '''''''' is an arcade port of Sonic Dash. It was announced at the IAAPA Attractions Expo in Orlando, Florida, USA in November 2015, and it uses traditional controls instead of touch screen controls. Dash+ is ad-free, and there are no in-app purchases. The game requires an Android device with Android 8 or newer, or an Apple device with iOS 15/iPadOS 15 or newer. Prime Dash features a new track, five new characters, two of which are exclusive to Prime Dash, a boss battle which are all from the series Sonic Prime, and a shortcut to Sonic Prime'' on Netflix, but the game is otherwise ad-free with any plan, and there are no in-app purchases. ==Reception and downloads==

Review aggregator website Metacritic labeled Sonic Dash as having "mixed or average reviews". Scott Nichols of Digital Spy referred to it as "the best Sonic has played on a smartphone yet", while Jim Squires of Gamezebo lauded the game for being "the first time in 20 years that Sega has put out a Sonic game that you absolutely have to play". David Craddock of TouchArcade compared Sonic Dash favorably to the special stages in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Chris Carter of Destructoid praised the controls, finding that the "swipe"-based motions worked better than the tilt-based ones typical of the endless runner genre. Carter criticized the repetitiveness and in-app purchases that ranged from "not needed" to "pretty damn annoying". He described the leaderboard system as "pay-to-win... you can literally pay your way to the top of these leaderboards if you’re willing to spend enough premium red rings". Rich Stanton of Eurogamer felt that the in-app purchases were motivated by greed. Edge said the level design "feels like it was made with in-app Continue purchases specifically in mind". A review for MacLife said Sonic Dash "fumbles the fundamentals and aggravates with heavy-handed in-app purchases". In March 2013, the game received more than downloads. By June 2015, Sonic Dash had been downloaded over 100 million times across multiple different platforms, and had 14 million players per month. By November 2017, Sonic Dash download count was over 300 million, In September 2021, the download count surpassed 500 million. ==Sequels==

A sequel based on the Sonic Boom TV series, Sonic Boom Dash (formerly known as Sonic Dash 2: Sonic Boom Run), was soft-launched on Android devices in Canada on July 1, 2015, and received a full iOS launch in October, along with a later full Android launch. For the iOS version, the game included compatibility with the Apple Watch via a companion app. Like the original game, Sonic Boom Dash has received "mixed or average reviews" according to Metacritic. A mobile tie-in to Sonic Forces, '''''''', was released in 2017. It features similar gameplay to Sonic Dash, but is based on competitive online multiplayer. Within its first five days of release, Sonic Forces: Speed Battle had been downloaded 1.3 million times, By April 21, 2020, Sonic Forces: Speed Battle had been downloaded over 50 million times and reached US$4.2 million in revenue. Ric Cowley of Pocket Gamer'' called the game "a lot of fun to play, though it's probably best off experienced in short bursts". Speed Battle had been downloaded over 100 million times. ==References==