Bot Racing^[1] is a supplementary minigame that appears in Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice. It is a racing competition organized by Dr. Eggman in an attempt to humiliate Sonic and ruin the hedgehog's reputation as the fastest thing alive.^[2] To this end, the doctor set up his EggBot Racerss, each one powered up with Ragnium.

Bot Racing is an extension of Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice tied to the single player story with multiplayer gameplay. In this mode, Sonic and the Bot Racers race against one another on Thunder Island.^[2][3]

Gameplay

In Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, Bot Racing is a minigame available for play for both the single player and the two-player Local Play option, the latter of which can be accessed on Thunder Island when a second player joins the game.^[2] In single-player, Bot Racing can be done with Sonic and other Bot Racers. In the two-player on the other hand, the player can only choose between Bot Racers.

In Bot Racing, two characters engage each other in a side-scrolling race to the finish along a circuit.^[3] Each race track takes place in Dr. Eggman's stadium on Thunder Island. Multiple circuit stages exist, each with different routes and arrangements, and their overall layouts are similar to the adventure levels'. The race tracks themselves have various elements along them, such as Bounce Pads, Boost Pads, and loops. Spikes, flamethrowers and red panels covering some of the areas on the race track serve as obstacles here. Sometimes, the Bounce Pads can also interfere with the player, either setting them back or throwing them into traps. When racing, the player also has to use the Enerbeam Swings and Fire and Ice Mode in the right places to freeze or melt ice blocks. A character's position in the race can be seen on the Nintendo 3DS's lower screen which depicts an overall view of the current circuit. The first racer to complete three laps wins. Overall, Bot Racing gameplay is much like that in adventure levels, except this mode is purely about racing and speed.^[1]

During the single-player storyline in 'Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, the player must at different points participate in Bot Races to proceed with the story. These events are triggered when entering specific spots on the World Maps. In such cases, Eggman will suddenly show up in his Eggmobile and kidnap Sonic, taking him to his stadium on Thunder Island. There, he will race against Eggman's EggBot Racers, which are modified models of his henchbots from the Sonic Boom television series, such as Burn-bot and Obliterator-bot.^[2] These bots make very few errors, so one must focus and learn courses quickly.^[3] The player must defeat these robots on the track in a three-lap obstacle race. Bot Racing in single-player are a mandatory part of the game and cannot be skipped. Abilities like the Spin Dash, Sprint and the Fire and Ice Modes are necessary to get over the finish line first.^[3] Each main island in single-player mode has its own Bot Racing mini-level with its own unique circuit layout and opponent. These include:

No.	Level	Island	Opponent
1	Boulder Speedway	Kodiak Frontier	Burn-bot
2	Dusty Trail	Seaside Island	Giant Robot
3	Mechanized Meltdown	Paleo Tarpits	Obliterator-bot
4	Dust Bowl	Cutthroat Cove	Fireman-bot
5	Thunder Chamber	Gothic Gardens	Vote-bot
6	Warriors Wasteland	Ragna Rock	Eggman-bot

Such stages each have two hundred Rings along its course which can be collected for extra Ragnium rewards.

At first, only Sonic-bot will be available for non-story related Bot Racing. Over the course of the game however, the player can unlock additional Bot Racers for Bot Racing. In the case of the EggBot Racers, beating an EggBot Bot Racer in Bot Racing for the first time in single-player will make them available for play as well. Other, additional character-themed Bot Racers can be unlocked in the Bot Racer Workshop using Ragnium shards (or by collecting all Junk Parts in one case).^[1][3][4] Individual Bot Racers differ only in appearance and statistics, but they all have the same moveset. These bots can be played at select points in the story and via the two-player Local Play where players can challenge each other with them.^[2][3] New tracks for Bot Racing can also be unlocked by completing single-player and collecting Trading Card pieces. Assembling a whole Trading Card will unlock brand new racing circuits for Bot Racing on Thunder Island.^[3] The unlockable tracks are as follows:

• Dusty Roadway: Unlocked with the Sonic Trading Card.
• Speed Demon: Unlocked with the Amy Trading Card.
• Baren Dirt Track: Unlocked with the Tails Trading Card.
• Robotic Raceway: Unlocked with the Knuckles Trading Card.
• Metallic Clash: Unlocked with the Sticks Trading Card.
• Sandhill Rush: Unlocked with the D-Fekt Trading Card.

Trivia

• Bot Racing is very similar to the racing gameplay featured in Sonic Rivals and Sonic Rivals 2.^[3]
• One of the Bot Racing theme songs is used in the Netflix trailer of Sonic Toon.

Music

Name	Artist(s)	Length	Music track
N/A (Thunder Island Bot Race 1)	Richard Jacques	4:10
N/A (Thunder Island Bot Race 2)	Richard Jacques	4:16
N/A (Thunder Island Bot Race 3)	Richard Jacques	4:16

Gallery

Level maps

Gallery
Boulder Speedway Dusty Trail Mechanized Meltdown Dust Bowl Thunder Chamber Warriors Wasteland

References