Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Year Two is officially launching later today, with more racers, more vehicles, and more courses joining the ever-growing universe of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.
In addition, Year Two brings several significant additions to the game, enhancing the already exhilarating experience with more ways to play with friends, gameplay updates to deepen the experience, and new gadgets to master.
We sat down with the development team of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds to get some behind the scenes details about the road to Year Two.
In Year Two, several new features have been added to further expand the ways players can enjoy CrossWorlds, including Duel Mode, new Gadgets, and the Super Slot. How did the team approach designing these additions?
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds dev team: One of the core appeals of CrossWorlds is the ability to discover your own play style and refine how you race as you continue to play and gain experience. For Year Two, our goal was to expand those possibilities even further.
For example, Duel Mode was created to offer a different experience from the standard 12-player races by focusing on the unique strategy that comes with one-on-one competition. By letting players focus on their distance from their opponent and how they use items, races can unfold in entirely different ways.
Gadgets are another feature that allows players to experiment and discover combinations that best suit their personal play style. In Year Two, we’re introducing the Super Slot, a dedicated slot for one-slot Gadgets. The Gadget placed in that slot will have its effects enhanced, opening up even more possibilities for combinations and strategies.
New strategies emerge from both the race rules and the choices players make with customization. With Year Two, we aimed to create a game that continues to offer new discoveries every time you play.
Some eagle-eyed fans might have noticed that one of our bonus exclusives for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Year Two Digital Deluxe Edition and Season Pass Two first appeared online as an April Fool’s joke… and they’re right!
The Sega Consoles Pack, featuring three vehicles inspired by Sega’s historic consoles, make their debut in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. But turning a video game console into a racing vehicle is no easy feat. We decided to dive in a bit more with the dev team on how they chose to design the vehicles while maintaining the iconic consoles’ identities.
The Sega Consoles Pack features vehicles inspired by classic Sega hardware. What design choices did the team make to evoke a sense of nostalgia?
We incorporated design elements that instantly remind players of each console, such as their colors, shapes, and button layouts. The Dreamcast’s rounded form and distinctive color scheme, as well as the Genesis and Sega Saturn’s angular silhouettes and subdued tones, are all expressed as part of each machine’s identity. We also recreated the Dreamcast’s Visual Memory Unit (VMU) using original reference data from the era.
Rather than directly recreating the hardware itself, we translated rounded forms into fenders and nose sections, while angular lines became body panels and hoods, adding the sense of speed expected from a racing machine. While preserving recognizable colors and components from each system, we also designed around the game’s front-and-rear combination mechanic, incorporating the fun of pairing consoles and controllers into the vehicles themselves.
The Genesis Tower US in particular required considerable experimentation to ensure it wouldn’t obscure the characters or interfere with gameplay while still retaining its recognizable appearance.
We hope players enjoy both the nostalgia of immediately recognizing a beloved console and the surprise of seeing it transformed into a racing machine. More than anything, we hope these machines remind fans of Sega’s longstanding spirit of boldly taking on new challenges throughout gaming history, and that they can still feel that same sense of excitement today.
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With a boost of new gameplay mechanics to explore and permanently slashed prices now’s every racer’s chance to hit the racetracks! Get the Standard Edition for $39.99 USD and the Digital Deluxe Edition and Year Two Digital Deluxe Edition each for $59.99 today on PlayStation Store.