Unlike his monumental debut in the Super Smash Bros. franchise, Sonic has - bizarrely - yet to make any kind of appearance in Mario Kart. Yes, we know he's technically got his own racing game with Team Sonic Racing and what not, but come on, it's Mario Kart!
Clearly, we weren't the only ones to think this, as a talented modder known as 'Squadaloo' has created a new mod for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe that not only adds Sonic into the game as a playable character, but introduces Green Hill Zone as a brand new course, complete with its own custom soundtrack!
It's an impressive accomplishment, to be sure, and we're particularly taken with the addition of a pixellated Sonic sprite in place of the standard glider. The course itself works wonders with the general theme of 'anti-grav' in Mario Kart 8, allowing the modder to introduce Sonic's iconic loops, and Sonic himself doesn't have his own kart because, well, he doesn't need one, does he?
You can check out a full rundown of the course in the below video:
What do you think of this Sonic mod for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe? Have you seen similar impressive feats that you'd like to share? Let us know in the comments!
[source gamebanana.com, via twitter.com]
Comments 36
But why aren't the coins texture modded to be rings? Missed opportunity there for sure.
Looks cool though.
See... now THIS is what I want a modern 3D Sonic game to look like!
Just like how Sonic R on Saturn was exactly what I wanted a 3D Sonic in 1997 to look like...
We still see stuff like this in official non-Sonic Team material - like the opening of the first Movie, or the new Sonic Prime show on Netflix, as well as most of the mobile games, 2d games, and merch. I live in hope that one day the devs of the main series of games will catch up and realise what the rest of Sega's licensing team realises, that this is the aesthetic fans most associate with the characters.
Its baffling to see stuff like Frontiers when the exact same gameplay style would work with a more "Mobius" aesthetic... and it would actually be less taxing on the engine and not have so many worries about framerate, pop-in etc.
As bizarre as it is to see Sonic running with kart physics and mechanics, this course is absolutely to die for.
Awesome course, if only it were part of the DLC
This is so, so coooool!!!!
But it it should have used the hand-glider from SMS Sonic 2, so in the spirit of it being on the internet in 2022, I have decided to hate the whole thing.
Wow, this remake of Sonic R looks great.
I wish SEGA would bring back Sonic Racing Transformed in 60fps. Make it free to play, cross play with characters and vehicles from SEGA's vast library for sale.
It's one of the best racing games I've played but with proper online modes it could be the best.
@papa_frezz Haha I was thinking of saying it should have been his hang-glider.
It's weird they went to all that effort to design the course but didn't change the text at the start from Sweet Sweet Canyon to Green Hill Zone. It took a little away from the sense of belief of it being a new course knowing it's a modified Sweet Sweet Canyon.
@OorWullie Unpopular opinion perhaps but I like Transformed even better than MK8... which I think is the best in the series, so thats saying something in my estimation.
The difference in handling over the controls in boat and flying modes compared to the karts actually feel substantial and nuanced (the boat handling reminds me of Wave Race, again, a huge compliment). The flying, underwater and anti grav bits in MK8 are cool and all, but don't really feel substantial to me, in comparision.
Also the wide variety in settings in Transformed is amazing. I'm a Sega fanboy so I love all the references but I think stages like the After Burner and Panzer Dragoon are just flat out cool and unique to race on regardless of if you know the origins.
That said, I recently tried to go back to it on Wii U, which is where I first played and loved it, and the performance is worse than I remembered, sadly. Seems solid, but at 30fps, compared to 60 for MK8. It plays like a dream on PC though! I'd be more than up for a Switch port, as long as they could nail down 60fps.
@OorWullie "I wish SEGA would bring back Sonic Racing Transformed in 60fps"
Given they couldn't even get Sonic Colours running on Switch in 60fps I wouldn't bank on it. You can play it on Xbox Series X in 60fps now though.
@Kiz3000 I saw the video on the creator's official YouTube channel and they had a comment explaining why when I saw it, but they've since turned comments off.
