Sonic Riders Zero Gravity (& Regravitified) - Sonic Was Always Good

Does anyone else think they messed up the look of extreme gear in this game? They look like these weird bulbous alien probes or something. Not boards. And they got rid of the stylish 2D character art. Just more things Zero Gravity messed up from the first game.
I neglected to mention that there are new types of gears in this game with different properties. One type gets benefits when riding turbulence, another gets the drift, sorta. Not too big a deal but worth mentioning, I guess.
Here's a link to all my Sonic mod recommendations, where you can find Regravitified.
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
You can support me here if you want. ko-fi.com/pariah695
Zero Gravity 0:00
Regravitified 7:56

[@gamanzhiydanil]

Best intro ever

[@b0xE_]

*FR* lol. 😭👌

[@vinpie]

TRUE

[@NIGHTBLOODUSAGI]

choked watching the beginning now my lemonade is in my food-

[@MikeJr9284]

This game's music was the sole reason why I convinced my parents to get me this game for my 10th birthday.

[@xithylkykorl4149]

Heya, from ExGL, and the main person working o Regravitified. Am still working out a lot of the problems with ZG, and trying to make it better. The main thing I wanted to point out though, is while you liked boost chaining, have you ever tried Gravity Burst or momentum Gravity Control? They're kind of in the same tier of mechanics adding depth to the gameplay. In either case, stuff like other playable characters, cosmetic options, unique character subclasses, and a bunch more mechanical reworks are still being worked on, and hope i can make the game as good if not better than DX.

[@Pariah6950]

I did try those things. But I was having trouble doing Gravity Burst correctly and figuring out how to use momentum GC practically. I didn't show any of it here but I did use them a little bit. I didn't know Regravitified was still being worked on. Cool. Looking forward to seeing more.

[@jptails6629]

@@Pariah6950 it is! regravitified doesnt have the same beffy stuff as DX yet as it is still pretty early in development but the idea is to get to that some point and more in the future. thanks for checking out RG!

[@AdaraHepburn938]

Is Regravitified going to work on actual hardware like the Wii or is it limited to Dolphin?

[@xithylkykorl4149]

@@AdaraHepburn938 regravitified currently works on real hardware. there is 1 contingency where Gravity Void crashes real hardware, but we plan to fix that and keep hardware support moving forward.

[@ichiroando8424]

@@Pariah6950 I think the link for Regravitified is not working it redirects me to Twitch.

[@samuelpierce2.088]

Gotta be honest, I’m one of those weirdos that actually enjoys ZG in its base form; Gravity Diving, Gravity Snapping, jumping off ramps at the right time, performing Gear Changes…it all just sorta gets me into a specific zen-like flow that I find simultaneously relaxing and exciting. I understand that it’s all pretty shallow from a gameplay standpoint - and in some instances that can be frustrating - but what’s already there is presented and executed in such a way that I can forgive the shallowness of it. (Again referring back to that zen-like flow that the game puts me in.)

[@mathewpercy3292]

Same. Loved ZG. Objectively better than the first one too.

[@shupasopni]

@@mathewpercy3292 Agreed. I prefer ZG. Some things are better in the first one though.

[@Tylerplays897]

Yea I’m with y’all here. ZG is actually a Lot more fun than the original for me cuz one the gravity controls are actually interesting because with out gravity points you can’t do those things so you still have to manage your gp and having to manually level up your gear feels actually like your taking control of your gear cuz you get to choose whether you want to level up or not. It’s almost as good for free riders for me but free riders will always be my top sonic racing game

[@AccelerateHedge]

I don't think you're weird for liking a video game. I agree as well, although Riders 1 is still super fun too.

[@UgandanPrinc3]

I remember going to a cousins one holiday when I was 12-13 I think and beat the game in a single sitting. Never forgetting beating the black hole stage as my parents were yelling at us to head out

[@harrisoncora4259]

I disagree with Sonic Riders being the only good Riders game. I actually really like Zero Gravity. Not as much as the first one, but I still have fun with it. And I still say one should play the original Zero Gravity before checking out Regravitified.

