Sonic Drift

Sonic Drift (ソニックドリフト, Sonikku Dorifuto) is a kart racing video game released in Japan only for the Game Gear on March 18, 1994. It features Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, and Doctor Robotnik.

Gameplay

Players race around a series of tracks in either single races or a Grand Prix consisting of six courses, collecting rings and using power-ups to obtain First Place. Each playable character has different positive and negative attributes, and can utilize a Special Ability at the cost of 2 rings.

Sonic, who drives a red and white sports car known as the Cyclone, has great speed and handling but poor control, and has a speed boost as his Special Ability. Tails, who drives a 1960s-era Formula 1 car called the MTP-01 Wheelwind, is well-balanced in terms of his speed, acceleration and handling, but does not stand out in any particular area- he can utilize a powerful jump as his Special Ability, which allows him to avoid obstacles and particularly tough corners. Eggman (as he is referred to in this game), who pilots a modified version of his standard Eggmobile known as the Egg Typhoon, has poor acceleration, but has very high top speed and cornering abilities, and can toss Bombs onto the track that can cause his rivals to spin out. Finally, Amy Rose, who drives a yellow and blue vintage convertible called the Breeze, has great acceleration at the cost of low top speed, and has the ability to attack by throwing small heart-shaped objects that slow down her opponents and alter their controls for a short time.

Sonic Drift establishes a few characteristics for Amy Rose, who had her first appearance as a playable character in this game. The car she races in returns with her in future racing games Sonic R and Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing. The instruction manual also features a picture of Amy holding an umbrella that she would later have use of in gameplay in Sonic the Fighters. The courses are based on the 6 Zones from the original Sonic game - Green Hill, Marble, Spring Yard, Labyrinth, Star Light, and Scrap Brain.

The invincible theme of Sonic Drift is based on "Sonic - You Can Do Anything" from the original release of Sonic the Hedgehog CD.

Reception

Reception for Sonic Drift have been mixed. On release, Famicom Tsūshin scored the game a 19 out of 40.^[2] GameSpot described the game as "Sonic's first attempt to rival Mario Kart falls short due to a lack of options and bland track design.^[3] Many critics label the games as Super Mario Kart clones although Sega's "Drift" series of kart racers predates Super Mario Kart by a few years starting with Power Drift in 1988.

Re-releases

Sonic Drift was re-released on the Sonic Mega Collection Plus compilation for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PC and was also included as an unlockable extra in Sonic Adventure DX.

See also

• Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
• Sonic Drift 2

References

External links

• Sonic Drift series at MobyGames