Hands-On Preview: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

Mario Kart World is (rightfully so) impressing fans as the marquee launch title for Nintendo Switch 2, but it won’t be long before it gets some decent competition from SEGA. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is the latest game from the Blue Blur’s venerable racing series, and it really feels like a return to form after the merely serviceable Team Sonic Racing from 2019. CrossWorlds is a notch above in terms of presentation, gameplay, racer selection, and more. During Summer Game Fest, we were fortunate enough to be able to sit down and give the game a test drive—buckle in to find out what we thought.

I raced through three different cups during my hands-on time with CrossWorlds. You know a demo is pretty good when you stop thinking of it as a demo and want to just keep on playing, and that was the case here. I found myself swept up in the speed and beautiful visuals of CrossWorlds. The Sonic Racing games play in the same kart racing sandbox of the Mario Kart series, but SEGA’s take remains distinct owing to its own take on power sliding/drifting and a couple of other features—including the land, sea, air approach introduced in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed.

The roster boasts not just the usual core cast of Sonic pals and enemies, but also some of the SEGA pantheon and other guests. Among those that have been revealed are Ichigo of Like a Dragon, Hatsune Miku, Joker from Persona 5, and Steve, Alex, and Creeper from Minecraft. It’s an eclectic mix, which is nice, but remains a far cry from the huge roster of SEGA stalwarts in the Sonic & All-Stars Racing games. Regardless, I was happy with these options and think the guest racers are a nice way to spice things up if SEGA isn’t interested in bringing back the old roster.

One thing that immediately stood out to me was the welcome return of vehicle transformations, which were jettisoned from Team Sonic Racing. In CrossWorlds, a racer’s car will transform depending on the terrain; hit some water and it becomes a boat, soar through the air and it becomes a plane. Not only is it visually interesting, but it also results in more varied, engaging racetracks. What’s more, the different types of vehicles handle a little different based on the terrain, which is another fun aspect. Why vehicle transformations where ever dropped in the first place is a mystery to me, but bringing them back for CrossWorlds was a wise move.

The core mechanic of CrossWorlds is implied in its name. Players will zip through Travel Rings that send racers hurtling through dimensions during races. As there’s no real way of knowing where a Travel Ring will lead to, it makes races very unpredictable. In a way, every race becomes a little different because of the Travel Rings, which is a fine way of keeping things fresh for players. However, while I didn’t hate the Travel Rings, I did think they took away, if only slightly, from the experience on each track.

For instance, a track like Apotos has a totally different vibe and feel than Colorful Mall, and I don’t know that I enjoyed having to leave one only to briefly cruise around on another. Maybe that’s an odd complaint, but imagine being on the sandy shores of Koopa Beach in Mario Kart World, for example, only to randomly be pulled from it to some other locale. It might boil down to taste more than anything, but ultimately I’d rather stick to a single course. Maybe I’ll feel differently once the game launches.

Unlike the aforementioned Mario Kart World, CrossWorlds is happy to offer players a bevy of customization options. This includes the ability to mix up elements of your car, like parts, powers, and abilities. But you can go a step further with the new Gadgets system. With Gadgets you’re able to give your vehicle different perks, like a faster start or improved performance of some kind. I got to experiment a bit with Gadgets during my play session, but not enough to really get into the nitty gritty of how they’ll impact my racing over multiple races and cups. That said, having the option at all is a lot better than the more stripped down vehicle choices in Mario Kart World, so it’s already a feather in CrossWorld’s cap that the mustachioed one doesn’t have.

One fun little detail that I enjoyed was the presence of the Sonic Riders characters like Jet the Hawk and Wave the Swallow. I think the characters have a really energizing aesthetic that works well in a Sonic Racing game. I was also happy that Extreme Gear, the hoverboards that Jet and company race around on, also made the leap to CrossWorlds. Given the land/sea/air transitions throughout each race, Extreme Gear are a perfect fit—and look pretty dang cool, too. I didn’t get a chance to see if other characters can hop onto Extreme Gear or if it’s restricted to the Sonic Riders crew. I guess we’ll just have to find out at launch.

Initially announced as a Nintendo Switch title, SEGA has confirmed that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds will also be coming to Nintendo Switch 2, albeit at a later date. The Switch version will release on September 25, 2025. There’s a standard physical edition, but there’s also a collector’s edition coming from Limited Run Games. If you’re interested, you can snag a pre-order right here before LRG shuts them down. There’s also a Digital Deluxe Edition which contains:

• Season Pass
• Play the game three days early (September 22, 2025)
• Sonic Prime Playable Characters
• Knuckles the Dread
• Rusty Rose
• Tails Nine
• *PRE-ORDER BONUS – Sonic Unleashed Sonic the Werehog character + vehicle + decal

As I noted above, Team Sonic Racing felt like a bit of a misstep after the excellent Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed. With CrossWorlds, it’s a return to form. Throw in new features like Travel Rings and Gadgets, and this could be a racing gem that fans keep returning to for years to come.