SEGA explains how the Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds’ cameos were chosen

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds rolls in on September 25th, 2025, and it’s bringing some interesting characters with it. Besides the usual roster of familiar Sonic faces, we learned that Hatsune Miku, Yakuza’s Ichiban Kasuga, Persona 5’s Joker, multiple Minecraft characters and more are on the way. It’s quite the smattering of franchises, and now we have some insight into how it all came together.

IGN had the chance to talk with Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka about the special characters and franchises joining Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, and Iizuka made it clear that coming up with exciting, fun experiences for the fans is what fueled the unique appearances.

“We wanted to make sure the second lap around was going to be full of surprises as you’re going to a different world that you didn’t even think was possible. So, when brainstorming what we could do to make that really fun and exciting, we knew it would be great to go to some of the Sega IP worlds, but we also wanted to go to other IP worlds and really surprise people with that second lap. As we got to thinking about what worlds be fun to explore, we really thought Minecraft and its characters could be very fun.”

[Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka]