Sonic loves racing, this was evidenced in Sonic Drift and Sonic R. So it only makes sense for the blue blur to get the burning itch to head back to the track, and who better to let him do it than Sumo Digital, the developers behind the faithful OutRun 2 ports? Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing takes the template of Mario Kart and injects the gameplay mechanics behind OutRun, whilst at the same time bringing in characters and stages from a whole heap of other games from SEGA’s classic archive. Fan service much? You bet your rear engine!

USA: Feb 2010 · EUR: Feb 2010 · JPN: TBA
Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii, Nintendo DS, PC
Developer: Sumo Digital ·Publisher: SEGA

Trivia

• Sumo Digital Executive Producer Steve Lycett has not been one to shy away from the fan community during development of the game. Under the username ‘S0L’, Lycett has communicated with gamers on NeoGAF, SEGA’s official forums and The Sonic Stadium, amongst other community outlets. The outgoing approach has landed Lycett into a bit of bother on occasion, at times hinting or suggesting more than he officially should.
• Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing marks the first Sumo Digital title created from the ground up for SEGA, with past development duties involving ports of OutRun and Virtua Tennis.
• Rumours of which SEGA characters will appear in the game are rife on community forums and fan sites. Chief of the requests is NiGHTS from NiGHTS Into Dreams; said by community leader DiGi Valentine to be absent in the final lineup. DiGi and partner/owner of NiGHTS into Dreams.com, TRiPPY, have since launched a peaceful campaign to offer NiGHTS as a downloadable character.
• Fan service is a big part of the game, with tracks inspired by past Sonic the Hedgehog, Billy Hatcher and Super Monkey Ball stages to name a few. References include Amy Rose’s vehicle, named the Rascal Turbo (Rosy Rascal was a working name for Amy in the early 1990s) and the Sonic R finishing theme playing when a winner crosses the finish line in the Ocean Ruin track.
• A leaked document containing minutes from a meeting between SEGA America and Sony Computer Entertainment America has hinted at downloadable content (DLC) featuring mascot characters from each platform’s first party studios. “Rare or Fable universes” are marked as possible inclusions on the Xbox 360 version, while Ratchet and Clank was ruled out for the PlayStation 3.
• In the first stages of development, Sonic and friends did not race in vehicles but on foot instead. Size and proportion issues occured however, and drifting was deemed impossible for characters outside of vehicles. After several attempts at tweaking the engine, it was decided that all characters should have a vehicle for easier play.

Credits

Executive Producer: Steve Lycett
Lead Designer: Travis Ryan