I Wish This 20-Year-Old Sonic Game Had Been Able To Realize Its Full Potential

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The Sonic the Hedgehog series is known for its creative spin-offs and different approaches to the classic gameplay, but one game, even after twenty years, doesn’t quite live up to its potential. Speed is central to Sonic’s identity and the franchise as a whole, setting it apart in the platforming genre. While platforming remains the core of most Sonic games, others have experimented with new ideas and styles.

Considering how fast-paced Sonic games usually are, a racing title feels like a natural fit for the franchise. While Sega has improved at making these kinds of games, some older Sonic racing games were plagued with technical issues. A particularly frustrating one, released twenty years ago, is still considered a major disappointment and a lost opportunity for the series.

Sonic Riders Had Great Aesthetics And Rough Controls

Released on February 21, 2006, for GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox, Sonic Riders had a promising idea but didn’t quite succeed. Created by Sonic Team and Now Production to celebrate Sonic’s 15th anniversary, the game aimed to bring something new to both the Sonic series and the racing genre. It was the first time Sonic gameplay was combined with racing since Sonic R, which came out nearly ten years earlier.

Kenjiro Morimoto, the game’s producer, recognized that Sonic’s energetic style and speed would be a great fit for a racing game. He guided the team to create a faster, more fluid experience than typical racing games. Instead of cars, they focused on snowboarding and skateboarding, ultimately choosing hoverboards as the main way players would race. They also brought in Yuji Naka, a co-creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, as an executive producer. This would be Naka’s last Sonic game with Sega, as he later left to start his own company, Prope.

The developers aimed to make a racing game that truly captured the spirit of the Sonic series while still offering something new. They succeeded – Sonic Riders is bursting with the bright colors and fast pace that define Sonic games. The new characters fit seamlessly into the Sonic universe, and the rock soundtrack and vibrant graphics perfectly complement the beloved characters that have kept fans hooked for so long.

While the game looked great, the actual gameplay didn’t quite measure up. The physics felt loose and unpredictable, often leading to accidental falls or making cool moves difficult to pull off. This, combined with the fast pace expected in a Sonic game, resulted in frustrating controls. Critics had a mixed reaction to Sonic Riders, giving it scores between 55 and 59 out of 100 on MetaCritic, depending on the system.

Sonic Riders Could Have Been Something Special

Even though critics weren’t impressed, Sonic Riders proved popular with players and led to two follow-up games: Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity in 2008 and Sonic Free Riders in 2010. Those sequels also received mostly negative reviews, particularly for the awkward motion controls in Sonic Free Riders. It’s a shame, because Sonic Riders has a certain visual appeal. The game’s movement system feels uniquely suited to the Sonic franchise, capturing the speed and energy that defines the characters and their world.

The game looks and sounds great, and longtime Sonic fans will likely enjoy its style. However, awkward controls and unstable physics hold it back from being one of the best mascot racing games. This is especially frustrating because the game feels authentically Sonic with its design and presentation, but doesn’t deliver a satisfying gameplay experience. In a lot of ways, Sonic Riders embodies the challenges the Sonic series faced during that time.

Moving to 3D was a challenge for this game, and awkward controls and odd design choices held it back. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds shows that a Sonic racing game can be excellent with good design and responsive controls, matching the series’ vibrant visuals and music. Sonic Riders had potential to be great if it had that same level of polish, but unfortunately, it remains a flawed title that, while it has its fans, never quite lived up to its potential.

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2026-02-21 22:11