Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed...!

[Blue Wisp]

Also, why are people saying

It's a mishmash Colours track? All I saw was Starlight Carnival.

You can feel Asteroid Coaster in that track

[Chaos Warp]

You can feel Asteroid Coaster in that track

Asteroids are kinda generic space things. They may have just added Asteroids into Starlight Carnival.

Also, why do we have to use spoiler tags when it's a publicly released trailer and not leaked content of any kind, therefore being an official reveal?

Edited August 13, 2012 by Chaos Warp

[Carbo]

Wow, an Asteroid Coaster/Starlight Carnival crossover?

I don't think I've ever been this excited at the prospect of a mere stage.

[Teoskaven]

1st: OMG AFTERBURNER

2nd: heh probably Skies of Arcadia

3rd: Samba de Amigo... Called it

4th: Looks to be Colors mish-mash

That's a pretty good reveal.

1)IT'S AFTERBURNER! (sorry, i have not resisted)

2)Probably

3)So it's Sunshine Tour revisited?

4)Interesting

[Marcello]

Holy crap! Did not expect that one at all. Though it's not just that one stage you mentioned Tracker, I'm pretty sure that there was another location from that game in there.

Starlight Carnival and Asteroid Coaster

It would make sense considering that this time around we're not getting specific stages, but instead series themes. A truly wonderful choice though. Kudos.

Maybe, but to me it just looks like they added some asteroids to Starlight Carnival for obstacles, and not like they were specifically trying to fuse the two stages. The "reference" is just a cool coincidence. At least, that's what I believe.

The tracks look cool SC was my favorite level in Colors so it's cool having it in here in HD. Though, I'm a bit more interested in seeing Genesis tracks revived. Assuming this was supposed to be the GC reveal, it'll take a while till that comes true :[

Don't really care about Afterburner, but the stage looks cool.

The new Samba De Amigo stage looks like Sunshine Tour, but I thought that was going to be a Retro track?

Edit: Added Spoiler Tags, just in case.

Edited August 13, 2012 by MarcelloF

[MegaMan_EXE]

Now that Star Light Carnival is in the game....

I'm really going to get it now. I know I said I would try it out, but fuck it, putting Star Light Carnival in the game...

Take my money. I'll just put that on the counter, and...

*Runs off with PS3 version of the game*

[Woun]

Gameplay trailer [HD]:

Edited August 13, 2012 by Woun

[#EndyGate]

>Engine is called Starlight

>Level with Fully Dynamic lights somewhere in the game

>Looking outside of Heroes for tracks

Starlight Carnival officially hinted?

I so called this

I feel so totally awesome right now :U

[Lady Soniko]

jesus i just came to that trailer, holy fuck Afterburner's track looks intense!

screw that, it ALL looks intense!

[Blue Blood]

Wii U Preview and Details from IGN

Memory is a funny thing. It twists and distorts the past, rewriting what actually happened. But occasionally, just occasionally, it stretches one’s memories into elaborate, death-defying race courses. Well, maybe it doesn’t, but that’s exactly what happens in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

Classic settings from SEGA games gone-by have been reimagined as frantic tracks which you traverse as familiar SEGA characters, including Sonic, Joe Musashi, and AiAi. It’s a kart racer, with the emphasis firmly on speed, power-sliding, and power-ups. And you aren’t always confined to a four-wheel kart: your vehicle transforms periodically from a car to a boat to a plane, and back again.

We’ve already taken a look at the All-Stars Racing on current-gen consoles but the game is also heading to Nintendo’s Wii U when it launches later this year. As with most games on Nintendo’s forthcoming console, it packs a raft of unique features tailored for the Wii U’s rather unique GamePad.

First up, as with most Wii U games, the action can be pulled down from the TV onto the GamePad. This is done rather simply by swiping your finger down on the controller’s touchscreen, as if you’re ‘dragging’ down the game onto the smaller screen. Conversely, if you want to resume playing on the big screen, flick your finger in the opposite direction. It works well, though I doubt people will use it mid-race; it’s too disorientating, but once you’re playing on the GamePad, the game looks good and handles well.

