Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds – “Overpowered” and “Stressful” Items Have Been Removed

While we got a good look at some of the gadgets that players will be able to use in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, veteran Sonic series producer Takashi Iizuka has revealed that the developers working on the kart racer have taken out a lot of items that might end up being too stressful for players. In an interview with GamesRadar, Iizuka spoke about how the first concern of the joint team made up of developers that have worked on the Sonic and Sega’s Arcade Racing franchises revolved around making sure the core racing in the game can be fun without any items.

Through this, Iizuka explained, the team was able to make a “balanced, fair” racing game that didn’t have to rely on any items or other gimmicks to ensure that players will be having fun. This stripped down approach then allowed the development team to add in usable items and gadgets over time while still keeping in mind the overall balance of the game.

“They wanted to make sure the racing itself without any items was fair and fun,” Iizuka said. “The dev team really took things down to the base level, and wanted to have that fun, competitive racing mechanic.”

Once the core gameplay was set in stone, the team was then able to conduct “a lot of playtests” to add in and remove items from the game. According to Iizuka, “anything that was very stressful for players, anything that always allowed people to come back from behind and win all the time needed to be removed from the concept.”

It is worth noting that the most popular kart racer out there – the Mario Kart franchise – tends to have plenty of items that some players might find unfair. This includes the infamous Blue Shell, which, when used, automatically catches up to the racer in first place and takes them out for a few seconds, allowing for other competitors to catch up and even overtake them. Items like the Blue Shell, however, have also been praised by more casual fans of the series since the items can be used by even relatively low-skilled players to not get completely thrown out of a race.

Earlier this month, Sega had revealed that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will feature more than 23 playable characters as part of its roster. Alongside characters from the Sonic franchise, we will also see other Sega franchises represented in the kart racer, including Like a Dragon protagonist Ichiban Kasuga and Persona 5 protagonist Joker. Even non-Sega franchises will be represented, like vocaloid pop icon Hatsune Miku, and Minecraft’s Steve.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is coming to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2 on September 25. Sega has also confirmed that all versions of the kart racer will feature cross-platform multiplayer. The game’s arrival on Switch 2 was confirmed earlier this month, alongside details of the various editions of the game. Check out our coverage for more details. And in case you’re curious about some of the tracks in the game, check out the History of Sonic Racing video.