I feel like Super Sonic being how he is in Zero Gravity might be because he's meant to take advantage of the 4th shortcut type in the game; on-foot shortcuts (usually springs but there are unique ones for certain tracks, which usually also give rings). You can normally only take them by either getting the item that lets you boost (which is rare and can only be gotten in a low placing; might be exclusive to last place for all I know), or getting a max GP gauge while riding a certain extreme gear (I forget what it's called but it activates a boost when getting max GP), but Super Sonic can take them if he runs out of rings, which is a real possibility in most races. Eggman and the robots I'm pretty sure can't use these shortcuts at all, as Eggman doesn't dismount his extreme gear when boosting and the robots I think were just too big for some of the unique shortcuts. Some of these are placed in areas either right after or right before sharp turns, which would make sense if they're mainly designed for Super Sonic since any gravity moves drain his rings like crazy, though some are also located on straightaways and probably meant for anyone lagging behind who gets lucky with the boost item.
I'm Glad you bring this up because i absolutely forgot to bring this up in this video, Yes you are absolutely correct , i probably missed them because of how little i used them not gonna lie, As they aren't really "shortcuts" I get the games intentions but they never really help, Atleast for me i always end up getting passed. But Eggman And the Robots Do have on-Foot attacks, Eggman Can use the Big Bang Gear (The gear that gives you Attack at max GP) To use Said Shortcuts , you just have to get lucky with the robots to use them as well, You earned Pinned comment because i totally forgot to mention that in the video
The problem is that almost all foot shortcuts are pretty bad in which case you are better off just cruising with Super Sonic or fully taking advantage of your Attack Mode instead of wasting it on them. Overall problem with Super Sonic is that he clearly feels like a last minute addition with how extremely flawed he is especially his Boost being WAY slower than a top speed of other characters. On top of that he can't even access foot shortcuts with his own non-item box Boost and his non-item Boost also cannot hurt opponents.
I like how sega looks at things that are a little flawed and decide to never touch it again but when they drop something completely broken it’s worth going back to for nearly two decades
i grew up with the “ultra cool 2000s skater” era of sonic and i miss it more everyday, the whole vibe of that time period suited sonic perfectly and i hope it makes a comeback!!
Honestly i'd take a remake but an attempt at a new one would be huge, Theres a huge audience for Sonic Riders imo i feel like it'll be a huge missed opportunity if we never see this series again
@@NolimitXDBM Same can't believe it was doomed because of an Xbox exclusive, surely execs would know most of the fanbase is spread out against so many different platforms and not just Xbox.
@@MattTheHuman9whats even more cumbersome is They made that decision when sales were declining for the 360 thats why Microsoft pulled the kinect out of their ass in the first place and as much as a full body racing game sound cool in concept , execution wise yeah we lived through that time line and this is coming from someone who has put a good amount of time into free riders, even remembering the Christmas i got the game, the game is okay at best if you can get it to work and yeah need i say more
The thing with us getting ANOTHER cart racer that is so disappointing is that we literally just finished the Riders Arc in IDW it would of been the perfect to show off a new Riders game with an imposter Phantom Rider, introducing Comic characters to the game audience by having Surge, Kit, Whisper and Tangle show up in their costumes from that arc. It could of been peak.
@ I just really want this series to come back. A full skill based whacky racer like this is an empty market and Sonic is a safe brand for it ESPECIALLY right now
i would have loved for that to have led to a new riders game, but if we were to have gotten a new riders game, being realistic it definitely wouldn't feature idw characters. contrary to what's been said, idw is only loosely canon in that they want the comics to feel like they _could_ exist in the games universe, not that they actually _do_. idw is more in its own universe that runs parallel to the games (worth noting that the references to tangle and sticks in frontiers is exclusive to the english script and isn't present in any other language) i don't say this to be 'that guy', i just want to clear up a big misconception that gets spread around based on a misunderstanding of what iizuka said in some interviews and people getting their hopes up for idw characters in the games are just gonna be disappointed :( ofc i would love it if they did appear someday and for my comment to age poorly but sadly when it comes to this series it's better to temper expectations 😔
I appreciate youtube still sending me every significant review/retrospective of these two games. Always love seeing the love being spread for these. Thanks for the little shout out to EXGL, too, hehe
It's crazy how much of a fucking banger Zero Gravity's soundtrack is. That main menu is absolute perfection. Also the options music for that game is just unnecessarily peak.
Man if zero gravity had online multiplayer I feel like even more people would still be playing it. I understand that it has the splitscreen but having like 8 people actually race would have been so much more fun. Especially now with mods the only way we can play is by sharing screens, it sucks.
Finally someone talking about how incredible both these games are, also all the soundtracks are amazing! I had both games and I loved playing them but it's been around 8 years and I wanted to 100% both of them, but maybe in the future hah. Either way, amazing video
I usually avoid commenting on longer videos because it's hard for me to keep all of my thoughts by the time I'm finished watching, but I just wanted to share how delighted I am that there's an hour long video on arguably my favourite Sonic spinoff to date. I didn't get to play Riders growing up (unless Free Riders counts) and only got around to playing it in 2022 for my "Play All Sonic Games" checklist, and... wow. It genuinely is such a good game, it's the first time I joined in on the racing and modding scene for something and actively joined tournaments (Sonic Riders DX
Glad you enjoyed :D yeah i yap about little stuff like that it keeps the engagement in videos i like makes you guys feel like your part of the conversation
Sonic riders was also one of my first games, and for the first time in like 15 years i decided to boot it up again and beat it now that I'm not 6 anymore. At the same exact time, this video comes out! Absolutely great job :D
44:05 SAME DUDE. Though I have a bit of bias because Sonic Riders Zero Gravity was a birthday present I got when I was 8 (I think that's around the tine the game came out) on PS2, making it the first Sonic game I personally ever got to call "mine"
Dude this was literally BRILLIANT??!! How is your channel so small and tiny this entire video was so in depth and well edited! The sense of nostalgia i had for a game ive never played before just from watching and listening to this video just feels so freaking cool. You did awesome mate, I love it, yum! I honestly would love for more Riders content from Sonic Team, its just so freaking perfect and it has all the style. If i was a kid again this game would have been my magnum opus i swear man!!
You know with How long it took me to Upload the Video i would have had the Gain Stage right, I also Forgot Astral Babylon 💀(We human we will be better next video) Also yall like the transition from one game to other i spent so much time on that transition i thought it was so hard😭🙏🏾
Good to note that the Sonic Riders Modding Community is quite the hotmess. Love it or hate it, there are 3 modding teams in total all going in their seperate ways, without going into much detail here they are: Sonic Riders DX (exgl) / Sonic Riders Tournament Edition (src) / Sonic Riders Underground (but I believe they are rebranding to Sonic Riders Future?) All of these communities have their goals and faults, and although its great to see the game continue in tournaments and mods though these groups. In all 3 communities there is still much to be desired, in terms of organization and hostility towards eachother and or within each development teams themselves. Don't get me wrong, play the games, have fun with them, as the games themselves are all really fun. However from my experience in some of these servers, don't get too involved unless you want to be consistently backstabbed or clowned on by the "active" community. I miss Sonic Riders, I want to see more of it, but idk if where it is right now is a good state.