Allowing you to play the game on either screen, Wii U presents developers with the opportunity to transform (sorry) any console game optimised for large HD televisions into something more akin to a handheld experience. But is this not also a curse? Is something not lost in the transition from the big to the small screen? SUMO – the developer behind the game – doesn’t think so. “I don’t think it’s compromised,” says Steve Lycett, executive producer on the game. “For a start we’re already building the game across a selection of handhelds, on 3DS and Vita, so we consider it one more option the players has.” And compared to these handhelds, the Wii U’s screen compares favourably. “Put it this way, when I’m kicked off the TV as the latest soaps need to be caught up with, I certainly won’t complain about being able to seamlessly carry on playing!”

Adder's Lair

Seamlessly. That’s the crucial word with the Wii U. Used smartly and sensitively the Wii U’s controller allows the game to expand in novel and curious ways; otherwise, it just feels gimmicky and forced. When you’re in a race, jockeying for position, the screen displays a range of pertinent information – the current order of racers, a mini-map of the course. It’s all unintrusive and useful, but I expect most people to keep their eyes firmly on the race. Similarly, when you unleash one of the game’s eccentric power-ups, you’ll be able to see its destiny on the GamePad’s screen. Launch a remote-controlled car loaded with a stick of dynamite and you can watch it travel towards its unfortunate target. Again, it’s unlikely you’ll divide your attention, but if you’re the kind of person who revels in the misfortune of others, the GamePad’s screen will accommodate your sadism.

It’s a subtle expanding of the game’s canvas onto the GamePad; it’s not a crowbarring."]

Perhaps the biggest advantage of the GamePad is not its touchscreen or its gyroscope (incidentally, you can also steer using the GamePad like a wheel, rotating it left and right) – it’s the ability to open up weird and wonderful forms of asymmetrical gameplay. Yes, I know it was one of the most of overused and mocked phrases of this year’s E3 but with one person using a GamePad while others use more traditional controllers – Classic Controllers or the new Pro Controller – new types of gaming experiences become possible.

Depending on the circumstances, a GamePad can prove to be an advantage or disadvantage, and All-Stars Racing Transformed smartly uses this discrepancy as the basis for its mini-games.

I only saw one during my time with the Wii U version, called ‘Super Monkey Ball Arena’, and whomever had the GamePad took control of AiAi, who was as usual encased in his perspex sphere. Meanwhile, opponents using Classic Controllers played as Sonic and Tails in racing cars. The aim of the mini-game was simple: before the time ran out, squash the tiny versions of Sonic and Tails, who were driving around attempting to collect as many bananas as possible.

The GamePad “gave us a reason to think about how we can use the fact one player has an advantage (or disadvantage!),” says Lycett. And the source of inspiration behind many of these games is an interesting one. “We came back to game you’d play as school kids. So things like Tag, British Bulldog, Hide and Seek, all the classics basically, became the inspiration for what we’d prototype and try. Then it’s how you bend that into something SEGA themed, and luckily we’ve had a bit of experience of doing that.”

Seaside Hill

That’s how the game plays but Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed also looks good on Nintendo’s latest console. I only saw two tracks: Adder's Lair, inspired by Golden Axe, and Seaside Hill which is based on a level from last year’s Sonic Generations. Both looked good – like its predecessor, the visuals are bright and chaotic – but things were obviously still being fine-tuned for Wii U. Ocean View was nicely designed, especially as the level slowly crumbled around you, forcing you to hit the waves, where you weave in and out of the flailing tentacles of a huge mechanical cephalopod. The game is “easily on a par [with Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions],” says Lycett. “We’re still very much getting to grips with what we can make the hardware do [...]. So it’s hard to really answer that right now, but yeah, I think once we’ve had a bit more time finding our way around it, chances are you can look to do things that you may not be able to do before.”

2012 is shaping up to be the year of the console racer, with LittleBigPlanet Karting and F1 Race Stars also lining up on the grid. But Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is the only one heading to Wii U, and it seems to be intelligently embracing the new console’s capabilities. It’s there during races, but in a subtle ways, expanding the game beyond the narrow confines of your television screen.

