Sonic Drift 2
From Sonic Retro
Sonic Drift 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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System(s): Sega Game Gear, Virtual Console | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publisher: Sega | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Developer: Sega CS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Peripherals supported: Gear-to-Gear Cable | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre: Racing[1], Driving[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of players: 1-2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sonic Drift 2 (ソニックドリフト2), known as Sonic Drift Racing in Europe, is a kart racing game for the Game Gear and the sequel to Sonic Drift. It features Sonic the Hedgehog, Tails, Amy Rose, and Dr. Eggman from the original Sonic Drift. Newly added characters are Knuckles, Fang, and Metal Sonic. As in the last game, players race around a track collecting Rings and power-ups.
An unofficial port to the Master System was made by Shibunoa on June 1st, 2009. The conversion is currently in an early state, but is fully playable.
Contents
Gameplay
The objective of the game is the same as its predecessor, to win the three different Chaos GPs (purple, white and blue Chaos Emerald). Each Chaos GP has six different tracks, some based on Zones from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in visual design, but mostly are new, resulting in a larger variety from the previous game. Chaos Emeralds are awarded for winning races. If Sonic, Tails, Knuckles or Amy collect all six in the Blue GP, they will face Dr. Eggman in a final race around the Death Egg. If Eggman, Metal Sonic or Fang collect all six in the Blue GP, they will face Sonic in the final race.
Gameplay is nearly the same as the original Sonic Drift as the directional pad steers, uses Rings for a Special Ability, and the two buttons are used for acceleration and braking. Rings are lost during collisions. The AI of the game is also much smarter and it takes effort to keep the top position. The Item Boxes also are not used automatically upon being touched as in the previous game. Instead, an icon appears on the top of the screen and on the directional pad must be pressed to use the item. Only one item can be held at a time. However, the Flash and Reverse are triggered upon impact and cannot be saved. The game features the same game difficulty setting as before, however there's a new option - the choice of having obstacles or not.
The extra modes are the same as the previous game: Free Run is a practice mode in which the player can race alone on any course as well as view the best times for each course. The player can end a Free Run at any time during gameplay by pausing the game and pressing + simultaneously. Versus is a standard 2-player mode using the Gear-to-Gear Cable in which both players race each other, with a win/loss record kept only for one session. However, whereas the previous game had every course available, Sonic Drift 2 only has six courses available for Versus: Emerald Hill 1, Dark Valley 2, Death Egg, Mystic Cave, Hill Top 1 and Casino Night.
Characters
Character | Vehicle | Special Ability | Gameplay | |||
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Acceleration | Speed | Handling | ||||
Sonic | Cyclone | Speed dash (same as red monitor power-up) | High | High | Low | |
Tails | MTP-02 Whirlwind S7 | Jump over (same as spring power-up) | Medium | Medium | Medium | |
Amy | Breeze | Toss heart (reduces other's speed) | High | Low | Medium | |
Eggman | Egg Typhoon | Drop mine (same as collision) | Low | Decent | Very high | |
Knuckles | Tempest | Punch if within range (same as collision), otherwise jump over (same as spring power-up). | Medium | Medium | Medium | |
Fang | Marvelous Queen | Sling oil balls (same as collision) | High | High | Low | |
Metal Sonic | Blue Devil | Super speed dash (more than red monitor power-up, uses three rings) | Very high | Very high | Very low |
Knuckles and Metal Sonic had their names either misspelled or shortened due to space limitations: Knucles and M.Sonic.
Items
Power-ups are scattered throughout each track, with a variety of abilities. Like it was mentioned before, the power-ups cannot be accumulated and they do not respawn in each lap either.
