Since you didn't play the game until it was the better part of a decade old, you might not know the context - many racing games featured a similar level of content at the time. None of the Ridge Racer games featured more than five tracks until Ridge Racer Type 4 and Sega's arcade conversions typically didn't expand on the small selection of tracks in the original coin-ops, yet they were considered acceptable (and often exceptional) at the time.
Well Dunno if you knew this or not but the PC version's controls were much more crisp than the Saturn's. You have a lot more control over the characters in the PC version. Since the version in Gems collection is a direct port of the PC version, the better controls were also carried over. I've had the opportunity of playing both versions and there is indeed something wrong with the Saturn version's controls. I'm not sure if it was intentional or what but you lose control on sharp turns a lot more easily in the Saturn Version than the PC and Gems collection versions. (even with the sharp turn buttons.) The problem with making a Sonic R 2 would be people bitching about what characters should be included/excluded. Then you have the retards that like making creepy pastas about Tails Doll..... (well even before Creepy Pasta became a "thing" people were telling stories about Tails Doll to try and scaremonger stupid and possibly mentally retarded Sonic fanboys. In reality, Tails Doll is just.... a doll. Kind of creepy due to how he behaves (becomes lifeless if he comes in fourth or lower and that creepy floating move he uses to gain speed.) but not "cursed" like some people seem to think. For those of you looking for more stuff to do in Sonic R that haven't done it yet, try racing as Amy. Beating every level as her is very rewarding.
But you unlock those by racing, so... your favorite part from the game is when you can finally stop playing it?
Now that's not exactly true -- You have to collect things along the track while racing in order to unlock everything. But yes, I'm not overly fond of Sonic R, but I like the completionist aspect.
Plus, I think compared to Mario 64 or Crash Team Racing each level feels just a little bit better thought out, or at least has a lot more interesting stuff going on. It can't quite choose whether to lean on mascot racer or more realistic sim, but the balance it strikes between the two doesn't cause the game to suffer much unless you really want one or the other. For me I think it balances the two sensibilities rather well. The one big shame about the level design is that the balloon mode is bugged, because it suits the more open level design style VERY well.
I love Sonic R. It's the best bad Sonic game there is, so it makes it better than all the good Sonic games. I'd be down for a sequel. This is also a prerequisite.
Sonic R was the game that got me into Sonic, so naturally, I love it to bits. Somehow, I don't think a proper sequel world work today, let alone compete with the other fantastic games on the Market. Don't shoot me for this but I think a Sonic R game (Port or sequel) would work better on mobile devices, possibly including gyro controls. Being outdated doesn't stop it from being fun, and I'm sure people would buy it again for £1.99 on the App Store, which also give SEGA the option of adding more characters and bonus content as DLC (Just don't make it freemium, for God's sake). Also, in a thread about Sonic R, I think it's obligatory to make a comment about the music. Despite being cheesy as hell, it somehow remains superb. Including a remix of "Take me back in time" in SART made me happier than it should have.
The version I played the most is exactly the Gems Collection one. It's still bizarrely atrocious to control. I mean, not impossible. You can master it. But I don't really think something as basic as "how to move" should be on the plateau of "this is fun and enjoyable when you've mastered it". I don't know. If SEGA, embolstered by Sonic Boom, did start producing Classic Sonic spinoffs as a third line, I'd certainly love what was suggested in this thread of Sonic R 2 being a classic era sendoff, per se. A best-of. Include characters from Adventure and afterwards, even, given a classic Sonic look. Fun music, fun levels with a surreal look, great stage design. Just please make it control better :P
Never a truer word said. Its utter naffness is endearing. If you don't 'get' it, then you simply don't deserve to enjoy such a gem.
This is pretty much all I'd require, too. I personally hate racing games, for the most part, but I *do* have fond memories of playing the PC port of R. I remember my mother and I both had saves and added to the challenge by seeing which of us could get all the emeralds and characters first. (She won.) So, yeah, as long as it controls better, I'd certainly buy it, if only out of nostalgia. Though, if it brought Tails Doll, Metal Knuckles, and Egg Robo back to the current Sega cast, I'd be even happier. Especially Metal Knux. I always felt like he was sorely underused for the potential he could have had.
I don't get the beef with the controls. You turn with the stick, you hold L or R and tilt and turn quicker, what's easier than that? It's like a 3D Sonic game but with slight Mario Kart controls.
I dunno, maybe it's the really shitty turning circle everyone has? I tend to play as Tails if I'm speedrunning as s/he has the tightest one, but still...
I wouldn't mind seeing something like a fine tuned remake, that adds a few more tracks and modes (and maybe fixes odd imperfections such as the blatantly slanted character stats). What with Taxman's ports and a nice Sonic The Fighters remake, it seems as a good a time as ever to cash in on nostalgia. I didn't mind the controls that much, they're a bit odd to platform characters as, but given it was meant to be a racing game, they kinda made sense. Some of the lower tier characters were ridiculously clunky to pilot as though (and one has to wonder why there are even lower tier characters). The track amount was the game's bigger cop out however. Five tracks is pretty poor, as fun as those five are. Even bringing it up to eight or so could at least amount to a couple of cups. Hell they could have even just made a reverse Grand Prix mode.
Try playing the Saturn version. You'll notice a huge difference right away. I can agree with you that there are small issues with the controls. Most of them can be relatively easily avoided with the L and R buttons for sharp turns (provided you aren't using a character with bad handling like Sonic, Metal Sonic, and Super Sonic. Then it can be a little hard to make turns. That I can agree with.) Tails has by far the best handling in the game IMO.
Considering the existence of Blitz Sonic and Sonic GDK I'm honestly surprised no one has done it yet, let alone a remake of Sonic R. Either way I'd love to see it happen, despite the controls I had loads of fun with Sonic R when I was younger.
That's not how I play. I use the analog stick of the 3D controller exclusively as a throttle (up and down) and turn only using the analog L and R triggers, while occasionally tapping left and right on the analog stick if I need a sharp turn. I think the game was actually built with this type of controls in mind, because using only the L and R triggers to turn will usually turn me in perfect arcs to get long stretches of rings. Your character controls a lot like a car actually, and if you think of it in terms of an analog peddle, analog left and right turning, and a sharp left and right hand break at your disposal, the game controls a lot better. Just in my experience. I wish it controlled more like, say, Sonic Adventure or Sonic Jam's Sonic World, though.
I get kind of nostalgic about Sonic R - I remember seeing things about it in magazines at the time and after moving away from Sega when my family bought a PlayStation, I missed out on the Saturn (I was moaning at my dad to get a Saturn because I was a Sonicfag since '91). I then remember getting hold of a copy for PC and playing it on an old, piece of shit, clunky white tower with a giant CRT screen and hoping to god the game would run alright. Then sitting and completing it all in one afternoon. :v: