ASRT was super solid, mechanically. The ability to chain drifts added a layer of flexibility, items had more strategy in how you could use and avoid them, the multiple modes of handling were unique and interesting, and the dynamic tracks were just plain cool and fun. And even if he doesn't belong in one, seeing Sonic driving a car that turned into a boat that turned into a plane was rad. Maybe not the same flavor of cool as extreme sports, but cool. ...come to think of it, I wonder how much of ASRT you could borrow while keeping the Sonic Riders aesthetic. They are hoverboards, after all. Water and flying sections wouldn't be a stretch by any means. Then just figure out which systems you want to keep, toss, or adapt from the two series - items, how drifting works, unique mechanics like turbulence, all that stuff. I bet something really fun could be made with the best of both.
FTR I think cross worlds could still be very good, the gamefeel being great in the other ones is why I didn't care for TSR and I'd be happy if it was just a return to form. Not anything crazy but just that. But I never thought Sonic in a car, doing kart racer things stood out from the crowd enough. Why take a cool, athletic character like that and stick him in a vehicle? Have fun with it.
Mario and another IP of colorful characters releasing a racing game within a short time frame of each other on a new portable Nintendo console; close enough, welcome back Konami Krazy Racers.
Before I answer this, my question would be what experience do you have with modern children? Like, are you actually tapped in to what modern children like and are about? Because my sister is a 2nd grade teacher, and my brother-in-law is chairman of his 12-year old son's little league where he's a full time baseball coach for pre-middleschool kids, and my nieces go to a dance academy, and my other adult nephew is a professional babysitter, and my sister-in-law drives a school bus, and all of them know about video games. All my friends are parents with multiple kids, aged 4-9. And from everything all of them tell me, yes, Sonic is *massive* with kids in a way that most other video games are not. Both little boys AND little girls. Kids go apeshit over sonic right now. My littlest niece is 7. The only video game I've ever seen her play is an occasional round of fortnite with her older brother, and she (and him) are so insanely die hard sonic fans it blows my mind. When Sonic 2 was announced, my little nephew had to call me up so he could gush with someone about Knuckles, and wanted to tell me everything about Knuckles and his backstory and all that, which I gladly did. I took my niece with us to see Sonic 3, and she lost her shit at the reveal of Amy. Yes, modern kids, as in kids today, absolutely fucking LOVE sonic. Like, comparable to the way it was in 1993. Sonic is one of the biggest, hottest brands for kids in the world right now. And none of my extended family has a switch. They do, however, own a PS4 and have Sonic Team Racing. Sonic, right now, is way, way, waaaay more popular than he was when ASRT and TSR launched. Sonic hasn't been this hot in decades. It makes a lot of sense for them to try one of the most popular genres of video games, one that they've had success with (and yes, the sonic racing games ARE a success, you think they'd make 3 of them if they weren't doing good numbers?), when Sonic as a brand is on fire. As for "Nobody knows these old sega properties!" Reviving several of their old properties is literally what Sega is focused on at this moment. That whole "power surge" thing. We are getting a new virtua fighter for the first time in 20 years, a new jet set radio for the first time in 23 years, a new golden axe for the first time in 17 years, a new crazy taxi for the first time in 23 years, plus new Shinobi and Streets of Rage. I would say synergy would dictate that releasing a big cross over kart racer from Sega alongside this revival plan makes a ton of sense.
I hadn't even put into consideration Sonic's popularity given the movies and how they simply didn't exist at the time of TSR. It's certainly a factor that eases my worries of MK9 entirely snuffing it out.
It's quite amazing how a board dedicated to this franchise manages to consistently downplay its relevance. Retro isn't just a name, it's the mindset.
After 14 years of being in the trenches, it still takes some adjusting to the idea of the series being popular and good.
Not to mention how many kids get in through sonic.exe videos (laugh, but these are weirdly popular with them for some reason), whatever Sonic Roblox things are going on, etc. Combine that with the movies' success and Sonic stocks are up. The last few years have been cooking up a lot of new Sonic fans that we aren't privy to as they aren't quite old enough to share their opinions online yet. If you think it's weird seeing 06 love rising up these days, you better get ready for the crazy opinions currently incubating that'll start to dominate in like 5-10 years. EDIT: I really don't want to veer us too far off topic, but good god 100 million views
Don't forget there being an official sonic game in Roblox, too. I hate Roblox because it specifically targets very little kids with some gross practices, but sadly Sonic is a big deal in it. Also those iOS games are insanely popular, like so much more popular than this board indicates. That, more than anything, is where my little niece knows Sonic from, because she's always glued to her iphone/ipad. Sonic is also one of those evergreen characters that those super scummy weirdo generated videos that flood youtube targeted at kids is in. You'll frequently see Sonic vs The Avengers, or Sonic and Elsa vs Spiderman, or some other stupid schlock meant to play when parents aren't watching. Like, to clarify, none of this is really good or anything, but it's an example of how deeply ingrained Sonic is for modern kids. Kids see Sonic the same way people see Marvel or Star Wars or whatever. He's *that* level of zeitgeist among little kids. I go to McDonalds, Sonic is on the happy meal. I go to Walmart, Sonic is all over the kids clothing. I go to my nephews little league games, and kids walk out to Sonic movie music when they go to bat. Sonic is *everywhere* with kids right now. What's especially weird is it's specifically SONIC, not tails, not knuckles, not amy, not even shadow like I'd expect. It's Sonic, Sonic himself is just this other level of child icon. It's really incredible as someone who grew up with Sega, to see the franchise rocket back up this quickly. It's really remarkable.
Alright fair enough, things are pretty different now than when TSR came out. I guess we'll see how this one does.
Sonic is more popular now but going by frontiers's sales (3.5 mil up from 2 mil for Generations, 1 mil for Forces. Impressive about face and growth but not comparatively speaking if you look at how other franchises grew in the 2020s) Not that many people are engaging with the actual games still. Sometimes I wonder how much it's actually helping growing the brand vs being a vehicle for mobile games and backpacks.
The teaser trailer said it would be available on PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Steam and Epic Games Store. They may end up announcing a Switch 2 version, now that the console has been officially revealed, but currently it's not confirmed. Assuming that "Nintendo Switch" logo wasn't just a placeholder, and that CrossWorlds gets a Switch 1 release, that's a massive portion of the audience. The new Mario Kart will almost certainly be a Switch 2 exclusive, and most people who buy a Switch 2 will get it, but people who don't upgrade to Switch 2 this year will have Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds as the big new kart racer available to them.
This made me remember when Sonic Forces had the Nintendo NX logo before the Switch reveal in its trailer.
I wouldn't rule out a Switch 2 version. Big publishers and developers like SEGA have had their hands on the Switch 2 for a while now. It's a different situation to the early days of the Switch or "NX" though. Nintendo formally announced the existence of that console with a codename long before it was officially revealed. IIRC other devs had also announced that games would be appearing in the NX pre-Switch reveal. It seems like that's not allowed this time, as we officially know nothing about the Switch 2 and it's software artist from what we saw in the teaser trailer. If CrossWorlds is planned for Switch 2, SEGA may not be allowed to talk about it yet.
I feel like unless we do a 3DS "bump on the side of the cartridge" thing, any software made for both Switch 1 and 2 should just be one version that gets some enhancements on the newer machine.
I think that's basically the same thing I'm saying, yeah. I just don't know that we need separate cartridge designs in the first place. Thinking about it, given Switch 1's insane library, it's gonna be weird when we get to a point where they stop making games for it, since so much of 2's library is inevitably gonna be stuff that doesn't require whatever power increase 2 has anyway. Nintendo is where 2D lives right now.
