Sonic R

Sonic R is an arcade racing game in which, instead of vehicles, characters from the Sonic series – Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and others – run, fly, or hover directly along compact but highly convoluted tracks full of shortcuts, jumps, and ring collecting. The player competes either in straight races for time and placement, or in a collection mode where additional playable characters and alternative paths through the tracks are gradually unlocked, giving the game a certain reach beyond simple racing for first place at the finish line and motivating players to return to the same tracks repeatedly.

The game was made by Traveller's Tales, which was also working on other Sonic titles for Sega at the time, and Sonic R was among the projects meant to show what the Saturn's 3D graphics could do with the beloved characters outside the series' usual platforming format. The tracks are full of verticality, hidden shortcuts, and collecting letters of the alphabet that combine into bonus unlocks of further characters, setting the game apart from competing racing titles of the time that focused purely on speed and precise finishing position.

The game earned special attention for its unusual soundtrack with vocals, which is still cited among Sega fans today as one of the most unforgettable, though also most divisively received, musical sides of the entire nineties Sonic series. The combination of an otherwise simple racing concept with such a distinctive musical identity made Sonic R into a cult title of sorts, one that to this day reaches beyond the scope of an ordinary racing game for the home console of its era.

Why play it: Sonic R is for players who want to see Sega's mascots in the unusual role of racers and experience one of the most distinctive, if not unconditionally beloved, soundtracks of the entire Saturn era. The short tracks and collection-based depth make it an easily digestible detour from the series' classic platforming entries.