Analysis of Sonic Free Riders' Plot
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AmusantTranscription
00:00Now to talk about the plot of Sonic Free Riders.
00:04The story starts out with Eggman in a disguise announcing the Grand Prix and its reward.
00:10Omochao is so enthusiastic.
00:12I don't know why they chose him for the interviewer because nobody likes Omochao. I guess they're trying to fix his character.
00:20He interviews Team Sonic.
00:22Tails is worried that Sonic won't rev up his gear and is suspicious of the race after
00:27complaining that Sonic always leaves all the tech work to him for being good at it.
00:32The only reason I'm saying this would make sense is that he thinks some of the tech work
00:37is so easy that anyone would be able to do it.
00:41When Amy complains about losing, Tails says what the audience is thinking and Amy's bratty.
00:48I love that Sonic calls her out. I like the cream compliments her competition.
00:54I like how Knuckles says that because it makes him sound responsible, reaffirming the
00:59role he has in Sonic's group. He doesn't want his team to become arrogant, and it's especially
01:06satisfying of him to say this because normally he wouldn't put it past Knuckles to let a
01:10victory go to his head.
01:12Knuckles shows intelligence by warning him. You'd think if anything that would be cause
01:17for concern about the robot's well-being. Making weird clicking sounds and moving around
01:22so funny doesn't mean he's evil.
01:25Owatcho watches the footage from earlier and says he's not picking up any strange sounds
01:29there, and Sonic asks Knuckles if he was imagining things. Why would he doubt him though? It's
01:35not like him to imagine things.
01:38Rouge teases Tails that she might just run off with her award. Rouge isn't supposed to
01:46be sadistic. She's motivated by liking jewels, not sadism.
01:51I'd say sadism because that's the only reason she would foolishly warn him that she's gonna
01:56run off with her award.
01:58I'd say the worst thing about the story is the horrible voices, but you can still mute
02:03them and read all the dialogue.
02:06She says a fantastically written line.
02:09I actually laughed at that sentence. I love it. That's the kind of humor Sonic needs more
02:15of. It's so witty.
02:17The cutscenes can be cheesy, but that line was fantastic.
02:21Tails compliments Wave and she doesn't believe him because of how cynical she is. Of course
02:28Tails wouldn't sarcastically compliment someone. I mean, if he did, you'd know it.
02:33Sonic says it was too easy, insulting anyone in the audience who had a hard time with the
02:40previous bit of gameplay, which is everybody.
02:44Jet is annoyed with Wave. I wonder if Metal Sonic was responsible for their tech trouble.
02:50There's no reason Wave would be so bad at making an airboard that it would screw up
02:55halfway through the race.
02:57Tails offers to help them. He's so sweet in this game.
03:02Why'd it take so long for Tails to be confident working with Extreme Gear? He was working
03:08with Extreme Gear since the first Riders game.
03:12Still, it is adorable.
03:14And Knuckles calls Jet an annoying punk. Good.
03:18I guess I just have to assume there's people she's seeing that the barebones, pathetic
03:22visual novel-style cutscene presentation won't allow me to see.
03:26That's the end of the hero's story. The story just ends.
03:30You don't even see a celebration ceremony, but the actual cutscene presentation.
03:35Even Super Mario Kart showed your character sitting on top of a staircase or whatever
03:40being handed a trophy.
03:42That's how low-budget this game is.
03:45And now for the Babylon story. The story compliments Metal Sonic, showing that he's not all bad.
03:51Metal is a fantastic line.
03:54Wish he didn't have a monotone performance making his line less impactful, though.
03:59Because lines are supposed to be full of emotion.
04:02Amy says that her team is facing Sonic in the finals, even though she's the first person
04:07Sonic races against in his story.
04:10Did Jet winning the first race of the tournament magically change history
04:14so that Amy won against Team Sonic in the first race? Huh?
04:19And now we see Amy bitching at Vector again.
04:22He's starting to go soft from lukewarm challenges.
04:26I like that line from Jet. Such snarky humor.
04:29I think this is funnier than Sonic Colors.
04:32The humor comes naturally and is believable.
04:35I hate how Whiny Cream sounds when she's saying this.
04:39She's not wuss.
04:41She decided to try to save her mother in her first appearance.
