Dr. Robotnik’s Ring Racers: When a Fangame Pushes the Limits of Racing
It would be no exaggeration to say that racing games — kart racers specifically — are a staple of gaming. There isn’t a concrete definition for them, but they typically show off the wackier ideas in the racing world with fantastical levels, unrealistic track design, and attacking/defending using items. Mario Kart, of course, being the frontrunner with over 183 million copies sold in the franchise and Mario Kart 8 (with Deluxe) having sold over 70 million units alone. Many, many franchises have taken a stab at trying to push Mario off the top, with none surpassing in terms of pure sales. Crash Bandicoot, Nicktoons, LEGO, and most notably for this case, Sonic.
Sonic has had a surprising number of racing games in a variety of formats dating back to Sonic Drift on the Game Gear in 1994. Some good, some bad, some experimental, others too basic. In one game you’ll be on-foot in a 2D plane, then another could have you riding a hoverboard in a futuristic city. But sticking to classic karts in the All-Stars trilogy is arguably where they nailed the fun factor.
Technically the first in the series was SEGA Superstars Tennis, which is pretty funny in hindsight, but 2010’s Sonic & SEGA’s All-Star Racing is essentially the first entry. How does it stand out from the others? To be completely honest, it’s Mario Kart. BUT with SEGA properties and characters, nice-feeling physics that lean more into drifting, and a higher focus on skill rather than items.
If you liked Mario Kart and SEGA, it was probably a win for you. All-Stars Racing Transformed, its sequel, had a radical shift with the “Transformed” mechanic. The courses themselves could change each lap, allowing your vehicle to automatically shift between land, sea, and air modes. All had their own advantages and physics, but never strayed too far from each other. Nearly every track in the game was a winner, it had a lot of love poured into it that celebrated SEGA’s legacy, and most importantly, the game felt fantastic to play no matter the character or speed.
Team Sonic Racing, while not a direct sequel, was the closest to a third entry. It unfortunately ended on a pitter-patter, being perfectly fine but only having a stellar soundtrack to compete against modern juggernauts of the genre. If All-Stars Racing didn’t stand out, then TSR was a gallon of water in an ocean. I distinctly remember trying to find a match on a Saturday the weekend after it came out, and the game struggled to find 11 other players. Now it’s been years, with the closest thing to a Sonic or SEGA crossover racer since then being mobile games. Ech.
But when franchises slow down, dedicated fans rise to take their own vision. And quite frankly, few franchises have an impressive list of fans the likes of which Sonic has. People crack jokes (mainly targeting teenagers and their OCs), but when you actually look at fan creations you find an incredible arrangement of music, artwork, romhacks, and in this case, games. I could make a whole article dedicated to sharing the fangames I love, but my focus is on Dr. Robotnik’s Ring Racers, a beyond-fun kart racer made by the Kart Krew team. Emphasizing player skill and blisteringly fast-paced gameplay, it’s unlike any other racing game I’ve experienced.
Ring Racers is a sequel to the racing game Sonic Robo Blast 2 Kart. Which in of itself, is built off of Sonic Robo Blast 2…that is of course a sequel to the 1998 original while also being made in the Doom Engine. This is not a joke. And while it does have a number of snags, Ring Racers is so filled to the brim with passion for the series and SEGA as a whole that it’s hard to not love it.
The “Basics”
I can almost guarantee that one of the first things you’ll hear about Ring Racers is how complicated it can be. Which, for a kart racer, isn’t completely wrong.
To boil things down to the very essentials, you have driving, drifting, using items, and boosting via rings. Rings are all over race tracks, and you can stockpile them to give yourself a jolt of speed when needed. They also serve as your health, with going below -20 rings causing your vehicle to self-destruct. There are of course other mechanics (such as using the Fast Fall to slam yourself to the ground), but those are the critical actions.
Anything and everything in the game revolves around using rings when you need them, particularly around slopes. Much like the mainline platformers, physics play a role in how fast your kart can move on the terrain. In some cases it may be advantageous to slam yourself to the ground on a downwards slope, while the inverse could be true if you take a ramp up a hill. If there’s a ramp you could try to skip over the incline, but it’s always wise to keep a stockpile of rings so that you never get too bogged down.
