Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed is a crossover kart racing game developed by SUMO Digital and published by Sega, released for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U in 2012, Playstation Vita, Windows and Nintendo 3DS in 2013 and IOS and Android in 2014, the game features characters from many Sega properties as well as guest characters as racers, such as Disney’s Wreck it Ralph and JR MotorsportsNASCAR Nationwide Series driver Danica Patrick.
The game is the fourth installment of the Sega Superstars series after Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, in which NiGHTS was absent from the playable cast and only made a cameo as the game’s flag waver.
Before the race, the player selects a character and a setting which will change the kart’s stats. The racers can earn boost by drifiting around and performing air tricks.
The game also features items which the racers can use to take advantage during the race. One item in particular is called the “All-Star Move”, which is a special attack which will make the racers run very fast and attack near racers at the same time.
The game’s main mechanic is that at certain points of the race, the vehicles will transform into cars, boats or planes, giving them different physics.
Before the races, the player can change the difficult by selecting a class, with the C classes being the easiest difficult, and the S classes being the hardests.
Modes[]
Single Race: A regular free race where the player can select a character, a setting, a class and a circuit of their choice. This mode is also available to be played on Multiplayer.
Time Attack: The player races against the clock and tries to be finish the circuit as fast as possible.
Grand Prix: The player races in four circuits consecutively. At the end of each race, the player scores a certain amount of points and at the end of the Grand Prix, the racer who scored the most points wins.
World Tour: The player takes missions in a map and is rewarded with stars. These stars can be used to unlock characters.
Stickers[]
Stickers are a reward which are unlocked by completing conditions in the game. They can be used to customize the player's license.
Unlocked by buying 80 stars in World Tour, 40 stars on the 3DS.
NiGHTS transforms themself into the vehicle and a Nightopian drives them.
NiGHTS turns back into their normal form and flies through the circuit drill dashing into players, while a remix of Message from Nightopia plays in the background
Unlocked by buying 160 stars in World tour, 90 on the 3DS.
Reala transforms himself into the vehicle and a Goodle drives him.
Reala turns back into his normal form and flies through the circuit shooting fireballs at the players while a remix of D Force Masters plays in the background.
Other Characters[]
The game's character selection screen (PC version).
Spring Valley appears as an unlockable circuit under the name Dream Valley as the only NiGHTS circuit from the NiGHTS series. To unlock it, it’s necessary to win the Rogue Cup. Insterestly, it’s the only circuit to not feature car section.
Other Circuits - Origin Game[]
Ocean View – Sonic Heroes.
Samba Studios – Samba de Amigo.
Carrier Zone – After Burner: Climax.
Dragon Canyon - Panzer Dragon.
Temple Trouble – Super Monkey Ball.
Galactic Parade – Sonic Colors.
Seasonal Shrines – Shinobi.
Rogue’s Landing – Skies of Arcadia.
Chilly Castle – Billy Hatcher.
Graffiti City – Jet Set Radio.
Sanctuary Falls – Sonic & Knuckles.
Graveyard Gig – House of the Dead EX.
Adder’s Lair – Golden Axe.
Burning Depths – Burning Rangers.
Race of Ages – original circuit which makes tributes to various Sega games.
Returning Circuits.
Sunshine Tour – Samba de Amigo.
Shibuya Downtown – Jet Set Radio.
Roulette Road – Sonic Heroes.
Egg Hangar – Sonic 2.
Downloadable Circuit[]
OutRun Bad – OutRun 2.
Cameos[]
Nightopians: A Nightopian appears driving NiGHTS. Many Nightopians also appear throughout the Dream Valley circuit.
Elliot, Claris, Will and Helen cameo: NiGHTS was originally going to be driven by one of the four visitors[2]. The idea was disconsidered because according to Steve Lycett, fans would complain if a visitor was chosen over the other, so a Nightopian was selected to be the driver over all of them.
Unused NiGHTS sticker set (Art belongs to Lynne Triplett).
NiGHTS sticker set: In the game, there are two NiGHTS stickers, a NiGHTS and a Reala one. However, besides these two, there is a set of eleven NiGHTS stickers made by the famous NiGHTS fan Lynne Triplett, which was rejected by Sega. The following characters are featured in it:
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (PS3) Nights in Arcade Cup (Expert)
NiGHTS gameplay.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed (PS3) Reala in Emerald Cup (Expert)
Reala gameplay.
Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed- Dream Valley -1080 HD-
Dream Valley circuit.
Trivia[]
NiGHTS cameo as the flag waver in the previous game.
When NiGHTS was confirmed to not appear as a playable character in the previous title, Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing, the NiGHTS Community started a campain to make NiGHTS a dowloadable playable character called “Don’t forget NiGHTS!”. [3] The campain got acknowledge by SUMO Digital and the game's producer, Steve Lycett, answered it saying that they'd be considering to make NiGHTS a DLC. Despite that, Metal Sonic was the only DLC character to make into the game.
There was an interview with the game's producer, Steve Lycett, made by the famous NiGHTS fans, Lynne Triplett and Niyazi Sonmez to talk exclusively about all of the NiGHTS content in the game,[2] making NiGHTS the only series to have such thing.
Lynne Triplett also worked in the game as an artist and was responsible for making the eleven NiGHTS stickers which were disconsidered. She also made a set of Jet Set Radio, Skies of Arcadia and Burning Rangers stickers. The Jet Set Radio one was actually accepted and made into the game.
During the game’s development, Sega published a picture of Stick Canyon in HD on their facebook page as a teaser image for the NiGHTS into Dreams HD remaster. However, some fans though that the picture was actually teasing Stick Canyon as a circuit for this game. [4]
Both Reala and Joe Musashi are voiced by Casey Robertson in this game.
This is the first game in the Sega Superstars series to have region exclusive content (Danica Patrick is not available in Japan).
Ristar, the protagonist of the game with the same name also produced by Sonic Team, took the role of the flag waver of this game, which was NiGHTS role in the previous game.
This is the first game in the Sega Superstars series where all of the NiGHTS-related content starts locked.
NiGHTS and Reala are the only characters to not transform into planes during their all star moves.
If the Nightopian and the Goodle driving NiGHTS and Reala respectively are counted as playable representatives of the NiGHTS series, NiGHTS becomes the series with the most playable characters after Sonic, with a total of four.
This game also marks the first time a Nightmaren other than NiGHTS and Reala is playable. That is, if counting the Goodle driving Reala as an individual playable character.