[@BBK113]

I acc perfer Zero Gravity to Riders, its not as complex and doesn't throw you in head first without knowing the mechanics of the game. Also its soundtrack is my favourite in the entire franchise

[@Breakaway-ic5gj]

​@@BBK113 The internet exists. You can look up guides. Riders is way better

[@AccelerateHedge]

@@Breakaway-ic5gj That doesn't really account for the issue, although it is true.

[@NIMPAK1]

From an accessibility standpoint, I can kinda understand why they'd change how the air meter works. Having a resource mechanic that you can't ignore and prevents you from playing the game if you ignore it, is going to make it harder to get a feel of the game. However, I feel like the gravity meter doesn't do a good job addressing the issue. It looks like you still have to use it for ""drifting"", so you can't completely ignore it. It also seem very limited, not only in terms of what you can do with it, but WHERE you can use it. Player expressivity is good for both hardcore and casual players alike and I don't get why companies are so keen to get rid of it. If I were Sega, what I'd do for the gravity meter is to either make it just like the air meter without the constant drain (which seems to be what Regravitified did) or just get rid of the running mechanic and just make it so you just can't do stuff like boost or get a drift boost until the meter is slowly refilled all the way.

[@threemonic]

true and shout out to my dawg gimmick

[@playerxt9517]

Just for the first 9 seconds of the video you already know that it will be a very positive review

[@erc3338]

Now I eagerly await the Zero Gravity Story video, love those droideka dudes.

[@BIG_MUNKY]

I'll pay in spray cans to watch you play sonic free riders

[@KnucklesWTD]

I preferred this over the original for the spectacle. This game felt higher budget than riders 1

[@telekinesticman]

I like hearing more about the in-depth stuff here, I played more of the first Riders and found Zero Gravity a little later on. I really enjoyed the zero-G boost stuff, I thought it was so cool to fling off objects in midair and dash into walls to get shortcuts, but it definitely wasn't perfect, and I felt the simplification from the first one even from a very casual perspective.

[@tivvy2vs21]

The new Ross game dungeon had a bit about how there aren't any hoverboard games, and one of the only ones was riders

[@deslardesslok]

Just got the CD soundtrack for this game 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! 6:53p.m. 3/12/2024

[@jasefrybo2232]

Speaking of Riders fangame. Currently, the same guy that created P-06 is doing his own Riders fangame with Free Riders graphics and models but with Riders gameplay style and ZG gear design. There's another one called Sonic Riders X which is Riders 1 but more HD, made by Beatz

[@AccelerateHedge]

Actually, Giygas is the main person behind Riders X as far as I can tell.

[@Emerald.XX_]

Ig the gravity dive can be considered a boost and OMG THE MUSIC

[@duhhhmick9532]

hey Pariah, have you ever heard of Rain World? it isnt exactly like sonic, but it is the type of game where you need to use the terrain at your favour too. in this game, you are a slugcat (basically a cat) that needs to survive every day before it starts raining. so you have two goals: feed yourself and find shelter before the timer runs out. the world is big and divided by regions and the moveset is insanely diverse. I think you gonna like it

[@TheMorlun]

Man, after listening to the opening, Free Riders review is gonna be fun.

[@inkchariot6147]

This was the game that introduced me to the Sonic series, this game is great and I'll murder anyone who says otherwise.

[@AccelerateHedge]

welp

[@deegeemin]

Another great and interesting video as always! Was curious if you have any plans to cover the IDW comics for your “The Story of” series. Would love to hear your take on it!

[@Harrinsain]

ZG is especially frustrating when I love basically everything about it EXCEPT the part where I actually have to play it. If ZG had all of OG Riders' mechanics ON TOP of its new ideas (sans the gravity dive, that's kind of a worthless mechanic), it might have been even better than the original due to the gravity drift adding new routing options and the gear change system adding some thought as to modifying how your gear functions on the fly and now having two meters to manage as opposed to just air. But unfortunately we have what we have. I haven't checked up on Regravitified since this video came out, but even that doesn't really seem to scratch the itch I'm looking for here. welp, hopefully some day it gets to that point.

