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Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a kart racing game developed by Sumo Digital for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, as well as it being on rival platforms such as PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Playstation Vita. It is a sequel to 2010's Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.
This game was followed up with the next iteration of Sonic Racing for Nintendo Switch in 2019, named Team Sonic Racing.
Gameplay[]
Main[]
Shadow the Hedgehog in plane form, on the Carrier Zone track.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a kart racing video game where players can race as over 20 characters from various Sega franchises such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Samba de Amigo, and Super Monkey Ball. While the gameplay is relatively the same as Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, All-Stars Racing Transformed has new mechanics and improvements, the most notable example being where the players' vehicle switches between cars, boats, and planes.
The car mode plays similarly to All-Stars Racing, but players can perform flips and rolls in the air to build boosts. Boat mode takes turbulence into account, in which players can use the waves to jump into the air and perform stunts. Plane mode is the fastest of the three moves, but unlike the car and boat modes, players can freely fly around. They can also perform air-drifts to build boost power, and roll away from incoming obstacles to get "Risk boosts". To change vehicles modes, players drive through blue transformation gates into a specific mode depending on the terrain. Some tracks even terraform, offering different playstyles each lap.
When the player runs into an Item Monitor, they will receive one of several weapons used to attack their opponents or help themselves out. These being:
- Hot Rod: An engine that gives the player an increasing boost. It can be used to send out a fiery wave to blow back opponents, but will slow the player down if it overheats.
- Ice: Snowball weapons that come in a triple variant, if three of them hit a single opponent, they will freeze.
- Blowfish: A trap item that catches out players who run into it. In the Japanese version, the Blowfish are instead Garbage Puyo from the Puyo Puyo franchise.
- Swarm/Sky Tigers: A swarm of wasps that appear ahead of or behind the user, catching out opponents that drive into them.
- Firework: A bottle rocket that bounces off the walls, disappearing after it fails to hit an opponent or hits them directly.
- Boost: Gives the player a strong burst of speed if they hold down the item button.
- Drone: Sends an RC-sized vehicle to the racer ahead of the user.
- Twister: A tornado that flips the player's characters and temporarily reversing their controls.
- Glove/Super Glove: Protects the player from an item or course obstacle. The Super Glove variant protects the player until it disappears.
The All-Star item allows the player's vehicle to turn into a plane regardless of what terrain they're on and use their character's special ability. After each race, players earn experience points for that character, and once they level up, they unlock a new mod for that character's vehicle to use.
Modes[]
All-Stars Racing Transformed's primary campaign is the Career mode. In addition to Grand Prix, Time Attack, and Single Race, the main mode is World Tour, in which the player has to complete various challenge to earn stars to open up new paths, unlock characters and mods.
The game also features online races and battles where they can compete against other players around the world, as well as Custom Game, in which up to four players can invite their friends for private sessions. The Wii U version also has the Party Play feature, where the Wii U GamePad can be used in two exclusive modes and support up to five players.
Characters[]
| Characters | Origin |
|---|---|
| Sonic the Hedgehog | Sonic the Hedgehog |
| Miles "Tails" Prower | Sonic the Hedgehog 2 |
| Knuckles the Echidna | Sonic the Hedgehog 3 |
| Amy Rose | Sonic CD |
| Dr. Eggman | Sonic the Hedgehog |
| Shadow the Hedgehog | Sonic Adventure 2 |
| Metal Sonic(Bonus Edition) | Sonic CD |
| AiAi | Super Monkey Ball |
| Mee Mee | Super Monkey Ball |
| Amigo | Samba de Amigo |
| B.D. Joe | Crazy Taxi |
| Beat | Jet Set Radio |
| Ulala | Space Channel 5 |
| Gum | Jet Set Radio |
| Gillius Thunderhead | Golden Axe |
| Joe Musashi | Shinobi |
| NiGHTS[1] | NiGHTS into Dreams |
| Reala[1] | NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams |
| Vyse | Skies of Arcadia Legends |
| Wreck-it Ralph[2] | Wreck-It Ralph |
| Danica Patrick | NASCAR |
| AGES | Sega |
Other[]
- Mii (Wii U and 3DS version)
- Avatar (Xbox 360 version)
Development[]
Game development had already been well underway by the time Nintendo unveiled their own kart racing game Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS. Both titles allow for continuous racing over ground, air and water. Sumo producer Jem Lee describes seeing Mario Kart 7 for the first time:
"We were sitting in a meeting room at work watching the E3 conferences and Nintendo came on and we all wondered if they'd be doing a new Mario Kart. Then they had a montage of things and you had a kart sprout wings, and we all looked around the room, and then you saw a car go into water and we were all like 'no f#%$ing way!' But then they went into each one in depth, and although it's kind of flying, it's more falling with style because we'd discussed something similar to that in pre-production as we were trying to work out how to get these three modes in and we called it falling with style as you're always falling, but you have some choice. Whereas the driving under water... that's not boating. So what they have is a kart game with additive options which are really well built on and add to the experience but we've gone away with that in what we were doing."
3DS eShop Description[]
Sonic and the All-Stars cast line up on the starting grid once again to battle for supremacy in the ultimate race. Compete across land, water and air in incredible transforming vehicles that change from cars to boats to planes mid-race. Master your driving skills as you drift, barrel roll and boost to overtake your rivals, or use your weapons tactically and unleash your All-Star move to gain the winning advantage.
Game Features:
Fully Transformable vehicles which change from car to plane to boat mid race.
Over 15 legendary All-Stars each with their own transformable vehicle.
20+ tracks and arenas which challenge you on land, water and air.
Unleash ingenious weaponry and your character's All-Star move to beat the opposition.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 http://www.summerofsonic.com/news/summer-of-sonic-2012-exclusive-nights-and-reala-are-playable-characters-in-sonic-all-stars-racings-transformed Nights and Reala will be playable characters in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
- ↑ http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/07/13/comic-con-how-wreck-it-ralph-infiltrated-the-game-industry/ Wreck-it Ralph will appear in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
External links[]
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed at GameFAQs
- Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed at Sonic Wiki Zone, the Fandom wiki on Sonic.