The Great Race (video game)

The contents of this article are considered non-canon meaning that they never actually happened in the Thomas' Sodor Adventures series.

The Great Race
Developer	DonaldDouglasandOliver11
Released	July 29th, 2016

The Great Race is a Nintendo 3DS game based on the special of the same name.

Description

HiT Entertainment presents Thomas & Friends: The Great Race - Thomas wants to go to the Great Railway Show but the big engines laugh at him saying that he's not fast or strong enough to compete, but he gets left on Sodor after an accident and Gordon forgets his safety valve. Will Thomas ever get to compete in the Great Railway Show and give Gordon his safety valve? Find out in The Great Race (video game).

FEATURES

• Race as Thomas, Gordon, Flying Scotsman, Ashima and many more in these four exciting competitions.
• Play in Either '1 Player', '2 Player', '3 Player' or '4 Player' mode to compete against a friend.
• Try and earn the gold trophy by winning these competitions.
• If you go onto the Railway Tour, you can interact with many engines and compete against them to unlock them.

Events

• The Strongest Engine Race
• The Best Decorated Engine Parade
• The Great Race
• The Shunting Competition

Playable Characters

Icon	Name	Event	Statistics	Country
	Thomas	The Shunting Competition	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Sodor
	Henry	The Strongest Engine Race	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Sodor
	Gordon	The Great Race	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Sodor
	James	The Best Decorated Engine Parade	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Sodor
	Emily	The Best Decorated Engine Parade	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Sodor
	Spencer	The Great Race	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	England
	Flying Scotsman	The Great Race	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	England
	Hiro	The Strongest Engine Race	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Japan
	Ashima	The Shunting Competition	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	India
	Rajiv	The Best Decorated Engine Parade	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	India
	Yong Bao	The Best Decorated Engine Parade	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	China
	Vinnie	The Strongest Engine Race	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	North America
	Carlos	The Best Decorated Engine Parade	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Mexico
	Raul	The Shunting Competition	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Brazil
	Shane	The Strongest Engine Race	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Australia
	Frieda	The Strongest Engine Race	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Germany
	Axel	The Great Race	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Belgium
	Gina	The Shunting Competition	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Italy
	Etienne	The Great Race	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	France
	Ivan	The Shunting Competition	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Russia

Non-Playable Characters

Icon	Name	Statistics	Position(s)	Country
	Percy	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Former Great Railway Show contender	Sodor
	Philip	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Mascot and Flag carrier of Team Sodor	Sodor
	Stephen	Speed   Shunting   Power   Technique   Stamina	Tourist Guider	Sodor

Non-Playable Characters in Railway Tour

• Diesel
• Salty
• Den
• Dart
• Paxton
• Norman
• The Great Railway Show Diesels
• Victor
• Kevin
• Cranky
• The Dock Manager

Modes

• The Great Railway Show
• Railway Tour
• Music
• Options
• Extras

Railway Tour

The single player mode has a set of Adventure Tours which revolve around a plot which is based on the actual special where Thomas wants to go to the Great Railway Show, but the big engines laugh at him for him being not fast or strong enough to compete and he ends up having an accident causing him to not being able to go to the railway show.

Thomas' Story/Intro

The story begins with Thomas asking the Fat Controller if he can go to the railway show, in which the Fat Controller tells him to just do his jobs. Thomas goes back to work shunting trucks in the yard, but he has to put the trucks in the right order, he does so and goes to rest for the rest of the day.

Thomas wakes up early so he can practise his shunting, but Diesel has shunted some trucks, along with Den, Dart and Paxton hidden crates in the middle of the yard preventing engines from getting in or out the yard. As Thomas waits for so long for Diesel to move the trucks out of the way, he decides to move them himself, but the diesels under the crates mistake Thomas' whistle for Diesel's horn, they then start pushing, unknown that Thomas was pulling them. Thomas is pushed along the line by the crated diesels and he approaches a red signal which Norman is passing by, Thomas ends up crashing into Norman, causing a big mess. At this point, the player must clean up the mess and put Thomas back onto the track.

Ashima's Story

Thomas is at the docks and while he is waiting, he sees a large ferry roll in stopping at the dock, Thomas watches as twelve engines, with different colours, sizes and nationalities roll onto the shore, but as they find out that they have come to the wrong place as informed by the Dock Manager. They all head back onto the ship, but one engine is left behind, this left-behind engine accidentally bumps Thomas when he is at the ferry dock causing him to hang dangerously over the edge, the engine lifts Thomas back onto the tracks, but Thomas is furious by this, due to his anger, Salty decides to mimic Thomas by saying his name is Thomas in which the engine introduces herself as Ashima, but Thomas is not amused and chuffs out of the docks leaving Ashima.

