Sonic Riders

"Even without wings, I can still fly!"

- Sonic


 * You may be looking for this game's sequels, Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity and Sonic Free Riders.

Sonic Riders is a hoverboard-racing video game spin-off produced by Sega and developed by their second-party, United Game Artists for the Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2, Microsoft Xbox and PC. It is the fourth racing game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, preceded by Sonic Drift, Sonic Drift 2 and Sonic R. This time, the characters ride on vehicles powered by air, called Extreme Gear.

Sonic Riders was revealed by Famitsu on September 7, 2005 prior to 2005's Tokyo Game Show. The game was released to start off the 15th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. This game introduces five new playable characters, the Babylon Rogues and the E-10000 series. A sequel to Sonic Riders, entitled as Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, has been released on the Wii and PlayStation 2 systems. A second sequel, entitled Sonic Free Riders, was released on November 4, 2010 for the Xbox 360's hands-free Kinect peripheral.

Story
At midnight in Future City, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower and Knuckles the Echidna are searching for a lost Chaos Emerald. As Tails finally detects it on his radar, glass shatters in the background and from the city bank fall the legendary band of thieves known as the Babylon Rogues. The thieves were riding on Extreme Gear, which are floating air boards that can reach extremely fast speeds. Sonic attempts to pursue them, but is outmatched on this new technology and the three mysterious characters fly away with the Chaos Emerald in tow.

The next day, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles see a familiar face on the monitors. Doctor Eggman announced that he has created a race called the "EX World Grand Prix". It is a competition to see who is the best on Extreme Gear. When Eggman announces that the prize is all seven of the Chaos Emeralds, and that the current racers are the same thieves that Sonic and co. met up with yesterday. The three then enroll themselves in the tournament. As the Grand Prix goes on, rivals are made. Jet thinks that he is superior, saying he is faster than Sonic. Tails gets mad at Wave when she insults his Extreme Gear, and by nicknaming him "shorty." Knuckles and Storm almost get into a fight creating a rivalry between the two.

At the end of the tournament, Jet uses the Chaos Emeralds to empower an ancient key and reveal Babylon Garden, the ancient ruins of his ancestors. Eggman quickly reveals his intent to steal the Babylonian treasure and flies off, with the Rogues, Sonic, and his friends in pursuit. Although Sonic is able to stop Eggman and settle his score with Jet, the adventure continues when the Babylon Rogues unleash a ancient spirit from Babylon, the Babylon Guardian. Once the Guardian is defeated, the true treasure of Babylon is revealed, surprising everyone with its contents, especially Eggman. The Babylon Rouges and Sonic's group part ways, but not before Jet vows to return and face Sonic again.

Characters
Characters in Sonic Riders are divided into three varying types: Speed, Power, and Flight with the exception of Super Sonic. The game introduces three new characters: Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow, and Storm the Albatross. The three are all members of an organization of thieves known as the Babylon Rogues, led by Doctor Eggman during the tournament until a certain point in the game. Depending on the character type and/or gear, the player can grind, knock obstacles or fly through dash rings. The classifications each of the respective characters fall under is listed below:

Sonic the Hedgehog, Amy Rose, Jet the Hawk, Shadow the Hedgehog, E-10000R, Ulala, and Super Sonic have the highest top speed stats, but low acceleration. They can grind on rails placed around some parts of tracks by pressing the "jump" button twice (once to jump over the rail, second to grind on it).
 * Speed

Knuckles the Echidna, Storm the Albatross, Doctor Eggman, E-10000G and Aiai have the best off road durability and can break through certain obstacles on tracks. Their speed and acceleration stats are only average.
 * Power

Miles "Tails" Prower, Wave the Swallow, Cream the Rabbit, Rouge the Bat, and NiGHTS have the highest acceleration and can fly through "Air Rings," which accelerate them through the air. Otherwise, they simply hover in mid-air, slowly falling.
 * Flight

Extreme Gear
Every character has their own Extreme Gear, the board that they ride on, that runs by air.