In a heavily simplified explanation, it’s a loop of racing, drifting around corners, attacking opponents with items, and using rings to always keep yourself moving. Getting more familiar with the other moves can help you, but the game lives and dies based on your effective ring management to maintain speed — which isn’t too hard. However, the real culprit behind the game seeming overly complex is the tutorial.
For starters, the writing is great. It’s strongly implied to be an AU where Dr. Eggman turned good after the events of Sonic Adventure 2 (and Heroes), with him and Tails trying to reprogram Metal Sonic to become THE best kart racer ever. Any and all data is slowly turning him into the ultimate driver, which probably won’t end in disaster. The problem? It’s 45 minutes and has a nasty habit of explaining too much at once. Or should I say, it originally was!
I actually had a whole paragraph written about how overbearing it was, because it technically still can be a whole 45 minute gauntlet if you so choose. But after an update, in the third section of the tutorial the game points out that you have the option to continue (with more advanced techniques being explained if you so desire). Otherwise? You can leave. And thank God for that, because as someone who played at launch it was a slog.
To clarify, not in terms of writing! That was lovely the whole way through. But explaining nearly every little mechanic big and small not only felt like a lot at once, but caused mechanics to blur in my mind. The last two sections are important if you want to get competitive, but for starting out, stick to the first three sections and play a grand prix or two. The once-secret method of skipping the tutorial by playing a race is also highlighted if you’re feeling impatient, but I actually suggest sticking to it. It still explains more mechanics than you’ll probably be used to in a kart racer, but I’d say it’s reasonable to the average person now.
An Insane Amount of Content
However, once you escape from the tutorial, the game shows its true colors as a fast-and-frantic racer that never holds back. You start off with the Relaxed and Intense difficulty, and a third Vicious being unlockable after clearing the first 14 grands prix. These serve as your base speeds, internally referred to as Gears 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The higher the difficulty, the faster you go and more merciless the CPUs become. Believe me, they will become the bane of your existence sooner or later. Most likely? Sooner. But that’s a later discussion.
Right now, the track selection has a total of 149 courses available for people to play. That’s no typo, it’s 149 pure racing tracks split across 30 grands prix, with all except one having five courses to play on. And to the developer’s credit, a great number of them are well-designed! Though by going for a quantity approach, it’s a bit unfortunate to say that there are plenty that leave me feeling mixed.
Around half of the tracks I like, ranging from okay to highly enjoyable. From then, a quarter feel pretty neutral; some redundant in layouts while others repeat themes with little to no twist. The last quarter? I hate to say it, but a lot more negative. Whether it be from a chaotic track layout, too many speed boosts with even more pits, the course dragging on too long, lack of control via setpieces, cluttered visuals, etc. Which when those take up nearly 40 tracks, can be a bit of a problem.
Chemical Facility, found in the Bomb Cup, is a highlight of nearly all the worst issues. So many tight turns around corners, followed by conveyor belts that send you flying into walls or pits, followed by visual clutter that, when combined with the CPUs, makes it a nightmare to beat on Gear 2 or 3 especially. Not to mention that the AI have a real knack for cheating on this course in particular, making it a trial to even place in the top four to proceed. Again, more on that later.
BUT. For all of my gripes with the bad tracks, I still quite liked the majority of them. The best, in my opinion, are the ones that take advantage of the physics/ring system and encourage you to make use of the additional mechanics without outright forcing them.
Storm Rig, for example, has a number of upward slopes and a devious section where you go flying off right into springs that send you backwards and slow you down. The first time, you’ll fall for it. Almost guaranteed. However, you’ll suddenly remember that one move in the endless sea of tutorial text, and the next time you’ll be ready to drop yourself down and keep your momentum. It’s simple (effectively the in-game tutorial that trains you to drop when needed), but it really works.
Lost Colony, while it has some quirks to it, also makes effective use of this mechanic in a different way. Towards the end of the lap you go flying off a ledge into the open air — near-guaranteed to just fly on over. But rather than simply going “whee!”, you can drop onto a downwards slope and give yourself a large speed boost to push yourself even further ahead. Ring Racers has a number of these split-second moments where you could just let the game fling you, ooooor you can drop down to land on a speed pad, get rings, go on a downward slope, all kinds of slight trickery.
