I Played Every Sonic Riders Game 

“Not just a race. But a special race! To see who’s the fastest!” ~ Actual line from Eggman in the script of the first Riders game

Sonic Riders was so fun to play with friends, Zero Gravity looked cool, and glad Free Riders got a mod to make it playable

That last corner in Babylon Garden was also a personal nightmare as a kid 💀

Jon's right, the vibes ARE so on point! Like he said, many called it a complicated "mechanic overload" but it has such an awesome high speed, super stylized "Sega-Arcade" feel with kickass tunes that totally scratched my itch for more F-Zero GX vibes.

The first riders game is probably one of my favorite racing games of all time.

26:48 Not only that, but there's a guitar sample in the Rocky Ridge music that's also used in Riki's theme from the first Xenoblade. If I had a nickel for every time Sonic Free Riders shared a music sample with the Xenoblade series, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice

Whenever I see the first Sonic riders it takes me back to the early 2000s to simpler times. The style the game has is just way past cool lol

it's honestly ridiculous how much free riders benefits from that no-kinect patch, its basically a new game

"With a little bit of work, it can be the best game sega has ever done" is the perfect description for most sonic games tbh. Great video

This series NEEDS to come back

once you're over the learning curve of the original game it's so fun, haven't played in years but it was a pretty frequent disc in the gamecube. never got zero gravity but when i tried it at a cousin's i felt let down. but at least that had my guy billy hatcher!

The PS2 PAL versions were some of the only PS2 games to support PAL60, although you had to hold Triangle while booting up the game to activate it.

I *love* ZG. One of my fav Sonic games. The first Riders is also great but I think the skill ceiling (floor?) was a lil much. Not even just the difficulty, but things like the grinding show to me they just decided to add unnecessarily complicated or extra imputs that weren't needed. Free Riders being a good game now is great! Really wanna try it some time. It's cool how it and 06 are both getting a new lease on life recently.

i feel like free riders was initially designed with just a standard xbox 360 controller in mind but when microsoft told sega that the kinect was coming out soon and they wanted them to create a launch title to showcase the kinect’s abilities, sega quickly shoehorned in the kinect into free riders and forced people to use that instead of a standard xbox 360 controller

It's painful to see just how easily standard controls could've been implemented into Free Riders. They could have even kept the Kinect controls in a separate mode if they really wanted to have a "Kinect game" for the launch.

I really miss the Sonic Riders series! I need a modern entry ASAP! My nostalgia can not take it anymore!

I remember seeing Sonic Rider's animated opening when it came out and immediately became obsessed. Man it was a vibe, even if I sucked at the game itself.

As a kid I could NEVER get into the first Riders game, so when the sequel released and simplified things I could finally play and actually win some races and it was AWESOME. Zero Gravity definitely has a place in my heart

I feel so happy that Jon is mentioning rivals. I like rivals 2 especially and think it has a cool concept. Played alot of rivals 2 on my PSP even nowadays.

Regarding turbulence in the first, there's actually a hidden mechanic where you can build up the jump on the turbulence and do a high or long jump even if you don't have the time to hold it. When you hold jump and leave turbulence, when you land a "vortex" will appear beneath you and if you let go when it happens, you can do a charged jump. You can also exit turbulence by pressing L1 and R1 at the same time

I don't think I ever saw real footage of Free Riders, it really looks and feels like an Arcade game, reminded me of a modern Cruisin Game.

There is no better proof that Riders had a lot of potential than the modding comunity. Each one completely rebalances the game's overall mechanics, characters and gears (even changing the mechanics of certain ones), but also adding new ones, like Emerl, Tikal, Reala, a G.U.N. gear and Chaos depending on the mod. For OG Riders there is SR Tournament Edition and SR DX, and for ZG there is Regravitified that I know of, and I think all of them have tournaments online being held by the comunity on Dolphin. I recomend every fan of this series to check them out.

I spent countless hours on riders 1&2 back in the day. I spent 30 minutes on free riders.

