Unsurprisingly, the sequel to the coolest and only racing game I've played in the past eight years is being met with critical acclaim, most notably from Eurogamer who gave the game a 9/10earlier today. A quote:

It's managed to step out of Mario Kart's shadow, for sure, but the real achievement is one that's going to be much more thrilling for the Sega fans it so eagerly panders to. This manages to be more than just a tribute to the great and good of Sega's past - it does enough to earn its own place alongside them.

I was already looking forward to this, but now I might have to postpone getting the reportedly disappointing Paper Mario: Sticker Star in favour of this game.

Here's the launch trailer, which features a bunch of kids getting blown in their faces.

And here's the link to the demo that's up on Xbox Live Marketplace right now. The demo features two tracks, one from Panzer Dragoon and one from Golden Axe. You can only play as Sonic. I heard the demo should be on the WiiU on launch day as well.

The following characters are confirmed to be in the game (via Wikipedia):

Notes:

^a Nights and Reala appear as the vehicles themselves, which are piloted by a Nightopian and a Nightmaren respectively.

^b AGES is a VMU unit whose vehicle alternates between a Hornet, a Dreamcast controller, and a Tomcat. WAIT WHAT

^c Downloadable content exclusive to Bonus Edition.

^d Exclusive to Wii U and Nintendo 3DS versions.

^e Exclusive to Xbox 360 version.

And if that didn't sell you, here's a remix of Vyse's theme from Skies of Arcadia, sure to cheer up anyone's day.

It literally just got posted through the door, i'm pretty excited to play it later. I'm not entirely sure why Sega have released it at bargain bin prices in the UK on day of release, but hey cheap, new games that are (according to reviews) great.

This game just makes me upset, because it's Sega acknowledging that people love Jet Set Radio, but basically saying fuck you, you'll never get a new one.

When that last game included Ryo from Shenmue? Well that was cruel as hell, to those fans. What a tease.

Yeah so the game is kinda great, I do think the A.I can be a little unfair at times, but yeah it's really zippy, looks lovely and controls great. Its got a ton of Sega fanservice.

I really wasn't expecting the third race/trial to be a challenging as it was. "Hey, have you learnt to drift yet? Have you? Have you? No? well FUCK YOU!"

I learnt how to drift.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first one outside of the few frame rate issues (and that achievement glitch to prevent S-ranks...which didn't happen to me). I'm glad to hear this does a great job of holding its own and doing better than its predecessor.

I think I'm going to pick up the Wii U version of the game. Also glad it's only $40.

Well that explains why Sega renewed Skies Of Arcadia. Damn it.

*Edit* Well I just downloaded and played the demo and it's actually pretty fun. I might pick this game up.

The thing I'm most disappointed about is the roster. They took a lot of cool characters away representing a lot of games. Easily the best part about the first one, there were a lot of games represented. 

Da hell? Wreck It Ralph is in this game?

liked the first game, gonna grab this day 21 or so when its like £15, cant get enough good carting games, save myself a few bucks not having to buy a nintendo system for mario kart

@RecSpec said:

The thing I'm most disappointed about is the roster. They took a lot of cool characters away representing a lot of games. Easily the best part about the first one, there were a lot of games represented.

Yeah I mainly used Opa-Opa and the Bonanza Bros. in S&SASRWBK so needless to say I'm a little disappointed they're left out this time.

That said; mutha. Fuckin'. Vyse.

@RecSpec:

There's youtube videos of Alex Kidd, Shogun and (bizarrely) a football manager who seem to be coming as dlc. Maybe they went for the budget price on release and plan to make money back on a bunch of dlc, which seems like a fine idea.

I'm really enjoying the game so far, a big improvement over the last game which I also enjoyed. I'd be quite happy to drop some more money for some more characters.

I just saw that there is data for Team Fortress characters in the PC version. Holy shit. SEGA went all out for this one.

demos suck for racers I just realized. The demo will only show the lowest speed class.

Well, usually. For some reason the demo for Ridge Racer for iOS uses a speed class that was actually pretty high iirc.

I wasn't feeling the drifting at all in the demo. The game was way more fun when you turn into a boat or a plane... I wish the whole game was just that! It also is very pretty. Seems like it's a good game overall. The Panzer Dragoon track was pretty sweet.

Vyse rocks. Skies of Arcadia rocks.
 
I'm buying this just for that.

