Sonic Drift

In-game screenshot, showing Sonic racing on a course themed after Green Hill Zone.

Sonic Drift is the first racing game in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.[1] Players control one of four characters―Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Amy Rose, and Dr. Robotnik―and race around a series of tracks, with the objective being to cross the finish line in first place.[2] 18 tracks are featured,[3][4] based on the various zones of 1991's Sonic the Hedgehog, including the Green Hill Zone. Drift is the first Sonic game to feature Amy as a playable character.[1]

There are three game modes: Chaos GP, a grand prix mode; Free Run, a practice mode; and Versus Mode, where players can compete with one another.[2] Chaos GP contains three separate cups of six tracks each and a points system where the goal is to earn more points than the competition.[1]

The gameplay of Sonic Drift shares similarities with Sega's "Super Scaler"-type arcade games such as Out Run and Super Monaco GP, although with inspiration from Nintendo's Super Mario Kart. Each character has strengths and weaknesses; for instance, Sonic has fast acceleration but poor control, while Robotnik has poor acceleration but moves at high speed. The top half of the player's screen shows the course map, while the bottom displays the player's car racing around the track. The game's driving mechanics focus on drifting to steer around corners at speed. Driving into television monitors scattered around the track awards the player a power-up, such as invincibility. Tracks also contain gold rings that can be collected to use a special move, which is unique for each character;[1] for example, Sonic gets a speed boost, while Tails gets a jump.[5]

Developed in-house at Sega,[1] Sonic Drift was released in Japan for the Game Gear on March 18, 1994.[6][7] The western release was canceled due to concerns regarding its quality.[8][9] Sega instead released a Game Gear port of Sonic Spinball.[8] In 2003, Sonic Drift was released as an unlockable extra in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut,[1] and was later compiled into Sonic Mega Collection Plus.[10] Sonic Drift is scheduled to be released as part of the Sonic Origins Plus compilation on June 23, 2023.[11]

Sonic Drift received mixed reviews. Japanese publication Famitsu heavily compared the game to Super Mario Kart, feeling that the game was largely uninspired and generally lacking in content compared to Nintendo's game. They were also critical of the game's short horizon, which they claimed made it hard to see what was ahead of the player. Electronic Gaming Monthly was more positive towards it in a preview, saying that the game was fast-paced and enjoyable but the flashing, choppy scrolling hampered the gameplay somewhat.[2] Jeuxvideo.com in 2012 also compared the game to Super Mario Kart, disliking Drift for being too simplistic and for being very easy to finish, alongside the general lack of content and poor presentation.[13] They stated: "Too simple and too fast to finish, Sonic Drift is unfortunately not a title that will fascinate the crowds."[13] Its inclusion in Sonic Mega Collection was negatively received; GameSpy passingly labeled it as "almost unplayable",[16] while Tom Bramwell of Eurogamer mockingly called it "a terrible, terrible racing game whose flickering madness actually made me physically sick."[17]

Retrospectively in 2019, Apollo Changes of Hardcore Gaming 101 said that the gameplay itself was decent and solid, but felt that it was greatly lacking in content and variety.[1] He criticized the track design in particular for being generally boring, lacking in presentation, and for the stage themes being purely cosmetic instead of affecting the track designs themselves.[1] Hardcore Gaming 101 argued that the "controversial" short horizon was easy to become used to, and said that it didn't have that negative of an effect on the game itself.[1] They concluded their review with: "Sonic Drift is a decent enough racer, but the lack of variety in track design (both visually and thematically) and the small amount of content mean that it’s a racer only a small number of people will dedicate themselves to."[1]

• Sonic Drift at MobyGames