Generally speaking, simpler tracks that take advantage of the mechanics to create shortcuts and advantages are my favorite, but that isn’t to say the more complex courses are bad either. Dark Fortress has a good number of traps, slopes, and forced tricks, but the game gives you enough time to visually process this thanks to the more open layout allowing you to get glimpses of what’s ahead.
Vermilion Vessel is another side of the coin where it has more narrow design with lots of speed boosts, but they’re presented as optional to give a risk and reward. Do you go for it and risk bumping into others or hazards, or if you’re good enough, can you use them to shoot from last to first? Not only does it feel rewarding to nail them in do-or-die situations, but it also feels true to Sonic games as a whole with the emphasis on mastery of speed.
In addition to the regular courses, the game also has a battle mode with an impressive 60 maps to attack each other on. I haven’t done multiplayer on it, but all of them are used in the Grand Prix mode via Prison Break. It’s simple: break all of the prison capsules before time runs out. Every prison capsule broken will give you a few additional seconds, forcing you to be quick, efficient, and precise with your items. Every grand prix has two of them without exception, so it’s a good excuse to practice aiming with items.
While I can’t comment on the battle mode itself, the maps in Prison Break were all pretty fun as a whole. I really don’t have too many complaints about them; at worst they might just be confusing on the first go-around until a pattern or order clicks.
It would also be positively criminal to not commend the gorgeous artstyle the game goes for, heavily based on the SEGA Saturn and 32-bit era. Vibrant colors, wonderfully diverse locals, and a heavy mix of stages based on actual Sonic stages, SEGA properties, and the general vibes of the series. There are beyond too many to count, but personal favorites in terms of visuals are Obsidian Oasis, Withering Chateau, Opulence, and Dark Fortress just to name a few of the “early” game tracks.
The game also has at least one unique song for every course, including a few unlockable optional ones by playing Prison Break enough times. I have what can be considered the exact opposite of a musician’s mind, so I’ll just leave it as the composers did a wonderful job bringing the game to life. The majority are yoinked from existing games, but there are also a number of original songs and remixes that are the true highlight. UFO Catcher and Lost in Recollection being two personal favorites. I also love how whenever a song starts, a pop-up appears showing the name, composer, and origin!
And if all of that wasn’t enough, there’s an unlockables board not unlike what you’d find in the Super Smash Bros. series. Completing a task will unlock something — ranging from a character, a decorative follower, a color swap, a new grand prix, etc. — alongside giving a hint on how to unlock the adjacent panels. Playing will also give you “chao keys” to give yourself prizes early or if you think they’re too hard, which I 100% used to skip having to do 100+ time trials, so don’t feel afraid to use them. The only thing you will miss out on is the game displaying 101% completion, and even then you can always complete the task later and have the game still count it as doing the challenge legitimately.
As of writing there are 63 characters total, ranging from mainstays like Shadow, insane deep cuts like Battle Kukku XV, and even 21 guest stars from other SEGA or Sonic-esque properties. Each racer has their own stats, but I’ve talked about mechanics long enough to where they can be summed up as, “All of them are viable in some way.” Even the slowest and heaviest of characters have their upsides.
With such an overwhelming amount of things to do, it’s easy to see why this fangame turned from an update into a whole sequel over the course of five years. But with this bloat, with so much emphasis put on adding stuff rather than keeping it concise, inevitably there are pitfalls to talk about.
High-Speed Aggressive Action
It’s time I talk about the elephant in the room. The Rival system and AI as a whole. This section talks a bit more about the game’s balancing and technical side, so if you’d like to skip ahead then the next section, go right ahead. The most important thing to note is that the bulk of this criticism is for singleplayer specifically, not multiplayer! Don’t let my gripes stop you from playing one of my new favorite kart racers.
I’m no stranger to challenging games — racers included. I adore F-Zero GX even as it kicks me down a flight of stairs for the hundredth time. But when I say cheating, I mean a disgusting level of rubberbanding behind-the-scenes.
