Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Adds Characters From “SEGA Universes” – Nintendo Life
Source: Nintendo Life
Update [Thu 13th Feb 2025, 4:50pm]: IGN has an exclusive first preview of the game live which shows off many of the mechanics and abilities featured in Sega’s announcement in more detail.
IGN’s Jada Griffin got to take the new Sonic for a spin and notes that this game ditches the team-based format of the previous entry, going “back to Mario Kart’s everyone-for-themselves format” (and feeling much closer to Sonic All-Star Racing Transformed as a result) but “evolves beyond” MK8’s offerings from over a decade ago.
Sounds intriguing, especially with ‘Mario Kart 9’ presumably revving up for Switch 2! Check out the preview above for more info.
SEGA has now officially released its announcement trailer for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, and as part of this, it’s shared some new details about what exactly Sonic fans can expect from this new racing experience.
Not only will this game include the “largest” roster ever in a Sonic Racing game, but it will also feature characters from across the Sega universe! Along with this, you can expect a “wide variety” of vehicles – allowing you to mix and match “parts, powers, and abilities”.
CrossWorlds also introduces “Travel Rings” that transport racers from one location to another, with the lead racer picking the location on the second lap as you race across “land, sea, and air”. Adding further excitement to each race is the RPG-like gadget feature, which players will equip and combine before each race.
Sega has also confirmed the return of “Extreme Gear” – which first appeared in Sonic Riders. In Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds this gear will “offer a boost-based racing style”. Sonic Team’s Creative Officer Takashi Iizuka has shared a message about Sonic’s latest racer, explaining how it combines new ideas with the past history (like the All-Stars Racing Transformed feature) of the Sonic Racing series:
Takashi Iizuka: “In Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, not only did we want to introduce the innovative idea of racing through different worlds as you warp through the Travel Rings, but we also wanted anyone who had fun playing our previous Sonic Racing games to really enjoy this title, so we took a lot of elements from those past games and incorporated them. We included the Extreme Gear from the Sonic Riders series as well as the Transform feature from the All-Stars Racing series, making it a great culmination of all the Sonic Racing series games to date. I hope everyone really enjoys Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.”
Here are some more official screenshots, courtesy of Sega:
Once again, this game is “coming soon” digitally and physically to the Nintendo Switch and multiple other platforms. What other Sonic and Sega characters would you like to see join the roster in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds? Let us know in the comments.
Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He’s been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief.
Screw you for making me want this as a Transformed fan, SEGA.
Pretty cool they’re going back to the crossover thing the Sega All-Stars racing games did rather than scrapping it altogether instead of being Sonic-only like Team Sonic Racing. Loved Transformed with the transformation gimmick and the game being a gigantic crossover with so many different faces, so it’s cool it’s making a comeback!
Really hoping for a Transformed sequel here…like everyone else.
Awesome that Sumo is just being able to go all out for this one. Definitely seems like this is gonna be just the complete culmination of all of Sonic’s racing history. Really think its interesting they say that other Sega characters are going to be included on the roster, so I wonder how many there will be, and which ones they’ll choose. It probably won’t be a lot if they aren’t making this another All-Stars title, but its cool they are being included as well.
@Anti-Matter How about waiting til more information comes out before dismissing the game….
@Anti-Matter You know, not everything revolves around your preference…
Blaze from Streets of Rage, please! And Opa-Opa! And Vyse from Skies of Arcadia!
Yep…I’m excited now!
Also sonic riders 4 when?
Edit: Just watched the trailer and saw you can ride the extreme gears… oops. 😅
Is it ok if I preferred this wasn’t coming to Switch? Seems like a lot of work hours to get this to run on there.
Though I suppose if MK9 is next genSwitch 2 only then it could work out well for them. Guess we’ll see.
@Fighting_Game_Loser Steam actually lists Sonic Team as the developer this time around
I’m so happy it’s like all star racing transformed! I never even got to really play the game just a demo on the ps3 a while back and I loved it and really, really wanted a follow up! This news makes me happy.
So this is a pseudo-Sonic Riders sequel? Count me in, I love Riders. I just hope they’re not biting off more than they can chew here. The game looks very ambitious, I hope they’ve given the game the proper time it needs to be great.
I’ll
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