A while later, Ashima is looking for an engine to show her a way to the Mainland, but everyone she sees, are too busy working and they cannot stop to tell her where to go, she sees Thomas soon later, but the blue tank engine just rushes by not paying any attention. Ashima puffs sadly away, sad that she cannot go to her destination.

Promotional Videos

On Extras Mode, promotional videos of the Great Railway Show contenders from the Official Thomas & Friends YouTube channel appear and can be watched, they are released every Wednesday on the same day the videos on the Thomas & Friends YouTube channel are released.

Image	Name	Description	Released
	Philip of Sodor	First engine up, Philip! Recently arriving on the Island of Sodor, he's an engine favorite amongst his engine friends. Philip will play the role of Sodor mascot and flag carrier.	April 13th, 2016
	Axel of Belgium	Axel of Belgium is an amazing looking engine that was built for speed. The lean mean racing machine won over his army of fans with his charms and looks.	April 20th, 2016
	Yong Bao of China	Strong, sleek, and steamy, Yong Bao of China knows how to put on a show!	April 27th, 2016
	Raul of Brazil	Introducing Raul of Brazil. A one time champion a few years back, he is well respected throughout the railway.	May 4th, 2016
	Ashima of India	Meet Ashima of India. A simply breathtaking engine that brings mystery and wonder.	May 18th, 2016
	Ivan of Russia	Meet Ivan of Russia. A very strong diesel engine who finished second in the shunting race.	May 25th, 2016
	Gina of Italy	Don't let Gina's looks deceive you. This small and compact engine can match the boys pound for pound.	June 1st, 2016
	Spencer of UK	Meet Spencer. Serving as the private engine to the Duke and Duchess, Spencer is known as a regal engine that hold the land speed record for a steam locomotive.	June 8th, 2016
	Rajiv of India	All hail the emperor of India, Rajiv. Rajiv is a small tank engine but bursts with color!	June 15th, 2016
	Percy of Sodor	Meet Percy. Picked at the last minute for the shunting race, Percy is an unlikely hero.	June 22nd, 2016
	Shooting Star Gordon of Sodor	The streamlined power house, Gordon the Shooting Star, is a lean mean moody machine that is heading to the front of the race.	June 29th, 2016
	Shane of Australia	Meet Shane of Australia. Shane is a big, strong engine who works tirelessly to ensure he's in the best shape for the strongest engine race.	July 6th, 2016
	Emily of Sodor	Looking better than ever, Emily has an advantage on the other engines with two extra driving wheels.	July 13th, 2016
	Vinnie of North America	Meet Vinnie, the tough, rule-bending engine who will do anything to come in first place.	July 20th, 2016
	The Flying Scotsman	Meet The Flying Scotsman, the first locomotive to reach 100 mph!	July 27th, 2016
	Carlos of Mexico	Meet Carlos. He won the strength competition at the first Great Railway Show, but now he's back and competing in the best decorated parade!	August 3rd, 2016
	Henry of Sodor	Meet Henry, one of Sir Topham Hat's first engines! He may not be the strongest, but we'll see if this engine can win the strength competition!	August 10th, 2016
	Etienne of France	Meet The Great Race's most modern engine, Etienne of France! He may be the fastest engine, but he always plays fair!	August 24th, 2016
	Frieda of Germany	Meet Frieda. This streamlined engine is competing to win the strength competition.	August 31st, 2016
	Thomas of Sodor	Here's the engine you've all been waiting for: Thomas the Tank Engine! What race will this champion compete in?	September 7th, 2016

Pre-release and unused content

Main article: List of The Great Race pre-release and unused content

Trivia

• The models and the animation are re-used from the Thomas & Friends app, Race On!.
• The character selection screen is similar to the character select screen from Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games on the Nintendo DS.

Goofs

• On the character selection screen, there are a few things that are wrong with the character artworks, such as:
  • Hiro and Axel's icons are mirrored.
  • Thomas, James and Emily's icons do not depict them with the liveries they received for The Great Railway Show, Philip's icon (which is seen only during the Railway Tour mode), also depicts him without the Sudrian flag on his roof.