Oh boy tell me about it I was like thinking about making a follow up video talking about the mods of this game but since it seems to be so controversial I might just fucking scrap it to be honest😭 it's quite a shame honestly because I know the sonic community I don't have the mental capacity for that right now😭
If they combined the gameplay of sonic riders 1 & 2, they would have had the best racing game every. Turning with the zero gravity was so dope and the wind gliding thing with the tricks and drift, would’ve made it the most fun racing game ever made. Also having the meter from the first one with the zero gravity could’ve been crazy. Missed opportunity
Have this game on the PS2 and I love it so darn much. I haven't been able to play it in years because the disc reader laser doesnt work or whatever, but as a kid it was truly magical. It felt so rewarding to learn the games intricacies, the style, the speed, the effects on screen, timing your air- everything about this game heightened it to such an extreme!
Riders 1 is such a great and surprisingly complex racing game. I really wish they kept the first game mechanics for the second game and ownwards, but at least Zero Gravity is still a good game. Yeah is way too simple, but still good. I loved how the first game made you manage your air and take "risks", the trick system and all the other little details that made it such a treat to learn to play. Why Free Riders had to kill such a cool spin off saga... it's not fair 😔
You forgot one thing. Your attack strength varies with the amount of rings that you have. If you have 29 rings or under, your attack will be at level one. If your rings are 30 to 59, your attack will be at level two which will also allow you to hit multiple enemies at once if there's a bunch in front of you. Now you have 60 or more rings your attack will be at level three. however, you will no longer be able to attack multiple enemies at once. However, your attack will be very potent at this point which would drastically slow down the person attacked and they will be left with a side effect of some sort. Amy at level three will use her hammer to flatten her foes. Tails will use his cable to burn players to a crisps etc. I can't believe I fell for that...1:15:43
one of my favorite things about sonic riders was me somehow not being able to tell sonic and jet had the same english voice actor and i didn't even notice until a couple of years ago 😭 i played sonic riders and zero gravity obsessively as a kid and yet i still failed to notice
Just something I realized: Eggman says that the prize will go to the racer who performed the best throughout the competition. In the Hero story, that would technically mean Tails wins, due to him being the only one who won more than 1 race. Think about it. Metal City wasn't an official race in the EXWGP, Tails won Splash Canyon, Knuckles wins Egg Factory, Tails wins Green Forest, Sonic loses (in a cutscene) Sand Ruins. Meaning Tails should have won regardless of whether or not Jet won Sand Ruins or not.
Riders and Zero Gravity are both in my top 5 Sonic games of all time. They’re the only ones I’ll always go back to just to mess around in cause the gameplay is so well done. After playing both I found the main issue with zero gravity actually only comes down to 1 thing maybe 2 at most. It’s not the new gravity mechanics, or the new trick system. It’s literally just a lack of a boost. In the original you would literally ALWAYS be doing something because anytime you’d be on a straightaway you’d have the opportunity to continue your top speed by boosting. In zero gravity the replacement for the boost is the gravity dive and this can only be effectively used in dedicated segments or the occasion non dedicated straightaway with minimal obstacles. This makes it so your movement speed becomes more sluggish and you have moments where’s there’s nothing you can do whereas in the first game you’d be boosting in those moment.
This is a Fantastic way of putting it , I wish i had enough time to talk about it in the video but something kinda like how the Extreme gear labs Creators have it, You can press a button to use some of your GP to use the attack phase which sorta works like a boost just not as spammy, which i can totally get behind
So I definitely have some hot takes I could do on these games, especially since racing games and fast pace games are my jam. But you do have me eyeballing my PS2 again, as well as questioning Sega for not using more of the material they have already made. Good video, a bit long tho but 2x speed definitely helps.
Love the hilarious inclusion of the vine clip when you failed the starting line XD Thank you so much for explaining this game. I never played it, but I also never understood when others talked about it.
Haha, Thanks. I Try did my best For the same Reason, most reviewers never explain this game right and even though I'm sure I missed some things I'm pretty sure I got all of them Mechanics and stuff nails down
Hey man, I'm watching this on my Xbox rn and just wanted to say this is an excellent video. I like watching retrospectives of old games that I never really got to play when I was younger (being born in 2005) where I just have patchy memories of my older brother and uncle playing these sick games. I look forward to watching your others and seeing your channel grow! Earned yourself a like and subscribe fr.
Tag mode ooh boy I remember using the opa opa board, there that board is a menace since its a free level 3 attack meaning the opposing team loses a lot of precious time.
I played through SR1 on emulator last year, and it is WILD how well it holds up. Genuinely my favorite racing game of all time, possibly one of my favorite games in general.
Stumbled across this video in my recommendations, completely agree with the title. Also, thank you for finally putting to words what I couldn't manage to describe about the first Riders being too intuitive without ant actual explanation. That's the main reason I never got into the first game despite already being a long-time fan of Zero Gravity(to this day one of my top 5 sonic games)
1:21:20 I thought nobody even KNEW of this exploit! I never see anyone discuss this, its what got me past Lap 3's second hit as a kid. There's actually a similar exploit like this on the Grind shortcut at the end of Gigan Rocks where it'll actually shoot you forward at the speed cap if you let yourself fall off the grind rail at the end of it, letting you go absolutely flying through the first half of the stage, making it my favorite stage in the game.
See i didn't even know about the gigan rocks Exploit, i figured out the Tech in the final boss while using the rail linker Skates , they automatically time the exploit for you, yeah its a niche glitch but I'm honestly surprised not that many people know about it
To awnser the question in the awnser of the video: Yes. Not only TSR looks fun to me but also it is fun to me, it was the most recent Sonic game I had a session on, and the last game I've played in 2024, playing through the new year celebration with my friends. I actually love the "Racing" series as a whole, All-Stars Racing and Transformed are also super fun and unique too, but that doesn't take away any of my love to the Riders series and neither happens the other way around. And, the only thing I'll say about Free RIders: The game is super fun, but sadly held back by its main gimmick, the Kinect Controls, never really liked playing Free Riders back then, but ever since the No Kinect Patch released I've started to love and have so much fun with Free Riders, the stages look cool, the roster is nice, the track design is super fun to deal with, explore and go in different routes, it has many cool, interesting and fun gimmicks, like the Gear Part Switch, which you can choose 2 different Gear Parts, and not only the regular Speed, Fly and Power, but also those other which you give away a type for an extra boost, the minecart mechanic, swimmimg mechanic, grabbing onto poles and subways, etc. I had even more fun with Free Riders that I had with vanilla Zero Gravity after the No Kinect Patch (not to say that ZG is bad, I also love ZG, I just think it's a bit oversimplified, that's why with mods that restore some of the features from Riders 1 removed in that simplification, like drifting, it makes it also super fun just like the other 2 aswell), I probably just as much fun with Free Riders' No Kinect Patch that I had with the OG Riders, maybe a bit more or a bit less, but pretty toe to toe
I'm gonna try to set up the no kinect patch for a future video but i'm also debating on if i should go out of my way to get a 360 just to properly talk about the game, i'd get an xbox series model but i'm not sure if the Kinect from the Og xbox one will work with free riders 💀
@@NolimitXDBM That's totally fair tbh, playing the original game without the No Kinect Patch would be more fair to analyse the game for what it is, as tough as it is But the No Kinect Patch also at least can maybe be a bit of fun
@@NolimitXDBMthe kinect isn't compatible with the series x/s. And free riders isn't backwards compatible, just do the no kinect patch or you'll HAAAAAAATE playing free riders. I still have my pre order copy.
The algorithm ready my damn mind again. The first game was EVERYTHING to childhood me. I distinctly remember it was out around the same time Narnia was.
