Pap the Disney Gamer's Highlights: Wreck-It Ralph in Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed

If you love Disney as much as we all do here on Days of the Week, then you know that Disney is now a multimedia conglomerate that has touched upon nearly all majors form of entertainment. From the theater to television, to theme parks to, of course, video games, Disney has lent their expertise in storytelling in ways never imagined before. Not bad for a company that started out making crudely animated shorts based on fairy tales! What I am getting at with all of this is that with Disney having a strong presence in pop culture, there is a chance that they will cross paths with another company, often leading to the creation that has both the Disney touch and the unique aspects of the collaborating company.

Last year, when EPCOT turned 30 years old, I wrote an article about how Sega, a veteran of the video game industry, collaborated with Disney to create an exhibition on their Innovations pavilion. This emphasis on how Sega and Disney had a strong relationship which lead to the creation of various exclusive games (such as the Castle of Illusion series which will be remastered this summer) and, eventually, the appearance of its mascot, Sonic the Hedgehog, in a major Disney Animated Classic, last year's Wreck-It Ralph. Today on Gamer Tuesday, I will talk about how Sega seemingly repaid the favor with Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed.

Racing Transformed is the sequel to 2010's All-Stars Racing, a racing title which took the best Sega characters along with their worlds and creating a rock solid released that celebrated the history of Sega while putting its own spin on the mascot kart racing genre. It was a fantastic alternative to Nintendo's own Mario Kart series. Its success lead to the creation of All-Stars Racing Transformed, which included even more characters from Sega's past and present and added one very important mechanic: the ability to transform your vehicle. The karts would be able to transform into jets or boats depending on the terrain they were at, which made for some creative track design and gameplay mechanics.

The focus of this article, however, is not to focus on the game itself. This isn't a Disney produced game. What I really want to talk about is how Sega repaid Disney the favor of including Sonic in the movie. Months before Transformed was released, Sega announced that along with its roster of classic Sega characters, there would be one special character making his debut in the game. And that was our very own home wrecker, Wreck-It Ralph!

Ralph has made Disney history by being the very first Disney character to appear as a character in a major non-Disney produced video game release, further cementing how Disney has a tremendous presence in pop culture history. Many questioned the inclusion of Ralph in the game, though, considering that Sega had far more worthy characters to include. But far more embraced this notion. To many, like myself, this meant that two passions, Disney and videogames, united to created something really memorable.

In the game, Ralph drives a wrecking truck, complete with a wrecking ball in the tail. When he acquires the ability to perform an all-star move, his theme song from the game plays as he wrecks the other racers. Unlike the other characters, Ralph doesn't have a track to call his own, which is a shame. It would have been awesome to have seen a Wreck-It Ralph track, or even a Sugar Rush track that would have tied two racing games in a great way.

And that is Ralph in All-Stars Racing Transformed. Hopefully this paves the way for more Disney character cameos in other games. Needless to say, if such a thing happens ever, you bet Gamer Tuesday will be there to cover it.