[@sputnikmann6541]

I think what's really sad about Free Riders is that it has a ton of good ideas that *could've* worked excellently if it was bound to a controller instead of the Kinect and brings the actual gameplay closer to the first game. Like, it reintroduces air meter (I call it the AP 'Air Points' meter) and the manual boost, though you can't attack enemies anymore. I _think_ there's a gear that allows you to damage racers while boosting, but I'm not entirely sure. It also sorta-kinda reintroduces drifting, in that you drift automatically if you turn at the sharpest angle that you can, and it drains additional AP/s the sharper you turn. It reimplements charged jumps, though the trick system is only marginally improved over ZG's. It adds the reaching mechanic, which I think is such a cool idea. A lot of shortcuts can be reached or taken by reaching for horizontal and vertical bars, and a lot of rings and power-up capsules can only be gotten by reaching over areas you can't normally ride over without jumping, and there are even set-pieces that you needed to duck under. Speed and Power Type shortcuts are now more involved. Speed Types need to balance on the rails now a-la Sonic Adventure 2, otherwise they'll lose speed, while Power Types need to manually attack the obstacles, or they'll just bump into them as any other racer would (and you can also use your Power Type attack to attack other racers, which is a neat touch). The Gear Part mechanic is also super neat, though I think tying the Type skills to them was a bit dumb. Choosing between two specific bonuses that you can switch between? Super cool. Higher ramp jumps, better starting and top speed, better handling, better acceleration, being able to go off-road without any detriment to your speed, decreased air consumption, more air after landing tricks, etc. I think they could've done more to make the different Extreme Gear types unique, however. Like, Board-Type Gear can be equipped with two Parts, and Bike-Type with one; while Skate-Types were omitted altogether. I think, instead, Skate-Type Gear should be able to have one Part Slot, Board-Types should keep two Slots, and Bike-Types should have three Slots. This way, it keeps in line with the balance of the original game; where Skates consume the least amount of air with a loss in performance, Bikes consume to most air with a boost in performance, and Boards are the middle point between the two. And the worst part? Modern controllers have more than enough buttons to map out all these mechanics. The shoulder buttons can be used to switch gears (R1 for scroll right, L1 for scroll left), as I don't think they actually did anything in the original or ZG. The Right Thumb Stick can be used for the reaching mechanic (up, right and left for reaching, down to duck), another 'button' that went unused in the original two. X/Square button can be used to attack things as Power Types, since in the original game it just acted as a second Boost button.

[@Pariah6950]

I have always thought Free Riders had some neat looking ideas. It is a shame it didn't have an option for normal controls. Would have made the game at least worth trying.

[@xithylkykorl4149]

I have personally tried to look into not only giving Free Riders controller support, but also fixing up the mechanics. The problem I encountered with this is that I cannot effectively datamine the game, due to xenia having non functional breakpoints that crash the emulator upon use, in addition having no better alternative. As far as what I wanted to change: - complete change to the menus of the game to be functional to navigate with a controller. - The game does have a manual boost with an attack locked behind an item, and the item causes the cost to be removed. Simply replace the kickdash with this, have its duration and speed tweaked, and give it the corresponding costs. Fix up interactions of players being able to attack each other as necessary. - The game does have proper drifting with a drift dash on Auto-Slider, however, the drift is fairly awful and would need to be reworked anyway. likely keep the drift dash aspect, but rewrite the entirety of it to both have an actual turn radius in addition to being a manual input. - Slipstream returns from ZG, but exists exclusively as a gear part. It is an interesting dynamic if given to racers inherently, and can have a risk - reward system with a reimplementation of a tornado-esc mechanic which also already exists in the game currently as the ink blot item. - Types return, albeit exclusively as Gear Parts. Change this to be inherent to the characters once again. - Power type requires punching objects out of the way prematurely. Would likely remove this to be automatic like the previous, if not, could bind the punching to LB / RB - there are sections that require the player to wipe off obstructions in their vision. Remove control from this and make the obstruction fade out after a set duration. as far as proposed controls go: Left Analog - Movement Right Analog - Reaching / crouching A - Jump / Charge Jump B - Boost X - Use Item Y - Gear Switch RT - Drift LT - Tornado equivalent Perhaps one day, i'll get the proper tools to do this. Although, I am partially tempted to simply make the tools myself.

[@TheGershon]

Taking a look at your recommendation spreadsheet and I'll hazard a guess and say that you can probably remove the 'Untested' comment from the Riders and Zero Gravity mods 👍

[@Pariah6950]

Oh, yeah. Just did. Thanks.

