Play Sonic R Online Free for Sega Saturn.

How to Play Sonic R

Once Sonic R is running in the app, these are the default controls — every one of them is remappable from the Controller Mapping panel.

The Story Behind Sonic R

The game's final release would be first in North America on 18 November 1997, with releases in other regions occurring in late 1997 for the Sega Saturn, and into 1998 for the PC version. Hirokazu Yasuhara of Sonic Team went to England and fine-tuned the game due to lack of time for communication. Secret areas and exploration phases were added to follow the series' traditions (Sonic Team also wanted a cross between a racing game and a platforming game), and for this reason a map was developed.

Discussions led to the reward mechanisms, which Sato believed broadened the game. Traveller's Tales had used programming techniques inspired by those used on the Nintendo 64, such as a type of fog known as "Pixie Dust". A custom game engine was developed to take full advantage of the Sega Saturn hardware, and a graphical technique, described as "12 layer transparency", was used to make distant textures somewhat transparent to conceal the Sega Saturn's limited draw distance.

What You'll Play

Collecting five hidden Sonic tokens on a track and placing in the race will allow the player to challenge one of the secret characters; defeating them unlocks the character for play. During each race, the player can collect items scattered across the track, bestowing advantages. "Item Panels" give a random temporary advantage, such as a speed increase or shields that grant abilities such as being able to run across water or attract nearby rings.

Four characters are initially available, while the other six are secret characters that become available when the player completes certain in-game objectives. Although the gameplay is considered similar to kart racing games such as the Mario Kart series, Sonic R places an emphasis on jumping and exploration, as each track has multiple paths and hidden areas. Rings, a staple Sonic series item, are abundant; the player can exchange rings to gain a temporary speed boost or open doors leading to shortcuts or special items.

Why It Still Hits

GameSpot finished every level in first place within one hour using only one of the four initial characters. In 2013, GameTrailers ranked it as the second worst Sonic game, behind 2006's Sonic the Hedgehog. EGM and Sega Saturn Magazine highlighted the consistent frame rate (which rarely dropped below 30 frames per second) as a noteworthy achievement, with the latter favourably comparing Sonic R to the Saturn version of Sega Rally Championship.

In a similar vein, Next Generation described Sonic R and Nintendo 64 contemporary Diddy Kong Racing as "less of a racing title and more of a driving adventure game". Sega Saturn Magazine compared the level design to that of the 16-bit Sonic games and Sonic Team's Nights into Dreams, noting that "far more fun is to be gleamed from the exploration element" than "the temptation ... to leg it through each of the levels in a time trial-like way". AllGame called the textures vibrant and noted they had "no pop-up or glitching", and Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) felt the environmental details were lush.

Sonic R — Frequently Asked Questions