I’ve been considering trying sonic riders for years, it’s one of the first video games I’d ever seen at some random summer camp when I was 4. Especially these past few days, this video came at the perfect time for me to deceive to get dolphin and spend way too much time on this game
I swear to everything NONE of the 4Kids era voiced games had ANY direction. At least the OGs and the Studiopolis crew actually sound like they’re TRYING! Tails almost gets sucked into a black hole and he’s just like 😐 Thanks Sonic.
First game had the gameplay and Zero Gravity just needed to cross the new mechanics like gear shift into that while keeping the wacky speed and shortcuts. Sound track upgrade to Zero Gravity is UNMATCHED tho
I like Super Sonic in Zero Gravity. Sure the boosted state eats rings like chili dogs and gravity control is a no-go, but you have a magnetic shield and a cap of 150 rings, so it shouldn't be too hard to maintain on most stages, plus your speed is fixed at 180 in that state, so other racers will have a tough time catching up outside of gravity dive areas.
Eh, I can respect that people have come out to say they prefer the sequel. Zero Gravity understood the assignment of keeping most of the core gameplay, and then trimming it down to make sure that fans weren't turned off as badly as they were with the first game with the core mechanics (Albeit I love all those complex mechanics and like that ZG has its own in its place). In the end, I just wished we got a Riders game that did manage to find that balance of fun factor with a complex system that's easy to learn, hard to master. Maybe there could be a Riders game where while the boards and characters have certain stats (Mainly Top Speed, Acceleration, and Handling/Cornering), one can customize their gear a la Free Riders where you switch gear changes by switching stances. You could have: - A Boost Gear where it lowers the top speed, but it allows for the Riders 1 Boosting to close gaps or attack players (Running out of the Air Meter doesn't mean you gotta hoof it, but you do lose the means to Boost and Drift and just have to use the Board's natural cornering, and the only way to get back the meter is to do tricks in that state) - A Type Gear that basically can give the character their typings (The Typical Grind, Flight and Power) - A Gravity Gear that lets you utilize shortcuts that would give that Zero Gravity style gameplay - A Trap Gear that gives you higher top speed but instead of Boosting, you put down tornadoes like Riders 1 - A Chaos Emerald Gear that grant types AND Boost at the cost of a fast-draining Ring Gauge (That everyone can use, it just gives the characters without Super Forms a Super Aura) - And Board Specific Gears (Like a Board that has a Gear Change that makes X-Rank Tricks easier, or allows for certain items to be more common, or gives you Max Speed at the cost of handling like Sonic Gens Endless Boost) This Hypothetical Game would very much use its story mode as the game's tutorial to guarantee everyone understands the basics, and the Race Track Challenge Modes that give you the chance to unlock the Chaos Emerald Gear would be the tutorials meant to teach players about each Board's Specific Gear.
Sonic Riders is the best 3rd party game in the entire Sonic series imo, i remember I got this game on GameCube when I was 6-7 years old and I literally never went outside to play unless my mom forced me too 💯 I remaster or reboot would be dope
I’m pretty sure the vast majority of reactions when seeing Shadow’s car initially in the teaser was just utter disappointment. Like you would think they’d learn from TSR and how it was functionally flawed and had little to no online players after a year. The original Riders formula that they’ve created was the best thing they’ve done and them abandoning it will make them regret it.
I would love a new riders game called Sega Riders. A hybrid game thats more like the first game but has the gravity mechanic from zero gravity. It could be so fun! (Ask zero gravity was my childhood! I still play it every now and then to this day.)
@@NolimitXDBMhow I could imagine balancing the gravity mechanic is by making gravity it’s own class like speed, flight, and power. Think about it. What were the 3 classes used for? Taking exclusive shortcuts. What was gravity used for? Taking shortcuts. Just balance it and make the game more similar to the first game with more customization, and it could be great! Heck, I’d even take a simple collection of these games for modern systems. I just with they brought riders back and hopefully, they will someday.
God, Megalo Station... that's a blast from the past. It wasn't my first game, but Sonic Riders Zero Gravity was my first racing game. I never played the original, didn't even know there was an original until the fandub came out, but the game stuck in my mind due to how strong the presentation was. I played it on the PS2, which apparently means it wasn't bad, but I'd love to hear what the differences between the PS2 and Wii versions were. Haven't touched the game in over a decade, lot of details slipped out of my mind. What stuck was how much I liked the final boss. Mobius Strip... Also, the Gigan Rocks OST always fucked me up as a kid. I can't quite remember why now, but I always thought it just didn't suit the level and was more akin to a song you'd hear in a different type of level. Couldn't tell you what, now.
i just want to comment on how much Jet's voice evolved during the story, for the opening cutscene it was literally JUST Sonic's voice, I'm half certain that "Oh, not bad." was recorded for Sonic but then recycled with Jet. In the cutscene where Jet talks his shit which may I say had me obsessed as a kid simply because of the music playing there, and the cutscene before the final race of the Grand Prix, Jet's voice was a more raspy dark Sonic, still sounded like Sonic, just raspy. Now before I talk about his final voice in og riders, I just want to say that in the cutscene before the Babylon Garden race, his voice cracks once, I think this is when Jason Griffith was like "Oh, that actually doesn't sound too bad." and then he stuck with it. Anything that is after the cutscene before the Babylon Garden race, his voice sounds raspy, lighter, and has voice cracks. His voice in the starting cutscene in Babylon Story founds just like it does at the end of the Hero Story. But the cutscene after Wave's race, it gets deeper with a slightly more raspy voice with less voice cracks. Then in the cutscene before Jet goes to talk his shit, his voice goes back to being light and raspy with more voice cracks??? I swear Jason Griffith must of been pulling out his hair trying to find the right voice for Jet. But then his voice just stays how it sounded in the cutscene before Jet went to talk his shit throughout the rest of the game. Then Jet actually got a finalized voice in Zero Gravity, deeper, raspier, with a lot less voice cracks, this in my opinion is the best Jet voice, but again, Jason Griffith must of been tearing out his hair trying to find the best voice for Jet, or maybe it was Sega who couldn't decide? Who knows, but I just think it's cool.
I still remember as a kid getting scammed by my local CEX. I went to buy zero gravity for the ps2 and ended up with a disc of sonic riders with 2 wrote on it but i still loved it so much
I FOUND YOU, FAKER But nah fr, I'm hoping the new Sonic racing gaming implements Riders elements, cause an Extreme Gear was seen in the garage for the promotional trailer
There was a PC port for Sonic Riders back in the day, but it's infamously broken on Modern Windows without the Mod Manager and a cracked EXE. The original installer and configuration tool also don't work too well, especially the configuration tool. Dolphin is definitely the better option nowadays.
There was a racing game announced at the vga's called screamer.apperantly its a reboot of the screamer from 1995. This new one has heavy anime visualys so im looking forward to its release. It seems like no one is even talking about it
I really want em 2 make sonic riders 4 sega gotta realize the sonic riders franchise was the only time their racing games had any type of swag or style. From the music and the gameplay. I played zero gravity non stop as a kid really loved the streamlined gameplay
This wasn't my first video game, but it was the very first game I ever bought. Basically, i got my gamecube for Christmas from my cousins and it came with animal crossing and a memory stick. I knew I needed more games, but I was poor. So a few months later I went to my cousins house and he showed me sonic riders and absolutely smoked me. So I went home and went to my local mall that was having a mass gamecube sale off since the console was basically dead in 06 and hung on through 07. I got a whole stack of games for what I believe was 10 dollars for 5 games each, and I stocked up, starting with sonic riders. Sadly, I accidentally deleted my original save data, but the newer save data has over 140 hours on it, and I still have my wii plugged in to play riders whenever I'm in the mood
I'm not even sure how i got the game but It imprinted on me from birth and every chance i get I'll definitely fire this game up and with all the mods and netplay and stuff its more accessible than ever ironically
sonic riders is one of my favorite games of all time. and i still upload clips of it on tiktok and try to put so many people on cause i do hope sega would make a remaster or a sequel.
