Car

The Cars are objects in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. They are bypassing vehicles whose designs and purposes have varied thorough the series, usually serving as either obstacles or objects needed by the player.

Description

The Cars bear great resemblance to real-life passenger cars. They come in a variety of different designs with motif of real-life cars in the period from 1980-2010.

The precise purpose of the Cars in gameplay are rather ambiguous, as they differ between games. Sometimes, they serve as obstacles to the player, other times they are objects the player can use for their own abilities and other times they are needed to be destroyed to complete certain missions.

Game appearances

Sonic Adventure

In Sonic Adventure and its later iteration Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut, the Cars appear in both the Action Stages and Adventure Fields. In the Action Stages like Speed Highway, the Cars are obstacles that passes by on road sections which will damage the player if touched. In the Adventure Fields, the Cars drive around on the open roads where they will stop moving when the playable character is in front of them, but they will not cause damage when touched.

Sonic Adventure 2

In Sonic Adventure 2 and its later iteration Sonic Adventure 2: Battle, the Cars return as obstacles, though they do not cause damage to the player when touched and are knocked away when hit. They appear in City Escape where the player will slow down when hitting them, and in Route 101 and Route 280 as simple stage props. The Cars play a particular role in mission 3 of Route 280 where the player has to avoid hitting them or it will restart the mission.

Sonic Heroes

In Sonic Heroes, the Cars only appear in Grand Metropolis. Instead of driving on the road, these Cars fly through the sky of the stage.

In Team Sonic's version of the stage, several grounded Cars can be found on the path to the Goal Ring. They can be ran into and pushed out of the way, or they will eventually fall down on their own.

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), the Cars are present in Action Stages and Town Missions, though their roles differ greatly between these areas.

In the Action Stages, the Cars are just harmless objects which the player can use as projectiles against enemies for Silver by using Psychokinesis and Psycho Smash. However, in Crisis City's Super-Speed Stage the Cars thrown during this section can damage the player. In the Town Missions, they drive along roads where the player either has to protect them, race against them, or destroy them by attacking them until the red gauge above them are depleted, to complete the Mission. In Sonic's case the player can damage them with Sliding Attack, but in Shadow's case the player has to use his vehicle's weapons.

Sonic Riders series

Sonic Riders

Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity

In Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, the Cars are more rectangular and cramped. Also, they do not have wheels, being designed entirely around hovercrafts. They are only encountered in Megalo Station.

In gameplay, the Cars can damage the player or just make the characters loose balance on their Extreme Gear if the characters collide with them. By using Gravity Control, all cars will be flipped over and be blown away from the screen.

Sonic Free Riders

Sonic Generations

In the console/PC version of Sonic Generations, Cars echoed their roles from past games, which depend on the Stage. In both Acts of Speed Highway they are again obstacles that drive along roads and can damage the player upon contact, and in City Escape and Silver's rival battle they are objects that are knocked away when touched, though they will slow Sonic down when not boosting, while at the same time filling up a part of the Boost Gauge. Also, during the battle against him, Silver will throw Cars at Sonic, though they can be knocked away with the Boost or Homing Attack.

It should also be noted that when Classic Sonic is in front of a Car, the Car will stop, just like Sonic Adventure.

Trivia

• In Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), by using Shadow's wall glitch before entering Dusty Desert's Mirror of Soleanna, the player can see a large amount of cars that it seems to be in an early development of New City. However these Cars do not appear to be customized as they crash into everything and cannot hurt the player.^[1]

Gallery

Gallery
A sport car model from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). A wagon car model in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). A taxi car model in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). Sonic Generations Sonic Generations Sonic Generations Sonic Generations Demolition Derby achievement in Sonic Generations Add a photo to this gallery

References