SmashBoards Creates: Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing 3 (REBOOT)

[Champion of Hyrule]

I like the transformation idea and JSRF design better

 

[Deleted member]

After reading what people have been saying, I'll go traditional. No preference on Beat.

 

[Janx_uwu]

3: Traditional racer

4: JSRF Beat

 

[Capybara Gaming]

Job 4: Do both, have unlockable alternate costumes

 

[Torgo the Bear]

I will say I vote for Transformations, but I still wanna take it in some slightly different ways if we can/want.

I'll also go for Future Beat.

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

I would go for JSRF Beat.

Also I think I would go for transformation gimmick, considering that it would stand out from most mascot racers like CTR or Mario Kart.

 

[Capybara Gaming]

I will say I like both games, but the transformation gimmick will limit the roster more. Characters like Opa-Opa wouldn't really work given that style of gameplay.

 

[osby]

Job #03: Trad-racer or Transformation?
I'm more in favor of transforming after hearing the other side's arguments. But I still say we should aim for the vehicle variety in the first game while designing that aspect of the game.

Job #04: Beat's design?
My vote is on his original design. No reason other than I prefer it, really.

 

[tonygameman]

Job #3: Definitely a traditional racer route, hence claimed reasons on my submission post of NiGHTS and GaminGryff's words right above.

Also, I'm going for Beat's original design like in Transformed, even though his JSRF/Future outfit can be used as an alternate costume (or expand on it with very similar/"clone" characters from the previous titles like Gum in this case, thus saving on a roster variety, hence osby 's idea back in a old thread).

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

May as well cast my own vote!

Job #03: I've been giving it some thought and, honestly, I think I could go either way... but I'm personally going to vote for a traditional racer. I think the greater degree of diversity in vehicle style you can have (anything from cars to planes to bikes and so on) means it's better suited to represent a variety of things than the transforming mechanic - whilst I don't think said mechanic would necessarily stop characters from getting in, it'd lend well to unique designs. (For instance, imagine Space Harrier with a really long hoverbike loosely based on his cannon, or Opa-Opa as a whole!)

Job #04: I'm actually going to deviate from the norm here and suggest JSR Beat (even if his JSRF look is my personal favourite). It wouldn't stop us from including locations from JSRF, but it'd also be a great opportunity to finally see the original JSR get some love in the form of tracks!

 

[ssbashworld]

Id go with traditional, mainly since it would be closer to the 1st game which i prefer over the the 2nd personally.

This is tough, i prefer the 1st jsr but like beats design better in jsrf. Think i will go with the jsrf design.

 

[Speed Weed]

Going with og Beat, I like JSRF's general vibe much more, but I think the original design is the better pick for crossovers.

Also, I stand by traditional gameplay, if only because of roster and vehicle variety and such and such. Though I'd definitely be down for us doing some interesting things with tracks that don't limit our options as much

 

[Northsouthmap]

Job 3: Traditional

Job 4: JSR Beat

 

[YoshiandToad]

Job 03: Traditional
Maybe I'm in the minority but I far preferred the first game to the latters and it's nearly entirely because the flight transformation suddenly giving you another spacial dimension to worry about is surprisingly jarring after you've adjusted to car or water driving for the previous two laps. Mario Kart comparitively only glides you, meaning you still only really need to worry about the same axis before you hit the ground, and that's a little less muscle memory aggrevating.

On a more general note; I feel it can give us a more varied range of vehicles. Tails riding in a modified Tornado, Dr. Eggman riding in his Egg Mobile or Alex Kidd riding his motorcycle or peticopter will always be superior to me than them all riding in cars because they need to be in a car first.

Job 4: JSRF Beat
I've played more JSR than JSRF...but JSRF Beat does look like a cooler design.
If this was some of the other GG's I'd probably have a stronger opinion since their designs are far more wildly different, but Beat remains mostly the same to me. Future just adds a (IMO) slightly cooler looking T-shirt, fingers to his gloves and more elaborate headphones.

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

May as well wrap it up here (and actually on time this time around.) Lots of responses - again, I'm sorry it's on the smaller side as a set of jobs, but it's an important one nonetheless.