The final story level in zero gravity has my favorite track in the game. They even reused the "Beat Drop" part in unleashed's night boss theme but in that case, they used a live trombone and it slaps!
Literally clicked this immediately upon seeing the title because, yes, fucking yes, Sonic Riders deserved so fucking much better than Free Riders. The original Sonic Riders opening gives me chills to this day, and that first cutscene had me HOOKED. It didn't matter that I wasn't able to beat even the first level for years, I kept fucking trying, kept playing the other levels to practice, because I wanted to see more. Genuinely, I don't get the complaint about it being unintuitive, it makes pretty solid sense for the most part, and the tutorial covers everything that isn't. The only thing that truly isn't is the ramps leading you to shortcuts, but uh. That makes sense? Shortcuts are supposed to be discovered and figured out by the player. Free Riders isn't just an insult to the Riders series, it's an insult to both racing games and Sonic Games in general. Obviously there's the fact that the controls are fucking atrocious, it's pretty much unplayable, and I tried, good god did I try. But it's not just that. Say what you will about the first story's plot, but the moment to moment character writing was /good/, making Team Babylon and Jet especially stand out among the Sonic Series' massive cast, and Zero Gravity fine-tuned its writing into a solid story. Nothing spectacular, not the best in the Sonic series, but it's GOOD. Meanwhile, Free Riders is the single most pathetic excuse for a story I've ever seen, racing game or no. Every single character is written poorly, there's no fucking motivations, no interesting world/lore tidbits, absolutely fucking nothing. Sonic Free Riders fills me with so much rage it's not even funny. Sonic Riders can't claim to be THE game that made my childhood (Kirby Airride takes that honor), but it sure as hell ranked high on my list and is a solid half the reason I bought a used Wii, so I could play these games again eventually. I would snatch up the remake in a heartbeat (though maybe change those joystick sections to button mashing, I... very much remember the blisters and bleeding from those, made worse bc our dog chewed up the joysticks so there were sharp bits on them. RIP my hands, literally), and I fucking hate how Sega destroyed this series with a single game that's barely playable on a fundamental level. Random detail I've always loved is that in the original Sonic Riders, they don't really 'cheat' with the bomb Wave plants. It mostly disappears in the in-between cutscenes, but in the scene where she does plant it, you SEE it. I remember noticing that when I was a kid and wondering wtf it was. Makes me grin to think back. Wait do people really think the second is worse than the first? I wouldn't say it's DRASTICALLY different, but it works really well. Though I do disagree with you on one point, being that fine-tuned and simplified =/= dumbed down. As for your complaints about the story in both games, I always figure it's just a bit of suspended disbelief. The story gets you to the places you race, the fact that they're structured like races is because it's a racing game. Hot take: I think type shortcuts being unlocked midrace is a good thing. Not being able to mix and match IS a downgrade, but with them being unlockable, it adds more variability to races simply by virtue of not taking the exact same predetermined route through each lap every single time. You have to adapt based on your ring count and other factors, and while it definitely could have been done better, I do like it overall.
sonic riders is my favorite race game since I have ps2 but I play because just keep playing racing, tournament I just ignore mission because that's all I know racing tournament and story
I'm one of the few people who prefers Riders 1 over Zero Gravity. Everyone I talked to gave Riders 1 SO much flank because the boards had an Air Meter (fuel meter) and when it ran out "Sonic runs slow, why Sonic run slow? Sonic run fast!" And I couldn't stand it. Riders 1 had so much of what I loved in a racing game: neck and neck arcade speed. The levels had shortcuts to explore, hairpin turns to master, and resources to manage. You had to git gud and then it was fun. Zero Gravity had bigger levels that just weren't as fun, and the lack of an Air Meter was a monkey paw wish that just made moment to moment gameplay more boring
![Pokémon Scarlet and Violet creates furries - RadicalSoda [08]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nEZPrpsRqXw/mqdefault.jpg)
I feel like Super Sonic being how he is in Zero Gravity might be because he's meant to take advantage of the 4th shortcut type in the game; on-foot shortcuts (usually springs but there are unique ones for certain tracks, which usually also give rings). You can normally only take them by either getting the item that lets you boost (which is rare and can only be gotten in a low placing; might be exclusive to last place for all I know), or getting a max GP gauge while riding a certain extreme gear (I forget what it's called but it activates a boost when getting max GP), but Super Sonic can take them if he runs out of rings, which is a real possibility in most races. Eggman and the robots I'm pretty sure can't use these shortcuts at all, as Eggman doesn't dismount his extreme gear when boosting and the robots I think were just too big for some of the unique shortcuts. Some of these are placed in areas either right after or right before sharp turns, which would make sense if they're mainly designed for Super Sonic since any gravity moves drain his rings like crazy, though some are also located on straightaways and probably meant for anyone lagging behind who gets lucky with the boost item.
I'm Glad you bring this up because i absolutely forgot to bring this up in this video, Yes you are absolutely correct , i probably missed them because of how little i used them not gonna lie, As they aren't really "shortcuts" I get the games intentions but they never really help, Atleast for me i always end up getting passed. But Eggman And the Robots Do have on-Foot attacks, Eggman Can use the Big Bang Gear (The gear that gives you Attack at max GP) To use Said Shortcuts , you just have to get lucky with the robots to use them as well, You earned Pinned comment because i totally forgot to mention that in the video
The problem is that almost all foot shortcuts are pretty bad in which case you are better off just cruising with Super Sonic or fully taking advantage of your Attack Mode instead of wasting it on them.
Overall problem with Super Sonic is that he clearly feels like a last minute addition with how extremely flawed he is especially his Boost being WAY slower than a top speed of other characters. On top of that he can't even access foot shortcuts with his own non-item box Boost and his non-item Boost also cannot hurt opponents.
I like how sega looks at things that are a little flawed and decide to never touch it again but when they drop something completely broken it’s worth going back to for nearly two decades
There has never Been truer words Spoken
Feels like the harbinger of a second werehog game
Considering they've now gone back to acknowledge their 2000s games (like shadow and 06), maybe there's a chance for riders to return.
@@ArynBacklogDragon Don’t do that. Don’t give me hope.
@@arogon8797eggman mentions the Babylonians in frontiers
obviously just a little Easter egg by Ian Flynn but we need to feed our delusions
i grew up with the “ultra cool 2000s skater” era of sonic and i miss it more everyday, the whole vibe of that time period suited sonic perfectly and i hope it makes a comeback!!
It's been almost two decades and the Sonic Riders opening is still the greatest one in the entire franchise.
I'M GONNA
I'M GONNA
I'M GONNA
I'M GONNA
I'M GONNA
I'M GONNA SHOW YOUU
@@X19Virus DA NUH, DA DA DA NUH-
unleashed.
The moment Jet and Sonic crossed an X at the end of Sonic Riders awakened so many memories inside of me like a sleeper agent.
Everytime i see that scene i smile, Reminds me where i started my gaming journey :)
I always get goosebumps watching that scene.
Literally something so simple but did so well on the commercial and in the game
I would settle for a remake/remaster that has all the tracks of Riders and Zero Gravity in one game, but an entirely new game would also be dope.
