Sonic Runners

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Sonic Runners
Composer(s)
Tomoya Ohtani
SeriesSonic the Hedgehog
EngineUnity (uncredited)
Platform(s)Android, iOS
ReleaseJune 25, 2015
Genre(s)Endless runner
Mode(s)Single-player

Sonic Runners

player-character constantly ran forward, and players controlled their jumping from a side-scrolling perspective using the touchscreen. The game was free-to-play, featured a wide variety of playable characters from the Sonic series, and received periodic updates
.

Development began in late 2013 and lasted a year and a half. Sonic Team sought to take advantage of the uses of smartphones and built the game using the

pay-to-play elements, and technical problems. Sega discontinued the game in July 2016. Gameloft released a replacement game, Sonic Runners Adventure, in 2017. The game soft launched 4 months before the franchise's 24th anniversary, and released two days after the 24th anniversary.[1]

Gameplay

player-character, runs forward as Doctor Eggman
tries to stop him

Sonic Runners was a

Miles "Tails" Prower, and Knuckles the Echidna.[4] The player started as Sonic and would unlock more characters as they progressed. Sonic Runners received periodic updates, which often included new characters.[5] For example, Classic Sonic from Sonic Generations was added on June 26, 2015 to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the original Sonic the Hedgehog.[6]

The goal was to obtain

Chao.[3]

The story followed an

roulette wheel to earn prizes like companions. Landing on spaces marked "big" or "super" would upgrade the wheel to include better prizes.[4] Players could also buy spins.[3]

Development

Longtime Sonic series developer

exclusive to smartphones.[8] Development began in late 2013 with a ten-person team, which expanded as the game progressed.[9] It was developed over the course of a year and a half using the Unity game engine.[9][10] Series veteran Takashi Iizuka, who designed and directed previous Sonic games, served as producer.[8]

Runners was conceived after the release of

home consoles in mind, and Sonic Team wanted to take advantage of the unique experiences and uses smartphones provided. The developers were interested in adding content regularly to keep users interested.[8] Sonic Runners was designed to be easy to pick up and to resemble the Sega Genesis Sonic games, with a focus on action and jumping.[8][11] It was also designed to have replay value—with its story mode, missions, alternate paths, and power-ups—which Sonic Team felt was something most endless running games lacked.[8][11] Originally, Chao was the only character who assisted the player, but Sonic Team decided to add characters like Chip from Sonic Unleashed because they wanted to surprise players. One of the biggest challenges Sonic Team faced during development was making sure the visual quality was consistent across all platforms.[9]

Veteran Sonic sound director

drums, bass, guitar, and piano, and he made the music "by focusing on creating a catchy band sound."[12] Ohtani said composing the soundtrack was fun because it reminded him of his first work in bands. A two-volume soundtrack, Sonic Runners Original Soundtrack, was released digitally via iTunes.[12] The first volume was released on June 24, 2015 and the second volume was released on December 25, 2015.[12][13]

Release

Sonic Runners' existence came to light in July 2014 after publisher Sega registered the domain name sonicrunners.com.[14] Iizuka confirmed the game was real at the Tokyo Joypolis convention on December 28, 2014 and announced that it would launch in 2015.[15] A teaser trailer and more details were revealed in early February 2015.[16] Sega soft launched Sonic Runners in Canada and Japan on February 26, 2015 for testing purposes and released the final version worldwide on June 25, 2015.[17][18]

Reception

When Sonic Runners was announced,

Nintendo Life uttered disapproval that it would not be released on Wii U.[15] Destructoid opined that while "it's tough to imagine Sonic fans getting too excited about Runners", its future augured well after the critical panning of Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric and Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal.[21] Reviewing the soft launched version, Hardcore Gamer believed it was the best Sonic game in years. Although critical of the game's excessive amount of pop-up ads, they felt it was focused, exhilarating, and corrected many problems present in prior games, and described it as "everything Sonic should be".[7] TouchArcade praised its gameplay and presentation, but criticized its online functions and wrote they "could easily see it going off the rails".[17]

The final version received "mixed or average reviews", according to the

pay to play elements were extensively criticized.[2][3][20] Sterling believed they were intrusive and made the game over-complex,[20] and Destructoid said they were "unreasonable" and "exhausting".[3] TouchArcade wrote that "any free-to-play monetization gimmick you can think of it, Sonic Runners has it."[2] Technical problems, such as crashes and lengthy load times, were also criticized.[2][20]

Although it was downloaded over five million times,

¥30—50 million a month.[23] Nintendo Life wrote its failure was proof that the recognizability of a brand does not guarantee success. They also wrote the failure could be a cautionary tale for companies like Nintendo to not mask a game's problems by using a recognizable brand.[24]

