A brand new entry to the Sonic kart racer series is coming our way. We’ve known about Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds for a little while now. However, if you haven’t been keeping tabs on this game, it’s not set up to be just a Mario Kart rival. In fact, devs have pointed out that, unlike other kart racers, this game doesn’t feature the easy win items that will throw you in the first place from well behind the pack.
Speaking with GamesRadar, the Sonic series producer Takashi Lizuka noted that both development teams from Sonic and the Sega Arcade Racing franchises were working on this title. The focus was to ensure that this gameplay experience at a base level of just racing was fair and fun. After reaching this state of gameplay experience, they started to introduce items.
Now, kart racers feature an abundance of items; most notably, the Mario Kart franchise is filled with them. These can give you a massive boost and weapons to change the outcome of a race drastically. Some of these items can allow players who are stuck well behind the pack to catch up and even reach first place. So, no matter where you’re at in comparison to the other racers, you always feel like there’s a chance you can make a comeback.
However, that’s not what Sega was after. Takashi noted that numerous playtests were conducted with the items, and any that were deemed too stressful or allowed players to come back from behind consistently were removed from the game. So, it sounds like they are making a strong stance on being different than what you might be used to with kart racers.
Of course, this wasn’t the only time the game was brought up in comparison to the top dog for the genre. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was featured during Summer Game Fest, and as reported by Polygon, the developers made a reference to Mario Kart World by saying, unlike another kart racing game, theirs will have online cross-platform matchmaking.
As it stands right now, Sonic Racing: Crossworlds is set to launch on September 25, 2025. When it does release, you’ll find it available for the PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S platforms.
