Team Sonic Racing

in Planet Wisp, a Sonic Colors-themed stage Team Sonic Racing is a Sonic the Hedgehog-themed kart racing game featuring single-player and multiplayer modes. After selecting one of 15 characters from the series' cast, players participate in races using sports cars on courses thematically based on locations from the franchise. There are three types of racing classes: speed, technique, and power. Each type has its own unique abilities; for example, technique racers like Tails can drive over rough surfaces like grass without slowing down. The gameplay differs from traditional racing games because of its focus on cooperative gameplay: the player is part of a team of racers and they must work together. While each player in a team still takes control of a single racer, they must also pay attention to how teammates are performing and share power-ups. each split across seven zones and based on locations from main Sonic games. Unlike the main game, the teams in Team Adventure are predetermined. with new parts unlocked as they progress through the game. The game supports four-player local multiplayer, up to twelve online, While most modes allow players to select any combination of characters, the story mode restricts characters to the following teams: ==Plot==

An alien tanuki named Dodon Pa sends invitations to Sonic the Hedgehog and several of his friends, inviting them to compete in a series of team-based races. He builds cars outfitted with advanced technology for each of the racers, offering them as a prize for the winning team. Though they are skeptical of Dodon Pa's motivations, Sonic and the others agree. The competition takes them across the world, with Dodon Pa pitting them against increasingly difficult challenges. The racers remain suspicious of Dodon Pa, believing he may be working with Sonic's longtime nemesis Doctor Eggman. Investigating further, they discover he is king of the planet Donpa Kingdom and the president of the Donpa Motors automotive corporation. The company is constructing an Ultimate Energy Engine, which gains power from teamwork. Intending it for philanthropic use, Dodon Pa has been using the races to gather research data for the engine and generate energy to power it. After unsuccessfully attempting to steal the engine, Eggman and his henchmen kidnap Dodon Pa and hold him hostage on their battleship. Eggman deceives Dodon Pa into finishing the engine for him, forcing Sonic and the others to continue racing to power it. Eggman installs the engine into a doomsday robot, but it goes haywire and destroys the battleship. Sonic and his friends manage to rescue Dodon Pa as the ship explodes, though the cars are destroyed in the process. A grateful Dodon Pa builds everyone new cars, and they prepare to race again. ==Development==

The British video game developer Sumo Digital developed Team Sonic Racing for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. It was Sumo Digital's third racing game featuring the Sonic intellectual property (IP), following Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. The majority of the staff did not work on the previous games, although some who did were contacted for advice. Team Sonic Racing was Acherki's first game at Sumo Digital. Iizuka explained that the team wanted to make a game that took place solely in the Sonic universe, which is why it does not bear the All-Stars name. He noted Sega used to release a variety of racing games such as Out Run (1986) and Daytona USA (1992), and said Team Sonic Racing continues this tradition. Webber added that the team wanted to expand the world and character roster of Sonic, and designer Derek Littlewood said setting the game in the Sonic universe allowed them use to the series' "full suite" of characters and elements. Sumo Digital also wanted to build on the gameplay of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed, which many players enjoyed. Iizuka conceived the team-based gameplay after watching his son play a kart racing game with his friends. He observed that they were not all happy and pondered how they could all enjoy the game. Observing other games, Sumo Digital found that team gameplay was popular; noting that racing games were largely single-player experiences, they decided combining the concepts would create a unique and exciting experience. He also found it surprising there were few team-based racing games available. Other difficulties arose from choosing characters for the roster. For instance, Vector the Crocodile, traditionally seen as a member of the Chaotix in Sonic games, is paired with Blaze the Cat and Silver the Hedgehog in Team Sonic Racing, which led to considerable debate among the team. while Richard Jacques, Tee Lopes, Tyler Smyth of DangerKids, Tomoya Ohtani, chip-tune artist TORIENA and the EDM group Hyper Potions also contributed. The game's theme song, "Green Light Ride", was performed by Senoue's band Crush 40. Iizuka said the team needed "cool" music that would "influence the player's excitement", which led him to ask Senoue to compose the score. He composed each track individually, collaborating with a different musician for each one. ==Promotion and release==

Rumors of a new Sonic racing game arose in January 2018, when an internal Sumo Digital memo mentioning an "unannounced karting game" based on an "established global IP" leaked. Sumo Digital's history with Sonic caused speculation that it was developing a new Sega All-Stars title, which Webber denied. Despite his response, several toy companies alluded to a future Sonic kart racing game in February 2018. For example, a representative for the company Zappies reported at the Spielwarenmesse toy fair in Nuremberg that a third Sonic kart racing game was in development and that it planned to produce promotional toy figures. Sega scheduled a Sonic-related announcement for its March 16, 2018 show at the SXSW convention. While Sega did not reveal the racing game there, the official series Twitter account teased it. In May 2018, after the game leaked in a Walmart retail listing, Sega initially slated Team Sonic Racing for release in late 2018, but delayed it to May 21, 2019, that October to give Sumo Digital more development time. Iizuka later clarified that there were problems with the online mode that took more time than anticipated to fix. The game was released for Amazon Luna on March 11, 2021. A demo version was playable at E3 2018 in June. Sega released a trailer to promote the game at E3, featuring the theme song and an in-depth look at the gameplay. Another demo was playable at Gamescom in August 2018. More details were revealed, including the new character Dodon Pa, aspects of the story, and racetracks based on levels in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) and Sonic Unleashed (2008). The game won the "Best Casual Game" award at the 2018 Gamescom Awards. Team Sonic Racing was also present at PAX West in August, where attendees were given an exclusive poster, and the Tokyo Game Show in November. The story is set before the game's events and features Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and their friends traveling to a mysterious planet and preventing "an old foe" from obtaining new technology. At SXSW in March 2019, the first episode of a two-part tie-in animated series, Team Sonic Racing Overdrive, was released, followed by the second episode in April. The series' animation was handled by Tyson Hesse and Neko Production, who previously produced the Sonic Mania (2017) tie-in Sonic Mania Adventures. On launch day, Sega released a live-action trailer set in a supermarket, featuring a cameo from Iizuka. Sumo Digital chose to offer all content at launch instead of selling some as downloadable content, and not to include microtransactions. Sonic Racing, a simplified version developed by Hardlight, was released for iOS on September 19, 2019, as a launch title for Apple's Apple Arcade subscription service. The game was released as part of a deal between Apple and Sega, and Sega does not plan to release it on other platforms. ==Reception==

According to review aggregator website Metacritic, Team Sonic Racing received "mixed or average reviews". Many critics of the game praised the team-based game play and the track designs as well. IGN stated, "Team Sonic Racing nails what matters most: speed and finesse on the racetrack. The new team system is a fantastic evolution of the arcade racing formula that gives you a real reason to work together, and there's a litany of customization options to keep you coming back to these excellent tracks to earn more." IGN described it as "[falling] somewhere between laughable and painful to listen to as most voices sound more like parodies than actual characters", only appreciating the ability to skip the voice altogether. It debuted at the top of the UK all-format sales charts—the first Sonic game to do so since Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games in 2008—with the PlayStation 4 version selling the most copies. Its launch sales doubled that of Sonic & All Stars Racing: Transformed. In 2021, the game was listed among one of Sega's best selling titles of that year. By June 2025, Team Sonic Racing had sold 3.5 million copies. Awards The game was nominated for best racing game at the 2018 Game Critics Awards and 2019 Independent Game Developers' Association Awards. ==Notes==