Honestly i'd take a remake but an attempt at a new one would be huge, Theres a huge audience for Sonic Riders imo i feel like it'll be a huge missed opportunity if we never see this series again
@@NolimitXDBM Same can't believe it was doomed because of an Xbox exclusive, surely execs would know most of the fanbase is spread out against so many different platforms and not just Xbox.
@@MattTheHuman9whats even more cumbersome is They made that decision when sales were declining for the 360 thats why Microsoft pulled the kinect out of their ass in the first place and as much as a full body racing game sound cool in concept , execution wise yeah we lived through that time line and this is coming from someone who has put a good amount of time into free riders, even remembering the Christmas i got the game, the game is okay at best if you can get it to work and yeah need i say more
It could be like ctr nitro fueled, where it was a remake of ctr, but they had tracks from nitro kart
@@orca717 Yeah I got my idea from how Nitro Fueled handled its tracks. It's one of my favourite games ever.
1:01:17 "Amy remembers that she's a strong woman who only needs Sonic." 🤣🤣🤣
Tell me i'm wrong🤣🫱🏾🫲🏽
The first Sonic riders was sooo fire I miss this era of gaming
The thing with us getting ANOTHER cart racer that is so disappointing is that we literally just finished the Riders Arc in IDW it would of been the perfect to show off a new Riders game with an imposter Phantom Rider, introducing Comic characters to the game audience by having Surge, Kit, Whisper and Tangle show up in their costumes from that arc. It could of been peak.
THIS HELLO??😭 Someone else made a similar comment somewhere in the sea of Wholesomeness down there and i feel the exact same way
@ I just really want this series to come back. A full skill based whacky racer like this is an empty market and Sonic is a safe brand for it ESPECIALLY right now
i would have loved for that to have led to a new riders game, but if we were to have gotten a new riders game, being realistic it definitely wouldn't feature idw characters. contrary to what's been said, idw is only loosely canon in that they want the comics to feel like they _could_ exist in the games universe, not that they actually _do_. idw is more in its own universe that runs parallel to the games (worth noting that the references to tangle and sticks in frontiers is exclusive to the english script and isn't present in any other language)
i don't say this to be 'that guy', i just want to clear up a big misconception that gets spread around based on a misunderstanding of what iizuka said in some interviews and people getting their hopes up for idw characters in the games are just gonna be disappointed :( ofc i would love it if they did appear someday and for my comment to age poorly but sadly when it comes to this series it's better to temper expectations 😔
In the trailer there's actually an extreme gear under a tarp in the background. We may actually be getting riders gameplay back this time.
I appreciate youtube still sending me every significant review/retrospective of these two games. Always love seeing the love being spread for these. Thanks for the little shout out to EXGL, too, hehe
Glad you enjoy it! Thank you for Pulling EXGL together man
It's crazy how much of a fucking banger Zero Gravity's soundtrack is. That main menu is absolute perfection.
Also the options music for that game is just unnecessarily peak.
Man if zero gravity had online multiplayer I feel like even more people would still be playing it. I understand that it has the splitscreen but having like 8 people actually race would have been so much more fun. Especially now with mods the only way we can play is by sharing screens, it sucks.
Finally someone talking about how incredible both these games are, also all the soundtracks are amazing! I had both games and I loved playing them but it's been around 8 years and I wanted to 100% both of them, but maybe in the future hah. Either way, amazing video
I usually avoid commenting on longer videos because it's hard for me to keep all of my thoughts by the time I'm finished watching, but I just wanted to share how delighted I am that there's an hour long video on arguably my favourite Sonic spinoff to date. I didn't get to play Riders growing up (unless Free Riders counts) and only got around to playing it in 2022 for my "Play All Sonic Games" checklist, and... wow. It genuinely is such a good game, it's the first time I joined in on the racing and modding scene for something and actively joined tournaments (Sonic Riders DX
Glad you enjoyed :D yeah i yap about little stuff like that it keeps the engagement in videos i like makes you guys feel like your part of the conversation
Sonic riders was also one of my first games, and for the first time in like 15 years i decided to boot it up again and beat it now that I'm not 6 anymore. At the same exact time, this video comes out! Absolutely great job :D
Nice! Thanks for tuning inn!
44:05 SAME DUDE. Though I have a bit of bias because Sonic Riders Zero Gravity was a birthday present I got when I was 8 (I think that's around the tine the game came out) on PS2, making it the first Sonic game I personally ever got to call "mine"
Dude this was literally BRILLIANT??!! How is your channel so small and tiny this entire video was so in depth and well edited! The sense of nostalgia i had for a game ive never played before just from watching and listening to this video just feels so freaking cool. You did awesome mate, I love it, yum!
I honestly would love for more Riders content from Sonic Team, its just so freaking perfect and it has all the style. If i was a kid again this game would have been my magnum opus i swear man!!
Wow, Thank you so much :) there will be more, Stay tunedd🙏🏾🦔
1:24:46 the ending to zero gravity makes me emotional TO THIS DAY, generational
You know with How long it took me to Upload the Video i would have had the Gain Stage right, I also Forgot Astral Babylon 💀(We human we will be better next video)
Also yall like the transition from one game to other i spent so much time on that transition i thought it was so hard😭🙏🏾
1:03:58 nigga i said "neurological" i meant Neurodivergent 💀 I'm so sorry
Just gain a subscriber I like how you stop and explained good content
Good to note that the Sonic Riders Modding Community is quite the hotmess. Love it or hate it, there are 3 modding teams in total all going in their seperate ways, without going into much detail here they are: Sonic Riders DX (exgl) / Sonic Riders Tournament Edition (src) / Sonic Riders Underground (but I believe they are rebranding to Sonic Riders Future?)
All of these communities have their goals and faults, and although its great to see the game continue in tournaments and mods though these groups. In all 3 communities there is still much to be desired, in terms of organization and hostility towards eachother and or within each development teams themselves.
Don't get me wrong, play the games, have fun with them, as the games themselves are all really fun.
However from my experience in some of these servers, don't get too involved unless you want to be consistently backstabbed or clowned on by the "active" community.
I miss Sonic Riders, I want to see more of it, but idk if where it is right now is a good state.
Oh boy tell me about it I was like thinking about making a follow up video talking about the mods of this game but since it seems to be so controversial I might just fucking scrap it to be honest😭 it's quite a shame honestly because I know the sonic community I don't have the mental capacity for that right now😭
If they combined the gameplay of sonic riders 1 & 2, they would have had the best racing game every. Turning with the zero gravity was so dope and the wind gliding thing with the tricks and drift, would’ve made it the most fun racing game ever made. Also having the meter from the first one with the zero gravity could’ve been crazy. Missed opportunity
The swag sonic riders had and they dropped it for motion controls
The first two Riders games altered my brain chemistry forever. My absolute favorite spin-off games, I hope the series sees a resurgence one day
Have this game on the PS2 and I love it so darn much. I haven't been able to play it in years because the disc reader laser doesnt work or whatever, but as a kid it was truly magical.
It felt so rewarding to learn the games intricacies, the style, the speed, the effects on screen, timing your air- everything about this game heightened it to such an extreme!
Riders 1 is such a great and surprisingly complex racing game. I really wish they kept the first game mechanics for the second game and ownwards, but at least Zero Gravity is still a good game. Yeah is way too simple, but still good.
I loved how the first game made you manage your air and take "risks", the trick system and all the other little details that made it such a treat to learn to play.
Why Free Riders had to kill such a cool spin off saga... it's not fair 😔
this video gave me Vietnam flashbacks of playing the genie lvl for many many attempts because i had no idea i had to hit it. awesome video man
29:16 That sonic unleashed music sent me into the avatar state with the amount of nostalgia I got.
