Sonic Rush

Infobox VG
title = Sonic Rush


developer = Dimps
Sonic Team (supervising)
publisher = Sega
released =^NA November 15, 2005
^EUR November 18, 2005
^JPN November 23, 2005
genre = Platformer/Action
modes = Single player, Multiplayer
ratings =

platforms = Nintendo DS
followed by = Sonic Rush Adventure|

"Sonic Rush" (ソニック ラッシュ "Sonikku Rashu") is a "Sonic the Hedgehog" game for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by Dimps in cooperation with Sonic Team, and published by Sega. "Sonic Rush" was released worldwide in November, 2005.

Sonic Rush is a traditional 2D platform game much like the original 8/16-bit versions and Game Boy Advance titles in the series. However, graphics of the main characters as well as the bosses are fully polygonal, as opposed to sprites as all 2D Sonic games had previously used. Stages are of the 2-D side-scrolling variety, much like the "Sonic Advance" games. The two DS screens are used to double the display of the play area, joined at the bottom of the top screen and top of the bottom screen. The characters will generally be displayed in the center of one screen, only to run, fall or jump into the other screen, making full use of both screens. A 3D perspective is used during boss battles. "Sonic Rush" is the first ever Sonic game on a seventh generation system.

Sonic Rush is a successor to the "Sonic Advance" series and the game is followed by its sequel, "Sonic Rush Adventure". [cite web
last =
first =
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title = SEGA Announces Sonic Rush Adventure For Nintendo DS
work =
publisher = Sega Europe Ltd
date = 2007-04-16
url = http://www.sega-europe.com/en/NewsStory/1519.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = ]

tory

Blaze the Cat lands in Sonic the Hedgehog's world, and the Sol Emeralds are stolen by Doctor Eggman. She works on getting her Sol Emeralds back from Eggman and learning something about friendship while Sonic battles a mysterious Eggman look-alike, Eggman Nega. Blaze meets Cream the Rabbit while looking for the Sol Emeralds, and is shocked by how polite and trusting Cream is. All the while, Tails finds out that her world and Sonic's are beginning to merge. Sonic starts to become suspicious of Blaze (who he met while fighting Eggman at the beginning of the game) and starts to look for her. Sonic and Tails meet up with Blaze and Cream. Sonic questions Blaze but Blaze, being withdrawn towards strangers, refuses to give information and takes off with Cream. Sonic decides to follow Blaze, when he arrives on Eggman Nega's base It is revealed that Doctor Eggman and Eggman Nega are in fact working together to collect both the Chaos Emeralds and the Sol Emeralds. Blaze then arrives and declares that she will destroy Eggman Nega when Sonic questions Blaze's nature Blaze turns on Sonic and fights him. During the battle Blaze declares that she is the only one who can save their worlds and refuses Sonic's help. After Sonic won the fight between them, he managed to show Blaze the error of her ways. Shortly Eggman kidnaps Cream, and Blaze, after admitting to Sonic that Cream is her friend, goes after him while Sonic takes on Nega. Once Sonic collects all seven Chaos Emeralds he meets up with Blaze who had tried and failed to restore the two worlds. Sonic and his friends finally help Blaze understand the meaning of friendship and Blaze transforms into Burning Blaze she then teams up with Super Sonic against the Eggmans in the final showdown to restore their worlds. Afterwards Blaze is forced to leave to her own world. As she flies back to her dimension she states that she understands her powers and thinks of Sonic's advice. Later on Sonic's planet, Cream is crying because she misses Blaze until Sonic tells her that Blaze promised she would return one day.

Zones

There are 8 separate zones, all of which have two regular acts and 1 boss act, with the exeption of Final Zone, which has only one act. Considering what character you play the zones are played in a different order.Sonic's levels (in order)1.Leaf Storm Zone,2.Water Palace Zone,3.Mirage Road Zone,4.Carnival Night Zone,5.Huge Crisis Zone,6.Altitude Limit Zone,7.Dead Line Zone,8.Final Zone.Blaze's levels (in order)1.Carnival Night Zone,2.Leaf Storm Zone,3.Mirage Road Zone,4.Water Palace Zone,5.Altitude Limit Zone,6.Huge Crisis Zone,7.Dead Line Zone,8.Final Zone.

