Sonic 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 race on floating airboards, air shoes and motorbikes 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 release 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 Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, has been released on the Wii and PlayStation 2 systems.

Story
At midnight in Future City, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower and Knuckles the Echidna are searching for a 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, floating airboards. 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 they met up with yesterday, the three 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. 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 Rouges and Sonic and 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 the Monkey 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
 * 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):

Heroes Cup:
 * Metal City
 * Splash Canyon
 * Egg Factory
 * Green Cave
 * Sand Ruins

Babylon Cup:
 * Night Chase
 * Red Canyon
 * Ice Factory
 * White Cave
 * Dark Desert

Story-only courses:
 * Babylon Garden
 * Sky Road

Boss course:
 * Babylon Guardian

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. The game's music involves techno and synth. The music is, unlike earlier Sonic games, not rock.

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
The Archie Sonic Comic issues #163 and #164 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 Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie comic).

Trivia

 * All Target GameCube and PlayStation 2 copies came with a free Sonic X DVD.


 * When you listen to the first cutscene of Sonic's story mode, you can notice one of Jet's lines is goofed up, making it sound as if Sonic said the line.