I always love the Riders games I wish they brought it back , it cool to have a racing game trying to be it own thing and not just be about cars, , hope for a new full game or a collection of all the game for Modern console specially give them all online to make it really fun.

I wish there was an easier way to play them nowadays, like a collection of them would be nice

"with a tiny bit of work could be the best ever" Meanwhile the Sonic riders tournament edition fan project is right there having already done it

this is by far my FAVOURITE childhood game!! everytime i bring it up no one ever knows what i'm talking about, it's a true hidden gem!!

If only they would make more sonic riders games

I still vividly remember getting the original Sonic Riders for my 10th birthday (this, and a big ol' trampoline!), and I remember hating the game so much because of how the game handled, but as time went on, I started to love the game, and STILL love the game! (I still have my original PlayStation 2 Greatest Hits copy of the game since that birthday), shame that Zero Gravity leaves me underwhelmed when compared to the original.

Riders 1 was confusing to me when I first got it, but once it clicks it just feels amazing to play in every way.

A Jon video is always a delight. I played the original Riders as a kid. I quite enjoyed it. Its very engaging but i do feel the entry hurdle has kept casual friends from enjoying it. Ive never played the other entries. Love the Babylon Rogues though.

It is nice to get your optimistic perspective on a series I haven’t heard a ton of good about. Great video Jon!

I loved Riders on GameCube and Zero Gravity on Wii (tho I needed to use a GameCube controller) and hell even Free Riders for the Kinect was a fun challenge with a bizarre but ok story. Also ZG added Silver so that’s a plus for me

If there was ever a Sonic spin-off that deserved an HD remake, it's Sonic Rush: the first Riders is definitely a close second though 😎

Going to Riders after playing ZG made it even harder to understand, an in-depth Tutorial VS a barely there tutorial. You absolutely need a lot of tutorials to be able to properly understand Riders. I played it a good but when I was younger, got Super Sonic and all. ButI was completely lost when I tried to replay it again years later. Edit: Also, Riders' tracks were dark, there were times when I couldn't actually see anything because of how dark they were. Also also, as someone who logged well over 100 hours in ZG, there's a lot more to set the best apart from the not best than you think, especially in the later tracks. Crimson Crater has a ton of skips. Also, there are nuances to when to use the gravity dive too.

I'd love a new one. They've done a few of the kart racers now so I hope they go back to this

I loved the first sonic riders, the small amount of mechanical depth during racing was refreshing coming from the basics of atv offroad fury and gran turismo. The sequels never got me the same way.

The first game feels truly like an OG Sonic game. What are the boards powered with? Air! Just air.

10:00 there are some ways around the turbulence, if you press both the triggers of whatever controller you are using, you will pop right of out of it. OR you can just pick the heavy bike and the game will ignore them comepletely

Xenoblade X came out 5 years later. This was probably a shout back after another theme from Free Riders sampled Xenoblade Chronicles,Theme of Rocky Ridge.

Did anyone else think that their screen became static at 1:34? Jon's background at that point is kinda trippy until the game cases came into frame. haha.

Now this is Good Vibes, Sonic Riders captivated my 6 year old self, tracing the characters back when games used to come with manuals. It was awesome.

16:58 Correction here, the AI is not in fact cheating. The leveling system of the default gears does not apply to all gears. Some gears have the type upgrade first, or just have access to them by default (for example, skates can always grind, air rides can always fly, etc.) NiGHTS is using Angel/Devil, which is an air ride gear, so it can fly by default. SCR-GP is a wheel-type gear, so the robots can automatically crash through obstacles (and it's not like Super Mario Kart either, if you're playing as the robots then you can too). To combat this, if you yourself are riding a default gear, you can hold off on getting the first upgrade and wait until you have 50 rings (40 in the case of gears that transform into air rides) to access shortcuts early on, often within the first 20 seconds. Alternatively you could purchase skates, air rides, bikes, wheels, and/or yachts to have access to shortcuts by default, or a board that has the grind upgrade first like Faster or Fastest (if you just want to spam Y lol).

