Team Sonic Racing

Team Sonic Racing is an upcoming kart racing video game and a spinoff to Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series. Taking control of one of fifteen characters from the series' cast, players compete in races using sports cars. Gameplay is viewed from a third-person perspective, with players driving performing tricks, drifting, and collecting power-ups. Team Sonic Racing differs from traditional kart racers because of its focus on cooperative gameplay; the player is part of a team of racers, and races are won by efficiency rather than speed.

The game is being developed by Sumo Digital for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. Unlike Sumo Digital's previous Sonic racing games, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (2010) and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012), Team Sonic Racing only features characters from Sonic. The team has aimed to make the game stand out compared to other racing games; Sonic Heroes (2003) was used as a reference for the team-based gameplay. Team Sonic Racing is scheduled to be released in late 2018.

Gameplay
Team Sonic Racing is a kart racing video game featuring single-player and multiplayer modes. The player selects one of fifteen characters from the cast of the Sonic the Hedgehog series to control and participate in races using sports cars on courses thematically based on locations from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. There are three types of racing classes: speed, technique, and power. Each has their own unique abilities; for example, technique racers can drive over surfaces like grass without slowing down. Gameplay is viewed from a third-person perspective and the player runs over panels to get speed boosts, performs tricks in midair, and drifts to make sharp turns. Power-ups based on the Wisps can be collected from canisters with "?" marks, granting players temporary offensive and defensive advantages.

The game differs from traditional kart racers because of its focus on cooperative gameplay: the player is part of a team of racers and they must work together. While they control a single racer, the player must pay attention to how teammates are performing and share power-ups. Instead of simply winning races by finishing them fastest, teams get points based on how they worked together. Thus, the most efficient team wins. Four teams of three compete, for a total of twelve racers at a time. Any character can be in a team; the player also has the option for each teammate to be the same character. As the characters work together, an "Ultimate" meter is filled. When full, it can be used to gain a temporary burst of speed. The meter's duration can be extended by hitting competing racers.

There are twenty-one tracks in total, each split across seven zones and based on locations from main Sonic games. Team Sonic Racing also features a wide variety of game modes, including grand prix, time attack, and exhibition. It also features "Team Adventure", a story-driven mode that serves as a tutorial and provides an explanation for why the characters are racing. Unlike the main game, the teams in Team Adventure are predetermined. Vehicles will have customization options as well, with new parts for cars unlocked as the player progresses through the game. The game supports four-player local multiplayer and up to twelve online, and up to three in Team Adventure.

Development
Team Sonic Racing is being developed by Sumo Digital for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. It will be Sumo Digital's third racing game featuring the Sonic intellectual property (IP), following Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing (2010) and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (2012). The majority of the staff did not work on the previous games, although some who did were contacted for advice. Unlike the Sonic & Sega All-Stars games, which featured various Sega franchises, Team Sonic Racing will solely focus on Sonic. Sega's community manager Aaron Webber said that Team Sonic Racing is not a sequel to Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed and is "very, very different" from previous Sonic racers. Series producer Takashi Iizuka explained that the team wanted to make a game that took place solely in the Sonic universe, which is why it does not bear the Sega All-Stars name. Webber added that they also wanted to expand the world and character roster of Sonic, and designer Derek Littlewood said setting the game in the Sonic universe allowed them use to the series' "full suite" of characters and elements. Sumo Digital was chosen to develop Team Sonic Racing because of their experience with the Sonic IP. According to lead designer Richard Acherki, the proprietary game engine Team Sonic Racing runs on is a modified version of the one used to develop the Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing games, and allowed them to easily port the game across platforms.

