Sonic Riders

Sonic Riders is a racing game based around characters racing each other using devices known as "Extreme Gear", anti-gravity-equipped vehicles consisting of hoverboards, hover skates, and hoverbikes. 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 gameplay component is the air tank, displayed in the screen's lower right-hand corner. Air serves as the fuel for Extreme Gear, which is gradually depleted as the race continues. 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 overtake them. Players can spend the rings they acquire at the in-game shop to purchase new Extreme Gear, each of which possesses unique statistics and properties. ==Plot==

Jet, leader of the thieving Babylon Rogues, observes the Key to Babylon Garden, an artifact and family heirloom said to unlock the secrets of their Babylonian ancestors. Doctor Eggman arrives and claims he can use the Chaos Emeralds to make Babylon Garden rise, asking for the Rogues' help in retrieving them. The Rogues agree and steal an Emerald, but run into Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, who are also looking for the Emerald. Sonic gives chase, but Jet escapes with the Emerald. The next day, the three heroes see Eggman on a digital billboard advertising an Extreme Gear race known as the EX World Grand Prix; participants must offer a Chaos Emerald to enter, with the winner being awarded all seven. When they realize that the Rogues are participating, Sonic and his friends enter as well. Team Sonic, joined by Amy Rose, compete with the Rogues in several races. During the final race, Wave sabotages Sonic's board, allowing Jet to defeat Sonic and win the Grand Prix. Jet uses the Chaos Emeralds to make Babylon Garden appear, hoping to discover the legendary treasure of the Babylonians. Eggman steals the Key from Jet, intent on taking the treasure for himself, and heads for the garden, with Amy grabbing Eggman's ship in an attempt to stop him. Sonic grabs a new board and pursues Eggman, but Jet challenges him to another race, seeking to defeat Eggman first. The two arrive at Babylon Garden and find Eggman, who is holding Amy hostage. Combining their powers, Jet and Sonic manage to retrieve Amy and the Key. Jet uses the Key to open a secret door, leading the Rogues inside a Babylonian ruin. Team Sonic follow them inside, where they encounter the Babylon Guardian, a giant creature tasked with protecting the treasure. The two teams defeat the Guardian, causing a chest to appear. Eggman returns and demands they give him the treasure, but passes out in confusion upon discovering the treasure is only a carpet. Using the Key, Jet manages to make the carpet fly, revealing the magic carpet to be an early form of Extreme Gear. Team Sonic and the Babylon Rogues go their separate ways, with Jet promising to race Sonic again one day. ==Development==

Sonic Riders was developed by Sonic Team and Now Production for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows in commemoration of the Sonic series' 15th anniversary. The game was directed by Kenjiro Morimoto and produced by Takashi Yuda. Series co-creator Yuji Naka served as executive producer. Sonic Riders was the last Sonic game that Naka was involved with, providing input at the beginning of development and additional advice as the game progressed. The game runs at 60 frames per second, and features a 2D animated opening cutscene produced by Production I.G and directed by Kazuto Nakazawa, Yuda has said Sonic Team did not take any influences from prior Sonic games, reasoning they wanted to create a truly new experience that was unlike anything else from other Sonic games. Levels were designed to be "crazy" but still feature classic Sonic elements. A Game Boy Advance version, alternatively known as Sonic Extreme was developed by Backbone Entertainment for three months but never released. According to artist Keith Erickson, it used an Out Run-style game engine and was supposed to launch at the same time as the other versions. Sega of Japan learned of this version and requested that Backbone add more 3D elements, but keep it on the same production schedule. This would have required the engine to be completely rewritten, something Backbone considered impossible, so Sega canceled it. The score was composed by Tomonori Sawada, Fumie Kumatani, and Kenichi Tokoi. Yuda said the music was written to be "fast paced and give you that heart pounding feeling you should have during a high-speed race". A soundtrack album, Sonic Riders Original Soundtrack "Speedbeats Grand Prix", was released on March 16, 2006. == Release and marketing ==

Sonic Riders was announced in the September 2005 issue of Famitsu, before being showcased at the Tokyo Game Show that same month. Prerelease reception to Sonic Riders was mostly positive, with some criticism towards its loose controls; Mike Jackson wrote for Official Nntendo Magazine "There's no doubt that if the handling is tightened up, this will be a very cool racer. If it's not, we'll avoid it like a lingering fart," predicting a review score of 60%. NGC Magazine was more positive about the game, comparing it favorably to SSX (2000) and considering it a more fun experience than ''Kirby's Air Ride (2003, which they scored 51%). IGN noted some pop-in on the PlayStation 2 demo, but that both it and the GameCube versions were otherwise identical, also stating "what we saw of Sonic Riders suggests that a fun, original racer awaits." while Shogakukan released a separate guide for Japan in April 2006. As part of the 15th anniversary celebration of the Puyo Puyo series, Sonic could be encountered as a guest character in the Windows version of Puyo Pop Fever (2003). The Windows version was released for international markets in late 2006; while it was not released in Japan, it nonetheless can switch to Japanese text and voices. The Windows version was later re-released as part of the PAL-exclusive Sonic PC Collection'' on October 1, 2009. ==Reception==

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Sonic Riders received "mixed or average" reviews. 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. GameSpy agreed and cited the graphics as one of the best parts of the game. IGN was more conflicted: they praised the graphical effects and backgrounds, but were critical of the blocky geometry and blurry textures and thought it was not as pretty as competing games. Nintendo World Report (NWR) also called the graphics inconsistent. IGN lamented that the game was "neither a full-fledged racer or an engaging snowboarder, but a shallow compromise of both." Throughout 2006, the game sold 930,000 copies, with an additional 560,000 units in North America by the end of March 2007. In the UK, Riders debuted in the top 40 before climbing to first place. The GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions were later branded as part of the Player's Choice and Greatest Hits budget lines. ==Legacy==

Following the commercial success of Riders, Yuda stated there would certainly be a follow up. A sequel, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, was released for the PlayStation 2 and Wii in 2008, with planned ports to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 conceived but never realized. like its predecessor, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity received a generally mixed critical reception. A third game, Sonic Free Riders, was released as a launch title for the Xbox 360's Kinect peripheral on November 4, 2010, with the gameplay once again altered to have players use motion controls to move around the board; critical reception to Free Riders was poor, primarily due to the unreliability of said motion controls. Free Riders would be the last Sonic racing game with Extreme Gear until the release of the kart racing game Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds (2025), which also allows players to race using Extreme Gear. Despite their generally negative reception from critics, After IDW Publishing began printing their Sonic comics, the Babylon Rogues were reintroduced in the 2019 Annual, and they would be featured in multiple subsequent story arcs. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds also features the Babylon Rogues as playable characters. In May 2011, an unfinished sports game titled Sonic Extreme leaked online from an Xbox development kit. The tech demo has Sonic and Shadow skating around on hoverboards in a single level filled with ramps, similar to the ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series by Activision. It was developed by Vision Scape Interactive in May 2003, who produced the cutscenes for Sonic Heroes (2003) when Riders'' was officially announced, the Vision Scape staff were shocked by the similarities to the tech demo and considered taking legal action, only to be informed that their non-disclosure agreement gave Sega ownership of any idea using a Sega IP. ==Notes==