Sonic R

Sonic R is a racing video game with single-player and multiplayer modes. The player selects a character and participates in a footrace on one of five race tracks, competing for the fastest time ahead of the other racers. Four characters are initially available, while the other six are secret characters that become available when the player completes certain in-game objectives. Although the gameplay is considered similar to kart racing games such as the Mario Kart series, Sonic R places an emphasis on jumping and exploration, as each track has multiple paths and hidden areas.

The tracks, although original creations, are thematically based on the art style and environments of classic Sonic games such as Sonic the Hedgehog's "Green Hill Zone" and Sonic the Hedgehog 2's "Chemical Plant Zone". Players can also race through each track in reverse.

Sonic and Tails are about to take a holiday when Tails notices an advertisement for a "World Grand Prix". While not initially interested, Sonic notices that Dr. Robotnik is also participating, which persuades him to change his mind and enter the race. It is revealed that Robotnik has recently learned of the whereabouts of the rare and powerful Chaos Emeralds, with which he aspires to enslave the world, and that he intends to gather them during the World Grand Prix while using a group of robotic henchmen he has built to best Sonic.

Knuckles and Amy overhear of Robotnik's plan and decide to compete. Together, the four must balance both winning races and obtaining the Chaos Emeralds to keep them out of Robotnik's reach.

After the completion of Sonic 3D Blast in 1996, Sega approached Traveller's Tales about working on a Sonic racing game. Traveller's Tales, who had been working on a 3D graphics engine without a clear purpose at the time, found this to be a logical progression. Traveller's Tales chose to rebuild a Formula One game they were developing into a Sonic game. Development started in February 1997 as a joint project between Sega's Sonic Team and Traveller's Tales.

The game was originally known as Sonic TT (the TT standing for Tourist Trophy). It was first publicly announced as "Phase Two of Project Sonic" (with "Phase One" being Sonic Jam). The schedule was tight, and Traveller's Tales requested more freedom than they had with Sonic 3D Blast.

The Saturn version of Sonic R received mixed reviews from critics at the time of its release, although retrospective commentary has been more negative. It received an aggregate score of 69 percent from GameRankings, based on six reviews, and the PC version received 70 per cent based on two.

The game's visuals were considered its strongest feature. AllGame called the textures vibrant and noted they had "no pop-up or glitching", and Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) felt the environmental details were lush. EGM and Sega Saturn Magazine highlighted the consistent frame rate (which rarely dropped below 30 frames per second) as a noteworthy achievement, with the latter favourably comparing Sonic R to the Saturn version of Sega Rally Championship. Next Generation hailed the game as "the most visually outstanding Saturn title" for its use of transparency effects and reflective surfaces, a sentiment echoed by EGM.

Despite Sega releasing two Sonic racing games prior to Sonic R, Sonic Drift and Sonic Drift 2, for the Game Gear, developer Takashi Yuda cited fans requesting more racing games in the vein of Sonic R would be Sega's actual inspiration for revisiting the genre in future years. This led to the development and release of the hoverboarding game Sonic Riders, although there are no connections between the two games other than both being racing games. Later Sonic racing games include Sonic Riders sequels Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity and Sonic Free Riders, and kart games Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Team Sonic Racing, and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.

Songs from Sonic R's soundtrack were included in later games featuring Sonic in their original forms or as remixes, including Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Sonic Generations, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.