▁Son ic ▁Team , ▁as ▁he ▁was ▁the ▁only ▁person ▁who ▁could ▁speak ▁both ▁English ▁and ▁Japanese . ▁Disc uss ions ▁led ▁to ▁the ▁reward ▁mechan isms , ▁which ▁S ato ▁believed ▁bro aden ed ▁the ▁game . ▁The ▁courses ' ▁look ▁and ▁feel ▁were ▁inspired ▁by ▁other ▁Son ic ▁games , ▁including ▁Son ic ▁ 3 D ▁Bl ast . ▁The ▁ 3 D ▁models ▁were ▁based ▁on ▁ 2 D ▁sketch es ▁from ▁Son ic ▁Team . ▁All ▁models ▁and ▁anim ations ▁were ▁developed ▁using ▁So ft image , ▁while ▁Tra v eller ' s ▁T ales ▁created ▁their ▁own ▁tools ▁for ▁the ▁remaining ▁game ▁development . ▁Im plement ing ▁the ▁two - player ▁split - screen ▁mode ▁proved ▁difficult ; ▁programmer ▁Jon ▁Bur ton ▁stated ▁that ▁this ▁was ▁mainly ▁because ▁it ▁was ▁difficult ▁to ▁ensure ▁che ating ▁was ▁not ▁too ▁easy , ▁so ▁shortcut s ▁were ▁made ▁challeng ing , ▁with ▁a ▁penalty ▁in cur red ▁if ▁players ▁got ▁them ▁wrong . ▁A ▁major ▁development ▁goal ▁was ▁to ▁maintain ▁a ▁consistent ▁ 3 0 ▁frames ▁per ▁second ▁frame ▁rate ▁during ▁game play . ▁A ▁custom ▁game ▁engine ▁was ▁developed ▁to ▁take ▁full ▁advantage ▁of ▁the ▁S ega ▁Sat urn ▁hardware , ▁and ▁a ▁graph ical ▁technique , ▁described ▁as ▁" 1 2 ▁layer ▁trans par ency ", ▁was ▁used ▁to ▁transparent ise ▁distant ▁text ures ▁to ▁conce al ▁the ▁S ega ▁Sat urn ' s ▁limited ▁draw ▁distance . ▁Bur ton ▁claimed ▁that ▁Son ic ▁R ▁could ▁not ▁have ▁been