car is equipped with a turbo that reloads after a certain amount of time, and both the Eggmobile and Eggrobo can fire homing missiles capable of stunning opponents. Plot Sonic and Tails are about to take a holiday when Tails notices an advertisement for a "World Grand Prix". While not initially interested, Sonic notices that Dr. Robotnik is also participating in the race, which persuades him to change his mind and enter the race. It is revealed that Robotnik has recently learned of the whereabouts of the rare and powerful Chaos Emeralds, with which he aspires to enslave the world, and that he intends to gather them during the World Grand Prix while using a group of robotic henchmen he has built to best Sonic. Knuckles and Amy overhear of Robotnik's plan and decide to compete. Together, the four must balance both winning races and obtaining the Chaos Emeralds to keep them out of Robotnik's reach. Development After the completion of Sonic 3D Blast in 1996, Sega approached Traveller's Tales about working on a Sonic racing game. Traveller's Tales, who coincidentally had been working on a 3D graphics engine without a purpose at the time, found this to be a logical progression. Traveller's Tales chose to rebuild a Formula One game they were developing into a Sonic game. Development started in February 1997 as a joint project between Sega's Sonic Team and Traveller's Tales. The game was originally known as Sonic TT (the TT standing for Tourist Trophy). It was first publicly announced as "Phase Two of Project Sonic" (with "Phase One" being Sonic Jam). The schedule was tight, and Traveller's Tales requested more freedom than they had with Sonic 3D Blast. Sonic Team designed the race tracks and the game's general flow, and Traveller's Tales were responsible for the implementation and programming. Each track was inspired by levels from previous Sonic games such as Green Hill and Casino Night, and it was due to the tight schedule that there were only five. Secret areas and exploration phases were added to follow the series' traditions (Sonic Team also wanted a cross between a racing game and a platforming game), and for this reason a map was developed. Sega of Europe producer Kats Sato handled communication with Sonic Team, as he was the only person who could speak both English and Japanese. Discussions led to the reward mechanisms, which Sato believed