You forgot one thing. Your attack strength varies with the amount of rings that you have. If you have 29 rings or under, your attack will be at level one. If your rings are 30 to 59, your attack will be at level two which will also allow you to hit multiple enemies at once if there's a bunch in front of you. Now you have 60 or more rings your attack will be at level three. however, you will no longer be able to attack multiple enemies at once. However, your attack will be very potent at this point which would drastically slow down the person attacked and they will be left with a side effect of some sort. Amy at level three will use her hammer to flatten her foes. Tails will use his cable to burn players to a crisps etc.
I can't believe I fell for that...1:15:43
one of my favorite things about sonic riders was me somehow not being able to tell sonic and jet had the same english voice actor and i didn't even notice until a couple of years ago 😭 i played sonic riders and zero gravity obsessively as a kid and yet i still failed to notice
Was thinking about this EXACT topic yesterday, then the wizard of youtube recommendations brings me this gem, on new years day too, good start.
That's what i'm talking aboutt😤🔥 Happy New year my friend Glad you enjoyed the video 🦔
Never have i felt more validated than hearing someone else also prefers zero gravity over the original
This game felt like a fever dream for like 12 years, I'm glad other people think about it as deeply as I did.
It’s quite literally my favorite racing game, both the OG and Zero Gravity. The only other racing game that comes close is Mario Kart Wii
Wake up bae a hour and a half video on the Riders Duology dropped
Just something I realized:
Eggman says that the prize will go to the racer who performed the best throughout the competition. In the Hero story, that would technically mean Tails wins, due to him being the only one who won more than 1 race.
Think about it. Metal City wasn't an official race in the EXWGP, Tails won Splash Canyon, Knuckles wins Egg Factory, Tails wins Green Forest, Sonic loses (in a cutscene) Sand Ruins. Meaning Tails should have won regardless of whether or not Jet won Sand Ruins or not.
Wait a minute i never even thought of this until now😭 Jet didn't care bro just wanted a bag
Riders and Zero Gravity are both in my top 5 Sonic games of all time. They’re the only ones I’ll always go back to just to mess around in cause the gameplay is so well done. After playing both I found the main issue with zero gravity actually only comes down to 1 thing maybe 2 at most. It’s not the new gravity mechanics, or the new trick system. It’s literally just a lack of a boost. In the original you would literally ALWAYS be doing something because anytime you’d be on a straightaway you’d have the opportunity to continue your top speed by boosting. In zero gravity the replacement for the boost is the gravity dive and this can only be effectively used in dedicated segments or the occasion non dedicated straightaway with minimal obstacles. This makes it so your movement speed becomes more sluggish and you have moments where’s there’s nothing you can do whereas in the first game you’d be boosting in those moment.
This is a Fantastic way of putting it , I wish i had enough time to talk about it in the video but something kinda like how the Extreme gear labs Creators have it, You can press a button to use some of your GP to use the attack phase which sorta works like a boost just not as spammy, which i can totally get behind
So I definitely have some hot takes I could do on these games, especially since racing games and fast pace games are my jam. But you do have me eyeballing my PS2 again, as well as questioning Sega for not using more of the material they have already made. Good video, a bit long tho but 2x speed definitely helps.
Finally a really good retrospective on both Riders games, thank you for the video!
Love the hilarious inclusion of the vine clip when you failed the starting line XD Thank you so much for explaining this game. I never played it, but I also never understood when others talked about it.
Haha, Thanks. I Try did my best For the same Reason, most reviewers never explain this game right and even though I'm sure I missed some things I'm pretty sure I got all of them Mechanics and stuff nails down
Hey man, I'm watching this on my Xbox rn and just wanted to say this is an excellent video. I like watching retrospectives of old games that I never really got to play when I was younger (being born in 2005) where I just have patchy memories of my older brother and uncle playing these sick games. I look forward to watching your others and seeing your channel grow! Earned yourself a like and subscribe fr.
Tag mode ooh boy I remember using the opa opa board, there that board is a menace since its a free level 3 attack meaning the opposing team loses a lot of precious time.
I played through SR1 on emulator last year, and it is WILD how well it holds up. Genuinely my favorite racing game of all time, possibly one of my favorite games in general.
Stumbled across this video in my recommendations, completely agree with the title. Also, thank you for finally putting to words what I couldn't manage to describe about the first Riders being too intuitive without ant actual explanation. That's the main reason I never got into the first game despite already being a long-time fan of Zero Gravity(to this day one of my top 5 sonic games)
I remember playing the heck out of this back in the day. Boy, that heavy bike was great.
1:21:20 I thought nobody even KNEW of this exploit! I never see anyone discuss this, its what got me past Lap 3's second hit as a kid. There's actually a similar exploit like this on the Grind shortcut at the end of Gigan Rocks where it'll actually shoot you forward at the speed cap if you let yourself fall off the grind rail at the end of it, letting you go absolutely flying through the first half of the stage, making it my favorite stage in the game.
See i didn't even know about the gigan rocks Exploit, i figured out the Tech in the final boss while using the rail linker Skates , they automatically time the exploit for you, yeah its a niche glitch but I'm honestly surprised not that many people know about it
Sonic riders and Zero gravity was the BEST games man. They was the only thing next to Mario kart that I would play. (In regards to racing games.}
20k views is hard 💯🤝🏾. I was thinking about this game today and this popped up. Keep going 🎉
1:31:27
Don't forget Sonic Rivals 1 & 2, my dude. Granted those are psp exclusives, but they're still foot racing sonic games.
To awnser the question in the awnser of the video: Yes. Not only TSR looks fun to me but also it is fun to me, it was the most recent Sonic game I had a session on, and the last game I've played in 2024, playing through the new year celebration with my friends.
I actually love the "Racing" series as a whole, All-Stars Racing and Transformed are also super fun and unique too, but that doesn't take away any of my love to the Riders series and neither happens the other way around.
And, the only thing I'll say about Free RIders: The game is super fun, but sadly held back by its main gimmick, the Kinect Controls, never really liked playing Free Riders back then, but ever since the No Kinect Patch released I've started to love and have so much fun with Free Riders, the stages look cool, the roster is nice, the track design is super fun to deal with, explore and go in different routes, it has many cool, interesting and fun gimmicks, like the Gear Part Switch, which you can choose 2 different Gear Parts, and not only the regular Speed, Fly and Power, but also those other which you give away a type for an extra boost, the minecart mechanic, swimmimg mechanic, grabbing onto poles and subways, etc.
I had even more fun with Free Riders that I had with vanilla Zero Gravity after the No Kinect Patch (not to say that ZG is bad, I also love ZG, I just think it's a bit oversimplified, that's why with mods that restore some of the features from Riders 1 removed in that simplification, like drifting, it makes it also super fun just like the other 2 aswell), I probably just as much fun with Free Riders' No Kinect Patch that I had with the OG Riders, maybe a bit more or a bit less, but pretty toe to toe
I'm gonna try to set up the no kinect patch for a future video but i'm also debating on if i should go out of my way to get a 360 just to properly talk about the game, i'd get an xbox series model but i'm not sure if the Kinect from the Og xbox one will work with free riders 💀
@@NolimitXDBM That's totally fair tbh, playing the original game without the No Kinect Patch would be more fair to analyse the game for what it is, as tough as it is
But the No Kinect Patch also at least can maybe be a bit of fun
@@NolimitXDBMthe kinect isn't compatible with the series x/s. And free riders isn't backwards compatible, just do the no kinect patch or you'll HAAAAAAATE playing free riders. I still have my pre order copy.
