Sayori Through the Craze

Sayori Through the Craze, known in Japan as Sayori’s Never-Ending High-Speed Challenges From Space That Exceed The World and Even the Galaxy (サヨリの世界を超えて宇宙から高速課題されには全体の銀河が終わること), is a party-racing hybrid developed by Burst Arts Inc. and published by Namco in 2005 for the Xbox 360. The game is set in “Rush Park” and revolves around Sayori helping a group of humans prevent the alien overlord antagonist, Shamuro, from controlling the minds of other humans. *Sayori Through the Craze* features seven worlds with four stages each, and the ability to drive a motorbike, airplane, or motorboat.

## Gameplay

Sayori Through the Craze plays almost identically to Sega’s Crazy Taxi, but instead of serving the NPCs, players are tasked to extract Shamuro’s forces from the minds of humans by smashing them in the head with a specific weapon. Players can choose one of ten characters, who have access to three different vehicles: motorbike, motorboat and airplane.The motorbike is an all-round vehicle, however it is slowest on surfaces such as water. The motorboat is designed for water and liquid-like areas but lacks in acceleration and maneuverability. The airplane is designed to access aerial areas; it is good at acceleration and maneuvering, yet it has the slowest speed. Not all vehicles are available on all stages, however.

In "Adventure Mode", players control the racer of their choice to progress through the story. Players begin on Rush Park, which consists of seven interconnected worlds; Vine Place, Waterpark Alley, Myth Desert, Lucky Casino, Brass Fortress, Jet Tower, and Future Station. Each world contains four stages, an unlockable battle stage, a race against a boss character, and a trophy challenge with all four stages. Each track requires players to use a particular vehicle in this mode.

## Plot

Toma's parents go on holiday and leave their son in charge of the life-like amusement park they live on, leaving him to invite his friends over to visit. Their enjoyment is derailed when an evil, intergalactic, alien overlord named Shamuro arrives at the lively Rush Park and attempts to take over by sending his forces to control the minds of various of humans. He turns the six exhibit masters into his alien henchmen. The only solution available to the remaining survivors is to extract the aliens out of the humans. Dice, who is an expert of all of the amusement park’s exhibits, attempts to do this, but was overwhelmed by the amounts of infected humans, thus failing and turning into a figurine for Shamuro.

Meanwhile in outer space, Sayori, a space cadet who has been chasing Shamuro for quite a while, senses a distress signal coming from Rush Park and she in turn recruits her other cadets Sashimi and Sachiko while Tora gathers the remaining survivors of the park to help.

## Characters

### Playable Characters

* Sayori: The titular main protagonist of the game. A space cadet from the Sirius Foundation who has been chasing Shamuro since she was given the task.
* Sashimi: Another space cadet working for the Sirius Foundation. She was first called by Sayori, who explained that she received a distress signal from Rush Park.
* Sachiko: A space cadet who is also a part of the Sirius Foundation. She and Sashimi were called by Sayori, who received a distress signal from Rush Park, assumably from Toma.
* Toma: A young man from Earth. His parents left him in charge of their theme park until he was called later to help his friends from Shamuro.
* Penelope: A beautiful girl from a kingdom east of Rush Park. She was called by Toma after surviving Shamuro's invasion to defeat the alien leader.
* Bulk: A man who usually wears protective gear. He survived Shamuro's invasion and was called upon by Toma to defeat him.
* Kreed: A ragged young man who, despite his punkish exterior, is actually friendly. He was able to fight against Shamuro's forces after given the chance by Toma.
* Tyson: A young boy notable for his blue-and-yellow scarf. He was saved by Toma during Shamuro's invasion and decided to fight for himself.
* Baron: A muscular man who came from an island north of Rush Park. He was called by Toma when he was out of survivors in Rush Park to defeat Shamuro.
* Coney: A mysterious man with little to no backstory. Regardless, he was called by Toma from his forest home to fight Shamuro and his invaded forces.

### Secret Characters

* Dice: A man who was an expert in Rush Park's challenges. However, he was unable to defeat Shamuro, turning into a figurine as a result. To unlock him, find the figurine and attack it to change him back.
* Kiki: A woman dressed in festive attire. She aids Sayori and the other characters in the game. She will be playable if the player completes all of the stages in each world.

### Non-Playable Characters

* Maul: A short but elderly alien who assist the players throughout the game.
* Hammer Master: A giant gorilla wielding a hammer. He is the exhibit master of Vine Place.
* Plesio Turtle: A plesiosaurus with the shell of a turtle. It is the exhibit master of Waterpark Alley.
* Tuten Scarab: A scarab beetle carrying a giant orb filled with viruses. It is the exhibit master of Myth Desert.
* Judge Libra: A giant scale with two different heads at each end. It is the exhibit master of Lucky Casino.
* Fortress Master: A giant tank with the body of a robot. He is the exhibit master of Brass Fortress.
* Turbine Vulture: A robotic vulture with built-in jets in her wings. She is the exhibit master of Jet Tower.
* Shamuro: An alien overlord and the main antagonist of the game. He and his race of aliens are known to conquer the minds of other organisms, bending them to his will. Eventually, he discovered Rush Park and decided to control the humans there. He is the exhibit master of Future Station, an exhibit of his own creation.