I freaking hate Free Riders. I’m amazed it was as responsive as it was to you, even if it wasn’t too responsive in the long run.

The Riders game definitely have my favourite new characters and aesthetic overall. Sonic Jet Set Radio Hoverboarding? No other Sonic game has my 2 favourite things combined

Love sonic riders for GameCube. First game I ever 100% as a wee lad

Sonic Riders on the PS2 was my very first Sonic game and since then..... I've been a huge fan of the blue hedgehog, this is my favourite racing game of all time

Sonic Riders is tricky to learn at first but not impossible. When you master it it feels amazing. I sunk a crazy amount of hours into the original and love it to this day. I own Zero Gravity but didn't put much time into it at all and didn't pick up Free Riders. Jon I can't belive you think the Werehog and Jet sound the same? Jet is way more high pitched and Jason Griffith tried to make his voice bird like if that makes sense. Werehog is much deeper. Great video!

I want more Cream and Vector Collabs in the future

Aww, the corner cutoff's gone

I love how ambitious and outlandish they were with the story

All I ever wanted was a remastered sonic riders with online multiplayer...such a unique and awesome racing game with a banger of an ost. I still listen to sand ruins haha

So what I gather from this, is that the Riders games are actually pretty fun once you get the hang on them, and that all the negativity surrounding the games is therefore once again due to memes and the internet mocking what it doesn't understand. "Oh my, this game's controls are hard to get used to? Better make fun of it and say it is the game's fault instead of me lacking skill".

It’s me I’m a freak who still thinks about Rivals Also shoutout to you Jon for recognizing the unique untapped potential of the original Riders. Some people say it screams 90s/2000s edge as if that’s a bad thing. Games like Bomb Rush Cyberfunk and Splatoon show that plenty of players are willing to eat up a modern day “extreme” attitude. Although I admittedly was never a huge fan of the in-game slapstick art style and crude humor… Eggman farts on people 😐 the goated 2D art also was never really reflected in the character models themselves but I appreciated the difference in proportions and accessories nonetheless; made it feel like a completely separate universe. As much as I want a new entry though, I don’t see them returning to the fast-paced glory that made the first so addicting. Whenever remasters of Adventure-era games reenter the rounds of discussion, I throw in a little mention of Riders. Even just a port to modern platforms would be cool but SEGA refuses money, what else is new. Thanks for hyping it up still. You can exit turbulence with the tornado move btw 😉 (actually watch the hidden tutorial video)

honestly it kills me that the first riders game wasn't properly explained, and people to this day say "its hard" when it actuality it really isn't. I agree however, that the true crime of this game is its tutorial. I was very young back then, but i was lucky to let that game on the screen running and get the tutorial from there, then i explored the galery and saw how it worked. So once i learned how that game worked, I was addicted to it. Then i also got Zero G, and while it was ok and eventually grew to like it, the first is UNDENIABLY better. Just get good. Like dark souls. if you can play that game and get "enjoyment" out of it, then you -MUST- can enjoy the first game!! -yep i wanna people to realize its good. please-

Hiroyuki Sawano playing Sonic Free Riders: "wow, what a banging soundtrack!"

Earlier this year I picked up a character that resonated with me for a new Sonic OC since my old ones are still very...umm...early 2000s and I'm not in the mood to rewrite them to be less...bad. So I decided to start fresh on some writing and such with a new character for the fandom. A Penguin that's got a surfer look about him. Then I thought "Where would he live in the sonic world?" And I realized "If I'm giving him aquamancy let's go full on surfer guy and have him live in one of my favorite Sonic Rider's locations." and chose Aquatic Capital. Making him a bit of a celebration and being very open that Sonic Riders is my favorite series in the franchise.

