Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (known as Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo-Kazooie on the Xbox 360 version) is a 2010 crossover kart racing video game in the Sega Superstars series developed by Sumo Digital and published by Sega. It was released for the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows on 23 February 2010 in North America while in Europe on 26 February 2010. A mobile version of the game was developed by Gameloft. The iOS version of the game was released on 2011. An arcade version was tested in some arcades on January 2011 and was then released for sale on March 2011.

In 2012, Sega and Feral Interactive announced that the game will be available for the Mac on its following Summer along with Sega Superstars Tennis. For the Mac, All-Stars Racing will feature online multiplayer by using Game Center which the Windows version lacked, which will be added in the next version of Mac OS X, Mountain Lion. On 4 April 2013, the game was released by Feral Interactive on the Mac as a Mac App Store exclusive. Feral Interactive (Mac)

A sequel, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, was released in 2012.

Gameplay[]

The game plays similarly to other kart racing games such as Mario Kart, with characters collecting power-ups to boost their speed or hamper their opponents. Like Sumo's previous Sega game, Sega Superstars Tennis, each character has a "Star Move" unique to them, such as Sonic and Shadow transforming into Super Sonic and Super Shadow respectively, that they can use against their opponents. The game has multiplayer options for up to four players on split-screen and eight players online.

Vehicles are separated into three different categories: car, bike, and hovercraft. As the terrain on the tracks will vary, vehicles can be either assisted or hindered by the surfaces they drive upon. Cars vary in speed and weight, with some performing better on some terrains than others. Bikes have fast acceleration and can perform wheelies for a speed boost, but can be easily bullied by heavier vehicles. Hovercrafts are not affected by any terrain and are able to perform multiple boosts after a jump, but they have poor handling and have low acceleration. All of the vehicles also have their own specific engine sounds. Sega Miles that can be spent in the in-game shop to unlock additional content such as characters, tracks, art, and songs.

The game has customizable multiplayer options for local and online play, including Free Races and Arena Modes. There is also a Grand Prix, Time Trial, and Mission mode.

The game was showcased at E3 2009, where it was stated that the final version of the game would have over 20 different characters.

Characters drive vehicles that relate to the character. The courses that appear in the game are references to various Sonic and Sega titles.

On November 25, 2009, a special press event about the game was held in France, where the Nintendo DS version made its playable debut.