What would make your perfect Sonic Riders game

[Debug Ring]

I think that it would consist of the trick controls from the first game as i didn't like the idea of the random tricks in zero gravity and free riders, it would have the wall rides from zero gravity and maybe the meteor burst and would have the models and voice actors/actresses from free riders

What are your'e opinions on a new sonic riders game and what would it consist of?

[JezMM]

Should take most gameplay cues from 1, but the more surreal art and music style (loved the mix of techno, orchestral and rock, as well as the music changing as you went through the track) of the second game, with an item system like the third game.

Give it a nice story, but also grand prix modes (if they had the usual 8x2 tracks, you could split it into 4 cups of 4). Mostly original unique tracks, but have one or two (especially unlockables) be based off previous Sonic locations.

If it makes people happy, use the models from Free Riders, but honestly I never minded the weird proportions of 1 and ZG, they had a unique appeal that I'd never want to see in the main series, but worked nicely with the darker, surreal, futuristic envioronments.

Edited March 7, 2012 by JezMM

[Chaos Warp]

Should take most gameplay cues from 1, but the more surreal art and music style (loved the mix of techno, orchestral and rock, as well as the music changing as you went through the track) of the second game, with an item system like the third game.

Give it a nice story, but also grand prix modes (if they had the usual 8x2 tracks, you could split it into 4 cups of 4). Mostly original unique tracks, but have one or two (especially unlockables) be based off previous Sonic locations.

If it makes people happy, use the models from Free Riders, but honestly I never minded the weird proportions of 1 and ZG, they had a unique appeal that I'd never want to see in the main series, but worked nicely with the darker, surreal, futuristic envioronments.

I did not really like the items from Free Riders, I found them too Kinect-Gimmicky with they way they were designed. I would prefer some new, futuristic-looking items that fit with the general futuristic look of the Extreme Gear and characters (with the new accessories they got and all). Besides this and the off-model characters thing you said at the end, I agree with this.

Slightly off topic: I demand you make a pizza analogy for the three Riders games.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Chaos Warp

[Sean]

Throw everything out the window, combine design sensibilities from two other racing games:

F-Zero GX: perfect and responsive controls, speed as a genuine part of gameplay and staying ahead

TrackMania: fantastic Sonic-esque track design, use of speed and momentum to overcome obstacles

The more I play either of these games, the more they feel like better Sonic racing games than any actual Sonic racing game out there. If the above cues are taken from them then I would love it forever.

[JezMM]

Slightly off topic: I demand you make a pizza analogy for the three Riders games.

Sonic Riders was a pretty nice pizza but it had toppings that were somewhat an acquired taste. You needed to eat a few before you had any chance of winning, I mean, enjoying it.

Zero Gravity LOOKED a lot tastier but in the end turned out to taste slightly bland and repetitive. ...With the toppings.

Free Riders was some lame low calorie pizza with hardly any cheese. And they made you eat it with a knife and fork.

I'm going to have to do this with every new game I mention in retrospect now aren't I.

[MetalCD]

hated Free Riders, the kinect support and lack of actual interaction like removing the Turbulence and the trap tornados, and the Drift and being able to boost attack rather than using shitty gimmicky power ups.

Riders 1 got it right for me, the boards looked like boards and not hulking masses of futuristic metal, the Anime-esque intro was appealing and fit with the hip "FROM THE FUUUUUUTURE!" feel, it was just too short... Riders 1 focused mostly on the aesthetics of racing on a hover board, while implementing the Tricks system to keep your Air gauge fuelled and thus adding that hint of strategy of "should i risk boosting to take out the person in front on me? will i have enough air to make it to the next trick ramp?" that and the restricted amount of items was good, having rings, speed up, ball and chain and rolling bomb was great.

i feel the Upgrade system in Riders was more rewarding too, stage 2 and 3 unlocking extra capacity in the air tank, upgrading your boost attack and making you slightly faster.

i REALLY miss being able to hold the drift buttons together to make the Wind Tornado trap, to throw the competition off your heels too, even if it did take air from your tank it just adds back into the strategy of maintaining enough Air to keep you going, while choosing wisely when you should boost and when you should reserve your Air.

i hate to bring Physics into it, but they where also pretty good, going up hill with a standard board or something not suited to uphill racing has an effect on your speed etc. i know it shouldn't really matter since your FLYING ABOVE GROUND, but it was still pretty neat.

