The Speed Star[1] (スピードスター[2] Supīdo Sutā?) is a vehicle in Sonic the Hedgehog series, which is Sonic the Hedgehog's personal sports car for racing competitions. Its iteration in Team Sonic Racing was built by Dodon Pa as Sonic's car for his Grand Prix.[3]
Concept and creation[]
For Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, the Speed Star's Car, Plane and Boat design was developed by artist Richard Tawny with the help of Scott Robertson (Design Studio Press) to feel like a true speedster capable of racing in any world, real or otherwise. The car was developed in Modo and was iterated many times between Tawny, the Producers at SEGA Europe and Sonic Team in Japan.[4]
Description[]
In Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, the Speed Star is a blue convertible. In the middle, it has two equal-sized depressions in both sides. On the bottom, it has a clean large white lining. Six "spikes" appear on it as well two on front with mirrors infused in each of them, along with four on the back, accompanied by two on the back. The bottom ones have taillights that have two sections; orange topped with yellow. On the front, it has Sonic's head from the "Sonic Team" logo on its front hood, likely being a frunk/front-trunk as the engine is in the back.
Below that are three head lights. The main one is a large, almost obtuse "U" shaped clear section with four bulbs inside it, two built on the right and left stacked on one another, and the other two headlights are on the bottom front on the car built slightly more into the vehicle one on the sides, a yellow bulb encased in white around a black surface. The back on the vehicle has two yellow top-white exhaust pipes around black casing, along with a single blue circular lid above the exhausts that hides a larger jet exhaust of its own (shown fully only in the opening cutscene). The wheels of the vehicle have an orange outer ring, a red middle ring, and a white inner ring around a red circle. The words "SONIC THE HEDGEHOG" appear on the tires.
It also has a distinct dark-gray steering wheel styled akin to an airplane yoke (likely to give extra room for Sonic's legs) with the bottom cut off (making it akin to an m-shape) with one thin spoke on each side, with a white-colored top brace (akin to a go-kart's steering wheel) and the top half of the wheel laced with red grips. The horn (cap) itself is a red button with a yellow dot in the center.
In Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, the Speed Star has three distinct appearances that depend on its mode:
- Car mode: In comparison to its original incarnation, the Speed Star has less spikes and a slightly bulkier appearances, with harder edges and spoked wheels curved in a spiral/rotation-esque fashion. Also, only two spikes remain on the chassis, above the rear wheels, each with a vent in the back. Now within a black-lining that connects its backlights, a white "S" that likely stands for Sonic's name is engraved on the center of the vehicle's back.
- Plane mode: In its plane form, the Speed Star resembles a fighter jet, with a more streamlined, triangular shape including flat, angled wings across each side of the vehicle and a nose cone with two turbine engines attached.
- Boat mode: In its boat form, the Speed Star resembles a speedboat, with two bright red motors on the back and a large fin on the back resembling one of Sonic's quills.
- While it retains the same steering wheel as before, the shape is now more of an obtuse upside down u-shape, with the horn icon being a blue-silhouette emblem of Sonic's head. Both the spokes and the entire rest of the rim/grips of the steering wheel have changed to red (black in the Vita ports due to graphic limitations).
In Team Sonic Racing, the default Speed Star was vastly redesigned, with a slightly less bulky appearance and slightly less curved back, resembling more of a contemporary car design (very akin to the McLaren 570S Coupe). The thinner black lining also results in the removal of the "S" emblem on the car's back, and the very bottom of the front bumper is a black-colored and with a row of 3 headlights on each side more horizontally angled. The twin exhausts have been moved to the bottom center of the car's rear bumper now colored white via a larger bulk, and with less of a spiky design than before on the rear in general. A set of inward facing tail-lights also appear on the said rear bumper on the bottom outside portions.
Additionally, the then cartoonish-looking red alloy wheels have been replaced with more realistic-looking wheels, with a distinct sheen, and a cool S emblem, now colored black, is placed on the front just before the hood of the car (mainly in the artworks).
Its steering wheel has been redone once more, but this time into a black H-shaped steering wheel (with the top and bottom cut-off) akin to an airplane's yoke, with both a pair of red hand grips on the upper sections of the rims, and with an R symbol on its horn cap (which also doubles as the button for Team Boosting).
Like other cars in Team Sonic Racing, its appearance can be customized with different paint jobs, Performance Parts and decals. Its horn can also be changed.
Game appearances[]
Team Sonic Racing[]
In Team Sonic Racing, the Speed Star appears as Sonic's race car, specially created by Dodon Pa for Sonic. During the events of the game, the Speed Star was one of the cars Dodon Pa gave Sonic and his friends so they could compete in his Grand Prix competition. Sonic would afterward use it during the races and challenges he participated in. However, the Speed Star was eventually destroyed when the heroes had to leave it aboard the crashing Final Fortress. Fortunately, Dodon Pa promised to replace it with a new one.
In this game however, the Speed Star's basic statistics grant it solid boost once more while retaining its solid top speed, but now with moderate acceleration and handling albeit with slightly below average defense (these base stats are also mirrored by the base version of Shadow's Dark Reaper in the same setting). However, its statistics, as well as its artistic design, can be modified by replacing its parts.
