Day 115: Sonic Drift

Riddle me this: Why did Sega release their kart racer for the floundering Game Gear handled system instead of their wildly successful Genesis console? Not only would this have made for a much better game, it would have made for a game that people might have actually played.

With the word "drift" right there in the title, you might expect to do a lot of drifting. And you would be right. Once you master drifting, you can also expect to win most of your races very easily. Just look how far ahead of the other racers I am.


Sonic Drift doesn't offer a lot of depth. There are only four characters to choose from and power ups are limited to speed boost, temporary invincibility and spring jump and play a very small role. Yes, there are three cups with six races each for a grand total of eighteen tracks, but only the last three lap race lasted longer than 1:15, it clocking in at 1:40. I was able to play through the entire game in less than half an hour.

Given the Game Gears notoriously short battery life, maybe programmers felt they had to make the game as short as possible. But they still could have made it interesting.