I would kill for a new sonic riders game

Finally a video for me! Riders is easily a top 10 sonic game for me

Honestly id love a mix of Sonic Riders and SSX Tricky, rediculous vibes and rediculous tricks sign me up.

Honestly i wish Jon mentioned the the Sonic Riders mod that combines both Sonic Riders and Zero Gravity's gameplay.

We need a remaster or a reboot, I love these games so much

I still am waiting for an hd remake of these games in a bundle or something. Can you imagine zero gravity with hd textures, non-noticable polygons?

The first time I played Riders I started a race and felt confused so I checked all menus and found the tutorial video. A bit later I pretty much mastered all mechanics and the game never felt too challenging or difficult to control. Reviewers were so dumb back then.

Sonic Riders and Zero Gravity were my favorite games when I was a teenager

My only connection to the Riders series is SnapCube’s real time dub of Sonic Riders, and that’s good enough exposure for me; one of the funniest videos on RU-vid imo

11:40 you can just leave the game on overnight repeatedly to get him, that's what I did

I love this series! Glad you covered it 🎉

I love Riders 1. I played it a lot as a kid but never got all the sega characters. Didn't help that I started a new game whenever I wanted to play the story. And playing the story is really all I did. One day I'll go back and get it all. I don't think I ever did more than like 2 missions.... This video is also the first time I'm ever learning you can play as Super Sonic in Riders 1.

Jon and sonic, this is the content i signed up for

why have the ps2 version of zero gravity in the thumbnail if youre playing the wii version (based on the button prompts in the footage)? is it because the ps2 version (presumably) has no 16:9?

Jon, i'm not angry. I'm dissapointed. The Kinect is not a controller. You are the controller.

The absolute best thing about the Sonic Riders trilogy is Snapcube's fandub of Sonic Riders 1 and 2. If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and watch it right this very second.

Sonic Riders 1 is one of my all-time favorite Sonic games. I hope Sega hears the fans' cries for more and revives the series.

If I remember right, the co op racing in free riders requires both players to hold hands and that justifies it existing

I love Jons perpetually stoned face 😊

I love the first game so much, it was one of the first video games I ever played. My cousins and I still play it regularly. There's also an excellent set of mods for these games as well. Riders 1 has Riders: Tournament Edition and DX (sadly, this particular branch is no longer being worked on): both of these adds a bunch of quality of life changes (good-bye rotating stick sections!), music, rebalancing of boards and shortcuts, and even some new characters! Since it's used with Dolphin, there's even online multiplayer with netplay. I cannot recommend these set of mods enough. Zero Gravity does have a mod called Regravified, which did start fixing several of the issues with the base game, though unfortunately, this was being worked on by the DX team and has also been abandoned.

I remember playing the first one and Zero Gravity on my PS2 as a kid. I might consider coming back if I ever find Zero Gravity for Wii. I only have Nintendo systems now. (Wii U/3DS/Switch/DSi/DSlite)

Just got the CD soundtrack for Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity in the mail today at 1:14p.m. and it's the Sonic Riders Shooting Star Story Original Soundtrack ”Zero Gravity Tracks” CD and I'm listening to it while watching this! 6:52p.m. 3/12/2024

I will always find it funny that Sonic Riders' opening is done by the people who animate Attack on Titan.

Thank you for doing these games justice. The first thing that comes to mind with Riders is the "unique identity" in all aspects, gameplay, visual and musical. They stand out much more than All Star Racing. For me the first is the best. For the second it lacks a real difficult mode, it seems that we are stuck with the 50cc of Mario Kart with the driving assistance which is a shame. And on the 3rd I haven't been able to play it yet. Sega please Sonic Riders 4

Tbh a bad thing about the first riders game (and zero gravity to some ectent) is the lack of tracks or the tracks are too short. Imagine a riders game with tracks like racing transformed. And I think transformed somehow manages to have a similar skill expression

Weirdly enough, Sonic Riders is actually one of the only Sonic games I've ever played. I might've played Zero Gravity at some point too, but the only other Sonic game I've played is Mania.

