Only play as Sonic, Knuckles, Tails or Amy so the other racers can't use the shortcuts while racing against you.
Play As Dr. Robotnik
Finish in first place in the in the Radiant Emerald course. Alternately, successfully complete all levels.
Play As Puppet Tails
Collect all five coins in Radical City and finish in first, second, or third place. Then, defeat Puppet Tails in a race.
Play As Super Sonic
Collect all seven Chaos Emeralds from the first four courses. To collect a Chaos Emerald, you must collect it and finish in first place in that race. Then press [Down] while highlighting Sonic at the character selection screen.
Play As Mecha Knuckles
Collect all five coins in Radioactive Factory, and finish in first, second, or third place. Then, defeat Mecha Knuckles in a race.
Play As Mecha Robotnik
Collect all five coins in Regal Ruins and finish in first, second, or third place. Then, defeat Mecha Robitnik in a race.
Play As Mecha Sonic
Collect all five coins on Resort Island and finish in first, second or third place. Then, defeat Mecha Sonic in a race.
Play as robot form character
Get the five Sonic coins in the following levels:
Mecha Sonic: Resort Island
Puppet Tails: Radical City
Mecha Knuckles: Reactive Factory
Mecha Robotnik: Any level with Robotnik
Skip credits
Hold [Action] + [Accelerate] + [Change View] and press [Start].
Soundtrack
Place the game disc in an audio CD player and play tracks two and above to hear twenty tracks of music.
Hidden pictures
Search the "Help" folder on the game disc to find 3-D pictures of Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, and Robotnik/Eggman. There are also aerial views of all the levels (except for Radiant Emerald).
Special characters used against you
Note: This works when not racing to unlock the character. If you play as any special unlocked character other than Robotnik, all other special characters you have will be used against you.. For example, If playing against Tails/Knuckles/Sonic as Super Sonic, Puppet Tails/Mecha Knuckles/Mecha Sonic will be your opponent.
Slow characters down
Go to the options menu and select "Controls". Set them to whatever you are comfortable with, then when you get down to "Drift", set X for left and V for right. Then when you want to slow a character down, Amy works well, go to their side and drift into them. It will slow them down considerably. They will be left in the back to accelerate again while you are hurrying past him/her.
Super Sonic's theme
To hear Super Sonic's theme, unlock him, then unlock the other secret characters and play the Radiant Emerald Course. During the race you will hear Super Sonic's theme. This is the last and final race and will be followed by the credits.
Flying as Tails
When Tails gets to full speed, press [Space]. When he is in mid-air, press [Space] again. He will start to fly. This can help with getting over water and other obstacles.
Radical City shortcut
Select any Sonic form (Sonic, Super Sonic, Mecha Sonic) and go to Radical City. When you get down to the dip in the track, turn left and keep going. Pass the 20 rings door and you should see a line of rings. Keep going and jump past the
barrier in the bend of the road on your left. Then, go left again. If you look at the map, you should see that you skipped a chunk of the level.
Use Knuckles at the start. At the dip, jump and float. Go down the stream until reaching a ledge and a road below. Go to the road and turn left to find the pinball area. Float above that at the drop. Jump up the gamble bit and take the boost. It is possible to get a time of 32:00 seconds by doing this trick.
Reactive Factory shortcut
Select any character. Turn right when you are catapulted near the gap in the road. You should skip about five seconds.
Regal Ruin shortcut
Select any character. Turn right when you see the hill and catapults. Then, turn left when you can. You should see an archway. Go through the archway and turn left at the fork. Then, go up the steep hill and go forward. You should reach the end soon. By doing this, it is possible to finish a lap in 25 seconds. Repeat this process.