'Sonic Racing Kart' and 'Speed DX' Race to Japanese Sonic Cafe Service

The Japanese 'Sonic Cafe' mobile game service is soon to update with not one, but two new titles - and one of them happens to be Sonic the Hedgehog kart racer. It's about time we had one of those.

'Sonic Racing Kart' is a top-down racer in the same style as Micro Machines on the Sega Mega Drive, tasking players with navigating the courses' twists and turns to secure the fastest time. Acceleration is automatic - all you need to worry about is turning Sonic's kart by using the left and right keys on your compatible mobile phone. The first lap of a course is considered a 'test run', allowing for a little practice before the timer starts.

A range of modes will be available, from standard time attack to a 'virtual battle' where you can download other players' ghosts from the internet and race against them. Records are saved to online leaderboards and matched to a national ranking system, so you can claim the ultimate victory.

Sonic Racing Kart launches on the Sonic Cafe service tomorrow (July 28th) in Japan.

Meanwhile, Speed DX will already be familiar to Japanese users of the Sonic Cafe service, as it has appeared on the roster before. This is a version created specifically to be compatible with the latest DoCoMo 505 series of phones, but is functionally the same game as the original that launched back in 2001 for the older 504 and 503 models.

The images immediately above are from the original 'Speed' 504/503 release, but the game is pretty much the same. Each player is dealt three cards from the deck, with two cards added to the centre. If any of your three cards work in sequence (up or down) with the centre cards (for example, if the centre card is a '2' and you have either a '3' or a '4'), you can stack it on top. The winner is the player who manages to clear all of the cards from their deck.

'Speed DX' joins the lineup of 505-compatible Sonic Cafe titles that released in May that includes 'Puyo Puyo DX', 'Tranquiliser Gun', 'Amigo's Compatibility Check', 'Pipe Line' and 'Pyramid Magic'. 

Source: Sonic Cafe