Edited August 13, 2012 by Blue Blood

[Chaos Warp]

Good use of the gamepad. Not gimmicky and forced, and non-intrusive, how it should be.

[Lady Soniko]

LOL Seaside Hill

Sumo, you did this to troll us, i know you did.

we all complained about it when we seen the box and Rex was all "oh..hehe.. yeah, doesn't mean its in the game!"

*folds arms and taps foot*

Sumo Digital for best Trolls 2012

[Winston]

Seaside Pills, when your feeling down, take the Seaside Pills! Warning: May Contain Teamwork. What the Hell did I just say.

[#EndyGate]

Oh so the Wii U version will have little mini games built in, that's kinda cool

[BlueTidalGamer]

That trailer was great! The tracks are looking amazing! Afterburner, Seaside Hill, Starlight Carnival... Take my money SEGA and Sumo! The Wii U version is also sounding great. I know i'm buying this game for more than one system

Edited August 13, 2012 by BlueTidalGamer

[Toothpaste]

Wow. It's a good thing Starlight Carnival was revealed the same time as Seaside Hill or else I would have probably facepalmed hard enough to leave a mark.

Starlight Carnival was my top choice for Sonic levels. Even though probably none of my most wanted characters will make it in I'm glad my most wanted track did. All the tracks in the trailer look amazing, especially the Afterburner one. Also loving the confirmation of seamless playing on the Wii U gamepad. Should be interesting to see how those mini games will turn out. I think I may actually pre-order the Wii U version even if it turns out I can't get the system right away (even though that would mainly be for the bonus content, but also because of how jaw dropping this game is looking).

[Djawed]

Omg wow Sumo, just wow... You actually picked sonic colors stages? You guys really know what you are doing. Brilliant.

Oh wow, even a skies of arcadia level? Oh man...

Edit: since everyone is using spoiler tags

Edited August 13, 2012 by Djawed

[FourCartridge]

I don't think anybody else noticed this... Did you see that... thing whatever Sonic had on the back of his car during a Colors level clip? I think it's a new item.

[Lady Soniko]

I don't think anybody else noticed this... Did you see that... thing whatever Sonic had on the back of his car during a Colors level clip? I think it's a new item.

looks like a temporary booster with a gauge on how long it lasts, and when it's depleted seems to create a shockwave that knocks back nearby players.

AWESOME

[S0L]

So, I'll pop in quick to just clear up some of those tracks shown

Screenshots on IGN are of our new Seaside Hill track. Before you all moan about 'Why Seaside Hill again...!' I'll remind you that a seaside track more than makes sense when you have cars and boats in a game

Trailer reveals a couple of new tracks too! Namely the AfterBurner track, Skies of Arcadia track and Sonic Colors track (which is based on Starlight Carnival, we just added an asteroid field since flying through asteroids is cool!).

At least you know we've got at least a couple of Sonic levels in there, well bar the Death Egg Classic track we've already talked about!

Pretty big reveal day eh?

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S0L

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[Djawed]

Question SOL,

Do the returning stages(like seaside hill) get a remixed music track this time as well?

[Lentastic]

Holy crap! do my eyes fool me or was that a Skies of Arcadia stage?

Starlight Carnival? wow awesome! and the rest of the tracks all look amazing!

I can't frigin wait to play this!!

EDIT: S0L if you don't mind if I ask, what areas from Skies of Arcadia is the stage based on, I see tons of things happening and many airships... and Air mines? it looks amazing!

Edited August 13, 2012 by Lentastic

[S0L]

Question SOL,

Do the returning stages(like seaside hill) get a remixed music track this time as well?

Seaside Hill is a new stage and therefore new remixed music. Classic Stages don't have remixed music, but that doesn't mean it's the same music they had in ASR

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S0L

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[Jango]

S0L, the Amigo's track in the trailer is new or returning? PS.: I Loved that you added an After Burner track, racing (transformed!) it would be TIGHT, these games do deserve love!

Edited August 13, 2012 by Jango

[S0L]

And you know I missed a track off the video, the Samba track is a whole new one, set around a Samba movie studio. You've seen just a fraction of that one

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S0L

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