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The Sonic fan community has always been one of the most active ones when it comes to mods, fangames and romhacks, to the point where each year there's a couple of events focused on Sonic-related fan games and romhacks being held, with those being the Sonic Hacking Contest (SHC) and the Sonic Amateur Games Expo (SAGE).

Noah N. Copeland and his team have been just some of the many developers that have participated in these events, with one of his most well-known projects as of late is the widely known "Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit", a fully developed fan remake of the original "Sonic Triple Trouble" game released for the Game Gear back in 1994, with Copeland's full 16-bit remake being released just over a year ago.

Afterwards, Copeland and his team started work on yet another project, this time in preparation for SAGE 2023, where he presented yet another remake based on another Game Gear title, this time being "Sonic Drift" released originally for the Game Gear back in 1994, the same year as Sonic Triple Trouble.

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This new remake by Noah Copeland and team follows a similar ideology to that of his Sonic Triple Trouble remake, where he re-imagines the original game as a 16-bit title, complete with a graphical, musical and presentation overhaul, new content and several improvements all around, to give the original title a new and more modern light and gameplay, and it even mixes some elements from Sonic Drift 2 and the main classic Sonic trilogy (Sonic 1, 2 and 3&K) on Genesis.

The demo for Sonic Drift 16-bit is currently available for download for Windows/PC systems on GameJolt, with the demo itself having 3 courses to race through, 7 playable characters and whole bunch of new things to improve over the gameplay that players can test out and expect from the full remake. Copeland does mention on his FAQ that he hopes to have an eventual Android release as well, but that their main focus is the SAGE PC demo at the moment.

Source

 

[ertaboy356b]

same.
oh wait...

Maybe it's because of the instant zoom out during boosts?

 

[x65943]

same.
oh wait...

Great job man, looks beautiful

 

[NinStar]

same.
oh wait...

There's only one issue which I mentioned in a gameplay made by Jaypin88 a few hours ago, the scale of the characters seem a bit too big when they are far away from the camera and too small when they are near it. Other than that everything looks top notch so far.

 

[K3Nv2]

"Devs try to milk Sonic for every penny it's worth."

 

[Jayro]

I hate this. I want these 16-bit remakes to run on real Genesis/Mega Drive hardware.

We need Sonic Chaos on the Genesis!!!

 

[pedro702]

Considering the nature of the project as a 16bit inspired remake, staying 2.5D makes sense.

Going 3D would IMO likely either make things look worse (VDP/Super FX style), not really benefit the game (flat maps) or require a significant rethink of the game to actually benefit from it e.g. redesign the levels.

That said, maybe some day someone will make a 'Sonic Drift 3D'.

this game doesnt run on the console so you could make a regular 3d kart racing game... this is a pc game no need to use 16bit style to make a kart racer, heck the best racers are never 2d/2.5d even kart racers.

 

[tech3475]

this game doesnt run on the console so you could make a regular 3d kart racing game... this is a pc game no need to use 16bit style to make a kart racer, heck the best racers are never 2d/2.5d even kart racers.

Do you look at every retro inspired game with a retro aesthetic and wonder why they don't make them look 'modern'?

Did you look at Sonic Mania's special stages and wonder why the poly count was so low?

Yes, there isn't a technical reason preventing them from being 3D, but then you're changing not only the intent of the project but also either changing fundamental aspects of the game or just creating fluff pieces which don't necessarily benefit the game.

As I said, a 3D Sonic Drift sounds like something for a different project or if you want something even more mordern

Because at that point you might as well go play Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.

 

[KelSolaar]

I would love to see this being released on Mega Drive!

 

[Ligeia]

Looks great ! They need to merge Sonic Drift 1 & 2 into this project to make it the ultimate remake. I would also love it to be available on Megadrive.

 

[LightBeam]

Looks cool really
Makes me think of Robo Blast 2 Kart

 

[SDA]

It's like F-Zero but on the Genesis*.

*I know this wouldn't run on a Genesis console. It's a PC game. Don't even think I am idiot.

 

[RedColoredStars]

Because at that point you might as well go play Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.

I am going to go do that right now. Along with Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. Love those games.

 

[NinStar]

Sometimes when I read the responses I realize that a lot of people seem to have no idea how complex it is to develop a game like this or what artistic choices are.

 

[raxadian]

I didn't even know Sonic Drift was a thing.

Ditto and I know about the game were Sonic can't run fast due to lead shoes.

 

[Error-1-2435-8325]

As someone who has played Sonic Drift and its sequel on Sonic Mega Collection Plus, this is PERFECT!

 

[freestile]

So sweet. Can,t wait to try this and Triple Trouble.

 

[duwen]

Can it really call itself "16 bit" if it's not playable on a 16 bit system?

 

[sonictopfan]

Heck yeah, I should try this

 

[DragonMals]

This game looks SO MUCH BETTER than the original Drift! I wonder if this is going to contain all of the tracks from 1 and 2, and include some new ones inside there.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Because at that point you might as well go play Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.

Is that a bad thing? I quite enjoyed Transformed. It did some things even better than Mario Kart - Like having a story mode of sorts, with missions to do that are not simply "place 1st" but actually add some depth and variation to the gameplay.
And while I'm not a huge Sega fana nd therefore am not familiar with some of the IPs featured there, I did appreciate how varied the levels were as a result of utilizing all the various IP.
I'd like to see Nintendo do this more. They finally put Link in Mario Kart 8, along with a Zelda themed level or two (which are among my favorite in the game), but they should just go all in and make a sort of "Smash Bros Kart", including as many different IP as possible.