In the early 2000s, SEGA and Sonic the Hedgehog hit a bit of a rough patch. The Dreamcast was discontinued worldwide in 2001, and a debt-ridden SEGA had a steep hill to climb. In 2001, they launched a mobile service in Japan called Sonic Cafe. Users paid a monthly fee to play Sonic games exclusive to those mobile devices. Almost 40 games were launched by 2007.
One of these games was Sonic Kart 3DX; a fun little mobile title where you can race the blue hedgehog on a handful of tracks. You can then compare your record to other players online. The service and games were only available to an exclusive line of mobile phones. Footage of the game was almost nonexistent. Only a handful of screenshots kept the game alive.
A Japanese YouTube channel uploaded actual footage of the game, which you can check out above. Since this WAS a mobile game from 2005, the gameplay was obviously dated. Although he looks like he was paralyzed or glued to the kart, I think it’s quite impressive for the time. We didn’t get high-tech computers in the palm of our hands until 2007 with the iPhone.
This was certainly a nostalgia trip! Speaking of Sonic games, when are we getting a new one? Do you think we will see something at E3 next month? Sound off in the comments below!