Ring[11] (リング[12]) | |
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Collecting two Rings (or three in the case of Metal Sonic) allows the player to use their special ability. | |
Spring[13]/Jump Bane (ジャンプバネ[12]) | |
These all launch the player up into the air upon collision. | |
Flash[13]/Flash Star (フラッシュスター[14]) | |
The screen flashes white for everyone. Its effect is activated immediately. | |
Reverse[13]/Reverse Ball (リバースボール[14]) | |
Steering is reversed for a short while. Its effect is activated immediately. | |
Dash (Red)[11]/Dash Box (ダッシュBOX[14]) | |
Makes the player dash down the track with a momentary burst of speed, activated by pressing . | |
Invincible (Blue)[11]/Muteki Box (無敵BOX[14]) | |
Makes the player invincible for a short period of time, activated by pressing . The BGM during invincibility is based on Sonic the Hedgehog 3's invincibility theme. | |
Jump (Yellow)[11]/Jump Box (ジャンプBOX[14]) | |
Launches the player up into the air in the same fashion as a Spring, activated by pressing . | |
Mine (Gray)[11]/Kirai Box (機雷BOX[14]) | |
Slings a mine to the track and has the same effect as a collision. It is activated by pressing . |
Courses
Purple Chaos GP | |||||
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Emerald Hill 1 |
Hill Top 1 |
Dark Valley 1 |
Casino Night |
Desert Road 1 |
Iron Ruin |
White Chaos GP | |||||
Desert Road 2 |
Rainy Savanna |
Ice Cap |
Hill Top 2 |
Mystic Cave |
Emerald Hill 2 |
Blue Chaos GP | |||||
Dark Valley 2 |
Quake Cave |
Balloon Panic |
Emerald Ocean |
Milky Way |
Death Egg |
Versions
Also released on
- Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for the GameCube and PC (2003-2004)
- Sonic Gems Collection for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 (2005)
- Coleco Sonic for Coleco plug and play (2006)
- Playpal Plug and Play for the Coleco Plug and play console (2006)
- Tectoy Master System 3 for the Tectoy Plug and play console (2008)
- Sonic PC Collection for the PC (2009)
- FunPlay 20-in-1 for the Plug and Play console (2009)
- Sonic Origins Plus for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, Steam and Epic Games Store (2023)
Production credits
Main article: Sonic Drift 2/Production credits |
Manuals
Main article: Sonic Drift 2/Manuals |
Magazine articles
Main article: Sonic Drift 2/Magazine articles |
Promotional material
also published in:
- [15] ()
Artwork
Fang and Marvelous Queen
- Additional artwork of the vehicles and characters can be found in the Japanese manual.
Physical scans
Reception » |
Game Gear, JP |
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Game Gear, US |
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Game Gear, EU |
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Technical information
ROM dump status
System | Hash | Size | Build Date | Source | Comments | |||||||||
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✔ |
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512kB | Cartridge |
External links
- Sega of Japan Virtual Console page
- Nintendo catalogue pages: JP, US, UK
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://sega.jp/history/hard/gamegear/software.html (Wayback Machine: 2018-12-07 04:57)
- ↑ File:Drift2 EU Boxart back.jpg
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 [cvg, issue 161, page 97 cvg, issue 161, page 97]
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 [segamaguk, issue 16, page 88 segamaguk, issue 16, page 88]
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 http://vc.sega.jp:80/3ds/drift2/ (Wayback Machine: 2012-11-15 23:06)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 http://www.nintendo.com:80/games/detail/5Zcyf4ldxyvS4MxrFyZZRLwjDIp25ltf (Wayback Machine: 2013-07-07 10:45)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.fr/Jeux/SEGA-Game-Gear/Sonic-Drift-2-774781.html (archive.today)
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 http://www.nintendolife.com:80/games/gamegear/sonic_drift_2 (Wayback Machine: 2017-09-09 21:46)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/SEGA-Game-Gear/Sonic-Drift-2-774781.html (archive.today)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.de/Spiele/SEGA-Game-Gear/Sonic-Drift-2-774781.html (archive.today)
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 File:SonicDrift2 GG US manual.pdf, page 15
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 File:SonicDrift2 GG JP manual.pdf, page 22
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 File:SonicDrift2 GG US manual.pdf, page 16
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 File:SonicDrift2 GG JP manual.pdf, page 23
- ↑ File:Strana_igr_02.pdf, page 87
Sonic Drift 2 | |
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Manuals |
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Purple Chaos GP:
White Chaos GP: Blue Chaos GP: |
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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