Discontinuation and legacy

See also: Sonic Runners Adventure

In May 2016, Sega announced it would discontinue Sonic Runners. The sale of Red Rings ended on May 27, 2016, and the servers were shut down on July 27, 2016. Because it required a constant online connection, the game is unplayable.[24] Through reverse engineering a group of fans were able to make both a custom client and server of the game, making it playable again.[25][26] In April 2017, Gameloft released an FAQ webpage that indicated a sequel to Sonic Runners was in development.[27] Gameloft released the sequel, Sonic Runners Adventure, for Android in Russia and the United Kingdom in June 2017,[28] and worldwide for Android and iOS in December 2017.[29] Unlike the original, Sonic Runners Adventure is sold at a fixed price.[28]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Japanese: ソニック・ランナーズ, Hepburn: Sonikku Rannāzu

References

  1. ^ "Sonic the Hedgehog Anniversary - June 23, 2023 | internationaldays.co". www.internationaldays.co. Retrieved September 26, 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Musgrave, Shaun (June 30, 2015). "'Sonic Runners' Review – It's Always Something, Isn't It?". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Carter, Chris (June 25, 2015). "Review: Sonic Runners". Destructoid. Archived from the original on June 26, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Werner, Jillian (March 2, 2015). "Sonic Runners Tips, Cheats and Strategies". Gamezebo. Archived from the original on October 25, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2018.
  5. ^ "Run, Jump, and Aim for the Top!". Sonic Runners. Sega. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
  6. ^ Yamamura, Tomomi (June 20, 2015). "シリーズ最新作3DS「ソニックトゥーンファイアー＆アイス」発表". Impress Watch (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 30, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d Ella, Thomas (March 9, 2015). "Sonic Runners Might Just be the Best Sonic Game in Years". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on August 22, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  8. ^ a b c d e Musgrave, Shaun (June 30, 2015). "An Interview With Sonic Team's Takashi Iizuka About 'Sonic Runners'". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  9. ^ a b c Laurent (June 26, 2015). "Takashi Iizuka, producteur de Sonic Runners répond aux questions de iPhon.fr". iPhon.fr (in French). Archived from the original on August 22, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  10. ISBN 978-1484227046
    .
  11. ^ a b c "【独占スクープ】近日配信の『ソニック ランナーズ』の全てを知る飯塚Pを直撃". Famitsu (in Japanese). February 3, 2015. Archived from the original on August 18, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  12. ^ a b c d Greening, Chris (December 26, 2015). "Second volume of Sonic Runners released for Christmas". Video Game Music Online. Archived from the original on August 22, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  13. ^ Sega; Tomoya Ohtani (June 24, 2015). "Sonic Runners Original Soundtrack Vol.1 - EP". iTunes. Archived from the original on August 22, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  14. ^ Loveridge, Lynzee (December 28, 2014). "Sonic Runners Mobile Game Announced". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on August 25, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  15. ^
    Nintendo Life. Archived
    from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  16. ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (February 19, 2015). "The next Sonic game is Sonic Runners". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on August 3, 2018. Retrieved August 18, 2018.
  17. ^ a b Musgrave, Shaun (February 26, 2015). "Sonic Team's 'Sonic Runners' Soft Launches In Japan And Canada". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on August 22, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  18. ^ Cardoso, Jose (June 20, 2015). "SEGA confirms Sonic Runners' official worldwide launch next week". GameZone. Archived from the original on August 3, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  19. ^
    CBS Interactive. Archived
    from the original on March 16, 2016. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
  20. ^ a b c d e f Sterling, Jim (June 26, 2015). "Sonic Runners Review – Run Into The Ground". The Jimquisition. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  21. ^ Makedonski, Brett (December 29, 2014). "Sonic Runners dashes to mobile in 2015 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯". Destructoid. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  22. ^ Sega (March 8, 2016). "Sonic Runners" (in French). Google Play. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  23. ^ a b "Sega Networks Strategic Presentation" (PDF). Sega. December 18, 2015. p. 11. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 1, 2016. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  24. ^
    Nintendo Life. Archived
    from the original on August 22, 2018. Retrieved August 20, 2018.
  25. ^ Dreadknux (June 21, 2019). "Sonic Runners Fan-Led Revival Project Goes into Open Beta in July". The Sonic Stadium. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  26. ^ "Sonic Runners Revival". sonicrunners.com. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  27. ^ Dotson, Carter (April 10, 2017). "Gameloft Accidentally Leaks 'Sonic Runners Adventure'". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  28. ^ a b Dotson, Carter (June 12, 2017). "'Sonic Runners Adventure' Released on Gameloft's Android Store in Some Countries". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 21, 2018.
  29. ^ Glagowski, Peter (December 6, 2017). "Sonic Runners Adventure is zipping onto mobile devices soon". Destructoid. Retrieved August 21, 2018.

External links

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