I did enjoy the Gravity Dive in ZG... it was just easy to spam it, and i hated the dull level selection and pretty crappy music barring the main theme and the remixed catch me if you can (maybe Megalo Station too...) i hated the design of the boards too, like REALLY hated them... they didn't look much like boards, its like the series pulled a Mario Kart and took away from the main point (with MK they kept adding bikes, cars, quads etc. Karts only made a return in MK Wii/MK7) air board racing, its still racing yeah but it didn't feel like a boarding experience with the designs of the boards, and upgrading to some other level on certain boards changed a board into a kite? or a bike? it just seemed to take away from why i loved SR1.

so a perfect SR for me would be..

Make the Boards more Board-like

4 Story Arcs following each team, with different levels OR different parts of the same track at different times

Anime intro to make a come back...maybe even make it for the entirety of the cut scenes

no kinect

no power ups barring the original ring,speed up, ball & chain item boxes

bring back the Trap moves/Turbulence

don't use the new CG Models.. go back to the bizzare SR style models, just update them

Online Racing.

now i think about it... being able to Free Roam Metal City on foot or boad (he'd carry it while running) and being able to interact with NPC's and your team mates, taking part in challenge racers, collecting secrets etc. you know, pull a Jet Set Radio Homage in the form of floating boards instead of inline skates

Edited March 7, 2012 by MetalCD

[C.J]

I really liked the first two games I think a mixture of some elements from the first and second games would work well from the first game - trick controls, power ups and air pits could be included. The gravity dives from ZG could be power ups maybe in the items (it could also work as a power up for Shadow using Chaos control), short cuts/rides, alternative routes (ZG had lots), more levels in story mode so it's not too short (both levels of Heroes and babylon should be different like they were in ZG same place but different layout and not too similar as they were in the first and third games). A variety of boards, bikes and other crafts (for M-P and S-R mode), more short stages/arenas for multi-player (battles and races) (when running out of air instead of walking/running you could just go slow like in Free Riders). I like how they have a variety of music styles in all 3 games it should stay that way and I also think the item system should be like the second game. I wouldn't want Riders to be on kinect

Edited March 7, 2012 by C.J

[Marcello]

Make it have non-shitty controls.

[Chaos Warp]

Make it have non-shitty controls.

See Riders 1.

[Sega DogTagz]

I never understood the trick system they went for in this game. (Riders 1 & 2..... not Free Riders)

The entire race (especially in Riders 1) was build around the risk-reward system. You could use your air to boost, but overdo it and it would cost you. In that same light, the trick system should have complemented that. Instead of auto-tricking, it should have given you the chance to get greedy and push your efforts to the brink. I would have loved to see some kind of input system that put you in charge of how big a trick(s) you wanted to pull with the same risk/reward system that were being utilized in the races themselves.

Plus, putting more focus on the tricks would bring out a bit of character in the game. These are flashy characters after all. No need to handicap them.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Sega DogTagz

[JezMM]

I never understood the trick system they went for in this game. (Riders 1 & 2..... not Free Riders)

The entire race (especially in Riders 1) was build around the risk-reward system. You could use your air to boost, but overdo it and it would cost you. In that same light, the trick system should have complemented that. Instead of auto-tricking, it should have given you the chance to get greedy and push your efforts to the brink. I would have loved to see some kind of input system that put you in charge of how big a trick(s) you wanted to pull with the same risk/reward system that were being utilized in the races themselves.

Plus, putting more focus on the tricks would bring out a bit of character in the game. These are flashy characters after all. No need to handicap them.

Hm? That's exactly how Riders 1 was. If you were mid-trick when you landed you'd get a C rank and hardly gain any boost, but if you pushed it to the limit and suceeded in completling every possible trick within the time frame, you got an X rank and a huge amount of boost.