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As for Job #03, the winner of the votes ended up being a traditional racer. Unfortunately, I - being an absolute idiot - left the poll at the top open, so this is probably going to look really bad in hindsight, but what the hell.

Oh, and Job #04 sees us bring back Beat's design from Jet Set Radio Future! It's lowkey a great look for the guy!

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Moving onto our next batch of jobs...

Job #05: How many tracks should we have?
It's kind of important for us to ascertain this in advance, given some of our track decisions might end up depending on the number of tracks we have. For context, the original game had 24 tracks before DLC (with a total of 6 cups) and Transformed had a reduced number totalling 20 tracks before DLC (with a total of 4 cups.) Oh, and just so you know, we're going to be having cups of 4 tracks each, so please try and ensure your submitted number is a multiple of four.

Job #06: Submit a Sonic-themed starter track!
In a similar vein to how every single Mario Kart game inevitably has a form of Mario Circuit as its first track, I think it'd be cool to do the same - but with Sonic as a whole, in this case. Feel free to submit whatever kind of track from the series you like, but remember - the track needs to be approachable for newcomers due to it being the first track, and should help to showcase the game's mechanics in an easy-to-understand way.

Job #07: What should Sonic drive?
Sonic's unique in that he's had quite a few different vehicles over the years, be they the Speed Star that was created specially for the original SaSASR or its various evolutions, his Cyclone from Sonic Drift, one of the karts from Sonic Adventure 2, the Sonic Speedster from Sonic BOOM, and a wide variety of other vehicles. Should we go with something he's driven previously, or something all-new? It's your call!

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I'm not going to add a discussion round this time, given there's three jobs instead of two. However, feel free to discuss how you think this is going!

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

Job #05: I'm going to personally suggest 40 tracks, meaning there could be one for each character (or at least each series) as well as extras for either more tracks from already-represented series, tracks from series that don't get reps, and even the opportunity for ports and reimaginings of different tracks from some of SEGA's other racing games such as Daytona USA, Virtua Racing and Scud Race amongst others.

Job #06:

Track Name: Angel Island Zone
Track Origin: Sonic 3 (1994)

Whilst the series so far has had a habit of using Sonic Heroes's Seaside Hill to introduce players to mechanics, and the Sonic series itself typically uses Green Hill Zone, I think Angel Island Zone is a great fit for this sort of thing. The track itself would be a reasonably simple one that I imagine would feature a variety of ideas and setpieces from the original zone itself - for example, the first lap would have you blow through a door to enter into the underground for a short moment, and most notably, the third level would have Eggman's armada (lead by Flying Battery Zone in the distant sky) set fire to the entire place, burning certain bridges of vines!

However, there'd likely be a lot of alternate pathways you can take, primarily in the form of an "upper" and "lower" path, with the upper path passing by the waterfall and being closer to the treetops (but with much sharper and more precarious turns) whilst the lower path is more likely to be on ground level, occasionally going underground and being easier overall. I also think there's a metric ton of references and cool touches you could add to this stage, whether it's from characters from across the Sonic series, or even just to simple mechanics and ideas from the original zone.

Ending the stage, you'd of course come across a capsule full of captured Flickies! However, they're freed when you cross the line. Maybe Eggman set up a mechanism to do that for... some reason? Who knows!

Job #07:

Vehicle Name: Speed Star

I'm going to be a little boring and simply suggest the original Speed Star - that is, the version we saw from the very first game. I think the slightly cartoony proportions of it compared to TSR's weirdly realistic look and Transformed's slightly too refined feel really help, and the massive spines it's got give it a massively unique style compared to nearly anything else. I also love how it kind of looks like a stylised interpretation of Sonic's own head.

 

[Wario Wario Wario]

Sonic: Running on Foot

I think Sonic should run on foot. Might look a bit awkward with drifting, but he also drifts in his own 3D platformers so I don't think it's too big an issue. I don't think we should have many or even any more no-car characters after Sonic (except Opa Opa), but I think there'd be something fun and uniquely Sonic about being able to keep with cars on foot. I don't really see this impacting Sonic's "default character" status given he'd have super fast stats anyway, and size isn't really too big a deal in racers.

