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Sonic Drift 1 and 2
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| Sonic Drift Sonic Drift 2 | ||||||||||||
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 "Why the hell am I in a car?"
— Sonic (Sonic Shorts) | ||||||||||||
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Sonic Drift and Sonic Drift 2 are racing games developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the Sega Game Gear. The first game was released in 1994 only in Japan, while the sequel was released internationally in 1995 (in Europe under the name Sonic Drift Racing). They are the first racing games in the Sonic series, predating Sonic R and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.
Why Super Mario Kart Left Them In The Dust
- Only four selectable characters in the first game: Sonic, Tails, Amy and Dr. Eggman. This was improved in the sequel.
- The first Sonic Drift is way too easy, as the CPU AI will never attempt to stop you, even in the harder cups.
- Amy and Dr. Eggman have power-ups that can be used against other opponents, but, as previously mentioned, the CPU AI will never use them in Sonic Drift.
- All of the first game's courses are based on zones from the Genesis version of Sonic 1.
- The Green, Yellow and Red cups all have the same race track themes, but different course layouts.
- Speaking of courses, they are boring and lifeless, and have very few hazards on the road.
- The soundtrack is pretty forgettable, with the exception of the invincibility themes, taken from the Japanese soundtrack of Sonic CD in the first Sonic Drift and from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in Sonic Drift 2.
- Terrible and wonky controls,especially when skidding.
- Touching a CPU opponent hurts you, even when they don't use their power-ups against you.
- While Sonic Drift 2 was released internationally, in North America the number 2 in the title should have been removed or replaced in order to avoid confusing buyers when shopping for games. Fortunately, in PAL regions, it was renamed to Sonic Drift Racing, yet still called Sonic Drift 2 in-game on the title screen, which shows how unfinished the game looks by the wording.
- In Drift 2, not only is there rubber band A.I., the CPU Racers can spam their abilities without the need of Rings. This includes Sonic and Metal's speed boost, meaning that they can potentially glue themselves in first place while you hopelessly try to catch up to them. Even worse is that they can and will hog Item Monitors preventing you from grabbing them. Unless you're controlling either Sonic or Metal, you may as well kiss your perfect run goodbye.
- This assumes you selected them as your CPUs in the character select screen.
- The unique endings didn't return in Drift 2. Your only reward for completing the Blue GP is a group photo.
- In Drift 2, sadly, the drift boost mechanic is absent.
Redeeming Qualities
- Despite lacking content, Drift 1 is very beginner friendly. And exclusive in Drift 1 is a drift boost mechanic. While drifting, you gain a boost of speed. However you'll spin out of control if you drift too long.
- As said in BQ#13, unfortunately and sadly, this somehow didn't return in Drift 2.
- The sequel, Sonic Drift 2, was a minor improvement over the first game:
- It has more varied race tracks, based on zones from Sonic 2 and 3, as well as some original zones.
- It added three more playable characters: Knuckles, Fang and Metal Sonic.
- It's much more challenging, as the other playable characters will use their power-ups against you.
- As mentioned above, you now have the option to manually select your CPU racers or let the game choose for you. So if you were having trouble with a certain racer, you can switch them out for someone else.
- The graphics are very nice to look at for Game Gear standards.
- The endings that play upon completing all of the cups in Sonic Drift are pretty amusing to watch, especially Amy (Amy swooning over a clearly annoyed Sonic) and Dr. Eggman (Eggman gloating over his victory, only for Sonic to angrily give chase)'s endings.
Trivia
- Both Sonic Drift games were unlockable in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for the GameCube, and saw a release in some game compilations, with Sonic Drift appearing in Sonic Mega Collection Plus and Sonic Drift 2 appearing on the Sonic Gems Collection, respectively.
- Sonic Drift 1 was the first game in the Sonic series to feature Dr. Eggman and Amy as playable characters.
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