In Sonic Runners, the player-character constantly ran forward, and players controlled their jumping from a side-scrolling perspective using the touchscreen.

The game was free-to-play, featured a wide variety of playable characters from the Sonic series, and received periodic updates.

[1] Sonic Runners was a free-to-play side-scrolling video game in which the player-character was constantly running forward.

Wisps granted the player temporary powers, rings protected them from getting hit by enemies or obstacles, and crystals increased their score.

The player would occasionally engage in boss fights with Doctor Eggman, who would drop objects to stop them.

[3] The story followed an episodic format and primarily served as a tutorial that provided information on how to play the game.

[4][7] Each section either gave a reward, such as bonus rings, or unlocked special missions, such as boss fights.

[9][10] Series veteran Takashi Iizuka, who designed and directed previous Sonic games, served as producer.

[8][11] It was also designed to have replay value—with its story mode, missions, alternate paths, and power-ups—which Sonic Team felt was something most endless running games lacked.

One of the biggest challenges Sonic Team faced during development was making sure the visual quality was consistent across all platforms.

The instruments he used were drums, bass, guitar, and piano, and he made the music "by focusing on creating a catchy band sound.

[14] Iizuka confirmed the game was real at the Tokyo Joypolis convention on December 28, 2014 and announced that it would launch in 2015.

[16] Sega soft launched Sonic Runners in Canada and Japan on February 26, 2015 for testing purposes and released the final version worldwide on June 25, 2015.

[21] Reviewing the soft launched version, Hardcore Gamer believed it was the best Sonic game in years.

[7] TouchArcade praised its gameplay and presentation, but criticized its online functions and wrote they "could easily see it going off the rails".

[23] A presentation highlighting Sega's strongest performing games designated Sonic Runners a "stalling title" because it only made between ¥30—50 million a month.

They also wrote the failure could be a cautionary tale for companies like Nintendo to not mask a game's problems by using a recognizable brand.