[@xanious3759]

I find the "there's enough f-zero clones" statement amusing because everyone's nutting over aero gpx right now being a proper f-zero clone finally after years of people making wipeout clones and saying they're superficially f-zero. Im not saying riders doesn't need more clones, i mean fuck we need more hoverboard games AND technical fast paced racing games. Im just saying the f-zero statement is wrong lol.

[@quasar4780]

Wow, quite the turnaround from the previous video. But eh, I always planned to test Zero Gravity, since uh... I need as many references I can find for my own game about racing on hoverboards. No, I'm not influenced by your talk at 14:47, i've been -procrastinating on the job- brainstorming for two years at this point before deciding how to work on the idea. I've always found unfortunate that no one ever thought about making a successor to Sonic Riders, and as you said, since every indie racing game is a F-Zero remake, the only tutorials you can find about implementing hovering are all in the style of F-Zero, which is honestly IMO not very versatile or interesting to study.

[@Pariah6950]

Yo, that's awesome. Good luck with the game. Looking forward to seeing it one day.

[@quasar4780]

@@Pariah6950 Sure! I'll make sure to include Zavok as a secret unlockable character!

[@justinc.5591]

Are you planning to do the Sonic & All Stars Racing series? Those were always my favorite Sonic racing games.

[@HRIgnomious]

I wonder what could revive interest in the Sonic Riders series, because even a lot of Sonic fans I hang out with never mention it.

[@joshhacker8503]

How ironic. I never played Zero Gravity because I figured it would be the same as the first game. Kinda like how Crash Nitro Kart was basically the same as Crash Team Racing with only a small amount of differences. I had no idea they would change so much.

[@fiendknightdobs238]

My brother bought me Zero Gravity randomly one day bc I always wanted to play it so I was so excited only to be massively disappointed bc it was nothing like Sonic Riders. I still beat the game for my brother's sake bc I didn't want to waste the gift he game me

[@arcbuff44]

How are you so quick with uploads?

[@Lazypackmule]

I wish they could just backport the extra tracks, characters, and gravity drift mechanic into Riders

[@xithylkykorl4149]

well, we can, conversely, we can make ZG play 1:1 to Riders 1, just, people don't really seem too interested in that direction

[@Lazypackmule]

@@xithylkykorl4149 aw

[@AccelerateHedge]

@@xithylkykorl4149 We can?

[@ultimateshadeofwar]

My experience with Zero Gravity is being really excited for it, a friend buying it and telling me it's not as good as the original. I went to his home i still asked if i could play it, got use to the gravity controls, played one grand prix expecting to get my us kicked, i won the tournament of what's suppose to be the harder race stages without a single lose. Immediately understood what my friend was saying never look at it again or the modded version of it, i got the originals and their modder version thank you very much... But yeah what a way to kill a franchise 2 sequels that just either to more and more away of what it was or were condemned to death because KINET

[@yall_girl_eve]

Nice follow-up, kinda hurts saying the Kinect one is shit because Kinect, it was my favorite one (i was a kid so it probably really is shit)

[@tonycorona8501]

Fun facts with moi about Free Riders: It's the first game with the third voice cast in English. I doubt the game killed the series as much as the poor sales did. The less creative Car Racing Sega games were much popular later down the line with casual players. The game funnily enough it's among the very few to not be included in the Sonic EncycloSpeedia, because the writer Forgot about it. And he bought a Kinect to play that Game when it came out. Yeah, Free Riders is that bad. I do prefer Free Riders story over Zero Gravity, but I know i'm the minority here. I feel the first one has the better story, with the second being dull and pretentious, not to mention having less of a gameplay and story integration.

[@RiiViiMedia2424]

If you want to talk about Free Riders, I can help with that. :)

[@therealvibes8955]

This game is actually one of my favorite games and the first game to introduce me to Sonic as a whole although I cannot deny that it as much lamer than the original Riders.