Sumo Digital wanted to make Team Sonic Racing stand out compared to other racing games. Iizuka suggested that they design it so it was easy for beginners, as he wanted his children to enjoy it. Sumo Digital also wanted to build upon the gameplay of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed, which many players enjoyed. Observing other games, they found that team gameplay was very popular; noting that racing games were largely single-player experiences, they decided to combine the concepts to create a unique and exciting experience. Iizuka echoed these sentiments, saying the development team was not inspired by other kart racing games like Mario Kart 8 (2014) because they wanted to make a game that emphasized teamwork instead of a "a network game". He cited Splatoon (2015) and Overwatch (2016) as examples of the cooperative gameplay Team Sonic Racing was designed to resemble. Sumo Digital said Sonic Heroes (2003), which features team-based gameplay, was used as a point of reference. One of Sumo Digital's goals was to "provide plenty of fan service and also giving people something new to look at and experience." The game does not support cross-platform multiplayer; Iizuka stated this is because of technical constraints. It features several new versions of the Wisp power-ups from previous Sonic games. Sumo Digital worked with the Japanese staff of Sonic Team to get approval for their concepts. Designer Ben Wilson called working on a Sonic game "surreal" and said the team enjoyed working with Sega.

The soundtrack will be composed and conducted by Christopher Lennertz. The game's theme song, "Green Light Ride" (music by Christopher Lennertz and lyrics by Glenn Slater), was performed by Imagine Dragons with the additional vocals performed by Hollywood Studio Symphony Chorus.

Release
Team Sonic Racing is scheduled to be released in late 2018.

Promotion
Rumors of a new Sonic-themed racing game arose in January 2018, when an internal Sumo Digital memo mentioning an "unannounced karting game" based on an "established global IP" leaked. Sumo Digital's history with Sonic caused speculation that they were developing a new entry in the Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing series. This was rejected by Webber, who stated he "saw rumors floating today about another SART game. Just wanted to confirm it's not a thing!" Despite his response, multiple toy production companies alluded to a future Sonic kart racing game in February 2018. In early February, a representative from Zappies reported at the Spielwarenmesse toy fair in Nuremberg that a third Sonic kart racing game was in development and that the company was planning on making toy figures for the game. Similarly, later in the month, a separate toy company, Diamond Select Toys, also alluded to 2018 toys based on a Sonic racing game.

Journalists noted Webber's comments just alluded to the Sega All-Stars name and did not discount the premise of a new Sonic racing game, and further rumors of a game without any other Sega IPs involved arose in the same month. A Sonic related announcement was scheduled for March 16, 2018 at the South by Southwest convention. The game was not announced at that time, but a trailer on the Sonic Twitter account teased a new racing game on that same day. In May 2018, after leaking in a Walmart retail listing, Sega announced Team Sonic Racing would release for Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in the fourth quarter of 2018. Eurogamer expressed disappointment that Team Sonic Racing did not include any non-Sonic characters as playable racers, which they believed was one of the best things about Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing and its sequel. However, they remained optimistic, believing Sumo Digital's experience with Sonic would ensure the game would be a similar, "fundamentally brilliant arcade racer".

A demo version was playable at the 2018 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). The demo featured one track and six playable characters. Kotaku described the demo as underwhelming and unfavorably compared it to Mario Kart. They argued that it lacked ambition and called its character lineup shallow, especially when compared to that of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. IGN was more optimistic: although they considered the power-ups generic, they felt the game still had a good foundation and wrote the team gameplay was satisfying. Hardcore Gamer nominated it as E3's best racing game, but it lost to Forza Horizon 4. A trailer was also released to promote the game at E3, featuring the theme song and an in-depth look at the gameplay. Another demo was playable at Gamescom in August 2018. More details were revealed, including the new character Dodonpa, aspects of the story, and racetracks based on levels in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) and Sonic Unleashed (2008). The game won the "Best Casual Game" award at the 2018 Gamescom Awards. Team Sonic Racing was also present at PAX West 2018, where attendees were given an exclusive poster.

IDW Publishing will release a promotional one-shot comic book in October 2018, written by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles scribe Caleb Goellner and illustrated by Sonic comic artist Adam Bryce Thomas. The story is set before the game's events; in the comic, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, with assistance from their friends, travel to a mysterious planet and must prevent "an old foe" from obtaining new technology.