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your sonic riders 4 ideas


blueblur98

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hello! in this thread, i'd like to discuss ideas and concepts you'd like to see in a potential 4th installment in the sonic riders sub-series! i'd personally like to see a game that plays like the first game, while being as easy to learn as zero gravity. what would you like to see if riders 4 ever happens?

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Getting rid of laps altogether, and going for point-to-point races. In short, something akin to the Cannonball Run or Gumball Rally. Maybe have team-ups in races as well. Could make for some interesting in-race banter. 

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welp..I for one are glad that this series is dead. now kill off olympics and boom and we're good to go.

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Hoo, boy. Riders is a spinoff that could never seem to decide what it ever wanted to be, besides a vauge hoverboarding concept, and they would constantly throw mechanics out of the window regardless of whether they were good or not, which is just the most annoying thing you can do with a game that's capable of spawning sequels. Hell, anyone that's been around here long enough knows we already have a lot of problems with that in the main series, let alone spinoffs. So my first suggestion would be to pretend almost none of the shit beyond the first game even happened - maybe take a quick nod here and there if it gels with the existing mechanics, but otherwise base it largely on the first game's mechanics.

With that out of the way, it needs to be said: the first Riders may have a surprisingly well crafted metagame, but it's still pretty rough around the edges. Let's start with the game's main hook - the turpulence mechanic. As far as catch up mechanics go, it's a neat concept. The lead player generates a field of turpulence that widens the further away from them it is, and trailing players can ride it to catch up, regain air with tricks, and even access a shortcut or two by tricking off it at the right time. The main thing I disagree with is that it also takes over your steering in the process. so once someone's locked onto your turpulence trail, it's borderline impossible to be rid of them short of laying a very timely tornado trap right as they're about to pass you.

By removing the steering lock, you're effectively creating another skill check to the game - you have to manually follow the leader's turpulence trail to make the most of the passive speed and air boost it provides, and because the turpulence trail widens over time, it's harder to follow the closer you are to the leader, and easier the further away you are. That's what a catch up mechanic should be in my eyes - it still provides a challenge to the top three or so racers, but it keeps all of them bundled tightly enough together that racers from all over the lineup continue to interact with each other regardless of position, and as a result could feasibly be anyone's game.

That out of the way, let's focus on racer abilities next. I gotta be honest here - I think they're fucking boring and homogeneous. Every racer has one of three abilities to interact with the level - grinding, flying through boost rings, and breaking destructable objects -  and are functionally interchangeable within their own bracket. Worse still, it's very difficult to balance, and even in Riders 1 it shows. Sometimes they might cut a corner, sometimes it goes right the fuck through walls, and sometimes I swear they're actually slower than the intended route. And on top of that it disrupts the turpulence mechanic, because even if it did trail you through character specific gimmicks, there's only a third of the roster that can follow you through it.

Honestly? I'd scrap and replace that completely, give each character their own little quirk instead. With what exactly is hard to say without knowing how the new track design would work, but some ideas off the top of my head would be letting Sonic roll (which would lock his controls while he does so, but defend himself against people approaching from behind in the process), giving Tails the ability to hover (mostly to preserve momentum from jumps), letting Shadow teleport, and so on. This probably isn't perfect either, but it's the best I could think of on short notice.

Finally, fighting. Requiring air as a tradeoff to potentially inconvenience other racers is an interesting tradeoff in concept, but Riders goes way too fucking far. From what I recall, getting hit in even the best case scenario means losing all of your rings, and that basically voids any chance you have of competing in the top 3 because rings provide badly needed speed and air boosts. I say "best case" because that's what getting hit by a player with no rings does - If a maxed-out player gets to you, you're either slowed down or completely motionless for several seconds, which is just absolutely supreme bullshit in a genre where the difference between winning and losing can be decided in less than a second.

There's several things I'd change about this. First of all, lower the ring cap and adjust upgrades accordingly, so you have a chance at all of recovering your lost resources in timely enough fashion to be still capable of competing. Second, make attacking scatter only a portion of your rings at a time. Third, at worst only drop the victim's speed for a moment - having to accelerate back to top speed from a starting position is punishment enough. And lastly, keep the ability to attack off boosts, but also provide the option to attack enemies directly adjacent to you without boosting, not just to enable players to attack without screwing themselves over if they're low on air and give them a more reliable means to defend against people approaching from behind, but also because it could encourage Road Rash esque melees among tightly bunched racers and I think that's kind of badass.