Characters

There are two playable characters: the titular character, Sonic, and a new character, Blaze the Cat. Blaze has the ability to hover and make use of fire created from her own hands (but the fire is purely for decoration). Both characters have mostly separate adventures (the levels are the same, but in very different orders, and only Sonic can enter Special Stages), but as each character's story progresses, they occasionally bump into each other, and end up working together in the final story.

Tails and Cream the Rabbit show up in cutscenes, cheer the player on during bosses and act as navigators; Sonic has Tails tag along, while Blaze is followed by Cream. Knuckles, Vanilla the Rabbit and Amy all make small appearances in cutscenes and small speaking roles.

Dr. Eggman and Dr. Eggman Nega are Sonic's and Blaze's antagonists, and are fought at the end of each zone, with the exception of Dead Line.

Gameplay

"Sonic Rush" builds on the trick system introduced in "Sonic Advance 2" adding a point combo system to it and a grade system, both of which had been introduced into the "Sonic" series in "Sonic Adventure 2". Also added to the game is a "Tension Gauge" which can be filled by using tricks and defeating enemies. The energy can be used to perform an extremely fast dash (which can defeat enemies as well), and in accessing the Special Stages (only as Sonic) via the spinning generators.

The special stage in Sonic Rush is reminiscent of "Sonic the Hedgehog 2", which sees the player running through a half-pipe, grabbing as many rings as possible to meet the required amount. This is where the touch screen comes into play - instead of the direction pad being used, players use the stylus or their finger to move along the left or right to guide Sonic in the that direction. Unlike "Sonic the Hedgehog 2" Sonic is unable to jump at will, making the special stage slightly more difficult (he may jump when moving to the edge of the half-pipe or double-tapping the touch screen on bonus balloons or enemies).

Like many of the other modern Sonic games, Rush has an "extra" story in the form of "Sonic & Blaze" and consists of a single boss fight. It also has Sonic and Blaze fighting Eggman and Eggman Nega in what would appear to be the remnants of the merging of Sonic's and Blaze's worlds.

Once you have collected all 14 Emeralds (Sol and Chaos Emeralds) by completing all 7 Special Stages (one for each zone) and completing Blaze's Zone Bosses, and completed both Final Bosses then on the Character Select Menu there will be an Extra Zone where Super Sonic and Burning Blaze will be playable. Burning Blaze and Super Sonic will both fly across the screen whilst draining 1 ring per second (starting with 50 rings). There will always be rings passing by for collection. The zone starts with Super Sonic flying through a asteroid field, until he meets Eggman in a flying machine of some kind. Once Super Sonic has defeated Eggman he will retreat to a space station where Eggman Nega will come out on the lower screen and battle Burning Blaze. Eggman and Eggman Nega will both do this until they are both defeated. Super Sonic controls are quite simple and consist of flying around the screen and performing a damaging bash. Burning Blaze, however, has similer controls yet has the ability to cast a fireball after charging for a few seconds.

End of Stage Rank

At the end of each act (including boss battles), players are ranked on their overall score for the level and given a letter grade of either C, B, A, or S (the highest). The four parameters players are ranked on are Time Score, Trick Bonus, Ring Bonus, and Speed. Players get a "C" ranking if they score less than 50,000 points; a "B" ranking if they score between 50,000-80,000 points; an "A" ranking if they score between 80,000-100,000 points; and an "S" raking if they score at least 100,000 points. In boss battles, the score requirement is halved, but works the same way (and players are only ranked on Time and Ring bonuses). Unlike previous Sonic games, players do not unlock anything for getting the highest rank on each Zone and boss battle.

