First off, WELCOME to Sonic Riders! I'm glad you're here to take a look at this guide and speedrun the game! Before diving into runs, one thing must be said: ALWAYS PRACTICE. You have no idea how much practice means for racing games such as these, and it will go a long way in making your single-segments flow much more smoothly.

With that, here's a guide on how to do well in the Heroes Story.

HEADS UP: THIS IS THE CURRENT ROUTE STRATS FOR MY 14:29 RUN. As with the creed of speedrunning, try to figure out your own strats!

== Housekeeping == If you're on PC, good! You will have less load time and will be able to rebind your keys on controllers. That being said, USE a controller please! You won't regret it. My configuration uses a PS4 controller:

Jump: X Boost: CIRCLE Start: SQUARE Drift Left: L1 Drift Right: R1

Start is bound to SQUARE for the Splash Canyon Skip.

== Basics ==

1. Practice, practice, practice!!! You need to practice before ever beginning a run! You'll be surprised at how often your muscles will forget how to play this game optimally.
2. Make sure to time out of the start gate correctly! Ideally, you'll want anywhere between 0.00 and +0.06 on any run. Anything higher is probably indicative that you made a mistake.
3. KNOW X-RANK TRICK COMBINATIONS. Some basic trick combos: --> Starting horizontally, spin left or right 3 times in a row, then do a forward flip or back flip. --> Starting forwards, the fastest is to swing your control stick to the left, then around to the bottom right and right, then do a back flip. You'll know this is correct if your back flip processes TWO tricks at once. Otherwise, just rotate the control stick in one direction moderately quickly. --> Starting backwards, the fastest is to immedately swing to bottom right, then hold right in such a way that forces you to land facing backwards or spin more than 1.5 times. This takes some practice to get used to this. Otherwise, back flip and 3 horizontal rotations work too.
4. Turbulence from CPU's is generally bad. Avoid them unless you know what you're doing.
5. Weights from item capsules is generally a run-killer, especially if you need to jump.
6. Speed shoes is generally bad. They force you to go to a speed that is less than your Level 3 speed, so make sure to boost AFTER an item capsule if you end up landing on one from a trick.
7. Boosts must end before activating a new one. In the event you get Speed Shoes after a boost, or are just slowed and can't boost, do a TORNADO BOOST: tornado immediately and execute a boost. Careful about your Air usage!
8. At Level 1, dashing via drift is always faster than boosting. Use this to your advantage.

== Metal City == == Speedrunning Difficulty: 2/10 (easy) == == Consistency Difficulty: 3/10 (easy) == == Randomness Rating: 5/10 (from traffic) == Rush out the gate and boost+drift to the first jump pad. Forward trick jump to the top layer, double drift left into the walls, and jump to pick up the 100 ring pack. Avoid the speed pads before dropping from the top level. Boost all the way to the drop past the Fly zone. You may decide to do one of two things: --> Jump before the drop and boost after (faster, less air) --> Perform a trick at the drop and boost after (slower, more air) Generally, do the first for Lap 1 since you are lacking in Air. If you ever do the second, attempt to skip the grind rail in the traffic and boost past the horizontal street. Now, you can decide one one of the three: --> Jump and grind (slowest, more air) --> Jump past the traffic (safety strat, more air) --> Boost past the trafiic (risky strat, less air) Do the first on Lap 1. The other two are there if you wish to use them. Now drift around the turn and boost. ALWAYS back flip to the upper layer with an SS or X rank trick and X rank the next jump. Then, go to Lap 2. For Laps 2 and 3, everything is the same, EXCEPT you should X rank the first jump past the start gate to the LOWER level and take the grind rail. == Ideal Times == Lap 1: 39 sec. Lap 2: 37-38 sec. Lap 3: 37-38 sec.

== Splash Canyon == == Beginner Speedrunning Difficulty: 5/10 (Flying Ring Skip) == == Advanced Speedrunning Difficulty: 9/10 (Splash Canyon Skip) == == Consistency Difficulty: 7/10 (Splash Canyon Skip) == == Randomness Rating: 4/10 (from CPU turbulence) == Rush out the gate and immediately chain 2 or 3 drifts to get max speed before the first jump. Jump to get to the TOP side of the railing. Grab the two 30-ring packets on the LEFT side (NOT RIGHT) to get to Level 3. DO NOT JUMP TO THE TOP RAILING GOING TO THE RIVER - THIS IS SLOW. Horizontal or back flip strats on the jump are good. Decide on the following: --> To the river and waterfall for beginner strats. -----> Take the river, go the fly pad, and instead of using all three rings, take the first two. -----> Swing around left after the second ring to get to the bridge. Don't fall! -----> Finish the lap and repeat. --> Inside the wall of water, behind the fly pad, for the infamous Splash Canyon Skip. You must be Level 3. -----> Left side of the fly pad and tornado to stop. Turn around. -----> Move to the back side of the fly pad and queue a RIGHT drift. -----> As you near the peak of the fly pad, move the stick to the bottom right and start pause buffering the drift off the pad. -----> The game holds inputs for about 0.5 sec. after an unpause, so chain your unpauses quickly while gaining as much vertical height as possible before forcing the drift to take place. Generally, the fence is a good visual indicator for whether you are done charging your drift. -----> Drift boost to OoB yourself, and look at the map. Aim for the right side of the lake before the bridge to the start gate, and try to get Tails all the way inside before landing. Failing this skip after you commit to it will cost you the entire run (yes, a single fail means it's all over, even compared to the beginner strats!). == Ideal Times == Lap 1: 29-31 sec. (Advanced) 38-41 sec. (Basic) Lap 2: 27-30 sec. (Advanced) 38-40 sec. (Basic) Lap 3: 27-30 sec. (Advanced) 38-40 sec. (Basic)