04:45Jet is arrogant and condescending after winning against Sonic
04:48rather than being extremely happy and cheering constantly at achieving his new life's goal.
04:53He's acting like he expected to win.
04:56He had an inferiority complex by the start of Zero Gravity.
05:00I expected him to say, at last.
05:03Sonic says he got lucky.
05:05Somehow something went wrong with his tuning job.
05:09So Jet is annoyed and calls a rematch with Sonic, wanting a real victory.
05:14Why didn't he do this when Sonic's board blew up,
05:18causing him to win the tournament in Sonic Riders?
05:23He definitely would have heard that.
05:26I guess the reason he didn't demand a rematch was that he was just happy he got what he wanted.
05:31It's not about Chaos Emeralds this time.
05:34We praise Jet for once,
05:36showing that she does indeed have a good enough relationship with him to do that.
05:40And Sonic admits that he's good.
05:43That's weird.
05:45And the story just ends there.
05:48Why is there a Team Dark story?
05:51Rouge is a greedy bitch suddenly.
05:54She's always been about jewels, not money.
05:58Team Dark was so apathetic that they showed up late without even caring.
06:04Since when are they like this?
06:07Because apparently being anti-heroes makes them lazy all of a sudden.
06:11Omochao is self-conscious?
06:13I love that line.
06:15It makes him of all people relatable.
06:17It's Omochao in name only, though.
06:20Team Dark showed up late because they don't care.
06:24It has to be because Rouge plans on stealing the prize money anyways.
06:29It's still not smart of them because if they showed up on time, they wouldn't have gotten a lecture.
06:34Why is she bothering to race at all, then?
06:37Maybe the prize money is in front of everybody.
06:40After Rouge tries to get Omochao to join their team so they can have a third team member,
06:46he says it's not his job and it's too risky to do that.
06:50Where's Omega?
06:51Come to think of it, all he cares about is killing Eggman robots.
06:55Of course he wouldn't do this.
06:57I also like how Omochao shows fear there.
07:00It deepens his character by making it clear that he's not taking action because he doesn't want to get hurt.
07:06Because, naturally, he doesn't want to get hurt.
07:09It's relatable.
07:11Rouge tries to talk a generic robot into joining her for the races.
07:16So working with Rouge wasn't his plan at first?
07:19Why is he doing what a friend of Sonic wants?
07:22It would've made more sense if she threatened him.
07:26Instead I have to assume he humored her because he was bored and wanted to experience the racing.
07:31Wish I knew that.
07:33Shadow uncharacteristically downplays how useful his teammates were to him.
07:39The robot says a great burn of a line.
07:42An assault storm.
07:44Sure it's convenient for him that he doesn't get punished for it.
07:47Maybe it's because he's a robot.
07:49It's not like he attacked them during the race.
07:53The robot's unusually boastful.
07:56It's weird for even Metal Sonic to say that.
07:59And even Sonic doesn't talk like that.
08:02It's inferiority complex talk, which is why it's especially surprising that he didn't talk like that in Sonic Heroes.
08:09Sonic compliments Shadow.
08:11And all of a sudden the robot's begging to be allowed to rest.
08:16Since when does Metal Sonic or any robot get completely exhausted a lot faster than non-robots do?
08:25That's supposed to be part of the whole advantage of robots.
08:29Seems like he's unusually poorly built.
08:33Tails is actually feeling sorry for him.
08:36You'd think someone who thought Omega could be reasoned with when she first met him wouldn't be racist against robots.
08:45Omochao mentions that Team Dark has to face off against Team Rose in the finals.
08:50Rouge somehow thinks she can talk him into skipping to the fun part when it wouldn't be allowed.
08:57Either that or she's just bragging, which isn't character.
09:02It doesn't look like that because of Omochao's response.
09:07Because Omochao takes her questions seriously.
09:11Steam comes from the robot, and Shadow feels sorry for him.
09:15It makes it confusing that later in the plot he's nothing like this.
09:19So apparently he's only saying that because if he doesn't hold it together, Shadow would be inconvenienced by it.
09:27What's weird is that even Vector and Amy are worried about him.
09:31Rouge continues being a bitch, with Cream wasting her time calling her out.
09:37Vector drives home that his team actually cares about each other.
09:41But it irritates me with the story writer's lack of self-awareness, since Amy is a jerk to all of them in this game.
