Sonic Riders 2 - Gigan Rocks

Gigan Rocks
Rouge the Bat
Airship (Board/Yacht)

If Sonic Unleashed is considered as the same canon as Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity, I'd say there's no doubt that Gigan Rocks is located in Chun-nan. This place goes absolutely nuts with the stereotypical Chinese landscape: Pagodas, very pointy and vertical mountains, bamboo, and even a starting gate lit by some fancy medieval Chinese pyrotechnics. This course is a very strong deviation from the technological visual style of the stages before this: It looks like it's set centuries in the past instead, and guess what? None of those squeaky-clean transparent floors that look like the most slippery things you could possibly set foot on. Much of the stage takes place in the underground ruins as well. According to the story, Gigan Rocks is the place where this whole gravity-defying stuff got started. I suppose it's a sensible place to employ those powers on.

This course is pretty mild until the second half, where it throws at you the tightest hairpin turn yet, then gives you a long and barren straightaway. Together, they take a heavy toll on your GP meter. And yes, you're going straight up on that straightaway. From here on out, the game gets pretty crazy with the riding on walls and ceilings thing. (Wait until the next set of courses.)

The music in this course also makes wonderful use of the didgeridoo. It's the best application of the instrument in a video game I've ever heard. Kenichi Tokoi combines it with the pan flute for extra exoticism.

As this is an area rich with treasure (it being underground ruins in a video game, after all), it'd be no surprise to find Rouge the Bat here looking for the valuables. That's what she is, after all--an ambitious jewel thief who first crossed paths with the core Sonic group when she tried her hands on the Master Emerald in Sonic Adventure 2, effectively banishing Nack the Weasel (AKA Fang the Sniper) out of the series forever. Her voice clips have been greatly amplified from Sonic Riders, where you could barely even hear her, which is good. It's unfortunate we'll never have Lani Minella voice Rouge again...though she's still getting a lot of nice roles to play, like Luke from Professor Layton. And she's a great voice director too.

The Gear used here is the Airship. It starts out as a board, but a Gear Change early on will transmogrify it into a Yacht. Yachts are yet another type of Gear to be used in this game and is probably the hardest vehicle to use aside from the Wheel. (They look more like windsurfers, but I guess it's too long of a name.) Yachts tend to have rather low top speeds, but only they can let you speed up by riding behind another racer. (It's a reference to the Turbulence system from the original Sonic Riders, I'll bet.) You can see it happen during the second lap, right after the first line of Monitors: Notice those white swirls going all around the screen? That's Rouge speeding up by positioning herself behind SCR-GP, and later on, Amigo. The Gear Changes for the Airship are as such:
20 Rings: Yacht
40 Rings: Max Speed UP
70 Rings: GP Gauge UP
This Gear is pretty well-suited to this course, really. There's no gimmick to the Airship; it's pretty much just an introduction to how Yachts can be used.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• sonic
• riders
• zero
• gravity
• rouge
• the
• bat
• gigan
• rocks
• extreme
• gear
• racing

[TheFamousClash2]

Hey, i have never used the springs, how the hell do you use them? any idea? xD

[Overhazard]

@TheFamousClash2 You need to go into Attack Mode to use the springs. They launch you to a later part of the course.

[TheFamousClash2]

@Overhazard And attack mode is...? ._.

[Overhazard]

@TheFamousClash2 After you get an Attack Monitor, which usually happens in the bottom position. Your character gets off the gear and starts running instead.

[TheFamousClash2]

@Overhazard Oh I see, i have never done that LOL

[Overhazard]

@TheFamousClash2 Yeah, if you want to try it out for yourself, use the gear called Big Bang. When the GP meter fills up completely, the character will go into Attack Mode.

[124lovebird]

u got ALOT to learn about sonic riders lol

[RingoHero]

@MysticSonic007

Caren Manuel was the Sonic X Voice too.

[RingoHero]

My favourite stage :D along with Gigan Device I love this level it's so awesome and unique compared to the other levels, The music is so Imense and lovely plus this stage actually fits for Rouge the characters you play as on certain stages they seem to fit well you made a great choice O.o and honestly I really loved Caren Manuel as Rouge she was so much better than Lani and the current new one I still miss her, the new one is meh okay but CM will always be the true Rouge voice for me.

[Overhazard]

@KlexisBlaze I've never been sure myself. I have never found it.