One last thing. Those automated sections where you have to rotate the stick like a maniac? Fuck those to hell. They're obnoxious stretches of not-game that really don't belong in a game like this in any stretch of the imagination, and just making more track in their place would do nothing but good for the game. Frankly it wouldn't surprised me if control sticks were broken over that, too.

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3 hours ago, FReaK said:

welp..I for one are glad that this series is dead. now kill off olympics and boom and we're good to go.

boom is being killed off. yay!

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3 hours ago, do a barrel roll said:

Nobody said Sonic Riders is dead

well, the last game came out 7 years ago, so calling it dead doesn't seem wrong lol

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i don't know personally how free-riders went cause i didn't play it, but if i'm remembering correctly, it didn't get good reception. but i played zero-gravity and it was pretty fun. i like the new character designs they use as well. so if this is something they wanna do, go ahead, but i don't really think it's in their plans right now.

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  • 9 months later...

I'd love to see another Riders game, I loved the original and Zero Gravity. They were great games, however higher ups in SEGA aren't fond of the Babylon Rogues who are essential in those games. So I fear the series is most definitely over.

 

However as far as sequels are concerned, here are my ideas:

 

Sonic Riders Battle

Eggman turns both sides against each other to scheme big, when both sides realise this when it's too late. They both have to team up to take them out. 

 

Sonic Velocity Riders

Eggman offers new gear to the Babylon Rogues in a very shady deal. A new World Grand Prix is announced, and they beat Team Sonic every time. However, in the end the Babylon learns to never trust a rotten egg, as they lose control of their gear.

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A new riders game should, imo, go back to the first game's mechanics and expand upon it. The trick system from the first game works, and I think the high jump/long jump mechanic is a cool idea, but they should make more routes so choosing between the high jump and the long jump is a decision and not just a case of picking the right one for that ramp. The risk/reward for charging up a jump is cool too so I'd keep that, though I'd have it slow you down a little less or even take it out slowing you down entierly and replace it with some kind of burnout mechanic so you can't hold down the A button the entire time. Just jumping out of nowhere would slow you down, also.

Now, as for the "class" system, I'd keep it. It's not a bad thing if chunks of the cast feel samey in a racing game, since you're more likely to just want to play as your favorite character independent of your abilities, and I liked that the first riders had enough customization that you could give any character any ability, essentially. I'd probably tone down the ability exclusive shortcuts though and just have opportunities for the abilities to come into play in a lot of the paths. 

The turbulence fix suggested by Blacklightning is basically what I had in mind: challenge the players behind the lead to match his trail. The leader could mix things up or take a really difficult path and your best hope of catching up would be to prove you can match what he's doing. That's cool, and keeps that skill based edge I liked the first Riders for. 

Lastly: Embrace the art of the first game, because it's spectacular!

Image result for sonic riders japanese box art

 

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Personally, I don't think the Riders series is really going to come back. Not the way things in the world of Sonic are atm. Though I'll admit I like the first one and Zero Gravity. If anything, there really isn't too much more you can do with a racing game like that. And I was so pissed off that Free Riders was a Xbox exclusive. It felt like a middle finger to all the PlayStation Riders fans. I get motion controls were the attracting feature for the game, considering the Connect was still barely alive at that time.

Though I suppose it's for the best I didn't find a way to get it. Considering that it sounds like Free Riders turned out to be crap anyway.

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2 hours ago, DCFCSonic20 said:

They were great games, however higher ups in SEGA aren't fond of the Babylon Rogues who are essential in those games.

Is that really the case?  They seem to get pretty decent spin-off representation, even down to the recently Kickstarter-funded Battle Racers licensed board game.

Seems to me that SEGA sees the Rogues as Riders-limited characters so far as mainline games go, and if they don't show up more often it's because SEGA instead aren't fond of the Riders games any more.

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Just get rid of all the motion control bull shit that plagued every release after the first, and you'll probably have at least a competent game. 

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1 hour ago, FFWF said:

Is that really the case?  They seem to get pretty decent spin-off representation, even down to the recently Kickstarter-funded Battle Racers licensed board game.

Seems to me that SEGA sees the Rogues as Riders-limited characters so far as mainline games go, and if they don't show up more often it's because SEGA instead aren't fond of the Riders games any more.

It was only a rumour which I heard quite a while ago, I'd take it with a grain of salt. Other than that, they never had the appeal to appear in main series games. Just like the character Sticks from Boom, unfortunately the Riders' games never hit off with critics and they weren't considered so much of a financial success either, so SEGA or Sonic Team for that matter won't take much interest in reviving the series.