Starter track: 2020s Boulevard

This would be a successor to the 90s and 80s Boulevards from Sonic Riders, and themed on a sort of utopian future (basically the same as the Boulevards, but there's more floating stuff) - all the ads are original rather than for vintage games, and there's an overwhelmingly great amount of Sonic theming. (though we could maybe fit a Chao in Space or Chaos Cola in there) I think this makes a good starter track because it's more of a conventional race track as opposed to a conventional Sonic track like a Green Hill clone would be.

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

Job 5:
I think we could go by 32 tracks. It would be huge improvement from previous games. We could even include tracks from non-playable series.
In this game, we could have 8 cups.

Job 6:

Green Hill Zone

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This track would be based on one of most iconic zones in Sonic series: Green Hill Zone! Yes, the place that appeared in the first game of the series.

For the layout, the track would be shaped like Sonic's head and you drive through loops, bridges and more. Each lap the green hill zone becomes more mechanized and it would infested with badniks and you have to watch out for them. They might give you some damage (but you can destroy them with all star moves).
There is also a shortcut hidden in the waterfall where you could skip the "mountain" part (located on Sonic's quills) easily, but it's very hidden, so you have to be keen on to find it.

The cameos of characters from Sonic series who are NPCs appear on the sides of the road, watching the race.

 

[ssbashworld]

City Escape
Iconic location & song, kind of picture it ending up similar to Mushroom Bridge but a little easier (less traffic) since its our 1st track.

Sonic's Vehicle nominee is rollerskates, closer to running but drifting may look more natural.

I normally like matching the number of courses & characters so will also say 32.

 

[DragonRobotKing26]

Job 7:Extreme Gear

Extreme Gears are hoverboards that was originated on Sonic Riders trilogy,i just think that is a good option of Sonic running because Sonic Riders trilogy is a racing game

 

[Pupp135]

Number of Race Tracks: I’ll go with Tankman from Newgrounds ’s suggestion of 32

Stage: Emerald Coast

 

[osby]

Job #05: 28
If we're going over the standard set by the previous games for more opportunities for new content and variety, I'd say 28 is a nice number. We can have most series have a home track while also adding some surprises.

Job #06: Seaside Hill

I'm gonna be boring and suggest to keep this default option.

Job #07: Speed Star (Team Sonic Racing)
I think there's not much reason to change this vehicle as it fits the current iteration of Sonic perfectly. As our game would likely aim for current-gen consoles' graphics, I went with its latest look.

 

[Northsouthmap]

Job 5: 36 tracks

Job 6: Windy Hill Zone

 

[YoshiandToad]

Job #05: 40 Tracks
Each character gets a track, plus a few for misc. series that might not work as a racer, but still have cool visuals and track potential we'd want to include.

Job #06: Radical Highway

Might seem odd to submit a stage mostly associated with Shadow when the hedgehog himself isn't currently a racer, but it fulfills a few useful things;

• A famous Sonic landscape - Sonic and Shadow's duel in Sonic Adventure 2's opening is set here
• From a beloved Sonic title - Most people love the Adventure games despite the early 3D jank
• Works well as an early stage track - AKA has barriers around the roads, some split route options as seen above and it's a pretty obvious race course as a result allowing us to ease newcomers into the races with a relatively straight forward track.
• Canonically even meshes other Sega characters in as seen above with NiGHTS' cameo.

Job #07: Skateboard

So Sonic is known for his insane speed, and people suggest that it might be hard/look bizarre for him to drift using his feet.

So to make the race fair, whilst keeping Sonic's rad 90s cool dude image in tact, I'm pitching Sonic's lesser known vehicle of a skateboard which should look a little less jarring to drift on.

We've got plenty of examples of Sonic using boards throughout the series including skateboards in Sonic Generations, snowboards in Sonic 3 and Sonic Adventure, sheets of helicoptor he ripped out of to escape cities with in Sonic Adventure 2 and of course the above mention Extreme Gears in the Sonic rider series.
Since a skateboard would still require his acceleration to be done by his feet initially, I feel like this is a compromise people shouldn't be too upset with.

For snow based levels, the wheels will come off allowing his skateboard to become a snowboard as a purely visual easter egg. If City Escape makes it we could have the board be the makeshift GUN scrap metal board he made in SA2.

