The Swarm^[1] (ビーラッシュ, Bī Rasshu^?, lit. "Bee Rush") is an object that appears in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. It is a Pickup item which deploys bees to slow down enemies.

Description[]

The Swarm, as its name suggests, consists of a swarm of disgruntled normal-looking yellow and black bees more so styled akin to giant wasps.^[1]

Overview[]

The Swarm can be obtained from the different Capsules on the race tracks. When using this Pickup item, the user sends it after the racer furthest in front to block their progress until it comes to a stop. Along the way, the Swarm sets up a series of obstacles resembling giant bees in their immediate path, which the racers can attempt to avoid (or destroy with their own item). Should a racer bump into any of these insects, they will get hurt and slow down. Not even the user of the Swarm is immune to its obstacles.

A skilled player can pass a Swarm with little hindrance, though clever use of this item – like when the lead player is in a narrow throughway – makes evasion much more difficult. Also, more than one racer can have a Swarm at a time. If one is launched while another one is still active, it will position itself a short distance ahead of the last one. To players, one can tell a Swarm is coming up from behind by hearing a buzzing noise and yellow and black specks zooming by. A Swarm is also quite harmless if a racer manages to activate a Glove/Super Glove in time when driving through it.

Trivia[]

• Swarms do not appear in Battle Race, Battle Arena or Capture the Chao.
• The Announcer will sometimes refer to a Swarm as a "Sky Tiger". This is an Easter egg put in by Sumo, as one of the artists refers to them as such.^[2]
• The voice clips for hitting two people and three people with the Swarm are erroneously swapped in gameplay.

References[]