“Rubberbanding” is a term used in racing games to describe the AI racers either speeding up when you’re too far ahead, or slowing down so that it’s not impossible to get back into 1st place. Many complain, but it’s an inevitability for racers to have this since making a well-balanced AI that does not cheat whatsoever and can handle complex tracks is really, really hard. But Rivals, my God, they’re relentless. They will ignore all rules of physics to go at impossible speeds and never let up, outright ignoring obstacles in some cases. This clip by @DashboyLazyhog on Twitter is my personal favorite example, but searching “Ring Racers” and “Rival” will yield a number of other results.
The Rival is a designated character invented to make you suffer — to ensure that you will not have a chill time. Every racer has several characters that are likely to appear and perform well. Whoever has the most points from placing well and is a designated character can then become your Rival, hounding you for the remainder of the grand prix. For example, let’s say you select Metal Sonic. Both Amy and Sonic appear as CPUs, so if either of them place above or right below you while you’re in 1st, they’ll become your Rival.
This can be exacerbated by the items available. They’re fine…but very unbalanced. A good invincibility can send you from last to first while leaving everyone in the dust, and your Rival with that kind of power can just as easily smite you. A race where you’ve been flawless could be ended in a flash because the Rival finally caught up, and they’re ready to throw you to the wolves with some homing Jawz missiles. It’s also worth noting that you do not have invincibility frames after getting hit, meaning you can get combo’d by several items until you can feel the tears forming.
When the wind blows your way, you feel like a deity crushing the lowly bugs beneath you. But when the air is choked out of you, the wrath of a thousand Rivals will send you to the deepest depths of despair. I truly enjoyed my time with the game, but at points it felt like it was trying to push me into delirium. Playing online alleviates some of these issues, but item imbalance can still be an issue.
To draw a comparison: Mario Kart Wii. The game’s item balancing feels feral at points, with so many blue shells and lightning bolts and POW blocks that it’s more dangerous than a warzone. But the game wears that on its sleeve, and when you lose, it’s like losing Mario Party where you go, “That was stupid, but fun.” Going back to the very beginning, All-Stars Racing Transformed is probably my favorite kart racer. It doesn’t have a huge track roster, but it compensates by having fun, tight physics that are accessible with a high skill ceiling. Items are there, but they’re light comeback mechanics that you can’t depend on for higher difficulties.
Ring Racers is trying to be technical. All of these systems are in place to encourage you to become the best and have mastery over the tracks with skill alone, but the items are pure chaos. It’s this insane blend of skill and chaos to where I don’t fully know if they stick the landing. I appreciate both sides of the spectrum, but attempting to bridge that gap is tricky. Game designing isn’t my profession, so take what I say with grains of salt. But the dichotomy is impossible to ignore when you play through the main game simply trying to unlock everything.
Nerf the items and it suddenly becomes a much bigger pain to catch up with the Rival, especially on higher difficulties. Nerf the Rival, and suddenly it will become that much more about the chaos of the items. Frankly, which again I am an outsider looking in here, both could use some toning down. The Rival should not be able to reach impossible speeds and maintain them, especially when in 1st place on the final lap. The items have a bit of a bigger reach since they obviously wouldn’t impact just Grand Prix mode, but the game overall.
I have limited experience with online racing, but I still believe that some would benefit from getting nerfed in terms of either their duration or speed boost. The Invincibility and Flame Shield specifically, as the other speed boost items have some form of drawback or skill requirement to be game-breaking in my opinion.
Balancing Act
It’s also very much worth pointing out that the game cheating is mainly an issue when going for completion. As of update 2.2, you just need to come in 3rd place or better on any difficulty to unlock the next cup. Speaking of updates, the developers are hard at work trying to iron out as many issues as possible. It’s their game and their vision, which is why I’m grateful and happy that they seem receptive to change. I don’t want their vision shifted, but I’d also be lying if I didn’t find parts of Ring Racers frustrating.
One great system it uses to alleviate said frustration are the Continues. Placing 5th or worse in a grand prix will automatically use a Continue, and give you a completely fresh start for the race. Are you neck-and-neck with your Rival in terms of points and don’t want to redo the cup? It’s perfectly viable to just self-sabotage. Bomb and get last place? That’s also what they’re there for. Finishing a race with 20 rings will give you an extra Continue, as well as getting a perfect in Prison Break. The only penalty for using a Continue is a score decrease that can impact ranking, so if you’re not going for completion, don’t sweat using ’em. I gave up on all A and S-ranks long ago.