 

[Deleted member]

Planet Wisp
If there's one thing that the Sonic franchise loves, it's the Wisps. Until Fonteers, they'd been in most modern Sonic games, and colours is like the only non classic sonic game to get a recent re-realse.

Planet Wisp itself is a gorgeous location that would make for a very pretty stage. You'd drive through the grass and across vines and up trees. The stage would be lit up by wisps. A relatively stress free coruse compairef to later ones, but still with enough different elements to be exiting.

There was a Wisp based track in team Sonic racing, and this would take elements from that, but would mainly be its own thing.

 

[Mamboo07]

So far, I'm liking this creation thread.

Can't wait to add new characters very soon.

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

So far, I'm liking this creation thread.

Can't wait to add new characters very soon.

Ditto, my guy.

 

[Janx_uwu]

Cyclone

Sonic's vehicle from Sonic Drift, the very first Sonic racing game. Without it, we may not even have All-Stars Racing, so I think some kind of honor is due to it, and this would be a great way to do so.

Windmill Isle

Sonic Unleashed was the first 3D Boost game, and that era's linearity and fast pace lends itself naturally well to a racing game. Being not only the first 3D Boost level in Sonic, but also the first level of a game that's viewed much more fondly by the fanbase these days (kind of like what Heroes' reputation was like when All-Stars Racing came out and featured Seaside Hill). It has a grassy area and an urban area, checking off both of Sonic's most popular zone aesthetics. It's also beautiful, like every other level in Unleashed, so there is that as well.

 

[Mamboo07]

Job 6: Mushroom Hill

I imagine having some parts of the track becoming autumn and winter, you would race around bouncing on shrooms and driving through fungi filled caves. Not really much but would make a good beginner track.

Job 7:

Gonna go with the Sonic Speedster from the Boom TV show.

 

[Deleted member]

Rad Mobile

Pretty much all the best options have been taken, so why not go for a throw back. Rad Mobile was technically the first game Sonic ever made an appearance in. Plus, a sleek blue car isn't out of character for the Blue Blur anyway.

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

Plenty of awesome (and unique!) submissions across the board here! Well, let's get started with the voting round.

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For Job #05, plenty of unique thought processes got put forward. Our submitted votes for roster size are as follows:

28 Tracks ( osby )
32 Tracks ( Tankman from Newgrounds , ssbashworld & Pupp135 )
36 Tracks ( Northsouthmap )
40 Tracks ( KneeOfJustice99 & YoshiandToad )

Feel free to vote for your top two in this case - the highest-voted will be our final track number.

As for Job #06, there's tons of awesome submissions here! Let's take a look:

Angel Island Zone - KneeOfJustice99
2020s Boulevard - Wario Wario Wario
Green Hill Zone - Tankman from Newgrounds
City Escape - ssbashworld
Emerald Coast - Pupp135
Seaside Hill - osby
Windy Hill Zone - Northsouthmap
Radical Highway - YoshiandToad
Planet Wisp - @Darkonedagger
Windmill Isle - Janx_uwu
Mushroom Hill - Mamboo07

For this round, vote for your top three. Remember, only the top-voted submission will make it in as our first track, so do give it some consideration. However, we could come back to a similar job later down the line, so don't worry too much!

Lastly, for Job #07, we have a ton of unique ideas!

Speed Star (Classic) - KneeOfJustice99
Running on Foot (With Drift Mechanics) - Wario Wario Wario
Rollerskates - ssbashworld
Extreme Gear (Riders) - DragonRobotKing26
Speed Star (TSR) - osby
Skateboard - YoshiandToad
Cyclone (Sonic Drift) - Janx_uwu
Sonic Speedster (Boom) - Mamboo07
Rad Mobile - @Darkonedagger

Again, in this case, vote for your top three. The highest-voted submission will end up being Sonic's vehicle!

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Given there's three voting rounds this time around, I'll not put a job here this time. Though, feel free to discuss - how do you think the thread's shaping up? I'm excited to see what y'all have to think! Anyways, I'll leave y'all to it - love you all, and keep yourselves safe out there.

