‘Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds’ Hopes Guest Characters Will Help Japanese Players See “Appeal” Of Sonic The Hedgehog
According to Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Creative Director Masaru Kobayakawa, each of the game’s guest characters, from Mega Man to Hatsune Miku, were picked according to three specific criteria: Their ability to “surprise” players, the amount of “delight” their inclusion can bring them, and their potential to introduce Sonic the Hedgehog’s “charm” specifically to Japanese audiences.
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Asked during a recent interview with Famitsu, as machine translated by DeepL, if they could speak to the ins-and-outs of their racer selection process, Kobayakawa took the lead and began by explaining:
“When considering characters to appear in Sonic’s world, we ask ourselves questions like, ‘Can we create a sense of surprise?’ and ‘Can we create appealing interactions within the game that will delight fans of both characters?’ We then propose ideas to the respective rights holders and make our selections based on that.
“Sonic is a character beloved by a wide age range worldwide, but I feel that in Japan, for example, some aspects of his appeal might not fully resonate with many people. Therefore, we hope these collaborations will serve as an opportunity for players to discover Sonic and his friends’ charm and worldview through this game, and to join in.
“My selection criteria were based on whether I could be absolutely certain that ‘adding this will make players happy.’ However, since this title is also a product aimed at players worldwide, for regions I’m not familiar with, I made selections while carefully observing the reactions of staff based in those areas, trying to gauge whether they would genuinely be delighted.
“The four IPs we revealed at Summer Game Fest—Hatsune Miku, Yakuza, Persona 5, and Minecra—were collaborations where I personally could picture players’ happy faces. Seeing that genuine excitement when they were revealed was especially rewarding.”
From there pressed as to “what aspects did you focus on the most, and what proved particularly challenging” when translating said guest characters into CrossWorlds, in particular their respective vehicles, Kobayakawa broke down each of the Summer Games Fest announcees, sans Minecraft, one-by-one:
“Regarding Hatsune Miku, we initially considered a racing machine concept. However, since this theme had already been used by other companies, it wouldn’t have felt unique to our game. We reimagined her using the hoverboard motif introduced in this title. We paid meticulous attention not only to the machine but also to her outfit, consciously aiming for a ‘man and machine as one’ appeal.”
“For Kasuga Ichiban’s machine, realistic cars from the series were initially considered. However, we feared they would blend into the Sonic Racing series and lose their appeal. To establish its identity as a standalone vehicle, we explored numerous design concepts. Ultimately, I believe we achieved a striking design that evokes Yakuza even when viewed independently.
“For Joker from Persona 5 The Royal, pairing him with his exclusive Persona ‘Arsène’ came to mind immediately, making this the smoothest collaboration decision. As his exclusive Persona, its design complements Joker perfectly, and he looks incredibly cool riding it.”
Closing out his thoughts on CrossWorld‘s guest characters, Kobayakawa moved to point out one more aspect of their in-game presentation, noting “In the race results background music, collaboration characters have their own dedicated background music, while regular characters have the background music from the work that inspired the course.”
“The dialogue between characters in Grand Prix mode also changes depending on the course they encounter, so while we tried to keep the design as simple as possible, there is something different each time, and we aimed for a design that ‘somehow doesn’t get boring.’ The designers have also hidden many Easter Eggs in the course backgrounds, so if you find them, we hope you will share them on social media and get the game going.”
While some may find it curious that Kobayakawa thinks Sonic the Hedgehog, a Japanese-created character, is ‘misunderstood’ by Japanese players, it becomes less so if one looks past the surface level and look at the fact that the Blue Blur is spiritually American.
“Sonic, meanwhile, was squarely aimed at the U.S. market,” Sonic’s original designer, Naoto Oshima, told Gamasutra in 2009. “He’s a character that I think is suited to America — or, at least, the image I had of America at the time.”
His shoes inspired by the buckle-heavy ones worn by Michael Jackson on the album cover to Bad, his upbeat attitude inspired by the ‘American’ identity displayed by then-President Bill Clinton, and his overall animal appearance taking heavy beats from Mickey Mouse combined with the ‘gotta go fast’ nature of his series’ gameplay, and it’s ultimately no surprise that Sonic has resonated more with Western audiences than the Japanese – and it’s that odd disconnect that Kobayakawa hopes CrossWorld‘s numerous guest racers can help repair.
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