Multiplayer

"Sonic Rush" uses single card and multi-card wireless play; there is also an option within the game to send demos to other DS users. The multiplayer mode in "Sonic Rush" features a race between Sonic and Blaze in one of the many levels in the game. However, you can not battle bosses in multi-player.

Music

The music is typical for the "Sonic" series, incorporating more overt rocky funk and hip hop influences. They include small phrases and words throughout the songs. These phrases usually becomes the name of the songs.

The soundtrack was composed by acclaimed Sega composer Hideki Naganuma. Other notable soundtracks by or involving Hideki Naganuma include the Ollie King and Jet Set Radio OSTs. Also, a 45 track CD was released in Japan by Wavemaster Studios containing 7 digital remakes and original Nintendo DS tracks. The soundtrack was titled as "SONIC RUSH Original Groove Rush." Released November 23, 2005.

After defeating the final boss for the first time, the classic "Sound Check" option becomes available. In "Sound Check" players can listen to every song throughout the game. Much like the sound check option in Sonic the Hedghog for the Sega Genesis (Megadrive in Europe and Japan) if you used the code "up, down, left, right, A, START" during the title screen.

Reaction

VG Reviews
1UP = B+ [cite web|url=http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3145760&did=1|title=Sonic Rush Nintendo DS Review Index, Sonic Rush Reviews|publisher=1UP.com|date=2005-11-16|accessdate=2008-04-13]
GI = 7 of 10
GSpot = 8.2 of 10 [cite web|url=http://www.gamespot.com/ds/action/sonicds/review.html|title=Sonic Rush for DS Review - DS Sonic Rush Review|publisher=Gamespot.com|date=2005-11-14|accessdate=2008-04-13]
GSpy = 3.5 of 5 [cite web|url=http://ds.gamespy.com/nintendo-ds/sonic-ds/667210p1.html|title=GameSpy: Sonic Rush Review|publisher=Gamespy.com|date=2005-11-15|accessdate=2008-04-13]
IGN = 9 of 10 [cite web|url=http://ds.ign.com/articles/666/666139p1.html|title=IGN: Sonic Rush Review|publisher=IGN.com|date=2005-11-11|accessdate=2008-04-13]
GamePro = 3.5 of 5
NP = 9 of 10
NOM = 92%
Play = 9.5 of 10
EGM = 8 of 10|
compilation = yes|
MC = 82 of 100 [cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ds/sonicrush?q=sonic%20rush|title=Sonic Rush (ds: 2005): Reviews:|publisher=Metacritic|accessdate=2008-04-13]
GR = 83% [cite web|url=http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/920803.asp|title=Sonic Rush Reviews|publisher=Game Rankings|accessdate=2008-04-13] Reviews from both critics and players were positive overall. Critical sticking points include the poorly designed and protracted boss fights, death caused too many times from enemy placement and falling into bottomless pits, and the game's use of supporting characters to occupy the lower screen during battles.

Despite this, Sonic Rush won the Favorite Video Game Award at the Kids' Choice Awards in 2006. Nintendo Official Magazine gave the game a 92%, claiming it is "The Best Sonic Game Ever". The quote was featured on the game's European cover.

Development

onic DS

Before SEGA decided to make Sonic Rush, they developed a short demo called "Sonic DS". This game was for the Nintendo DS. The gameplay involved rubbing the screen to make the character run. [http://ds.ign.com/objects/682/682909.html] . This game was canceled prior to development of "Sonic Rush". Alternatively, it may have just been a graphical tech-demo due to how simple the gameplay was.

Early gameplay videos shows recycled clips of Ryan Drummond (of Sonic Advance 3) into the game. But with the 4Kids voice actors' arrival, Drummond's voice was replaced by Griffith's voice. [http://info.sonicretro.org/Sonic_Rush_%28E3_beta%29]

References

External links

* [http://www.sega.com/gamesite/sonicrush/index.html Sonic Rush]
*nintendo.com|id=34b027cb-cf0e-48e4-990f-ca173d150b7e|title=Sonic Rush
* [http://sonic.sega.jp/rush Sonic Channel site] jp icon