Fuck Sonic and all his stupid friends and... oh wait Vyse is in it... ? HMMM

I enjoyed what I played of the first one (admittedly only a couple hours, but still). Hope this one ends up on a Steam sale too.

a while back I read a rumor that Vectorman was going to be in the game. my hopes and dreams were later crushed when I learned that that was in fact not the case.

the idea that I might not buy this game because of this seems petty and dumb, but it's all I got. seems neat, though. maybe I'll pick it up some day.

but man, man, Vectorman needs to be in this game.

@MikkaQ said:

This game just makes me upset, because it's Sega acknowledging that people love Jet Set Radio, but basically saying fuck you, you'll never get a new one.

When that last game included Ryo from Shenmue? Well that was cruel as hell, to those fans. What a tease.

Yeah, it's really mean to throw niche characters into a game celebrating the company as a whole, rather than just completely ignoring those franchises altogether and just having thirty Sonic characters. You should have seen my tears when the Ice Climbers were in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

@Taku128 said:

@MikkaQ said:

This game just makes me upset, because it's Sega acknowledging that people love Jet Set Radio, but basically saying fuck you, you'll never get a new one.

When that last game included Ryo from Shenmue? Well that was cruel as hell, to those fans. What a tease.

Yeah, it's really mean to throw niche characters into a game celebrating the company as a whole, rather than just completely ignoring those franchises altogether and just having thirty Sonic characters. You should have seen my tears when the Ice Climbers were in Super Smash Bros. Melee.

The way I see it, if they're going to just use those characters for fanservice and not actually do anything with them... why use them in the first place? It just serves to remind people of the Sega that once was. Makes me sadder than it does nostalgic.

Ryo better in this one two. He is who I used plus to remove Ryo and keep shadow is disrespectful to SEGA's own history and diverse back catalog of games.

The game is quite good, though the character selection is slightly dissapointing.

I made a video with my day -3 impressions.

@Mesoian: Only seen like 6 minutes of your video..and man, does the ai cheat, even on B class. I'm really struggling to get anymore than the 108 stars than I already have. The Burning Rangers track took me about 30 + attempts and I only managed 3rd position. I would hit people with the remote bomb and the tornado in the final stretch and they would recover immediately.

@GunstarRed said:

@Mesoian: Only seen like 6 minutes of your video..and man, does the ai cheat, even on B class. I'm really struggling to get anymore than the 108 stars than I already have. The Burning Rangers track took me about 30 + attempts and I only managed 3rd position. I would hit people with the remote bomb and the tornado in the final stretch and they would recover immediately.

I'd suggest trying the sprint events. I was having a ton of trouble with the BR track until I needed to S rank the 3rd lap sprint. Once I got that down, I was winning most matches on that course.

Going to download the demo right now, thanks!

@RecSpec said:

The thing I'm most disappointed about is the roster. They took a lot of cool characters away representing a lot of games. Easily the best part about the first one, there were a lot of games represented.

I'm sorry, but if Danica Patrick doesn't excite you, than you have no business looking at a thread around this game! (sarcasm implied)

No Valkyria Chronicles, no sale :(

Half-kidding.

But seriously, where is the Edelweiss?

Got the game yesterday, played it for a few hours and I think it's a lot of fun. The tracks I've seen so far are great, especially the ones with branching paths where you can choose between different types of vehicles to transform into depending on the path you take.

I've noticed that drifting seems to be a lot less viable than in Sonic & SASR. Whereas in that game you'd eventually reach a point where winning was nigh-impossible if you weren't drifting all the time, here it seems to slow you down significantly, especially on straight paths. It's still very much recommended in corners though.

Oh, and the Skies of Arcadia track is glorious.

I really liked the demo. The fact that it is $40 has me convinced that I'll pick it up after I'm done with the games I have.

@Timing: Yeah the way the stages branch and change between rounds is amazing, I have had a few problems with the other racers being a little aggressive and knocking me off of the path i'm on, especially on the ramp that turns you into a plane in the Afterburner stage, kinda forcing you to use the boat.

I think the best stage in the game is the one from Sonic Colours as it has a Starfox-like section. It makes me wish they would have made that game for more than just the Wii.

Yet another game from Sega that parades Vyse around in my face to reignite my hopeless desire for a new Skies of Arcadia game (or at least an HD update).

Played a bunch of this with a second player yesterday (and some on my own) and yeah...was shocked at how good it is. It's gorgeous, speedy and really fun. Had a lot more fun with it than any Mario Kart game I've played for a long time.

And seeing all the characters and stages is pretty great too.