Jets voice is so iconic. Idk why I like it so much
To this day I cannot stop thinking about these games. Absolute banger video!
The algorithm ready my damn mind again. The first game was EVERYTHING to childhood me. I distinctly remember it was out around the same time Narnia was.
Just imagine if they remastered the first game with some quality of life improvements from ZG, like an actual tutorial and the starting countdown.
I’ve been considering trying sonic riders for years, it’s one of the first video games I’d ever seen at some random summer camp when I was 4. Especially these past few days, this video came at the perfect time for me to deceive to get dolphin and spend way too much time on this game
I swear to everything NONE of the 4Kids era voiced games had ANY direction. At least the OGs and the Studiopolis crew actually sound like they’re TRYING! Tails almost gets sucked into a black hole and he’s just like 😐 Thanks Sonic.
Deserved opportunities come through hard work and dedication to good playing.
First game had the gameplay and Zero Gravity just needed to cross the new mechanics like gear shift into that while keeping the wacky speed and shortcuts. Sound track upgrade to Zero Gravity is UNMATCHED tho
The Core level music and the boss where my deep top tier of the game for my childhood I glad I play first and second.
I wish to see Sonic rider again.
I like Super Sonic in Zero Gravity. Sure the boosted state eats rings like chili dogs and gravity control is a no-go, but you have a magnetic shield and a cap of 150 rings, so it shouldn't be too hard to maintain on most stages, plus your speed is fixed at 180 in that state, so other racers will have a tough time catching up outside of gravity dive areas.
If anyone is interested in a Reimagining of Sonic Riders, Giygas is building one in the Godot engine. She also made the SAGE2021 Sonic Riders X Demo
this series can be described as "hella rad"
I remember playing these games on the ps2 with my brothers back in the day. Good times. I hope they them for the switch
13:40bsubbing just for that delivery xD
😂😂
Really good video, love finding content like this from smaller creators 👍
Eh, I can respect that people have come out to say they prefer the sequel.
Zero Gravity understood the assignment of keeping most of the core gameplay, and then trimming it down to make sure that fans weren't turned off as badly as they were with the first game with the core mechanics (Albeit I love all those complex mechanics and like that ZG has its own in its place).
In the end, I just wished we got a Riders game that did manage to find that balance of fun factor with a complex system that's easy to learn, hard to master.
Maybe there could be a Riders game where while the boards and characters have certain stats (Mainly Top Speed, Acceleration, and Handling/Cornering), one can customize their gear a la Free Riders where you switch gear changes by switching stances. You could have:
- A Boost Gear where it lowers the top speed, but it allows for the Riders 1 Boosting to close gaps or attack players (Running out of the Air Meter doesn't mean you gotta hoof it, but you do lose the means to Boost and Drift and just have to use the Board's natural cornering, and the only way to get back the meter is to do tricks in that state)
- A Type Gear that basically can give the character their typings (The Typical Grind, Flight and Power)
- A Gravity Gear that lets you utilize shortcuts that would give that Zero Gravity style gameplay
- A Trap Gear that gives you higher top speed but instead of Boosting, you put down tornadoes like Riders 1
- A Chaos Emerald Gear that grant types AND Boost at the cost of a fast-draining Ring Gauge (That everyone can use, it just gives the characters without Super Forms a Super Aura)
- And Board Specific Gears (Like a Board that has a Gear Change that makes X-Rank Tricks easier, or allows for certain items to be more common, or gives you Max Speed at the cost of handling like Sonic Gens Endless Boost)
This Hypothetical Game would very much use its story mode as the game's tutorial to guarantee everyone understands the basics, and the Race Track Challenge Modes that give you the chance to unlock the Chaos Emerald Gear would be the tutorials meant to teach players about each Board's Specific Gear.
I was 13 when the first game came out (I'm old) and I was so hyped for it, the hype cycle is just so nostalgic for me.
Sonic Riders is the best 3rd party game in the entire Sonic series imo, i remember I got this game on GameCube when I was 6-7 years old and I literally never went outside to play unless my mom forced me too 💯 I remaster or reboot would be dope
I’m pretty sure the vast majority of reactions when seeing Shadow’s car initially in the teaser was just utter disappointment. Like you would think they’d learn from TSR and how it was functionally flawed and had little to no online players after a year. The original Riders formula that they’ve created was the best thing they’ve done and them abandoning it will make them regret it.
I would love a new riders game called Sega Riders. A hybrid game thats more like the first game but has the gravity mechanic from zero gravity. It could be so fun!
(Ask zero gravity was my childhood! I still play it every now and then to this day.)
NOW THIS IS A FANTASTIC IDEA HOLY
@@NolimitXDBMhow I could imagine balancing the gravity mechanic is by making gravity it’s own class like speed, flight, and power. Think about it. What were the 3 classes used for? Taking exclusive shortcuts. What was gravity used for? Taking shortcuts. Just balance it and make the game more similar to the first game with more customization, and it could be great! Heck, I’d even take a simple collection of these games for modern systems. I just with they brought riders back and hopefully, they will someday.
“It’s the Adam Sandler signal!”38:24
If they ever bring back Sonic Riders, I am buying it - no hesitation!
I like the original riders over zero g, but zero g’s soundtrack is sick as fuck
1:17:28 I love the "wait WHAT?!" Reaction everyone gives Tails here
Can't forget the spider webs lmao
God, Megalo Station... that's a blast from the past. It wasn't my first game, but Sonic Riders Zero Gravity was my first racing game. I never played the original, didn't even know there was an original until the fandub came out, but the game stuck in my mind due to how strong the presentation was. I played it on the PS2, which apparently means it wasn't bad, but I'd love to hear what the differences between the PS2 and Wii versions were. Haven't touched the game in over a decade, lot of details slipped out of my mind. What stuck was how much I liked the final boss. Mobius Strip...
Also, the Gigan Rocks OST always fucked me up as a kid. I can't quite remember why now, but I always thought it just didn't suit the level and was more akin to a song you'd hear in a different type of level. Couldn't tell you what, now.
I love Sonic Riders 1 still play it to this day. I really hope they port it or rekmake it or continue the series or something.
38:27 It's the Adam Sandler signal!
i just want to comment on how much Jet's voice evolved during the story, for the opening cutscene it was literally JUST Sonic's voice, I'm half certain that "Oh, not bad." was recorded for Sonic but then recycled with Jet. In the cutscene where Jet talks his shit which may I say had me obsessed as a kid simply because of the music playing there, and the cutscene before the final race of the Grand Prix, Jet's voice was a more raspy dark Sonic, still sounded like Sonic, just raspy. Now before I talk about his final voice in og riders, I just want to say that in the cutscene before the Babylon Garden race, his voice cracks once, I think this is when Jason Griffith was like "Oh, that actually doesn't sound too bad." and then he stuck with it. Anything that is after the cutscene before the Babylon Garden race, his voice sounds raspy, lighter, and has voice cracks. His voice in the starting cutscene in Babylon Story founds just like it does at the end of the Hero Story. But the cutscene after Wave's race, it gets deeper with a slightly more raspy voice with less voice cracks. Then in the cutscene before Jet goes to talk his shit, his voice goes back to being light and raspy with more voice cracks??? I swear Jason Griffith must of been pulling out his hair trying to find the right voice for Jet. But then his voice just stays how it sounded in the cutscene before Jet went to talk his shit throughout the rest of the game. Then Jet actually got a finalized voice in Zero Gravity, deeper, raspier, with a lot less voice cracks, this in my opinion is the best Jet voice, but again, Jason Griffith must of been tearing out his hair trying to find the best voice for Jet, or maybe it was Sega who couldn't decide? Who knows, but I just think it's cool.
