"It looks like Nintendo did a good job" – Sonic boss Takashi Iizuka says Mario Kart World looks more like an action game, whereas Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds "really" focuses on racing and competitive play
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I'd hate to be the guy who releases a kart racing game months after Mario Kart World, but Sonic the Hedgehog's dad Takashi Iizuka isn't phased, and says Mario's newest game is a different beast from Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.
Speaking to GamesRadar+ at Summer Game Fest 2025, Iizuka admits he hasn't yet had a go of the Switch 2 racer, but "from the videos, it looks like Nintendo did a good job of putting in a lot of fun, so it's more of like an action game. I see a lot of that coming through."
And to be fair, some of the wild tech that players are pulling off in Mario Kart does have the vibes of an action game.
But as for Sonic, the team at Sega is going for a different vibe. "Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds game is different in that it was made by the Sega arcade racing team along with the Sonic Team" Iizuka says, adding "the focus really is on racing and on that competitive play."
He also speaks about the central mechanic of CrossWorlds in which you travel between different realms mid-race, "having the travel rings kind of change up the race every time you race. So even if you're playing the same course, you're going to have a different experience." He adds: "And there's something really different in the kart racing genre that we think everyone's going to get really excited about."
Iizuka also talked about cross-platform play being important to the team (something that was used as a dig at "another kart racing game" during its Summer Game Fest reveal). "So cross platform play is in there, and you can go ahead and race and have that competitive experience against anyone on any platform. That really makes it exciting."
Plus, Sonic Racing has Ichiban Kasuga from Yakuza and is rumored to be getting SpongeBob down the line, so suddenly that Cow isn't looking as cool as before.
Mario Kart World players have found the optimal way to unlock every vehicle, and it involves driving slowly behind a pedestrian car for 25 minutes.
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