09:48Omochao says that he got back from HQ about the robot dropping out, and says that they'll acknowledge the winner of this round as champion.
09:56So Team Dark wins the Grand Prix, and Amy complains.
10:00Omochao says he doesn't know where any of them are, and says something relatable again.
10:05Omochao says that the real prize is locked in a safe.
10:09So Rouge just stole dummy props there for display.
10:13It should be explained that the reason he prepared this was because he knew Rouge's a thief.
10:18And now for the Team Rose story.
10:21Team Rose hasn't completed their team registration yet, and it's never properly explained why they end up being late.
10:28Perfect example of a mischaracterization.
10:31Imagine if she said ass instead of tail, and you'll understand even more how out of character she is here.
10:38I feel sorry for Cream there.
10:40Amy would never leave her behind.
10:43This is the worst characterization that Amy has ever had.
10:46Naturally, Sonic is tired of her.
10:49Cream says relatively that she'd rather just be cheering her friends on.
10:53So now I have to assume she was peer-pressured into this.
10:58I think the reason she assumes Sonic let her win is because she respects him so much that it's the only reason she would think of for why he would lose.
11:07Logically, it is the only reason.
11:10But the only reason she'd be written to say this is that we're supposed to think she's wrong because it's a joke at her expense.
11:18Tails compliments Cream.
11:20Is it because they're both flying types?
11:23The trash talk is cringeworthy here.
11:26With Storm literally calling them kindergartners and Amy saying a really dickish line.
11:31Wow.
11:32Amy would never say this.
11:35She wouldn't have made it through Sonic Heroes if she was useless.
11:39After Jet acts like a sore loser saying let them win, Wave tells him to focus.
11:45And some trash talk happens boring me before another race happens.
11:50Cream mentions to Vector that it's too late to be talking about how they have to split the victory money.
11:55Why do they have to split the victory money when Vector is poor anyways?
12:00Come to think of it, Vanilla is dressed like she's rich.
12:04So Cream really would have no business keeping some of the money.
12:09Saying different sounds stupid.
12:11Wouldn't a lot of people be giving Vector money for his detective services?
12:16I guess he's just really bad at advertising it.
12:19It's not like every detective service is poor, right?
12:22Or is that the case in Japan as an inside joke?
12:25Just because Sonic's around doesn't mean no one will go to him when Sonic's busy.
12:30Not to mention they just made a joke about a sympathetic character starving.
12:34I like those lines from Vector.
12:36They're really charming and endearing in a character frame.
12:39The whole Louis thing is also good at providing insight into what he has to deal with.
12:44Loans from gangsters?
12:46That's pretty shocking.
12:48And there's really no reason to add it.
12:51It's not necessary for the plot overall,
12:54but it develops on what his life is like.
12:57If he can't afford dinner because his detective services aren't used enough,
13:01it makes sense that he needs to get loans.
13:03And as for why he didn't get a loan from the bank,
13:06maybe he has a really bad credit rating.
13:08I can't imagine why.
13:10He's supposed to be smart.
13:13I like how Cream and Vector are all worried about the robot,
13:16but then Shadow is mean to him.
13:19Why does the last race not count,
13:21just because the robot that wasn't even in the previous race broke down?
13:26Or if he was in the previous race, why should it count?
13:30So they have to race each other again.
13:34He's not supposed to be outright heartless.
13:37It would have been better to make new characters for this kind of role.
13:41At least Cream calls him out, even though it is a waste of time.
13:46So Omachao announces Team Rose's victory.
13:49I love how desperate Vector sounds there.
13:52It's always sweet when she says Mama, like earlier in the plot.
13:56It makes me hate the fact that she says Mother even more.
14:00Did she usually say Mother?
14:03Because she insists on saying that in IDW, and it's just creepy and weird.
14:08Amy demands a date from Sonic like a spoiled brat,
14:12which no one would defend if she was a guy.
14:15Cream sounds happy.
14:18And now for the last story.
14:20Finally something interesting.
14:22Too bad it lasts over 30 minutes.
14:25Last stories are supposed to be shorter than the main stories.
14:28Eggman lies that all the fans at home watching wrote in letters clamoring for more extreme action,
14:34causing him to make a new machine for racing.
14:38Shadow and Sonic realize who Eggman really is.
