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“Anything that was very stressful for players, anything that kind of always allowed people to come back from behind and win all the time needed to be removed from the concept,” Iizuka told GamesRadar+. “And then we’d go back in and playtest some more and find ways that we could balance and get it to feel the right amount of stressful and chaotic, but still lots and lots of fun, and always feeling fair to the racers.”
For decades now, the Blue Shell has been a source of controversy among Mario Kart players. It’s an iconic part of the series, it inspired a recent LEGO set, and it even played a memorable part in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Every Mario Kart player has found themselves on the receiving end of a Blue Shell at the worst possible moment though, resulting in the exact type of stress Iizuka is trying to avoid with Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. Whether that makes the game more enjoyable remains to be seen, but it can be hard to strike the right balance when it comes to items in a kart racing series.
From everything revealed thus far, it seems like Sega is taking great strides to emphasize the ways in which Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds stands apart from its competition. The lack of a Blue Shell equivalent is one example, and an overall emphasis on racing versus “action” is another that Iizuka has mentioned. CrossWorlds will also feature guest racers from outside franchises, which is something Nintendo decided to avoid with Mario Kart World. These might all seem like small differences, but they could add up to a different experience that’s worth checking out for fans of the genre.
