Sonic Racing Crossworlds throws heavy punches at Mario, but who’s the winner?

What’s gaming without a little friendly rivalry? Sonic and Mario’s friendship is the stuff of legend, but it doesn’t stop Nintendo and Sega from pitting them against each other. The latest Sonic Racing Crossworlds trailer is proof of this, as Sega pulls no punches in trying to convince you why it’s worth picking over another racing game: Mario Kart World.

Look, you won’t find any beef with Mario Kart World from us over at Pocket Tactics. Well, at least not from Connor Christie, who awarded the new Switch game a glowing 9/10 in his Mario Kart World review. For me, though, I get why you might find Mario Kart’s shift to a sprawling open-ended map a tad…boring?

It doesn’t touch the heights of Airship Fortress in Mario Kart DS, but not many things do. Yet, if you’re a certified Sonic lover and appreciator of the rapid-paced blue hedgehog, then Sonic Racing Crossworlds is probably more your jam.

And that’s what Sega is eager to let you all know. The latest trailer for the new Sonic game refers to Mario Kart World with little fanfare, calling it “that racing game” as Sega shows Crossworlds’ customization suite, array of world-hopping maps, and the ability to utilize crossplay.

It’s the bread and butter of previous Mario Kart games, but Crossworlds is seemingly here to fill that void in your life. The funniest jab of the whole thing pokes at MKW’s open-world game approach.

Shifting to a shot of a banged-up RV, the narrator unenthusiastically says, “What if you want to roam around on the open road?” Ouch. However you feel about Mario Kart World, there’s no denying that Crossworlds looks like a decent addition to any Nintendo Switch 2 dashboard. There’s been a big influx of racers capitalizing on popular characters in the last few years. Even Garfield’s a sequel to his own racing game. I bet you didn’t know Robbie Williams Racing exists either?

The bottom line is that most of these efforts are half-baked, at least to me. I’m hoping that Sonic Racing Crossworlds bucks that trend. If you are curious about Mario’s latest racing efforts, you can grab MKW in a limited-time Mario Kart World sale right now.