Christmas SAGE 2023 Sonic Drift 16-bit (2023 Demo)

This is already very solid! Beautiful visuals, excellent music, sound effects and fun gameplay.

My criticisms are as follows:
- I'm not sure if selecting different characters changes anything beyond cosmetic appearances. I'd like it if it could slightly change how you play - or if it does already, more obviously show how it changes gameplay.

- Sandopolis has my favorite track design, but the colors blend together too much which makes it hard to tell what's a wall, what's offroad, and what's an actual drivable track on your first go.

- The drift could probably use some tuning. It felt the most useful on Sandopolis, but the other two tracks don't really seem like it's all that viable with how sharply it sends you in the direction you're trying to turn and how slim those two tracks' roads are in comparison, especially Casino Night since you can fall off some sections quite easily.

Had a lot of fun! A stronger emphasis on driving mechanics over items for success is always key to a good kart racing game. Excited to see what kinds of new terrain and obstacles come in future tracks.
If I had a crit, I think the drifting could be tuned so you turn slower? The turns are all pretty sharp and seem to require it to pass without going off-road, but drifting isn't quite as weighty as I'd expect it to be.
That aside, I learnt the controls pretty quick, so it's nice and intuitive.
Also, glad to see my Metal Sonic portrait is still being put to good use!

I had fun, HOWEVER, I do have some gripes... Firstly:
- Character Abilities are gone
- Drifting is more similar to other kart racers
- Item Boxes are random instead of being colour-coded and also are more generic Boxes rather than Monitors.
- Lack of a Grand Prix and points after a race.
- Items are more generic... Speed Shoes are Mushrooms, Gold Speed Shoes are Gold Mushrooms, Barrel is Blue Shell, ect.

A very fun game, but too far from the original.

This is REALLY frickin cool, but there are a few major things I think need to happen
The first is analog control, this is imperative to any racing game
The second is a way to slow down or back up that isn't mapped to steering, maybe map a brake/reverse to the drift button when you're not holding the acceleration button?
Third is the ability to fire weapons in both directions, a homing shot does me no good in first place and an ink slick does nothing for me in last

Additionally, you may want to change the title, "Triple Trouble 16-bit" worked because that's what it was, but this is so far removed from Drift 1 or 2 with new courses and weapons and things the SEGA Mega Drive couldn't even do on it's own, like sprite scaling and rotation. It's much closer to a sequel than a remake like Triple Trouble was. Keep the Drift of course, but maybe something like "Sonic Drift Ultra" or "Sonic Drift Future"

NOW, for my pipe dream list of content demands... I'd love to see the roster expand to include other 80s and 90s SEGA characters. Like a 90s version of Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing. Ristar, NiGHTS, the Streets of Rage cast, the main protagonist of each Phantasy Star game, Joe Musashi, the dude from Altered Beast [with equally shitty stats to match the quality of that terrible Mega Drive port SEGA insists on porting to every electronic device on Earth]
I know all that is months or maybe even years down the line, but I just wanted to seed the idea in your brain for now

olsona307 said:

I had fun, HOWEVER, I do have some gripes... Firstly:
- Character Abilities are gone
- Drifting is more similar to other kart racers
- Item Boxes are random instead of being colour-coded and also are more generic Boxes rather than Monitors.
- Lack of a Grand Prix and points after a race.
- Items are more generic... Speed Shoes are Mushrooms, Gold Speed Shoes are Gold Mushrooms, Barrel is Blue Shell, ect.

A very fun game, but too far from the original.

Click to expand...

To be fair, the lack of Grand Prix and points is really just because it's a demo of picking 3 tracks from what I'd assume come from different cups.

Arrietty said:

To be fair, the lack of Grand Prix and points is really just because it's a demo of picking 3 tracks from what I'd assume come from different cups.

Click to expand...

Okay, I will admit, that one was too much of a nitpick for a Demo, and I disagree with my second point now. But, I still hold to my other points, 1, 3 and 5.

I have been testing this game these last few hours, and I must admit that it is much better than the original experience, even though I own an original Game Gear plus the second part.

Maybe what I didn't like is that it took me quite a while to adapt to the new controls and I had to replay it a lot to understand it, whatever the case, I hope this project prospers a lot.

By the way, is the sound of Drift the same sound that appears in Combat Cars?