Sonic Drift
From Sonic Retro
| Sonic Drift | ||||||||||
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| System(s): Sega Game Gear | ||||||||||
| Publisher: Sega | ||||||||||
| Developer: Sega CS | ||||||||||
| Peripherals supported: Gear-to-Gear Cable | ||||||||||
| Genre: Racing[1] | ||||||||||
| Number of players: 1-2 | ||||||||||
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Sonic Drift (ソニックドリフト) is a kart racing game initially released only in Japan. It features Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, and Dr. Eggman, and is a typical racing game of the early 1990s. The game's racetracks and order they are played in are the same as the original Sonic the Hedgehog. It also had a sequel, Sonic Drift 2.
Contents
Gameplay
The objective of the game is to win the three different Chaos GPs (green, yellow and red Chaos Emerald). Each Chaos GP has six different tracks based on the original Sonic game levels' design. The players will race around a track against the other three characters for a top position, using 
to accelerate, 
to brake and the latter combined with a direction allows to drift corners, though abusing it will send the character into spinning out of control. Going out of the asphalt track drops the speed immediately and in the sidelines there are several obstacles that will stop the character altogether if they are hit. The 
direction on the directional pad can use Rings collected on the track as a special move, unique to each character.
Each track is composed of a circuit which needs to be completed thrice. At the end of the track, points are awarded based on the finishing positions: 1st place - 3 points, 2nd place - 2 points, 3rd place - 1 point and 4th place - 0 points. At the end of each tournament, the character with most points naturally wins. Additionally, there are other two modes to play: a training mode called Free Run, which allows viewing results for each course as well, and Versus, which is a standard 2-player mode using the Gear-to-Gear Cable. There are also two difficulties the game can be played, Normal or Hard, which can be chosen via the options menu.
Characters
| Character | Vehicle | Special Move | Gameplay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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Sonic | Cyclone | Speed dash (same as red monitor power-up) | Good speed and acceleration, poor handling. |
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Tails | MTP-01 Whirlwind | Jump over (same as spring power-up) | Good handling, poor speed. |
 |
Eggman | Egg Typhoon | Drop mine (same as collision) | Good speed, poor acceleration. |
 |
Amy | Breeze | Toss heart (reduces others' speed) | Good acceleration, poor speed |
- Sonic's car could be modeled after a Ferrari F40, Tails' after a Lotus Seven (most likely), and Amy's after a Mini Rover Cabrio.
Power-ups
There are several power-ups scattered through the course. The power-ups can be accumulated and they respawn in each lap.
| Sprite | Power-up | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Rings | Collect two rings allows the player to perform the character's Special Move. Rings can be lost due to using them, abusing the drift or obstacle collision. |
 |
Red Monitor (speed) |
Makes the player dash down the track with a momentary burst of speed. |
 |
Blue Monitor (invincibility) |
Makes the player invincible for a short period of time. The BGM during invincibility is based on "Sonic - You Can Do Anything" from Sonic the Hedgehog CD. |
 |
Springs | These all launch the player up into the air, increasing the speed. |
Production credits
- Source: In-game credits
Manuals
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Main article: Sonic Drift/Manuals |
Also released on
- Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for the GameCube and PC (2003-2004)
- Sonic Mega Collection Plus for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC (2004-2005)
- Sonic Mega Collection Plus & Super Monkey Ball Deluxe for the Xbox (2005)
- Sega Fun Pack: Sonic Mega Collection Plus & Shadow the Hedgehog for the PlayStation 2 (2009)
- Sonic PC Collection for the PC (2009)
- Sonic Origins Plus for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, Steam and Epic Games Store (2023)
Artwork
Cover artwork
Egg Typhoon (an Eggpod)
Physical scans
 Reception »
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| Game Gear, JP |
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   Cover
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 Cart  Manual |
| Game Gear, ZA |
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 Cover
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| Cart |
Technical information
ROM dump status
| System | Hash | Size | Build Date | Source | Comments | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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512kB | Cartridge (JP) | |||||||||||
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512kB | Cartridge (JP) | Demo |  (180 kB) (info)
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Page |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://sega.jp/history/hard/gamegear/software.html (Wayback Machine: 2018-12-07 04:57)
| Sonic Drift | |
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Manuals |
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| Sonic the Hedgehog games for the following systems | |
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1991 Sonic the Hedgehog 1992 Sonic the Hedgehog 2 1993 Sonic Chaos | Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine 1994 Sonic Drift | Sonic Spinball | Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble 1995 Sonic Drift 2 | Tails' Skypatrol | Tails Adventures | Sonic Labyrinth | Sonic 2 in 1 1996 Sonic Blast Prototypes Sonic the Hedgehog (Game Gear prototype) | Sonic Chaos prereleases | Sonic Spinball (8-bit) prereleases | Sonic Triple Trouble prereleases | Sonic Blast prereleases Unreleased Sonic's Edusoft
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