Overview
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing is a kart racing game featuring several characters from Sega's library of games. Released on February 23, 2010, this is the second game from Sumo Digital Ltd. to feature Sega characters in a sports game, the first being Sega Superstars Tennis. It supports up to four players offline, up to eight online on the console versions, and six on the Nintendo DS version. The PC version is not online-enabled.
In 2011, Sega produced an arcade version of the title, featuring only 13 playable characters and 13 tracks. Game modes include Grand Prix, Single Races and Time Trials. Up to eight cabinets can be linked together for multiplayer modes. Optional kits can be added onto cabinets for ticket redemption for at least 5 tickets for players finishing first in races multiplied by human players who are playing the game. Cabinets run on Sega's Ringwire hardware, which produces a graphical fidelity resembling the lower definitions of the game such as the Wii version and PC version's low graphic definition mode.
On April 30th 2012, Sega announced a sequel for the game called Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, which was released on November 16th later that year.
Gameplay
Dr. Eggman racing on Whale Lagoon.Playing similar to the Mario Kart series of Nintendo fame, the game has eight different racers driving around a track for 3 to 5 laps. Each track is laid out with various sharp turns, jumps, and shortcuts. When taking on a sharp turn, the player may drift by pressing and holding the Drift button as they turn. While holding the Drift button, the player may also rapidly press the Accelerate button to make their turn even sharper. As the player drifts, they will build up a turbo-boost which will give the player a small burst of speed when they let go of the Drift button. The longer the player drifts, the longer the boost will be, with there being three levels of turbo-boost. If you bump into anything while drifting, you will lose any turbo-boost accumulated from that drift. Pressing the Drift button in mid-air after launching from a jump will have your character perform a trick from their kart. Successfully finishing the trick will result in a turbo-boost upon landing. Much like drifting, you may perform up three tricks to build up to three levels of turbo-boost, with each character having different tricks, some will be able to perform theirs faster than others, with those who have longer tricks are given longer boosts as opposed to those with shorter tricks. If the player lands in the middle of performing a trick, no turbo-boost is given, though they retain the speed they were driving at.
NiGHTS as the referee of the game, waving the checkered flag to start and end the race.Also strewn about the track are a multitude of item bubbles, turbo pads, and obstacles, all for the racers to use to their advantage. Item bubbles give the racer one of 11 random items to use from. Depending on what place you're in will also alter the odds of which item you will receive. For example, a racer in seventh place is more likely to receive a Giant Rocket or an All-Star, while a racer in first place is more likely to receive a Mine or a K.O. Glove. Driving over a turbo pad will give you a short burst of speed. Driving into an obstacle will cause your racer to spin out and slow down greatly. If you are in the middle of a speed boost, you may drive into certain obstacles with no consequence.
Racing Commentator/Announcer (Consoles Only)
All throughout the races in the console versions, there is a racing commentator that gives running commentary, where he talks about the current track information, counts down to the start of the race, talks about a racer's certain position, announces which lap it is, tells the racers when someone has received and initiated an All-Star Move, and announces the winner. This feature can be turned off in the settings menu. The only version that doesn't have the commentator feature is the DS version.
Characters
There are currently 24 characters in all, some being exclusive to certain platforms. Each character has their own unique vehicle and special weapon known as their "All-Star Move." As of April 1, 2010, more characters has been added only available through purchased downloadable content.
All the playable characters, excluding the console exclusive characters.- Metal Sonic
Origin: Sonic CD
Vehicle: Metal Booster
All-Star Move: Maximum Overdrive
Note: This racer is exclusive to the PS3 and 360 versions through DLC.
Tracks
Whale LagoonAll tracks originate from various levels of classic Sega games.
Sonic the Hedgehog
- Whale Lagoon
- Lost Palace
- Ocean Ruin
- Roulette Road
- Pinball Highway
- Bingo Party
- Turbine Loop
- Dark Arsenal
- Thunder Deck
- Egg Hangar*
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg
- Icicle Valley
- Rampart Road
- Lava Lair
Samba De Amigo
- Sunshine Tour
- Jump Parade
- Rocky-Coaster
- Studio Amigo***
- Sun Fair***
Jet Set Radio Future
- Shibuya Downtown
- Rokkaku Hill
- Highway Zero
Curien Mansion**
- Outer Forest
- Sewer Scrapes
- Deadly Route
Super Monkey Ball
- Treetops
- Sandy Drifts
- Monkey Target
*These tracks are exclusive to the PS3 and 360 versions through DLC.
**These tracks are all based on the House of the Dead franchise, but are labeled as "Curien Mansion".
***These tracks are exclusive to the DS and mobile versions of the game.
Arena Tracks
In addition to the race tracks, there are additional arena tracks made for the split-screen multiplayer mode.
House of the Dead/Curien Mansion
Super Monkey Ball
Sonic the Hedgehog
Music List
Each track theme features music that is played during gameplay. Unlocking songs from the SEGA Store gives you more track to choose from.