Not as essential to know, but I also just discovered that getting A-ranks increases the difficulty on all modes except Relaxed, and using a Continue decreases the difficulty on all but the highest setting. Bear in mind, I 100% the game. This is more of a self-jab than anything else, but it would’ve been nice to know that sooner.
The high difficulty of the singleplayer mode is arguably the main reason why it earned such an intense reputation almost overnight. Normally when it comes to competitive games, it’s usually the singleplayer that serves as the tutorial and the multiplayer that either makes or breaks you as a fan; the deciding factor on whether you’ll have 30 hours or 300. Me? I’m not a competitive guy. I love me some kart racers with friends on a fine afternoon, but I never cared much when it came to being the best. So I was pleasantly surprised when the fanbase surrounding it was rather relaxed.
During my admittedly brief interactions with the community, I was pleasantly surprised by how inviting it was. The vast majority were very understanding when people asked for help, were united in terror over the intense difficulty spikes, and were usually more than willing to help answer questions regarding unlockables. In a weird way, I’d say it’s one of the game’s highlights. Whether it’s getting help with a challenge, racing with others, or simply wanting a chat, the Discord link is right here or can be found on their website.
Even still, help from others can only do so much against the game on Intense or higher difficulty, which feels like the default considering it’s how you unlocked the later cups through spoiler-y means. Sure, you can unlock most stuff via cheat codes, but saying that as a solution feels like a band-aid. You shouldn’t want to just skip all of the singleplayer because it drags, because then what’s the point of a singleplayer mode? I really do hope they scale back the intensity of the Rival, because even with toning down the AI once in update 2.2, they’re still a force to be reckoned with.
A Highlight and a Hard Sell
Make no mistake with that section title — I do strongly recommend you check out Ring Racers! In spite of the website itself saying, “Ring Racers is not a ‘pick-up-and-play’ experience. If you aren’t already a racing fanatic, the learning curve will be quite steep,” I almost disagree?
Ring Racers is more than fun, just with snags that, as the section says, makes it a hard sell. A wonderfully frantic racer! 45 minute tutorial. Over 200 tracks! You have to go against a dastardly cheating AI. High skill ceiling! Even higher skill needed to avoid the game’s issues. Multiplayer is fun! You unlock most stuff from singleplayer. I don’t regret 100%ing the game while using a few chao keys here and there, but I can’t in good faith tell people to do the same (especially when cheat codes can nab you almost everything). Bomb Cup, Vicious difficulty to unlock that one character was a nightmare. If you know, you know.
The game demands your attention. It’s not Mario Kart, and I wouldn’t want it to be. It is technical, don’t get me wrong, but I wouldn’t call it inaccessible. I don’t know if I’d recommend it as my first kart racer, but if you’ve played one before and enjoy Sonic or SEGA properties, absolutely do not ignore it. Later grands prix and the higher difficulties will push you, but when starting out the game is more generous than I think most would let on.
Also, I CANNOT make this clear enough, but my criticisms primarily lie with the singleplayer balancing. Items do bleed into multiplayer, but it’s the cheating mixed with item balance that nearly drove me up a wall. I saw the people shaking in fear at the Rival system, yet I still charged right in. That’s on me. For a casual experience playing solely on Relaxed just trying to unlock courses before gunning to multiplayer? You won’t have everything, but it’d be a more pleasant experience. Give Intense a shot, but don’t force yourself to push through when, again, the bulk of the challenge is now optional.
Power through that chunky tutorial, because by God it’s worth it! Check it out with friends — pressure your friends to join! Tell them that it’ll run on anything, because it does. It’s the Doom engine for crying out loud. The game is a gorgeous tribute to the Saturn era, and while there are problems (that again, may be ironed out in the future with how attentive the developers are), they’re not major enough to make the game not fun. At the end of the day? That’s what Ring Racers is to me: an insane amount of fun I desperately want others to experience. Readers included, so get on it!
