Sonic Drift


 * For the move, see Sonic Drift (move).

Sonic Drift (ソニックドリフト) is a kart racing game developed and released by Sega. It was released only in Japan for the Sega Game Gear in 18 March 1994. It features Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, and Dr. Eggman as playable characters with their vehicles. It was the first game where Amy Rose was a playable character, and her car returns with her (though changed) in Sonic R.

The game got later a sequel, Sonic Drift 2, which got an international release unlike its prequel. Although Sonic Drift was later ported for few compilations such as Sonic Mega Collection Plus. Since it was never released outside Japan, the digital instruction manual was in Japanese in all versions of compilations.

Gameplay
Players race around a track collecting rings and power-ups. Originally, this game was only released in Japan, however, it is now available in other markets thanks to the recent series of compilations in the Sonic series of games and importing it on certain shop websites.

Modes
The different modes in Sonic Drift are to enter the Chaos GP, which is an all-out race for the Chaos Emeralds. Other modes include Free Run, which allows you to race against the clock and Versus mode if linked onto another Game Gear or controller.

Courses
The courses in Sonic Drift takes place to the zones from the original 16-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog. Each Zone has three different versions, one each for the three different GPs (Green, Yellow and Red: Green being the easiest, Yellow being Medium, and red being the hardest).
 * Green Hill
 * Marble
 * Spring Yard
 * Labyrinth
 * Star Light
 * Scrap Brain

Reception
The game received poor reception. Many fans despise the controls and courses, while others complain about the small cast available.

Trivia

 * The invincible theme is a 8-bit sped up version of "Sonic - You Can Do Anything" from Sonic CD.
 * Amy Rose's car in the game has appeared in Kazunori Yamauchi's Motor Toon Grand Prix released later in the year, only driven by Captain Rock and Red.
 * All of the zones from the original Sonic the Hedgehog (not counting the Final Zone) make an appearance in this game.
 * Tails' new F-1 Racecar for Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed greatly resembles his MTP-01 Wheel Wind from this game.
 * If you look closely on Amy's umbrella it says Sonic Drift on it. This is seen in the illustrations of Sonic Classic Collection and the actual game Sonic Drift.