Sega has dropped the latest trailer for its upcoming racing title, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, which playfully reignites its old rivalry with Nintendo by mocking the latter’s recently released Nintendo Switch 2 launch title, Mario Kart World.
Titled “Come Race on Our Level”, the trailer holds nothing back right from the start, opening with actual footage of Mario Kart World, albeit heavily pixellated. It then cuts to footage of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, represented by a speedy racecar, before comparing it to an old RV, with a voiceover saying, “What if you want to roam around on the open road?” while sounding bored, which is an obvious jab at Mario Kart World’s touted open-world gameplay, which has been criticised for being baked-on and dull.
With this trailer, Sega has cheekily evoked the decade-old beef between the two gaming giants, harkening back to the days when consoles like the Sega Genesis and SNES went head-to-head, with the clip also being a direct throwback to the classic 1992 “Blast Processing” TV commercial, which played out in mostly the same way, with Sega’s console represented by a fast car while the SNES being mocked by comparing it to a sputtering old wagon, meant to signify the apparent difference in power between the two competing consoles.
Still, despite the old commercial directly referencing Nintendo and its games by using footage of an actual SNES and featuring the 1992 game Super Mario Kart, the newest trailer is much more tactful in its approach, shying away from showing any Nintendo hardware apart from the aforementioned pixelated video and instead relying on subtle nods to the competing title, like a cow, which references Mario Kart World’s breakout Cow character, likely due to the fact that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is set to be a cross-platform title that will release on Nintendo’s console, and Sega likely wants to avoid angering its console partner too much.
In any case, it’s an entertaining trailer through and through, a reminder of a time when companies could freely throw shade at each other. Who would come out on top of the competition between the two racing titles still remains to be seen, as Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds approaches its launch on 25 September 2025 for the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Si Jia
