Sonic Riders

Sonic Riders
Developer: Sonic Team Publisher: Sega Platforms: PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Windows Released in JP: February 23, 2006 Released in US: February 26, 2006 (GCN/Xbox/PS2), November 17, 2006 (Windows) Released in EU: March 3, 2006 (GCN/Xbox/PS2), November 24, 2006 (Windows) Released in AU: March 23, 2006 (GCN/Xbox/PS2) Released in KR: March 30, 2006 (GCN/Xbox/PS2) This game has unused areas. This game has unused code. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused models. This game has unused sounds. This game has revisional differences.

In Sonic Riders, you play as Sonic and his friends (or the newcomer Babylon Rogues) as they ride (obviously) air-based hoverboards, skates, and bikes in a race to win the World Grand Prix.

Notable for being the final Sonic game to be released for the Nintendo GameCube and Xbox.

Test Level

A test level was found in the PC version of the game. It is a long, oval track with no interactable objects, aside from some item boxes and the lap finish line, and some missing textures that were replaced with custom textures by modders. Invisible walls prevent you from falling off the track. Discovered by Yacker, a veteran coder from the Sonic Riders Competitive Community, while modding the PC version of the game.

Unused Text

Present in the PS2 version's executable are a couple of strings related to the libraries used for this game.

At 0x34BE90:

SEGA NN Library for PlayStation2
nn Ver 1.18.43 Build:Oct  7 2005 16:13:05
1.18.43
%s Version %s
(C) SEGA Corporation Creative Center Graphics Sect.

At 0x34d041:

PX Ver.1.46.04 Build:Jul 15 2005 19:12:36

At 0x3518D1:

PX Plus Ver.0.87.02 Build:Aug 22 2005 15:30:24

Windows Screenshot Functionality

If you create a folder called "ScreenShot" in the PC version of Sonic Riders and press the F11 key, the game will save a screenshot to the folder.

Note: Out of the box this feature doesn't work on modern OS, because the developers set the DISCL_EXCLUSIVE flag in the call to DirectInput's SetCooperativeLevel function. This causes the game to swallow keyboard input messages, blocking hotkeys, including their own.

You can patch this behaviour out by modifying 0x513764 (push 05) in the DRM-free version version of the game with e.g. push 01.

Oddities

Chao's Lower Body

The Chao that runs the shop has its lower body fully modeled but this can't be seen normally due to the fixed camera showing you the front only.

(Source: Ferrox)

Platform Differences

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Is there any more changes?

Sonic Riders, like many 6th-gen Sonic games, was first developed for the GameCube, and then ported to PlayStation 2 and Xbox, with the Xbox version serving as the basis for a Windows version. There are several differences between all versions.

General Differences

The GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions run at their consoles' native resolution of 640x448, while the Xbox version runs at the console's native 640x480. All versions target 60fps, with the PlayStation 2 version exhibiting the most drops in performance on original hardware, the GameCube version running the best, and the Xbox version mostly sticking to its target frame rate, with frame drops being especially common when played on an Xbox 360. The GameCube version supports Dolby Pro Logic II audio for the game and cutscenes, with the PlayStation 2 version additionally having support for Dolby Digital 5.1 during CG cutscenes. The Xbox version supports full Dolby Digital 5.1 throughout the entire game and all cutscenes.

PS2-Specific Differences

The PlayStation 2 version uses far lower fidelity assets throughout the in-game races, particularly character and gear models. This does not apply to in-game cutscenes. Lighting is severely simplified, giving characters during races a more plasticky look, akin to that of Sonic Heroes, while effects such as grinding sparks and the boost aura are also simplified, likely to improve the overall frame rate. Sound effects are also lower quality on PlayStation 2, though not to the same degree as Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog on the same system.

Choppy Xbox CG Cutscenes

Many copies of the Xbox version are defective and have problems displaying the CG cutscenes where they play but appear very choppy. The cause of the glitch is unknown and varies on how you play the Xbox version, as some systems, as well as the Xbox 360, play the CG cutscenes just fine.

Windows Port

Like other Windows ports of Sonic games, Sonic Riders has a pretty poor port. Some of the bugs present are only in the Windows version, while other bugs originate from the Xbox version.

Characters' Immobile Pupils

In the Windows version, every character in the non-CG cutscenes that has eyes has their eye pupils fixed to a forward-looking position and not moving around. This is not seen in any other version of the game.

PlayStation 2	Windows

Misplaced Mouths

In the last non-CG cutscene in the Babylon Story Mode, some characters (mostly Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles) appear to have their mouth misplaced on their face. This bug is also present in the GameCube and Xbox versions.

PlayStation 2	Windows

No Music Volume Decrement

There's no decrease to the volume of the background music in the PC version. This bug occurs in places such as:

• Pausing the game: The music is supposed to turn down on the pause menu. However, this doesn't happen in the PC version.
• Skipping the credits: The music played during the credits (High Flying Groove for Heroes' story, Catch Me If You Can for Babylon's story) is supposed to fade out when skipping the credits. In the PC version, music plays until it's suddenly cut off.
• Playing SEGA CARNIVAL/SEGA ILLUSION Jingles: In the tracks SEGA CARNIVAL and SEGA ILLUSION, when entering a game's area, a jingle plays that's based on the main theme of that game. The BGM should turn down for the jingle to play, and then turn up again. In the PC version, the jingles play as the BGM volume is still up.

Missing In-Game Lines

In the gameplay, characters have lines for landing a trick correctly, as well as incorrectly, attacking others, being attacking by others, etc. In the Windows version, almost every character has lost lines for at least one of the above in the English voice bank; however, the Japanese voice bank has no missing in-game lines.

To do: Upload some video footage of these bugs.