Sega announces Sonic Rush Adventure for Nintendo DS

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Apr 16th 2007 at 8:23PM }

Sega of America has finally and officially announced Sonic Rush Adventure, the sequel to 2005's superb and slightly less adventurous Sonic Rush. And yes, you did just spot the word "superb" in a sentence discussing a modern Sonic the Hedgehog game. The hedgehog's initial DS outing (developed by Dimps) benefited from a breakneck pace, restrained use of touch screen functionality and a 2D perspective for the majority of the game. With any luck, Sonic Rush Adventure won't deviate too much.

Though there are pirates this time. From the early look of things, Sonic gets an array of vehicles to maneuver through enemy waters, presumably as a replacement to the classic running-down-a-tube special stages. The press release also makes special mention of 3-D boss battles (which worked surprisingly well before) and "the evil boss character, Captain Whisker." You're probably supposed to take him seriously.

Sonic Rush Adventure is developed by Sega Studios and is scheduled for a Fall 2007 release on Nintendo DS. It will support multiplayer racing and mission-based battles over Nintendo Wi-Fi.

[Geeky note: The return of Sonic Rush and Jet Set Radio composer, Hideki Naganuma, is unconfirmed at this point.]

Gallery: Sonic Rush Adventure (DS)

Tags: Nintendo, Sega, Sonic, Sonic Rush, Sonic Rush Adventure, Sonic the Hedgehog, SonicRush, SonicRushAdventure, SonicTheHedgehog

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neodawg @ Apr 16th 2007 8:34PM

nice....the DS just keeps getting better

Zakkk @ Apr 16th 2007 8:35PM

YAYZORZ!!!

Genoboost @ Apr 16th 2007 8:39PM

That "geeky note" is probably the biggest thing on my mind since I heard this game was announced! Hideki Naganuma got a lot of musical power out of the DS on Sonic Rush.

Rob @ Apr 16th 2007 9:09PM

Hell yeah, oh and Ludwig, why did you delete my last post about you and the RE:UC game? Seemed kinda pety.....anyways, this is great news. Sonic Rush was/is awesome. I hope they have the same kinda music.

required @ Apr 16th 2007 9:17PM

Like most DS titles, this looks like 2001 GameBoy: http://media.gameboy.ign.com/media/015/015980/imgs_1.html

Mike @ Apr 16th 2007 10:07PM

Oh, absolutely.

Not.

If you could see all of the 3D effects going on, such as the rings and Sonic himself, the enemies and half of the level itself (i.e. swinging vines), then you wouldn't be saying that.

By the way, did you see the 3D boss battles and racing portions of the game? Thought not.

fox @ Apr 16th 2007 10:09PM

ummmm. . . not even close.

mmxzero @ Apr 16th 2007 10:37PM

I sure hope they dont get rid of the stylus controlled "running down a tube" emerald stages. I thought that they were great, one of my favorite parts of Sonic Rush.

John @ Apr 16th 2007 10:45PM

This is gorgeous, and not unlike the Sonic we all got hooked on.

I am hope, hope, hoping that they will see the error of their ways and release a 2d (mostly) Sonic for ps3 and 360 which would require less development cost than their amazingly craptastic outing on next-gen machines, and they could sell it online or in stores for $20. I would pay $40 for a good 2d sonic on next-gen, but I don't think most people would, and I think Tekken at $20 is an example that it's possible to do this, for cheap.

Please, Sega, listen to the critics, hell, listen to the players!

We don't need 3d Sonic if camera angles are so bad (take lessons from Ratchet and Jak-- they did it right, you didn't, so go back to 2d).

We don't care if it's 2d, it still can be gorgeous, and wasn't all of Sonics best moments in 2d? What, you want we should expect Megaman in 3d, now?

NO!

Give us Sonic in 2d.

Okay. I done now.

Rubang B @ Apr 16th 2007 11:06PM

Sega said they're only making Sonic games for Nintendo systems for a while now. If you want 2-D Sonic, get a DS, and if you want 3-D Sonic, get a Wii.

burninhell @ Apr 17th 2007 3:06AM

I actually have a certain amount of dread for Nintendo's NEXT handheld, which will probably have visuals similar or close to what the PSP can do now, if not better...because I want to keep playing HAND-DRAWN artwork-based 2D or 2D/3D hybrids like these DS Sonic titles...

WHY aren't we seeing super-high-resolution 2D games for PS3/Wii/360? They'd rather do stuff like the recent half-assed 360/PS3 Sonic than give us a huge, sprawling 2D epic with visuals that look like moving printed pages? Super Paper Mario can't be the ONLY game like this, dammit.

Wouldn't it cost less to do high-res 2D games than 3D games with CG cutscenes? Why are the Japanese developers ignoring this style?

Yeah, I know there are a few, and those few make me happy but I want a FULL-ON 2D Sonic or Castlevania with all the horsepower of a PS3 or Wii behind it.

I suppose the fans will eventually have to make these games themselves...

RockLoi @ Apr 17th 2007 9:38AM

Yah, definitely agree, I hoped the HD generation would bring us sprites that look large, luscious and beautiful at 60fps and 1920x1080 resolutions. Sadly, even great looking games like Super Paper Mario insist on transferring to a much uglier 3D plane, which from what I've heard from all reviews is considerably less fun.

And whilst Sonic Rush is better than all other recent Sonics, it's still the worst 2D iteration. The Sonic Advances were awesome. Sonic involves moving really fast from left to right, so surely a widescreen rather than a vertical screen would leave you with far fewer unexpected enemies and unforeseeable drops to your death?

Basically, I'm just saying HD 2D Sonic FTW. And pirates? Boats? Sonic Team are doing themselves no favours in climbing out of their graves. Gah.

Thomas @ Apr 17th 2007 10:03AM

The 2D gameplay looked much better in the original Sonic Rush, but the 3D gameplay seems to look much much better this time around.

James @ Apr 17th 2007 11:47AM

So why is it that Sonic hasn't looked nearly as good since the Genesis days? Both the gameboy advance and DS are more powerful than the Genesis but neither can manage to implement decent 2D graphics in Sonic. Maybe it's the low resolution but it's gotta be better than this!

mr mobius @ Apr 17th 2007 12:52PM

Its about time. The 3rd dimension is blasphemous to sonic.

Sonic is meant to be 2D, and works best 2D so maybe this is what Sonic needs to get back in popular circles again.

New Super Mario Bros was brilliant as well, and even though mario works in 3D, I found nsmb to be as entertaining, if not more so. Surely Sonic has almost as many fans, so could also top the DS charts and remain in it for many weeks or months.

Shiroi Kaze @ Apr 17th 2007 1:00PM

I wish I could be as optimistic since I loved the original Sonic Rush... I even liked Blaze the Cat... this... I'm unsure of. It's a different developer and already they're sticking sonic in a boat... why does Sonic need to drive a boat?! PLEASE don't ruin the only good Sonic franchise left....