 * Sonic: Blue Star and Blue Star II
 * Jet: Type-J
 * Tails: Yellow Tail
 * Wave: Type-W
 * Knuckles: Red Rock
 * Storm: Type-S
 * Amy Rose: Pink Rose

Unlockable
 * Shadow: Darkness
 * Rouge: Temptation
 * Cream: Smile
 * NiGHTS: Night Sky
 * Ulala: Channel5
 * AiAi: BANANA
 * Super Sonic: Chaos Emerald
 * Dr. Eggman: E-Rider
 * E-10000G: E-GearG
 * E-10000R: E-GearR

Courses


There are a total of nineteen courses in the game, thirteen of which appear in the game's Story Modes, one additional course, two nostalgia stages, and three stages in the Survival Battle Mode. The Sega Carnival and Sega Illusion stages, both of which are unlockable courses, feature numerous references to several other Sega franchises, including Samba De Amigo, Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, NiGHTS Into Dreams, Super Monkey Ball, Crazy Taxi, Space Channel 5, ChuChu Rocket!, and Fantasy Zone.

Tracks (in order)
Unlockable tracks:
 * Digital Dimension
 * Sega Carnival
 * Sega Illusion

Survival courses:
 * Dual Towers
 * Snow Valley
 * Space Theater

Sound
The music is done by Tomonori Sawada, Kenichi Tokoi, and Fumie Kumatani. Sawada directed the sound and recorded the sound effects. Tokoi and Kumatani did the music for the game. Most of the game's music involves techno and synthesizers. The music is, unlike earlier Sonic games, not rock, but has a more electronic, futuristic-type of feel.

Reception
Sonic Riders had mixed reactions from reviewers:
 * Nintendo Power: 8.0 out of 10
 * GameSpot: 6.6 out of 10
 * Gamesmaster Magazine UK 65%
 * IGN: 6.2 out of 10
 * Games Radar: 5 out of 10
 * X-Play: 3 out of 5(appreciated the game's multiplayer mode)

Game Rankings currently gives Sonic Riders 59.2% for the PlayStation 2, 62% for the Gamecube, 58.6% for the Xbox, and 52% for the PC.

Archie comics adaptation
Issues #163 and #164 of the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic series include a loose adaptation of Sonic Riders, even using the same art style used in the game's title sequence. Two characters are also seen riding Extreme Gear in issue #173.

Bark the Polar Bear and Bean the Dynamite also use Extreme Gear in the series.

Trivia

 * All Target Xbox and PlayStation 2 copies came with a free Sonic X DVD.
 * SEGA Guest stars Aiai, Ulala and Nights are all playable.
 * This is the second game where Rouge is not wearing clothes with a heart design, as well as the second time Rouge is not seen with lipstick.
 * This is also the first game where Amy is seen wearing pants, and not her usual red dress.
 * This and its sequel Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity are the only games where Cream the Rabbit wears a shirt instead of her trademark dress.
 * This is the first Sonic game since Sonic CD to have an anime-style opening cutscene.
 * This is the second game where Eggman organizes a Grand Prix for a racing game. His first was World Grand Prix in Sonic R.
 * Shadow is the only character that does not have a gear exclusive to himself, as his gear, Darkness, can be ridden by any character in the game.
 * In one of the Babylon story cutscenes, when Jet opens a door with his Control Box, in his hands you can notice for a little moment, the control box disappears but then it comes back on his hands.
 * In this game, everyone's shoe design is different from what they usually wear.
 * During gameplay, Eggman's voice is actually recycled clips from Deem Bristow. In cinematics however, his voice is still Mike Pollock.
 * It is possible that Sega used concepts from Iraq while making this game, (For example, Babylon Garden is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Another example is that the Babylon Rogues have Babylonian heritage which in modern day that happens to be old Iraq.) although some of the concepts (such as the genie), relate to Arabic times.
 * E-10000R, E-10000G, E-10000P, and E-10000Y are similar to Egg Pawn from Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog (game).
 * In the CG cutscenes, Tails and Knuckles are seen without their respective glasses.
 * This is the only Sonic Riders game where tricks are named.
 * In the last cut scene, if you look closely, Amy's gloves are different.
 * This was the last Sonic game for the Xbox and Gamecube.
 * In one of the Babylon story cutscenes, Wave is shown detaching the red jewel from her necklace, which is a small computer, to look at Eggman's diary entry bought by Storm. However, if you look carefully in one of the scenes while Jet is reading what Eggman says, the red jewel is reattached to her necklace again yet she is still showing the digital file.

Videos
thumb|300px|left|Sonic Riders commercial