 

[DragonRobotKing26]

1. 36
2. 40
3. 28

1. City Escape
2. Angel Island
3. Windmill Isle

1. Speed Star (Classic)
2. Extreme Gear
3. Cyclone

 

[Tankman from Newgrounds]

1. 40
2. 32

1. City Escape
2. Green Hill
3. Emerald Coast

1. Speed Star
2. Rad Mobile
3. Cyclone

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

Job #05:
1. 40 Tracks. (I think having the option to have some extra tracks from otherwise unrepresented series, as well as being able to double up in track representation here and there, would be valuable in allowing us to effectively represent interesting and more unusual facets of SEGA's history.)
2. 36 Tracks. (See above, but slightly less!)

Job #06:
1. Windmill Isle feels like a really cool change of pace, giving us a pretty beautiful location whilst also being able to feel unique compared to pretty much anything else out there. I think it also helps a lot that Unleashed is viewed pretty positively these days, too, even if it is in this weird grey area where it's not a "retro throwback" yet but isn't quite recent enough to be "modern".
2. Green Hill might be a little overdone in a lot of SEGA crossover media (and Sonic as a whole, to be fair), but I do quite like the idea of the track's layout being a reference to the opening screen of Sonic Mania with it being shaped after Sonic's head. I feel like it'd need to have a lot of unique setpieces to make it unique - plenty of loops and corkscrews, and maybe even the cave system from Act 2 as we saw it in Mania would be awesome - but it is a nonetheless iconic and important location... even if it is a bit overused. There's undeniably tons of potential, and it'd be a solid introduction to the formula. It'd need fleshing out.
3. Angel Island Zone is a self-vote, but giving it some thought... it'd be really cool...

Big shoutout to Mushroom Hill - it'd be a really unique pick to see with a lot of unique potential, and I came close to putting this in third place. Maybe later down the line?

Job #07:
1. Running on Foot. I'll admit, thinking of how this would work on the face of it does raise a few issues. Sonic would wind up being a lot smaller than most of the cast given his lack of a vehicle, after all. Then again, the drifting mechanic utilising his spin-dash (a bit like in Generations) could be an awesome way to implement that, and it does give him a really unique feel.
2. Extreme Gear. It's a nice change of pace from Sonic's tendency to usually have an actual car, and I think this would give him an awesome, unique feel compared to other characters whilst also keeping around his cool factor.
3. Rad Mobile. This might not be a classic Sonic vehicle or anything, but it's such a unique and brilliant idea - one I would never have thought of in a million years. I love it, and it even feels like a solid evolution of the Speed Star!

 

[KneeOfJustice99]

Also, not to double post, but please may I ask that if you're voting "Speed Star" that your vote clarifies whether you mean the classic version (seen in SaSASR) or the modern version (seen in TSR)? It makes it a little difficult to tally up all of the votes if it's unclear. (sorry to bother you, DragonRobotKing26 & Tankman from Newgrounds ! )

 

[tonygameman]

1. 40
2. 28 (a post said "vote for your top two")

Starter Track:

1. Angel Island
2. 2020s Boulevard
3. Windmill Isle

Sonic's Vehicle:

1. Rad Mobile
2. Cyclone
3. Skateboard

 

[Speed Weed]

1. 28
2. 32

I think we can do with a smaller, more carefully thought-out track selection. That being said, I am absolutely not against going for somethin like 40

1. Angel Island
2. Emerald Coast
3. Planet Wisp

I really feel like we should go for a more nature-ish location for our first track, especially considering there are plenty of other SEGA games we could pull city tracks from.

1. TSR Speed Star
2. Cyclone
3. Rad Mobile

 

[ssbashworld]

36
32

2020s Boulevard
City Escape
Radical Highway

Running
Rollerskates
Cyclone

 

[OrpheusTelos]

1. 32
2. 28

1. Angel Island
2. Windmill Isle
3. Planet Wisp

1. Cyclone
2. Speed Star TSR
3. Rad Mobile

 

[Pupp135]

1. 36
2. 40

1. Green Hill
2. City Escape
3. Emerald Coast

1. Speed Star (Classic)
2. Cyclone
3. Extreme Gear