Sonic the Hedgehog
- Seaside Hill [Sonic Heroes]
- Palmtree Panic (Present) [Sonic CD]
- Can You Feel the Sunshine? [Sonic R]
- A New Day [Sonic Rush]
- Windy and Ripply [Sonic Adventure]
- Casino Park [Sonic Heroes]
- Back 2 Back [Sonic Rush]
- Bingo Highway [Sonic Heroes]
- Super Sonic Racing [Sonic R]
- Be Cool, Be Wild and Be Groovy [Sonic Adventure]
- Final Fortress [Sonic Heroes]
- Metal Scratchin' [Sonic Rush]
- What U Need [Sonic Rush]
- Crank the Heat Up!! [Sonic Adventure]
- E.G.G.M.A.N. (Insturmental) [Sonic Adventure 2]
- Cosmic Fall - [Shadow the Hedgehog]
- General Offensive - [Sonic Adventure]
- Never Let it Go - [Sonic the Fighters]
- Egg Fleet - [Sonic Heroes]
- Space Gadget [Shadow the Hedgehog]
Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg
- Tumbling Xylophone
- Bossa Nova of Briny Air
- Jack-in-the-Box!
- Volcanic Orchestra
- Billy's Courage
Samba De Amigo
- Samba De Janeiro [Samba De Amigo]
- Carnival
- Bum Bum
- Vamos a Carnaval [Samba De Amigo ver. 2000]
- Mambo De Verano [Samba De Amigo ver. 2000]
- Party Time*
- Super Samba*
Super Monkey Ball
- Monkey Island [Super Monkey Ball - Banana Blitz]
- Party Game 1 [Super Monkey Ball - Banana Blitz]
- Party Game 2 [Super Monkey Ball - Banana Blitz]
- Ultra Heaven [Super Monkey Ball - Banana Blitz]
- Monkey Race [Super Monkey Ball]
House of the Dead/Curien Mansion
- Hope With Doubt [House of the Dead 4]
- Into the Dark [House of the Dead]
- Aura of Dread [House of the Dead]
- Theme of the Magician [House of the Dead 2]
- Restoration of Terror [House of the Dead 4]
Jet Set Radio Future
- The Concept of Love [Jet Set Radio Future]
- Sneakman (Toronto Mix) [Jet Set Radio Future]
- Funky Dealer [Jet Set Radio Future]
- Let Mom Sleep (No Sleep Remix) [Jet Set Radio Future]
- Fly Like a Butterfly [Jet Set Radio Future]
*These music tracks are available in gameplay only on the Nintendo DS version.
Split Screen Multiplayer Game Modes
Split screen multiplayer features several game modes besides the regular racing game. These game types are not available online.
- Race
Beat your rivals in a mad cap dash to the finish line!
- Battle
Use weapons and pickups to eliminate all your rivals!
- Capture the Chao
Grab the Chao and take it to your base to score!
- Grab
Grab the Chaos Emeralds and try to hold on to them to score!
- King of the Hill
Be the only racer in the zone to score!
- Knockout
Better speed up! Every 15 seconds the racer in last place is knocked out!
Items
Along the tracks, you can drive into item bubbles to receive one of various items to aid you in the race.
- Shield
Creates an energy shield that surrounds you for a limited amount of time. Withstands one attack. - Rolling Bomb
Shoots out a bomb in front of you, exploding upon impact. - Giant Rocket
Launches a rocket down the center of the track. Pressing the Item button again detonates the rocket. - Rainbow
Drops behind you. Anyone who drives into it has their view temporarily obstructed with a wavy rainbow effect. - K.O. Glove
Shoots forward a giant boxing glove that ricochets off walls. - Mine
Shaped like an orange traffic cone, these are placed behind you that either explodes on contact or after a certain amount of time has passed. - Manual Rocket
Launches a homing rocket at the nearest racer ahead of you. - High Speed Shoes
Gives a temporary speed boost. - Confusion Star
Targets the nearest racer and flips their screen upside down. - Mega Horn
Emits a blast of sound damaging those near your vehicle. - All-Star
Allows the chosen character to use their All-Star Move. The further down you are in positions, and depending on your gameplay performance, the more likely you will receive your All-Star.
Trivia
His vehicle would've been a Sega Saturn.- Originally, Mario was considered as a Wii-exclusive character, however Sega decided against the idea so as to differ itself from the Mario & Sonic series.
- Pre-ordering the game in the UK came with a code that changed Ryo Hazuki's vehicle to a forklift. This was later released everywhere else as DLC.
- The Arcade version has two buttons for firing, however they do not allow players to adjust their firing direction due to the lack of a joystick.
- On the Wii and PC versions of the game, one of the playing cards on the track Roulette Road shows a picture of Sonia, Sonic's sister from the cartoon Sonic Underground, taken from fanart by artist RianaLD. This was evidently mistaken for official artwork. Sonic Team did notice the error and requested it fixed, though they were unchanged upon release. Apologies has been offered to RianaLD and plans are already being made to fix it on the PC version. The Wii version, due to lack of an update feature, cannot be altered.
PC System Requirements
Minimum System Requirements:
- OS: Windows XP/Vista
- Processor: Pentium 4 @ 3.2 GHz/Athlon 64 3000+ or Equivalent
- Memory: 1 GB (2 GB on Vista)
- Hard Drive: 6 GB Free
- Video Memory: 256 MB (NVIDIA GeForce 7600/AT Radeon X1300)
- Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
- DirectX: 9.0c
- Keyboard and Mouse
- DVD Rom Drive
Recommended System Requirements:
- OS: Windows XP/Vista (SP1)
- Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO @ 2.4 GHz/Athlon 64 X2 4200+
- Memory: 1.5 GB (2 GB+ on Vista)
- Hard Drive: 7 GB Free
- Video Memory: 512 MB (NVIDIA GeForce 8800/ATI Radeon HD 3800)
- Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Sound Card
- DirectX: 9.0c or 10
- Keyboard and Mouse
- DVD Rom Drive
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