‘Sonic Racing’ takes shots at ‘Mario Kart World’ rival with new trailer

The new trailer for Sonic Racing: Crossworlds has reignited Sega’s rivalry with Nintendo and their mascot Mario.

Sonic Racing: Crossworlds is set to launch on September 25 for PlayStation, Xbox, PC and Nintendo Switch. “Race across land, sea, air, space, and time in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds! Warp through Travel Rings into new dimensions where something new awaits around every twist and turn,” reads an official description. 

However the latest 30-second trailer for Sonic Racing: Crossworlds takes a playful swipe at rival racing game Mario Kart World. “We all know *that* Kart racing game. It’s great, we don’t need to show it to you,” says a voiceover alongside a blurry image of what appears to be the recently-released Switch 2 title.

“But what if you could blast through and race on a whole other level? What if you could warp across different dimensions, fully customise and build out your machine and compete head-to-head across different platforms? Or…what if you want to roam around on the open road,” it continued, making another dig at Mario Kart World’s ‘Open Roam’ feature. “Welcome to the next level,” the trailer added.

Leave the open road behind and come race on our level.

Early Unlock is live one week from today for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Digital Deluxe Edition owners*, so pre-order the game here: https://t.co/DvbrrSXB9C

*Early Unlock not available for Nintendo Switch pic.twitter.com/77KucHa8B9

— Sonic the Hedgehog (@sonic_hedgehog) September 15, 2025

The whole thing is a nod to Sega’s ‘90s “blast processing” advertising campaign from the ‘90s, which saw a TV and a Sega Mega Drive mounted on a race car, while a spluttering van with SNES’ Super Mario Kart fails to start. It too ended with the slogan “welcome to the next level”.

“Sega making ragebait for marketing is so funny because the comments are mostly Nintendo fans going ‘nuh uh’, meaning it did its job perfectly,” wrote one fan. “This rules so much. We need more shade throwing in gaming,” added another. 

Speaking to VGC earlier this year, Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka said “there isn’t a Sega vs Nintendo thing going on at all, but when people talk about kart racing, Mario Kart has been the king of kart racing for the longest time. I think everyone knows that and appreciates that. [So] what can we offer players that’s going to be different, and something fun and appealing that can be competitive?” 

In other news, Palworld is set to finally get a full release next year with a huge update currently in the works at Pocketpair.

The post ‘Sonic Racing’ takes shots at ‘Mario Kart World’ rival with new trailer appeared first on NME.