25:53
Oh wow, I never picked up on that.
33:46
Bro Why? 🤨
I still remember as a kid getting scammed by my local CEX. I went to buy zero gravity for the ps2 and ended up with a disc of sonic riders with 2 wrote on it but i still loved it so much
WAIT i just Read this comment This Is oddly wholesome but i'm SO sorry that happened to you🙏😭
Ima js say the cutscenes for zg massive improvement>>>>>>
W vid tho
I FOUND YOU, FAKER
But nah fr, I'm hoping the new Sonic racing gaming implements Riders elements, cause an Extreme Gear was seen in the garage for the promotional trailer
There was a PC port for Sonic Riders back in the day, but it's infamously broken on Modern Windows without the Mod Manager and a cracked EXE. The original installer and configuration tool also don't work too well, especially the configuration tool.
Dolphin is definitely the better option nowadays.
There was a racing game announced at the vga's called screamer.apperantly its a reboot of the screamer from 1995. This new one has heavy anime visualys so im looking forward to its release. It seems like no one is even talking about it
I'll look into it
55:30 knuckles can glide. This is probably just an exaggeration of it for cutscene.
i always viewed Crimson Tower as the base of the tower and Security Corridor as them higher up and closer to the top of it
I realized this in hindsight, Good catch 🙏🏾
I got baited into another video you think is going to be a video essay with a point but is just an hour long book report plot summary
55.35 you forgot he could glide lol
I really want em 2 make sonic riders 4 sega gotta realize the sonic riders franchise was the only time their racing games had any type of swag or style. From the music and the gameplay. I played zero gravity non stop as a kid really loved the streamlined gameplay
This wasn't my first video game, but it was the very first game I ever bought. Basically, i got my gamecube for Christmas from my cousins and it came with animal crossing and a memory stick. I knew I needed more games, but I was poor. So a few months later I went to my cousins house and he showed me sonic riders and absolutely smoked me. So I went home and went to my local mall that was having a mass gamecube sale off since the console was basically dead in 06 and hung on through 07. I got a whole stack of games for what I believe was 10 dollars for 5 games each, and I stocked up, starting with sonic riders. Sadly, I accidentally deleted my original save data, but the newer save data has over 140 hours on it, and I still have my wii plugged in to play riders whenever I'm in the mood
I'm not even sure how i got the game but It imprinted on me from birth and every chance i get I'll definitely fire this game up and with all the mods and netplay and stuff its more accessible than ever ironically
sonic riders is one of my favorite games of all time. and i still upload clips of it on tiktok and try to put so many people on cause i do hope sega would make a remaster or a sequel.
Thats what i'm Talking about mann🙏🏾🦔
The final story level in zero gravity has my favorite track in the game. They even reused the "Beat Drop" part in unleashed's night boss theme but in that case, they used a live trombone and it slaps!
I'm Glad someone else noticed that, Its my favorite part about the Were-hog Bosses in unleashed
Bro you deserve more subs and views!! This is a well thought out and easy to follow!! Awesome job!
Glad you liked it!
Literally clicked this immediately upon seeing the title because, yes, fucking yes, Sonic Riders deserved so fucking much better than Free Riders. The original Sonic Riders opening gives me chills to this day, and that first cutscene had me HOOKED. It didn't matter that I wasn't able to beat even the first level for years, I kept fucking trying, kept playing the other levels to practice, because I wanted to see more.
Genuinely, I don't get the complaint about it being unintuitive, it makes pretty solid sense for the most part, and the tutorial covers everything that isn't. The only thing that truly isn't is the ramps leading you to shortcuts, but uh. That makes sense? Shortcuts are supposed to be discovered and figured out by the player.
Free Riders isn't just an insult to the Riders series, it's an insult to both racing games and Sonic Games in general. Obviously there's the fact that the controls are fucking atrocious, it's pretty much unplayable, and I tried, good god did I try. But it's not just that.
Say what you will about the first story's plot, but the moment to moment character writing was /good/, making Team Babylon and Jet especially stand out among the Sonic Series' massive cast, and Zero Gravity fine-tuned its writing into a solid story. Nothing spectacular, not the best in the Sonic series, but it's GOOD. Meanwhile, Free Riders is the single most pathetic excuse for a story I've ever seen, racing game or no. Every single character is written poorly, there's no fucking motivations, no interesting world/lore tidbits, absolutely fucking nothing.
Sonic Free Riders fills me with so much rage it's not even funny. Sonic Riders can't claim to be THE game that made my childhood (Kirby Airride takes that honor), but it sure as hell ranked high on my list and is a solid half the reason I bought a used Wii, so I could play these games again eventually. I would snatch up the remake in a heartbeat (though maybe change those joystick sections to button mashing, I... very much remember the blisters and bleeding from those, made worse bc our dog chewed up the joysticks so there were sharp bits on them. RIP my hands, literally), and I fucking hate how Sega destroyed this series with a single game that's barely playable on a fundamental level.
Random detail I've always loved is that in the original Sonic Riders, they don't really 'cheat' with the bomb Wave plants. It mostly disappears in the in-between cutscenes, but in the scene where she does plant it, you SEE it. I remember noticing that when I was a kid and wondering wtf it was. Makes me grin to think back.
Wait do people really think the second is worse than the first? I wouldn't say it's DRASTICALLY different, but it works really well. Though I do disagree with you on one point, being that fine-tuned and simplified =/= dumbed down.
As for your complaints about the story in both games, I always figure it's just a bit of suspended disbelief. The story gets you to the places you race, the fact that they're structured like races is because it's a racing game.
Hot take: I think type shortcuts being unlocked midrace is a good thing. Not being able to mix and match IS a downgrade, but with them being unlockable, it adds more variability to races simply by virtue of not taking the exact same predetermined route through each lap every single time. You have to adapt based on your ring count and other factors, and while it definitely could have been done better, I do like it overall.
I like the sonic cart racing games😅. I admit it’s kind of Worse Mario Kart, but I still have fun with it
sonic riders is my favorite race game since I have ps2 but I play because just keep playing racing, tournament I just ignore mission because that's all I know racing tournament and story
50:44 you can use the D-pad with the Wiimote. I figured this out on the last mission of Mission Mode btw.
I'm one of the few people who prefers Riders 1 over Zero Gravity. Everyone I talked to gave Riders 1 SO much flank because the boards had an Air Meter (fuel meter) and when it ran out "Sonic runs slow, why Sonic run slow? Sonic run fast!" And I couldn't stand it. Riders 1 had so much of what I loved in a racing game: neck and neck arcade speed. The levels had shortcuts to explore, hairpin turns to master, and resources to manage. You had to git gud and then it was fun. Zero Gravity had bigger levels that just weren't as fun, and the lack of an Air Meter was a monkey paw wish that just made moment to moment gameplay more boring
Came back to comment again, woke up in a new Bugatti edit made me spit my drink 😂
😂 Glad you enjoyed
55:33 so i'm guessing that sonic adventure 2 playthrough was a really long time ago or we just be cracking these jokes for the meme
Lmfaoo i was trolling yes
definitely hoping the cross is cross worlds is going from cars to extreme gear, would be amazing to see the resurgence of the babylon rogues too
The babylon Rogues have been ACTIVE in the comics sonic team just doesn't want to give us a new game😔