There’s not much to do outside of the story mode either, as Challenge Mode and Cup Circuit each add only a few new objectives to complete. Rivals are fun to play in short bursts or with a friend locally, but its repetitive stages and punishing track design can get frustrating fast. As Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, Silver, or Metal Sonic, players must race opponents across levels while keeping an eye on enemies and bosses that lie in their path.

Sonic Rivals offers a unique twist to the franchise’s classic side-scrolling gameplay. It’s not hyperbole to say that Free Riders is the most flawed game in the entire franchise. Outside of the core gameplay, the title’s menus twirl around feverishly with the smallest gestures and voice recognition directs players to courses they didn’t request. This is hardly the case in practice, as most of the time, characters fly around the screen haphazardly and pay little regard to one’s emotions at the screen. Supposedly, they can jump and kick to grant themselves speed boosts. Tailor-made for Xbox 360’s Kinect, the game has players tilt their bodies to race their way through courses. Japan-only games like the first Sonic Drift are not included. Keep in mind that this article only considers those entries that have released in the West. The following is a ranking of every Sonic racing game on consoles so far, in order from worst to best. While it still might not make any sense for the fastest animals alive to be speeding around in cars, karts, or hoverboards, the fact that these spin-off titles have been around for so long is a testament to their enduring popularity. Sonic racing games have been around for 25 years.

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