The Speed Star has the following exclusive Performance Parts that can be used to modify it:
Image | Name | Stat modification | |
---|---|---|---|
Increase | Decrease | ||
Mega Engine (メガエンジン Mega Enjin?) | Boost Defense |
Acceleration Top Speed | |
Dash Engine (ダッシュエンジン Dasshu Enjin?) | Top Speed | Acceleration Defense | |
Hyper Engine (ハイパーエンジン Haipā Enjin?) | Acceleration Handling |
Boost Defense | |
Legendary Mega Engine (ゴールド・
メガエンジンGōrudo Mega Enjin?, lit. "Gold Mega Engine") |
Boost Defense |
Acceleration Top Speed | |
Legendary Dash Engine (ゴールド・
ダッシュエンジンGōrudo Dasshu Enjin?, lit. "Gold Dash Engine") |
Top Speed | Acceleration Defense | |
Legendary Hyper Engine (ゴールド・
ハイパーエンジンGōrudo Haipā Enjin?, lit. "Gold Hyper Engine) |
Acceleration Handling |
Boost Defense |
Image | Name | Stat modification | |
---|---|---|---|
Increase | Decrease | ||
Challenge Cage (チャレンジケージ Charenji Kēji?) | Boost Defense |
Acceleration Handling | |
Turbo Jets (ターボジェット Tābo Jetto?, lit. "Turbo Jet") | Boost | Defense | |
Dynamic Wings (ダイナミックウィング Dainamikku Wingu?, lit. "Dynamic Wing") | Acceleration Defense |
Top Speed | |
Legendary Challenge Cage (ゴールド・
チャレンジケージGōrudo Charenji Kēji?, lit. "Gold Challenge Cage") |
Boost Defense |
Acceleration Handling | |
Legendary Turbo Jets (ゴールド・ターボジェット Gōrudo Tābo Jetto?, lit. "Gold Turbo Jet") | Boost | Defense | |
Legendary Dynamic Wings (ゴールド・ダイナミックウィング Gōrudo Dainamikku Wingu?, lit. "Gold Dynamic Wing") | Acceleration Defense |
Top Speed |
Image | Name | Stat modification | |
---|---|---|---|
Increase | Decrease | ||
Monster Treads (モンスタートレッド Monstā Toreddo?, lit. "Monster Tread") | Defense | Handling | |
Sonic Spinners (ソニックスピナー Sonikku Supinā?, lit. "Sonic Spinner") | Acceleration Top Speed |
Boost Defense | |
Charge Tires (チャージタイヤ Chāji Taiya?, lit. "Charge Tire") | Handling | Boost | |
Legendary Monster Treads (ゴールド・
モンスタートレッドGōrudo Monstā Toreddo?, lit. "Gold Monster Tread") |
Defense | Handling | |
Legendary Sonic Spinners (ゴールド・ソニックスピナー Gōrudo Sonikku Supinā?, lit. "Gold Sonic Spinner") | Acceleration Top Speed |
Boost Defense | |
Legendary Charge Tires (ゴールド・チャージタイヤ Gōrudo Chāji Taiya?, lit. "Gold Charge Tire") | Handling | Boost |
Other game appearances[]
Sega All-Stars series[]
Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing[]
In Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, the Speed Star made its debut as Sonic the Hedgehog's racing vehicle in the game. In this game, it was created by Tails using leftover parts from a failed invasion by Dr. Eggman.[5] In gameplay, it has the following statistics:
Speed | Acceleration | Handling | Turbo-Boost |
---|---|---|---|
6/10 | 8/10 | 6/10 | 10/10 |
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed[]
In Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, the Speed Star is used by Sonic the Hedgehog as his primary racing vehicle. In gameplay, it can transform into a boat, car or plane when passing through a Transformation Gate, with the mode of the vehicle depending on the terrain beyond the Transformation Gate. It possesses the following statistics:
Mod | Speed | Accel. | Handling | Boost | All-Star |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard | 5/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
Balanced | 4/5 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
Handling | 3/5 | 2/5 | 5/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
Boost | 4/5 | 1/5 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 |
Acceleration | 4/5 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 |
Speed | 5+ | 1/5 | 3/5 | 2/5 | 2/5 |
Console (Mega Drive) | 5/5 | 1/5 | 2/5 | 4/5 | 2/5 |
Sonic Racing[]
In Sonic Racing, the Speed Star appears as the vehicle for Sonic.
In other media[]
Books and comics[]
Archie Comics[]
In the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics, the Speed Star is a vehicle built by Tails and used by Team Fighters as transportation to and from the Chaos Emerald Championship.
Trivia[]
- Sonic previously drove a car called the Cyclone in the Sonic Drift games.
- When Sonic performs his All-Star Move, the Speed Star shrinks.
- A Lego vehicle that resembles the car appears in Lego Dimensions. It comes with the Sonic the Hedgehog Level Pack and is called the "Sonic Speedster".
References[]
- ↑ Team Sonic Racing official website (Japanese). Characters. Sega. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved on 1 February 2019.
- ↑ Team Sonic Racing web manual (Japanese). Team Introduction. Sega. Archived from the original on 10 June 2019. Retrieved on 4 March 2021.
- ↑ Sonic Official - Season 3 Episode 3. YouTube. Sega (5 May 2019). Retrieved on 3 May 2019.
- ↑ http://tawn.carbonmade.com/projects/4340467#1
- ↑ Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing website.