Bruh, this is the best Sonic Free Riders gameplay ever since it came out. Just don't make any more content on it because we're all in a silent agreement that this game never existed

Zero Grav is alot of fun with the Regravitified mod on pc i’m actually suprised how obessesed I am with time trials rn (not usually into it in any game)

I own the second game but never played It much I have barely any experience with this series but I know It has It's fans and I appreciate what It Is

I had a fun time with Zero Gravity and its unique approach to cornering into a boost. Dug the songs, too. And the difficulty balance was JUST right. The first Riders can go eff itself; totally brutally rubber-bandy. Free Riders? Never met ‘er.

I never even noticed they used from Eggman from multiple voice actors lmao

Great video, your videos are always well made and charming^^ And as a big Sonic Fan I especially enjoy the Sonic videos. And even if I don't always agree, I can totally understand your takes, because you describe your thoughts so well. Sonic Riders Zero Gravity plays a lot better with the Regravitified mod, but I'm pretty sure a lot of people will comment that, because it's true :D I actually got really into the Sonic Riders series this year and Sonic Riders DX and Sonic Riders Regravitified are now two of my favourite games! I didn't get the No-kinect patch to work in Free Riders, maybe I'll try that again some time. Btw: The gravity dive sections are kinda the automated sections, so they are also kinda in Zero Gravity. Theres also Xenoblade 1 in Free Riders, Riki The Legendary Heropon and Rocky Ridge use the same sample. Also, why does Riki The Legendary Heropon sounds at some parts like Super Mario Sunshine and at others like Yoshis Woolly World? :P

I can’t hear your voice without thinking about Philips razors now 😭

Top 5 Reasons Why Sonic Is Sorry TOP 30 ANIME DEATHS!!!!!!

I have such a weird relationship with the Riders games. I remember playing and enjoying the first 2 when i was younger at a friend's house. Then years later trying to help my gf progress in Free Riders as we'd take turns on races, but the Kine t camera just refused to read any movement we made. Then i bought my own copy of Riders one and only made it as far as the end of the Hero story before dropping it and feeling it wasn't for me. I'd play Zero Gravity on emulators and still have fun with it, but Riders 1 is just a game i play once every couple years to see if my thoughts changed and they never really had. The comparison to F-Zero is funny to me though cause that's another one where the popular entry (so Riders 1 and F-Zero GX) are the ones i just can't play whereas the more simple ones (so Zero Gravity and F-Zero 1) are the ones i enjoy playing a lot.

Cool that youre mentioning this series

2:30 that learning curve you're talking about, is what made me put the game down. Never have I ever played a racing game this hard to control, and I freaking played Gran Turismo!

Soo many memories with riders and riders zero gravity .

Unpopular Opinion: i actually enjoy free riders, sure it can be wonky and unresponsive sometimes but when you get it working its really fun imo. ive unlocked all the characters and bought every gear in the shop. I wont deny that it shouldve gotten a controller option it couldve saved the sonic riders series if it did.

I was a HUGE Sonic fanatic in the early 00's. (Still am...) And I adored both Sonic Riders and Zero Gravity! Even managed to buy the PC port of Riders back in the day, which I still own! But MAN was I disappointed when they brought the third game to Kinect only. I'm in a wheelchair, so Free Riders was never accessible for me. I hoped they would've included a mode for people who couldn't walk but- nope. Tried it at a family member's house and was heartbroken. Maybe I should try the emulator now that there is a patch! I know there are fan-made Riders content out there too which is awesome! I hope Sega brings back the Riders series one day.

Sonic Riders 1 was co-developed by Now Production.

Great video. The first Riders is in my top 3 sonic games. Never gets the love it deserves.

Have you played Sonic Riders torunament edition? It's a community mod that changes the original sonic riders game. New textures, characters, game mechanics are adjusted, and also online play. There is a pretty awesome community around it. There is an official discord server that can walk you through installation.