14:41They're smart enough to get the hint, but it still took them too long.
14:46Rouge is pointing out a plot hole that was never fixed.
14:49How is he not out of commission anymore?
14:52Eggman made the fastest gear in the world.
14:55Tails says happily that Knuckles wasn't paranoid after all.
14:59And Sonic doesn't take Eggman seriously,
15:02which makes you less hyped for the ending climax against him.
15:06His attitude is straight out of Sonic Boom.
15:09It's completely out of place in the Riders series, which is supposed to be cool.
15:14Eggman is irritated that he lost.
15:17And Tails talks to him smugly, being out of character.
15:20He's imitated Sonic like this before.
15:23With the mini-axe insufferable, he's being an insufferable genius,
15:27which misses the appeal of him.
15:30Eggman's evil plan wasn't really that...
15:33If Eggman had one of his usual evil plans, his line would be cathartic.
15:38Instead, it feels like kicking down because he doesn't really feel like an evil mastermind.
15:43He hosted a tournament that everyone enjoyed.
15:48So what if he lied about his identity when he still did them a favor?
15:52He barely even feels like the villain at all.
15:55Everyone's ganging up on Eggman makes him look like the underdog.
16:00When the characterization of the heroes has gotten to the point where he's side with the main villain of the franchise,
16:05something has gone horribly wrong.
16:08I knew that even before I watched AOSTH.
16:11After blowing a lot of steam, the robot reveals himself to be Metal Sonic.
16:16Sonic asks how Eggman didn't know it was him already.
16:20Another plot hole that's pointed out and never properly filled in.
16:24It has to be that Metal Sonic wasn't returned to Eggman after Sonic Heroes.
16:29Because otherwise, he wouldn't still have the free will to go to this game.
16:35Apparently, this is the game where Eggman found him again.
16:39Tails reveals that Metal Sonic used the data of all the characters to have the fastest extreme gear.
16:45Because of course, using the data of all the characters would result in you being the fastest one.
16:50Rather than merely having maxed out stats in all three types.
16:55Being just as fast as the fastest character, for example.
16:59That makes sense.
17:00Oh wait, that makes no sense.
17:02Never mind.
17:03I mean, he's not copying bio data.
17:06He's copying extreme gear.
17:08Someone would have had to have given him that ability.
17:11So it has to have been Eggman.
17:12So never mind.
17:14If it was Eggman who gave him this power,
17:17he would have also removed his free will after Sonic Heroes.
17:20So he wouldn't have even come here.
17:22He'd have to be impossibly stupid to have not done that.
17:26And why would Gunn have given him that ability?
17:29When it couldn't have been Gunn.
17:31Or else he wouldn't hate the heroes anymore.
17:34It's so anticlimactic beating Metal Sonic.
17:37He doesn't even say anything.
17:39He just makes a robotic sound that doesn't mean anything and runs off.
17:43Maybe he was too embarrassed and upset to say anything.
17:46Or maybe he just can't talk anymore for some reason.
17:49Which doesn't make any sense.
17:50Because why would a lowly, measly looking normal robot talk?
17:56And not a robot that's better than them?
17:59Sonic has a surprisingly chuckle worthy line.
18:03Really?
18:04Rouge saw Metal Sonic racing Sonic,
18:07and Eggman having no prize money coming?
18:10Why'd you enter then?
18:12She must have been lying.
18:14I like how much that was happy enthusiasm.
18:17The story is like a 3 out of 10.
18:20The mischaracterization can be horrible at times,
18:23and the story is painfully simplistic and predictable.
18:27It's literally a tournament again.
18:30And Sonic Riders was more awesome about it,
18:33because the prizes were Chaos Emeralds.
18:36And Babylon Garden showed up.
18:39And it's a few fantastic lines,
18:41because of how witty they are.
18:43The girls aside from Cream are all pretty bitchy in this game,
18:46and I'm not sure why.
18:48The only plot holes major enough for me to remember are
18:51how did Metal Sonic disguise himself as a normal robot
18:54when he wouldn't still have the Sonic Hero's ability anymore?
18:59Because whoever Omega would have brought him to
19:02definitely would have removed that ability after he used it against Eggman.
19:06And why did Eggman feel the need to disguise himself
19:09when he didn't have to in Sonic Riders doing the same thing?