No one cares about storyline in Sonic games, much less spinoffs. And why should they? It's a bloody casual throwaway aspect of thw game, nowhere near its point.

You aks why it always has to be Robotnik? Why is Mario always fighting that Bowser guy or some othe random generic enemy with zero depth? Because stories are nowhere near the point of these games. No one has ever given a damn that Robotnik was always the bad guy nor expected an epic storyline of Sonic games. That's just not the type of game it is. And especially the Sonic R you mention - now since WHEN do people care about *storylines* in a racer? Who cares if it's there or isn't? Do you whine about the moronic storyline/lack thereof in Mario Kart?

This looks to be an excellent title and one that is sure as hell more exciting than the Mario-wh**ing that has been going on.