Oh, how exciting – a chance to delve into one of the most beloved franchises of all time! Wait, what the hell is this?
This week’s game was released exclusively on the Game Gear, Sega’s answer to the preposterously popular Game Boy. I honestly kind of like the Game Gear, but basically no one else does. True story – a disinterested game store clerk once told me I could have his entire stock of Game Gear games for $20 if it meant not having to price any of them out. That was a good day.
The Game Gear is notorious for having a horrendous battery life, so it’s a good thing I’ve got plenty of extra batteries from the fine people at Northern Tool & Equipment. They aren’t a sponsor of this blog or anything, but I appreciate that they package their batteries in the shape of a big stick:
Just like Teddy Roosevelt intended! My stick of batteries and I are ready to take on Sonic Drift 2 for upwards of 45 minutes before it stops powering on.
Much in the way that Sonic the Hedgehog was Sega’s answer to Super Mario Bros., Sonic Drift 2 is Sega’s answer to Super Mario Kart. Strangely, there was no game released like this on the Genesis, a console people actually bought games for. As usual, Sonic is accompanied by a cast of his increasingly unnecessary companions, including Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and…Fang?
I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about Sonic’s stupid friends, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard of Fang. An uncomfortably detailed Sonic wiki I found suggests that Fang, whose full name is Fang the Sniper (!?!), is an anthropomorphic wolf weasel from another dimension. Jesus Christ, Sega.
Like numerous Mario Kart games, Sonic Drift 2 has a number of different items – things that speed you up, slow your opponents down, and so forth. Each character also has their own unique special ability, which is a pretty cool feature.
Unfortunately, the game isn’t without its issues. It’s blisteringly difficult, in part due to some severe rubber-banding to keep yourself from keeping a lead. As you might expect from a handheld racing game from 1995, the draw distance is also virtually non-existent, so it’s needlessly difficult to properly prepare for a turn or stay on the course at all.
It also isn’t helped by the fact that the Game Gear’s primitive LCD screen is ill-equipped to handle games that move very quickly (like, oh I don’t know, the Sonic the Hedgehog series). As such, it’s often hard to see what’s going on, to distinguish pickups from traps, and oh no there’s some sort of ramp now:
Eventually I was able to get a hang of some of the key racing moves, including “turn” and “not die.” Due to profoundly unreasonable rubber banding, I never quite won a race, but still largely enjoyed myself. I also learned better than to have questioned the validity of FANG THE SNIPER:
By the way, why does Sonic need a car to compete in races? Fastness is his whole thing. Such a waste of gas.
You may also be wondering – what about Sonic Drift 1? What’s that like? I can’t say for sure, as it wasn’t released in the U.S., but the general consensus seems to be that they’re extremely similar, with the sequel having more tracks and characters. In the incredibly unlikely event that you have to choose between the two, go with the sequel, I guess.
Sonic has appeared in a few other racing games over the years, including the Saturn’s Sonic R and the Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing games from the early 2010s. The latter series is pretty fun, so I’m glad that the Sonic racing sub-genre survived its inauspicious start.
Check back next week, in which I’ll explore what happens when man and machine mix.