Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing

[kirbychu]

Of course Shadow's going to be in the game. Unfortunately, Shadow's more popular than Tails and Knuckles combined. At least in Japan, anyway.

I still don't know what you're so bent out of shape over, TEi. Sonic doesn't take over these games any more than Mario takes over Smash Bros. And it is Sega's mascot series. Pretty much the only Sega series to have had more than three games over the years.

[8bitretroshit]

Wonder if the Wii'll get some Nintendo-based DLC. Captain Falcon popping up in a game like this would be funny.

Secretly hoping Dynamite Headdy gets in too

[Savage Adam]

Just to make it clear, it's been stated that Knuckles and Big are the only new Sonic characters. Granted, seven is still about four characters too many, but i'll be sticking with Beat and Alex Kidd regardless.

[Deleted]

Oct 8, 2009 4:21:05 GMT -5 kirbychu said:

Of course Shadow's going to be in the game. Unfortunately, Shadow's more popular than Tails and Knuckles combined. At least in Japan, anyway.

I still don't know what you're so bent out of shape over, TEi. Sonic doesn't take over these games any more than Mario takes over Smash Bros. And it is Sega's mascot series. Pretty much the only Sega series to have had more than three games over the years.

My frustration with Sonic's overpresence in this game goes hand-in-hand with my frustration with Sonic's games over the past ten years, combined with the fact that Sega has some killer non-Sonic franchises they could beef their Would-Be Smash Bros. titles with. Which they don't use, of course, because there is an overabundance of Sonic characters. XD

I think I'm on my man-period.

[kirbychu]

Well, I half agree. But I don't think they should remove Sonic characters to add other characters, I think they should either just include more characters in general or remove some of those other ridiculous characters nobody cares about. Who wants to play as Meemee? Or Pudding? Why did they get into the game over Knuckles? Or Axel? Or Toejam?

With any luck this racing game will have a much larger character roster. It's not like the consoles can't handle it, it's just down to whether or not Sega will allow the dev team time to do it.

[TV Eye]

I think Vectorman would be a cool addition. It seems characters get karts relating to their series, so Vectorman could himself be a kart.

[Deleted]

Oct 9, 2009 8:51:54 GMT -5 kirbychu said:

Well, I half agree. But I don't think they should remove Sonic characters to add other characters, I think they should either just include more characters in general or remove some of those other ridiculous characters nobody cares about. Who wants to play as Meemee? Or Pudding? Why did they get into the game over Knuckles? Or Axel? Or Toejam?

With any luck this racing game will have a much larger character roster. It's not like the consoles can't handle it, it's just down to whether or not Sega will allow the dev team time to do it.

I loved playing as Pudding in SST, but I agree that she shouldn't have had priority over Knuckles. (But by the same token, neither should Amy or Shadow have, but we've had this runaround before and there's no real need to get into that discussion.) Granted, of all these no-longer-updated Sega franchises, I'm biased towards some of them for various reasons - JSR because of its style, adherence to street culture and the fact that it helped shape who I am today, SC5 because the game has actual soul, Skies of Arcadia because it's inspiring and carries an intense, positive message, Crazy Taxi because it's off-the-wall and I've never seen anything like it before or since, etc. etc. Some of the franchises being represented I have no love for, but I don't have a beef against them either (Shenmue, Alex Kidd, Super Monkey Ball, Toejam & Earl, NiGHTS).

It sounds low of me to say that one reason I resent Sonic's overabundance is because the series lacks the qualities that makes me love the franchises above, but that's a matter of opinion and I can't factually justify my standpoint with it, and it wouldn't mean shit if I were presentint this idea to thegame's producer. That doesn't change the fact that I feel that way, and that does spurn some of the resentment.

Also, at the same time, this is more me explaining my opinion to you than doing anything factual, so I guess I'm following the right tack.

And yes, you're right that Sonic does deserve a much heavier presence in any Sega multi-franchise title being the company's flagship character, but that should hardly stop them from restricting the presence of other characters from other series. In Brawl, there were four Zelda characters and two Zelda stages, three Kirby characters and three Star Fox characters, and each franchise had a heavy, respectable soundtrack list. While Sega crossovers are hardly Smash Brothers, and while whomever is making Sega Racing is not Masahiro Sakurai and HAL Labs, it's a good example that there can still be hefty representation of non-flagship franchises without drowning a game. (Another example, I guess, of trimming the fat, is the fact that a character like Waluigi - who has plenty of presence in some Mario spin-offs - was not playable in Brawl. The same could be said for Amy, Shadow and Big in this case.)