Basically though, from what I recall, the reasoning is that if they'd replace coins with rings on this track, coins would be replaced with rings on ALL tracks. Essentially they'd have to replace either Hyrule Circuit or the Animal Crossing stage and replace either the rupees or bells with rings instead as those stages already have coins replaced. It's probably possible but sounds like they just don't have the knowledge how to do so as of yet.
Now I want Tails to replace the glider.
Well it definitely looks and feels like a Mario Kart 8 course.
Too bad about the annoying voice work. Otherwise it's an amazingly well done mod job.
If they could switch the coins to rings and added some classic Badniks as track hazards, this would be one of the best MK8 tracks in my opinion.
This actually shows that sonic racing would be better without karts! Team sonic racing was such a let down as well.
And suddenly it makes sense. All these years, sonic team have been attempting to create a 3D platformer based on sonic when what they really needed to do was create a 3D racing gaming and just ditch the notion of platforming!
Imagine a 3D sonic game where the focus was on navigating the levels using some kind of interesting drift, boost mechanic and it wasn’t bogged down with having road stops of enemies and superficial platforming sections.
Genius. Huge respect to the maker of that track for showing the way.
@OorWullie Transformed in 60fps with some improvements? Absolutely, I'd love to see that. But as a free-to-play game? Noooo, don't do it.
@Clyde_Radcliffe
I always just assume when this much effort is put in, anything that wasn't changed just wasn't able to be changed. Maybe it's something that's hardcoded in?
Like how in Smash Bros Mods they're never able to change the artwork or the names for the character.
Sonic R 2 anyone ?
@KoopaTheGamer I say free to play because that's the best chance it has of building and holding onto a sizable online player base.
As long as it's just cosmetic stuff, I'm fine with free to play.
@samuelvictor If its performance was as smooth as MK8 and it was easy to find online races, I'd definitely rate it as the best kart racer ever. The performance though bothered me even at the time and I'm pretty sure the Wii U version was, at the time, the best of the 3 console versions. I bought it a few months after launch and the online was practically dead.
The single player content though was really great with a lot of variety and challenging to boot. Races were intense, relying on skill rather than luck, with very little rubber banding, if any.
Like you say, the tracks were really cool too, especially for those of us who grew up with SEGA. The Afterburner track is amazing. I'd love to be able to play that regularly with others online.
I think it would work really well as a live service game, provided it's done right. But then it's SEGA...
@Clyde_Radcliffe Yeah, it's wishful thinking haha. Cheers for the tip.
@OorWullie People here can't seem to grasp the concept that f2p just means purchasable skins in nearly every game for some reason.
@Clyde_Radcliffe I’ve seen other custom track videos and they always have a name of an original track instead of the modded one at the beginning. I’m guessing it’s just something you can’t change or modders haven’t worked out how to change yet
Nice mod but all things Sonic didn't get much of an appreciation. No rings, a few text are still incorrect, and Sonic's jumping is unnatural. Still better than anything seen in Team Sonic Racing.
I suddenly want a Sonic R sequel. What's Richard Jacques up to these days?
That looks like it could be official, kudos to the creators of this mod.
Ran across this on YouTube before here. Was hoping it was part of the dlc. Sadly not. One can dream.
Sonic Team could never make anything this good!
(this is not meant to be inflammatory. That MK8 Sonic mod is just amazing.)
If this was in MK8D, it would immediately be in the SS tier of courses. Bravo to such an amazing mod job.
Best kind of mod. Too bad they used the Roger voice.
Looks rad. Choice of music track could be better though.
Nice work actually. I would enjoy playing that. Sort like a Sonic R MK hybrid
@OorWullie Yeah I played it on Wii U long before I played MK8. Loved it and nearly 100% all the single player stuff. Then got MK8 later and enjoyed it too, but felt slightly under whelmed and that Transformed was the better game. But coming back and trying them both out back to back, its obvious that MK8 has the better framerate on Wii U.
As soon as I got a decent gaming PC I switched to playing Transformed on that in much higher res and framerates and its perfect I assume its the same if playing on Series X. IF they could pull it off at 60fps ib Switch I'd be really happy, would love to have a smooth portable version... but given how many WiiU ports struggle to get improved performance when moving to Switch, its far from guaranteed. Perhaps whenever we get teh fabled "Switch Pro"
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