Sonic Rush Adventure deviates from prior games with its elements of sea travel, featuring boating minigames that take advantage of the DS's touchscreen.

Critics highlighted its presentation, particularly the visuals, and music, and some favorably compared the gameplay to that of the original Sega Genesis Sonic titles.

[2] In normal levels, players must reach the treasure chest at the end of the stage, while using features such as springboards and boost pads, and avoiding obstacles such as robots, spikes, and bottomless pits.

[2] In boss fights, players must defeat a large robot by jumping on its vulnerable spot to deplete its health meter.

[1] On different areas of Southern Island, players can talk to members of Marine's Coconut Crew, who will offer Sonic tips and additional missions as the story progresses.

[3] Certain missions must be finished to progress through the story, while others offer bonus rewards upon completion, such as musical tracks the player can listen to or visual upgrades to Southern Island.

[2] By deviating from the recommended objective on the Sea Chart, players can find hidden islands to explore and earn additional materials, as well as run into a robot pirate named Johnny.

While exploring the surrounding islands to test the waterbike, they soon encounter a band of pirates led by the robotic Captain Whisker, who are after an ancient artifact known as the Jeweled Scepter.

Giving chase, Sonic and Blaze attack and defeat Whisker's strongest robot, the Ghost Titan, causing an explosion that sinks the ship.

In the aftermath, Marine reveals she took back the Jeweled Scepter in the confusion, and Blaze returns the relic to its proper resting place.

[5] As the developers began to work on the project, director Sakae Osumi, inspired by adventure novels, television programs, and films, decided that the sequel should be set on the high seas.

However, the developers enhanced the presentation, including a dynamic camera system and 3D elements in gameplay, most notably in boss fights.

[8] The musical score of Sonic Rush Adventure was composed by Tomoya Ohtani, Seirou Okamoto, and Mariko Nanba.

[13] To promote the title, Sega created an Adobe Flash browser game that allowed users to demo the boating minigames.

[17] The game was released in the wake of the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog reboot, which was critically derided; GamesRadar stated that Rush Adventure was indication that the series still had some life in it.

IGN admired the improvements made to the original's graphics and effects, and noted the fluid character animations and attention to detail.

[19] IGN, however, made note of frame rate problems during the "messy" boss fights,[1] even though GameSpot called them "a spectacle" and "remarkable".

According to the Official Nintendo Magazine, the game reminded them what made Sonic great in the first place, and called it a "a consummate experience".

[2] The boating minigames, wrote Pocket Gamer, "opens up the game beyond the simple platforming" that restricted previous Sonic titles, and used the DS's abilities well.

According to Nintendo World Report, who expressed relief the cutscenes could be skipped, the story was tedious, slow, and uninteresting;[2] this was a sentiment echoed by GameSpot.

Nintendo World Report wrote that the material collecting system was artificial and forced, and felt it "dampened" playability.