Of course, if Sega does ease up and give a nice variety of non-Sonic stuff (beyond a single character and stage for each franchise), I'll be more than happy with that and this entire discussion won't have been necessary...but when doesn't that happen when talking about an unreleased game, right?

[kirbychu]

Well... I agree with pretty much all of that. BUT, I can actually see why they chose the Sonic characters they did, and I agree with those choices. They're the stereotypical roles - the star, the sidekick, the female lead, the rival and the villain. They could've had Knuckles in as the rival, but he hasn't been a rival since Sonic 3. He's a second sidekick now.

SST had five Sonic characters, two characters for most everything else, and one for a few others... which, with it's smaller character roster, is pretty equal to Smash Bros., which has... what... eight Mario characters now? I'm not sure what Big is doing there (apparently he's popular in Japan, or something), but I'm assuming this game is going to have a lot more characters. I think we already know of about the same number of characters that SST had in total. Honestly, I'll be happy if they just represent Toejam & Earl in some small way this time. But it'd be nice to see some Streets of Rage love, too.

[Deleted]

Yeah, I understand why they chose...well, Shadow and Amy at least, Big is still an enigma to me. I think it could have/should have ended with Sonic, Robotnik, Tails and Knuckles because those games shaped the franchise and the characters have been part of it forevvvvvver, and StH 1, 2, 3, and &K are my personal favorites. I feel like they represented the series better than everything to come after it - which isn't to say there haven't been good games between S&K and now, of course. But again, we've both had this dance in the past. ;D

[Nester the Lark]

Here are more Ryo screenshots.



I kinda want to buy this game just because it has Ryo in it. Sort of like how TEi bought the tennis game for Beat and Gum.

[Deleted]

Oct 13, 2009 19:29:34 GMT -5 Nester the Lark said:

I kinda want to buy this game just because it has Ryo in it. Sort of like how TEi bought the tennis game for Beat and Gum.

And while I don't regret having bought that game (I was in dire need of a JGR fix), I do regret having bought it so soon after launch. I went back to Gamestop about a month later and the game had already been reduced to $20...sadface. So while I do intend to pick this title up, I'm going to wait a little while and see if the price drops.

[Nester the Lark]

More details:

- Wiimote/Wiimote and Nunchuk control confirmed, Classic Controller is 'pending', and no mention of Cube controller
- racecars are best on hard surfaces, but slower on offroad
- motorcycles have average speed on all surfaces but better acceleration and handling
- off-road vehicles have an advantage on terrain
- flying vehicles have no terrain benefits but can get a boost during jumps
- Sonic's sneakers power-up give you a speed boost
- defensive shield power-up blocks you from a hit
- paintball bomb weapon obscures an opponent's vision
- Big Bomb that "knocks your adversaries for a loop"
- Confusing Star "rolls the screen 180 degrees. For some reason you just can't switch left and right in your head and although we don't do anything to the controls, it always takes you by surprise."
- 20 courses
- Sonic's Seaside Hill, Casino Park, and Final Fortress, Billy Hatcher's Blizzard Beach, Jet Set Radio's Tokyo-To, Curien's Mansion from The House of the Dead, levels from Super Monkey Ball and Samba de Amigo, and more
- more than 80 pieces of music
- modes: grand prix, time trials, split-screen local versus play, eight-player online, and over 50 single-player challenge missions,

20 courses, eh? A Shenmue course has got to be in there somewhere, right?

And 80 pieces of music? I guess it'll at least have the music from the Ryo Hazuki trailer.

[Wildcat]

Until Vyse and Co. ride in on a bloody air ship, I'll hold my breath on this.

Some of those power-ups are awfully vague...I'm sure that Sega has some sort of special item tied to a series that could replace some of those. Paintball Bomb = Graffiti Paint Can from JSR, for example.

[TV Eye]

Hey guys, zombies from House of the Dead are playable.

Apparently, there is also a high chance of Toejam and Earl showing up, as the creators have mentioned it on the Sega forums.

[The Qu]

Why did I have a post deleted...?

Oh, and cool.