== Egg Factory == == Speedrunning Difficulty: 5/10 (moderate) == == Consistency Difficulty: 4/10 (fair) == == Randomness Rating: 3/10 (from CPU turbulence) == Rush out the gate and finish the first major jump. Skip the second - we aren't speed types, so we don't need the rail. From the second drop, drift left and grab the RIGHTMOST 30-ring pack to get to Level 2. Boost after this. Drift around and front flip to the upper level. You should be able to get an SS or X rank - aim for an X rank trick for air. Drift right and boost left onto the slope. Note that there is a sliver of space on the right side of the boosters that you can pass by - try to aim for this spot. Swerve left into the cans - make sure to get LINK 4 or higher to get your air back. Up the slope, DO NOT GRAB ANY CAPSULES ON LAP 1 BEFORE GETTING THE 100-RING PACK. After getting one capsule, you must wait for about a second before grabbing another, so this may cancel the 100-ring capsule inside the rotating machine. Swerve left into the secret area, mash the control stick left and right to get air. Drift around the corner, boosting as much as possible, and repeat. == Ideal Times == Lap 1: 42 sec. Lap 2: 40 sec. Lap 3: 40 sec.

== Green Cave == == Speedrunning Difficulty: 6/10 (moderate) == == Consistency Difficulty: 5/10 (from Green Cave Skip) == == Randomness Rating: 1/10 (minor CPU turbulence) == Rush out the gate and prepare for the initial skip on the LEFT side. The goal: to set yourself a VISUAL marker to help you time when to jump off the initial ramp. Use the second triangle to help you find out where to orient yourself. Jump off the lower side of the ramp, facing left. You know you've done this correctly if you clip through the fence on the left side of the ramp. As you land (which SHOULD be farther back before the main track texture actually shows up), hard drift left to get to the left side of the fence. Don't overdo it though! Pick up a capsule and do a drift around the bend. Go to the flying zone and first two rings, and then hard drop by tapping jump to get on the vine heading to the 100 ring capsule. Grab the 100 ring capsule for Lap 1. Go through the flying rings by doing a jump trick off the ramp (note the positioning should be on the right side where the ramp starts!). Backflip at the end of the stage to take the upper cobweb skip. Repeat for laps 2 and 3. == Ideal Times == Lap 1: 40 sec. Lap 2: 39 sec. Lap 3: 39 sec.

== Sand Ruins == == Speedrunning Difficulty: 4/10 (from air usage moderation) == == Consistency Difficulty: 5/10 (consistency depends on air usage) == == Randomness Rating: 1/10 (very minimal) == Rush out the gate. If lucky, bash in a CPU to get air for another boost. Head right. If you get lucky, you can use 3 boosts to the first major drop. Otherwise, you can only use 2 (unless you get an air capsule). Do not fall off, and don't take the rail on the far left. Go grab the 30 ring capsule on the FAR RIGHT of the line of capsule before the next major chasm jump. This is for Lap 1 only. --> For Laps 2 and 3, take one of the 2 FAR LEFT 30 air capsules. Jump across, head left. Grab the rail; you don't need to jump here before grinding the rail, as you will be high up enough. Don't take the other rails. Just go through the track as usual. Do a jump trick on the next ramp to the upper level. Grab a capsule for 20 rings to get to level 3. Take the roundabout, and go to the next lap. --> On Lap 3, if the CPU's are slow enough, you can completely skip the pillar area without them coming up, which saves about 3 seconds. Repeat. == Ideal Times == Lap 1: 46-47 sec. Lap 2: 43-45 sec. Lap 3: 41-45 sec.

== Babylon Garden == == Speedrunning Difficulty: 5/10 (from drifting and pitfalls) == == Consistency Difficulty: 3/10 (easy) == == Randomness Rating: 1/10 (very minimal) == Boost out, take an X rank trick first (Lap 1 only), then the rail afterwards. Boost forward to the major turbulence zone. --> Lap 1: Just go left and right to get to 349 speed. You're too fast to perform a trick on this section. --> Laps 2/3: Take a trick on the right after you hit the turbulence to get to 399 speed. DO NOT take another trick to get to 450 speed - this is too slow. Try to get to 243 speed on the auto section. Take the next railing. Boost out, and depending on the Lap: --> Lap 1: Take the ramp and do a backflip to grab the 100 ring capsule to level 3. --> Lap 2/3: Take the right side to go faster and do an extra boost along the way. Drift around the corner. Be careful not to fall! X rank trick on the next ramp to end the lap. Repeat. == Ideal Times == Lap 1: 56-58 sec. Lap 2: 55-57 sec. Lap 3: 55-57 sec.