[@youtubeminute4388]

recently tried out zero gravity, while I enjoyed it, I still think the original was way better. (sidenote, wish my wii u accepted GameCube input on wii games)

[@aortaplatinum]

The best way I can sum up Riders ZG is that when I was a kid I got it for Wii and played it start to finish and I remember absolutely nothing about it at all

[@tonycorona8501]

My only thoughts on Zero Gravity: the Gravity thing is absolutely cool to do, never got tired of it. And the story is boring and takes everything away I like about the original Riders, incluiding the character dynamics.

[@solitudesf8111]

where the hell are f-zero fan games?

[@alexandrpeterberg390]

Oh boy! Sonic Free Riders are so bad that it's not worth the dedicated video from Pariah695, it's so bad that it may as well be the exception of Sonic Was Always Good. It is so bad that its canon was disowned by SEGA and it killed the Riders series. That's got to be a Medal of Dishonor. (or Medal of Shame?) As for Sonic Riders Zero Gravity, this may be the case where SEGA went too far in terms of fixing the issue. Or rather they did it the wrong way in terms of fixing the issue.

[@souptaels]

I know this doesn't matter and is an "um actually.. 🤓🤓" moment, but "regravitified" is uhh...a word. Not sure how one "gravity" something and to be able to do it again, but alright. I would suggest "Sonic Riders: Absolute Gravity" cause it would suggest that it's the absolute definitive way to play the game, but that's just me. Edit: nvm, didn't realize it was a play-on word based on the game's main theme song. I've never played the game lmao :')

[@Pariah6950]

It's a play on the game's theme song, Ungravitified.

[@souptaels]

@@Pariah6950 ooh makes sense

[@odd-eyesvon]

@@Pariah6950 Exactly that, yes! When we voted, I proposed something more simple, but the team had their heart set on Regravitified, and thus it was named as such.

[@twotoned_echos]

Review Sonic Free Riders or else

[@giannicayon2806]

It gets worse in sonic free riders

[@elibonham4388]

Please do free riders

[@TheFoxFromSplashMountain]

This game was such a disappointment for me. It pretty much removed everything I loved about the first game. It might be one of the most boring racers I've ever played, solely due to how automated and over simplified it feels compared to the first one. I even found the tracks way less interesting, both visually and mechanically. At least it's not Sonic Free Riders though.

[@ChaddyFantome]

I remember one of the people at Youth bringing ZG over for us to play and all I ever felt was "....why does it just feel like i'm just watching my character slowly move forward and not doing anything?". We promptly went back to playing Riders 1 every Friday ever since. Dunno what else I could add. You took the words out of my mouth. I still pray even today for a new entry that is actually builds on the first game. I know people say "but we have AllStars Racing and TSR" but those are just not nearly as insteresting to me conceptually or mechanically. Or stylistically for the matter. Im guessing you plan on doing the story video for Riders all together?

[@Pariah6950]

Yeah. There's not much to them so I'm doing them all in one video. I don't even know the story of Free Riders. I assume it's essentially nothing.

[@tonycorona8501]

@@Pariah6950 it's practically nothing story, Free Riders I mean. I enjoy it, kinda, but i'm the minority here.

[@AccelerateHedge]

That tends to happen in a game that auto-accelerates... just sayin

[@ChaddyFantome]

@AccelerateHedge it didn't feel that way in games like Kirby AirRide or the original Riders though because there was things to do or things you could do during those stretches of time such as interact with turbulence, boost etc. In ZG, I just feel like I'm doing nothing most of the time until I hit a ramp or Grav segment, which they themselves are less involved than on the original game.

[@AccelerateHedge]

@@ChaddyFantome alr

[@BBK113]

I wanna see how you gonna talk about free riders because that game is objectively bad

[@Amsel_616]

One thing that i really hated on Zero Gravity was the hard nerf to Super Sonic, he got fucking murdered i only won whit him on Gigan Rocks ONCE

[@Zejgar]

Riders 1 has great gameplay but lousy story. Riders 2 has lousy gameplay but great story. Yin and Yang!

[@zobirismage2813]

Not even joking, I think the first stage in Riders 1 is much more interesting and fun than the FIRST HALF of ZG. The stages don't go crazy with the alternate paths and stuff until the Babylon story and replaying it immediately after Riders 1 was rough. I wouldn't go as far to say that ZG is a bad game but nonetheless it's a huuuge disappointment.