- Not to be confused with Sonic Riders.

The title card of the Sonic Ride animation, from Sonic Jam.
Sonic Ride (ソニック・ライド[1] Sonikku Raido?) is the name given for one and half minute CGI animated short produced in 1994.[2] Created by Sega Software R&D Dept. 3 around the same with Sonic the Animation to experiment pre-rendered 3D graphics,[3] the animated short features Sonic the Hedgehog running around the CG rendered world along with Badniks and Dr. Robotnik, while the action is also occacionally experienced from his perspective.[4]
The animated short was likely intended to be used for motion simulators in Sega theme parks,[1] but it is not known if this was ever implemeneted in any form. However, parts of the Sonic Ride short are later used in a music video for "They Call Me Sonic" promo single before being fully presented as an extra video content found in Sonic World's Movie Theater of Sonic Jam.
The Ride[]
After briefly drifting through a casino-themed area designated as the Casino Zone from midair, the camera will land on a pinball table and head towards the drain. Suddenly however, Sonic will appear in front of the camera and run towards it in an area resembling Green Hill Zone. The camera then switches perspective to behind Sonic, who takes the right turn at a fork in the road in a forest/jungle area. Sonic will then run down and up a hill before arriving at another fork in the road, which is in front of a high-tech city. The camera then changes to a first person perspective from Sonic's perspective, as he runs through the Green Hill Zone-like area again. While running, Sonic dodges a Buzz Bomber and bounces off a red Spring. While high up in the air, the viewer gets a overhead shot of the Zone. Eventually landing on the ground, the camera (still set in a first person perspective) will follow Sonic as he runs around a loop before running into a rocky canyon. There, the camera follow Sonic as he jumps between the walls while dodging startled-looking Moto Bugs.
After this scene, the camera changes to a telescope view of Sonic running towards it. The camera then shows that the telescopic view was shown through a telescope belonging to Dr. Robotnik, who is looking through it. The camera then zooms further out and reveals that standing next to Robotnik is a Robotnik Empire-emblazoned contraption that is meant to drop a two hundred ton stone weight on Sonic. Putting the telescope down, Robotnik walks over to his contraption's trigger lever and takes another look through his telescope. The camera then shows the telescope view again while Sonic runs straight towards the camera. Excited and in a hurry, Robotnik throws his telescope away and immediately pulls his contraption's trigger lever. As he does that however, Sonic runs past Robotnik and the contraption, leaving a brown trail of dust in his wake and making Robotnik and his contraption spin out of control. After both the contraption and Robotnik move back and forth a few times, a dizzy Robotnik regains his balance and strikes a pose, only for his contraption's weight to fall down on him and crush him into a pancake.
Trivia[]
- The short's title card has the words 未公開 (Mi kōkai?) and イメージ映像 (Imēji eizō?) written in katakana, both if which can be translated as "unreleased" and "video clip", respectively.
- The Game Gossip section in the monthly gaming magazine Game Players accidentally mistook images from the CG animation as the first revealed images of Knuckles' Chaotix, known as "Sonic 32X" at the time, in the December 1994 issue.[5]
Video[]
"Sonic Ride" short from Sonic Jam -Perfect Rip-
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "「ソニック・ライド」っていったいなに!?" (in Japanese). ソニックジャム オフィシャルガイド. Soft Bank. 2 October 1997. p. 111. ISBN 978-4797303377. "ムービーシアターに収録された「ソニック・ライド」は、'94年に制作された未公開のフルCGムービーだ。 テーマパークなどに置かれる大型置体の開発時に作られ、多少のインタラクティブ性があったらしいぞ。"
- ↑ "Sonic the Hedgehog Staff Interview - We Ask Yuji Naka about the Possibility of a Saturn Sonic". Sega Saturn Magazine 1995-02. Soft Bank. 7 January 1995. pp. 84–85https://mdshock.com/2018/07/19/yuji-naka-sonic-interview-february-1995/.
- ↑ "第3AM研究開発部 "リアルさ"と"キャラクター性"の追求が3研のテーマ". Beep! MegaDrive 1994-10. Soft Bank. 8 September 1994. p. 93.
- ↑ "「ソニック・ライド」っていったいなに!?" (in Japanese). ソニックジャム オフィシャルガイド. Soft Bank. 2 October 1997. p. 111. ISBN 978-4797303377. "CGで表現されたソニックの世界。 ソニックの視点から見た映像がメインとなっている。 敵も出てくる"
- ↑ "Game Gossip". Game Players Vol. 7 No. 12. Imagine Publishing. December 1994. p. 20. "Here it is! The very first and only pix of the upcoming 32X Sonic game! Not a lot is known this cart except that Sonic, Tails and the rest of the crew are gonna be rendered using 3-D workstations. Sonic is expected to streak onto the 32X sometime in '95! Sega of Japan's development team has been working on the game for almost a year. You can also look for the arcade hit Wing War to come to 32X in '95."
1991-2000 | Sonic's Edusoft (1991) · Sonic the Hedgehog (home computers) (1991) · SegaSonic Bros. (1992) · Sister Sonic (1993) · Sonic the Hedgehog 2 CD (1993) · Sonic Crackers (1994) · Sonic Ride (1994) · Treasure Tails (1995) · Sonic Sports (1995) · Sonic X-treme (1996) (16 (1993), STI (199X), Mars (1994), Saturn (1995)) | |
2001-2010 | Sonic the Hedgehog Extreme (2003) · Sonic DS (2004) · Sonic Extreme (GBA) (200X) · Sonic the Hedgehog: Awakening (200X) · Untitled Sonic Chronicles sequel (200X) | |
2011-2020 | Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode III (201X) |