In 1989, a company called AKI Laboratorynote , founded in 1980, fully transitioned from creating hardware for Tobikomi and other game corporations to actual game development. The company have been developing games for Tobikominote on arcade platforms and the Famicom earlier, but these early titles were crude compared to their current titles - let alone what was trending at the time. Another AKI hit, Target Fox, came from this stage, as an attempt to add a plot (with an ending) to a game in the vein of the Tobikomi hit endless shooter Target Bravo. The game was ridiculously hard, especially with the subsequent run-throughs that significantly up the number of enemies compared to the initial run. The series is a mainstay to this day.
Shortly after the success of Target Fox, AKI decided to create a game that was the antithesis to it: a game that was both accessible and overall light-hearted.
The result was Sugar Rush, a hit 1991 platformer with a Level Ate Sugar Bowl setting that never got released Statesidenote . The producers at Tobikomi intended to keep it to Japan, a decision that was because of a low production budget. Unexpected success at launch did not reverse Tobikomi's decision. Later on, HAL released Kirby's Dream Land in the West, a game with a similar Level Ate setting, further quashing any chances of this game to be released Stateside.
Sugar Rush was a Cult Classic among Japanese gamers, and was not known in the West save for import circles, who thought, despite the Sugar Bowl setting and the stigma that these cute settings were almost exclusively for young girls, the game and its backstory were respected. The richly-developed back stories of the characters were a huge contributing factor to the game's popularity, especially for a platformer.
Two more platformer games and several spin-offs were developed over the years, and among these spin-offs was Sugar Rush Speedway, better-abbreviated to "Sugar Rush", at least in the Westnote , the 1997 arcade kart-racing game. It was here that the series would finally get released to the West...
...but not in a way those nascent importer fans of the series in the West would like. Several changes were made for the franchise to better appeal to girls, among which were several character designs, several characters removed entirely, and a fresh new logo, which many current Western fans would most recognize. The most egregious example was the change of who had the lead role: the character who Western fans see as the leadnote was actually the Final Boss of the 1991 original, while Japanese fans see a side character in the Westnote as the lead. The Japanese version, not surprisingly, did not have these changes (except the logo change).
However, even to those who did not import the originals, the game remains popular to boys as well. The most recognized version of Sugar Rush in the West today is probably the one at Litwak's Family Fun Center.
Due to the game's popularity, it garnished another mainstay installment, the first to be released worldwide. It runs off of a middle-ground between NA Speedway and the pre-Speedway titles, with some NA Speedway character bios retooled into new characters while the original cast have their Japanese bios and designs. The fandom's views are extremely divergent on this move. As a bonus, the original Sugar Rush is playable as a secret, and is packaged with certain editions as physical media.
Sugar Rush Speedway provides examples of:
- The Ace: Taffyta in Japan; King Candy in the West.
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: Inverted. This is what helped the original game in the wake of Kirby's Dream Land in Japan, ironically.
- Catchphrase: "Stay sweet!" for Taffyta; "Have some candy!" for King Candy. The others' are unknown.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
- For unknown reasons, King Candy hasn't been present in the race roster of the Litwak's Arcade cabinet since late 2012.
- Vanellope von Schweetz stopped appearing in late 2018, coincidentally around the time she began to be featured as a Guest Fighter in the online MMO Slaughter Race.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Each racer has their own distinguishable color palette.
- Covers Always Lie: The Litwak's Arcade cabinet features Princess Vanellope von Schweetz from the original platformer depicted as a playable racer, but she doesn't actually appear in the game at all. Subverted in a 2012 update that added her (and removed King Candy, for some reason).
- Palette Swap: Four of them.
- Dummied Out: Among the list of things:
- In the West, several characters were removed, putting the roster at 15 characters.note
- A Bonus Stage, at least in the West.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Candlehead.
- Lighter and Softer: Speedway for the rest of the series.
- Living Prop: The palette swap racers: no bio, no form of characterization whatsoever, making one think they were added as filler.
- Older Than They Think: The above is another Stateside-fan aspect. Two of them existed from the start, and they had canonical familial relations with their respective master character.
- Mascot Racer: Done in the style of one.
- Pink Means Feminine: Three of them:
- Taffyta is dressed all in pink.
- Save for her leggings (which still have pink polka dots), Candlehead.
- Nougetsia is a pink Adorabeezle recolor.
- Power-Up: Several exist, but one notable example is the Sweet Seeker Homing Projectile.
- Saved by the Fans: The Litwak's Arcade version of the game suffered a broken steering wheel in late 2018. While many worried this would mean the end of the classic game, an anonymous fan managed to procure the only available replacement part from ebay and sent it to the arcade free of charge.
Jump into your racing car
It's a Sugar Rush!
Sugar Rush!