Granted, like many things in Riders 1, once you knew the places where it was safe to do this, it wasn't hard at all to do this every time without fail. If you've played a lot it comes naturally.

[Tori Himemiya]

Make the controls better and less painful.

Also more tracks, not 8 tracks or recolors of tracks. Really take the time to make tracks.

Finally fix up that writing. Everything else is good.

[-Mark-]

Take the first one.

Use Hedgehog Engine graphics.

Add online multiplayer.

PROFIT.

[Chooch]

Take the first Riders.

Expand upon it with more characters, modes, tracks, etc.

Make it online.

Done.

Basically the same thing Mark said.

Edited March 7, 2012 by Chooch

[Rusty Spy]

I'd take a few pages outta SSX's book, specifically tricks and boost.

To me, tricks are (or at least should be) a big part of the game and have the potential for a great deal of depth. The way SSX handled tricks was smooth and intuitive and easy to learn while still making them really damn flashy and felt rewarding.

The way the boost worked was also much better, rather than being forced to a set speed, you got a gradual burst of acceleration that could be held constantly, rather than in increments.

Tricks and boost are the two aspects that keep Riders interesting, and it be great for them to focus on these two aspects of moving around the track.

[Dejablue]

Bring back the trick system and slip stream catch up system from the first game. But not the stupid "air as gas" idea.

Probably also bring back to gravity/gear change mechanic.

[Nepenthe]

Nooo; keep the stupid air as gas idea. It punishes the spammer and favors the strategic, making the game all the more interesting and unique. If anything, the difficulty curve in utilizing the system bottomed out way too quickly. Once you learn the ins and outs of the game, air is never an issue again, even with the higher level Gears with boosts that suck out 75% of a full tank.

But if there's anything major I'd change about Riders' air system, it would be the conceiving slipstreams as automatic half-pipes. I can't be the only one who would find themselves stuck or turned around after hitting a slipstream I didn't want or need to, which can kill your flow and become a nuisance in the later tracks when the AI is criss-crossing in all manner of ways. There's no reason (with better control implemented) that slipstreams shouldn't work like they do in every other game, e.g., as intangible columns of air you can maneuver around in freely. It would also raise the level of skill needed in maximizing their use. You would have to ride in one yourself.

[sonfan1984]

Honestly, I would like another Sonic racing where the Sonic characters race on foot like Sonic R except less crappy.

[JezMM]

Honestly, I would like another Sonic racing where the Sonic characters race on foot like Sonic R except less crappy.

I would be okay with this too. Honestly I think Unleashed Wii/PS2's controls and level design style was begging to be Sonic R 2.

[Soniman]

Make Jet and Storm decent characters.

[azoo]

Take Riders' usual tropes and (current) aesthetic, SSX's trick and boost system, F-Zero's speed, and Trackmania's level design.

In other words, blending what Sean and Black Spy said sounds just fine to me.

[-Mark-]

Make Jet and Storm decent characters.

HOW DARE YOU GOOD SIR. >=|

Seriously though, I think Jet's an awesome character. Am I the only one who really, really likes Jet? ;___; I've made huge posts on him before, so I'll just say how I love the fact how he's actually a proper rival character and not just a good guy with a misunderstanding (Knuckles, Shadow etc).

(of course it doesn't help that his English voices are awful. I'd probably hate Jet too if I'd only heard his English voice.)

[Burnt Ash]

See Riders 1.

[C.J]

HOW DARE YOU GOOD SIR. >=|

Seriously though, I think Jet's an awesome character. Am I the only one who really, really likes Jet? ;___; I've made huge posts on him before, so I'll just say how I love the fact how he's actually a proper rival character and not just a good guy with a misunderstanding (Knuckles, Shadow etc).

(of course it doesn't help that his English voices are awful. I'd probably hate Jet too if I'd only heard his English voice.)

[KrazyBean]

If it played like a futuristic and super fast SSX (with more 'Sonicy' additions), I would be all over it.

Edited March 7, 2012 by KrazyBean14