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I do remember liking Riders 1 and to an extent Zero Gravity back during the mid-2000s, since they were somewhat unique straight racing games with neat storymodes. And it's been, what, seven years since the woefully Kinect-ed Free Riders? Yeah, I'd say it's time to further reawaken some of the fun side things with another Riders.

If I could make some gameplay suggestions, refining the air and the attack systems from the first game would be an interesting and polishing method of getting started on this project. A neat way of addressing the first would be to have turbulence be something that only racers with fairly low air can use. If the air system has trouble being updated without similar or worse issues, then simply stick with the Zero Gravity method. As for the combat, I'd really like it if they could strike an nice middleground between Riders' dashn'smack moves and Zero Gravity's frustrating[ly rare] powerups. And finally, since I believe the Arc of the Cosmos are gone, perhaps create a new cornering mechanic that feels both more fluid than that but not as easy to grate as Riders' drift.

In terms of the story plus roster content, I'd maybe consider adding in a new/reworked character as a [pseudo-(?)]antagonist. It doesn't have to be another bird(which may or may not over-dilute things lorewise), but a brand spankin new character to race as would further cement a restored breath. Help shake things up again, like what Lost World and Forces were seemingly trying to do--but in a fun way!

In terms of the roster, the usual eleven are already shoe-ins but in addition to bringing back some of other recurrences and "guests," maybe throw in some extras. New Eggman Robots, Espio, and a few of the Deadly Six(namely Master Zik) would be start,  maybe include Alex Kidd as a guest if possible. Oh, and bring back the more out there gear like Magic Broom, gimmicky ones like Berserker, and risk+rewards ones like HangOn, plus the type change and all-types vehicles.

Also, maybe include some of the other characters outside of the traditional eight again in a proper story mode--one that once again feels kinetic and some degree of involved. Cream, Rouge, and Shadow may be the obvious choices, but honestly any of the characters on the roster(or perhaps otherwise) are open for an appearance. However, you don't need to force them or hopefully any other choices in as if this involves dedicated showcasing. I mean all of this in a way that has characters get a chance to be a presence and/or especially themselves again--because it's nice and hopefully fun.

 

 

I haven't played Free Riders, but I kinda wanna say a proper/standard controller version of that could be fun.  

On 7/16/2017 at 9:46 PM, FReaK said:

welp..I for one are glad that this series is dead. now kill off olympics and boom and we're good to go.

Why? 

3 hours ago, DCFCSonic20 said:

They were great games, however higher ups in SEGA aren't fond of the Babylon Rogues who are essential in those games. So I fear the series is most definitely over.

 

Really now? Any particular commentary on that?

3 hours ago, DCFCSonic20 said:

 

Sonic Riders Battle

Eggman turns both sides against each other to scheme big, when both sides realise this when it's too late. They both have to team up to take them out. 

 

That kinda sounds like a neat starting concept. If nothing else, it'd bring back some of the rivalry.

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3 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Really now? Any particular commentary on that?

I believe it was from a interview with Izuka back in 2016, it's not really anything to go by as nothing else was followed up on those comments. I'd take it with a grain of salt. Scratch that, I can't find the original source for it.

In terms of the games quality, Riders and Zero Gravity were good. Riders was better than ZG though. However, it was ruined when SEGA made the dumb marketing decision to put Free Riders as a Kinect exclusive. The motion controls were terrible, that completely ruined the series and the reputation of the Babylon Rogues as they depended on the success of the games.

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7 minutes ago, DCFCSonic20 said:

I believe it was from a interview with Izuka back in 2016, it's not really anything to go by as nothing else was followed up on those comments. I'd take it with a grain of salt. Scratch that, I can't find the original source for it.

In terms of the games quality, Riders and Zero Gravity were good. Riders was better than ZG though. However, it was ruined when SEGA made the dumb marketing decision to put Free Riders as a Kinect exclusive. The motion controls were terrible, that completely ruined the series and the reputation of the Babylon Rogues as they depended on the success of the games.

Oh.

Was there really much of an effected reputation though?

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13 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Oh.

Was there really much of an effected reputation though?

Technically speaking there was, along with the Riders series dying, who actually cares for Jet and his cohorts nowadays?

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2 hours ago, DCFCSonic20 said:

Technically speaking there was, along with the Riders series dying, who actually cares for Jet and his cohorts nowadays?

...Okay, I think I see your point.

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