My Childhood Homemade Sonic R Picture Books Part 1: Age 6/7

 Sonic R is a footracing game developed by Traveller's Tales with help from Sonic Team, released for the Sega Saturn in 1997. and for Windows PC a year later. It has been often criticized it for its short length, difficult controls, and labyrinthine course design, but some people who grew up with it, like me, find it endlessly replayable, find the controls (once you get used to them) uniquely engaging, and find the course design (the only 3D levels designed by original Sonic level designer Hirokazu Yasuahara!) really interesting. It is unironically one of my favorite games in the Sonic series.

We've owned the PC version for as long as I can remember, and I played it a lot as a kid, but got more into the game once one of my brothers showed me that getting all the collectible coins hidden in a course can unlock a brand new character, and by getting all the collectible Chaos Emeralds, you could unlock the powerful Super Sonic. At either age 6 or 7, it and Sonic Heroes were my top favorite Sonic games, and I wished that Sonic R had any kind of story... so I made my own! I took several pieces of paper, some colored pencils, markers, a hole punch, yarn for my mother to tie it together, and multiple members of my family for me to dictate to, and produced this!

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Sonic R: The Picture Book! Look at that amazing art skills! You got squished-head Sonic with only a tiny torso, and Tails with a long neck and what looks to be 3 ears (which were supposed to be his tails despite already representing his tails with a black circle).

You might be wondering... why does it say "Book 1 for younGREADERS"? This, my friends, is a retcon. Three to four years later at age 10, I wrote a second version of the Sonic R picture book, which I will share in the next post! The only difference in the vocabulary of this and the second book I wrote is words that I learned later! I think I meant the tone and content was fit more for younger readers. Well, without further ado, let's begin!

 Look at that gigantic neck!

This is Sonic and his color is blue. "Let's go!" said Sonic. 

    "OK!" said a voice.

Interesting way to introduce a character. No personality, no accomplishments, just color. When I was little, the colors were defining features of the Sonic characters. And this brings to mind a funny story. When I was that age, I was looking through the character pages of the official Sonic Central website, and I decided Shadow the Hedgehog was my favorite character. The reason I held internally was "his color is red!" Though Knuckles is way more red. Shadow just looked cool. Back to the story, who is this mysterious voice?

And this is Tails, his color is orange.

    "Who said that?" asked Sonic.

Funny how Sonic doesn't recognize the voice of his best friend Tails. Also, if you look closely, you might notice that I drew his tails behind his arms. And there are three of them. Did I think Tails had three tails? Also, I love how at that age I had no regard for size or consistency. Just draw it.

Knuckles' lower dreadlocks look like oxygen tubes. Also, it's
interesting how I drew his green socks as the back of his shoes.

And this is Knuckles, his color is red.

    "Wait for me!" he said.

    "It's me, Tails!" said Tails.

That's kind of late. As you can see, I also didn't have much of a concept of scene structure.

This is Amy. She went to the gas station. Her color is pink.

Finally, the words and the picture are on the same page! And look at that tiny car, and her lack of arms.

Now before we get to this next one, I need to give some backstory. I thought that Amy's original design, which was used in Sonic R, was strange. I was used to her later design, and I thought this design needed an explanation. You'll never guess what that is...

She picked out her favorite spikes color. And she put it on.

    "Perfect!" she said.

The reason for Amy's design being different in Sonic R... is because she bought a Sonic wig at a convenience store. Wow. Back in the day, convenience stores felt special, because once in a while, when my mother was getting gas, she would buy me a treat from the convenience store like lemonade or candy.

Look at that droopy Chaos Emerald.

Sonic raced along and got a Chaos Emerald and he won! He was first place!

Oh. The text and the pictures are back to being separate. Oh well. 

No reason why they're racing, no buildup or introduction to the first race, no depiction or description of the first course, Resort Island, just "he raced along." And if you couldn't tell, that thing on the ground is supposed to be the finish line.

Next, he went to Radical City and he got two Chaos Emeralds and he's going to win!

Oh hey, the picture has a very basic depiction of one of the sections of Radical City. Slight progress. Also, "he's going to win!" This race is described in the present tense so you experience the anticipation. Very avantgarde. 

Sonic has to stretch his arms to look at his Chaos Emeralds.

At the third level of the race, he got more Chaos Emeralds at the Regal Ruin. He won!

So Regal Ruin is a specific part of the course and not the course itself?

One eye is way bigger than the other.

At last, he got the two last Chaos Emeralds. The Chaos Emerald Cannon shot a Chaos Emerald down to Sonic.

No mention of the course, Reactive Factory, just a description of the unique way one of the collectibles is awarded to you.

That is supposed to be Metal Sonic. I had an interesting interpretation of his spines. And his tiny face is partially blocked by the colored pencil! Also, look at that super long leg. I have no idea what the scribbles above the two characters represent.

Sonic went back to the Resort Island and got 5 coins to race along with Metal Sonic.

As you can tell, I stopped dictating the book to my mom and dictated to my slightly older brother.

Also, Sonic is holding the coins he got. Interesting choice.

Sonic is holding his coins by having them float while he spin jumps. Interesting. Also, look at Tails Doll's frown.

And he went to Radical City to get 5 coins to race along with Ragdoll Tails but Sonic jumped over water.

Ragdoll Tails? That's what my brothers told me Tails Doll's name was. For the longest time, I thought that was his Japanese name, but I just looked it up, and that's not true! Strange! Also, look at how there's no mention of him being creepy or anything. I never even thought of the idea that he could be creepy until I found out about that phenomenon on the internet several years later.

What relevance is there to Sonic jumping over the water? Tails Doll's defining trait is that he can float on the water!

Metal Knuckles is tiny! And gliding low to the ground.

Sonic went all the way to the Reactive Factory to get 5 coins to race along with Metal Knuckles. But Metal Knuckles missed Sonic's coins.

Uh... what? Was Metal Knuckles trying to get the coins in order to win? The race doesn't work like that! And "he went all the way" because he revisited the courses out of order to race the characters in the proper order.

That is supposed to be Egg Robo. And I don't know why he's so big. Here's his actual design for comparison.

 

Sonic went to Regal Ruins to get 5 coins to race along with Egg Robo.

I'm surprised I called him Egg Robo in this book, because I remember I knew him at that point by Eggman Robo, the name he was given exclusively in Sonic R.

There are only 7 Chaos Emeralds, and I count 14!

At last, Sonic went to the Radiant Emerald to turn into Super Sonic.

For Radiant Emerald, I used a special rainbow colored pencil.

Then Super Sonic raced with his friends and foes.
...That's it? That's the finale? Heh. Oh well. But that's incorrect. If you race on Radiant Emerald as Super Sonic with all the characters unlocked, you only race with those unlockable characters, which are... Sonic's foes!

There uh... wasn't much added to the story. Just an introduction to the characters, a backstory for Amy's design, and a recounting of the races and the collectibles.

Well, that's it. I was thinking this would be a hard post to make, it being so long, but it was actually way easier and way more fun than my last one! I had a lot to say! 

Next time, I will dive into the Sonic R picture book I wrote at age 10. This I considered to be the more definitive take on Sonic R! Well, see you next time!