Summary
- Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds may incorporate character skins to enhance the massive roster for fans wanting to play as favorites.
- The return of Sonic Riders' EX Gear in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has fans requesting character skins for unique style.
- A potential preorder bonus, Sonic Prime DLC, hints at character skins being included to ease animation and programming.
With the announcement of the Racing Around the World campaign, it seems that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is entering a new phase of pre-release hype. Two courses from Sonic Unleashed have been revealed on the game's social media channels, and an upcoming presentation in June might announce further details, like pre-orders and a release date. It's understandable why players may be itching to race right away after a select few got to try Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds early during a closed network test on PS5. The network test allowed players to share characters fairly, even if they were already selected, which might mean that there's one feature hiding in plain sight that's unannounced. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds could feature character skins to expand its roster even further.
2025's Racing Games Are a Burst of Nostalgia For Fans of One Era
There are three prominent racing games players have to look forward to this year, and coincidentally, they all harken back to an important gaming era.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Would Benefit Immensely From Having Character Skins
The roster in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is set to be gigantic. The official website states that there will be at least "over 23 main racers" when the game launches, with the recent ratings mentioning in-game purchases, possibly a pass of some sort for racers after the fact. Even with that, there will likely be certain players who will always want to play as Sonic, Tails, or any of the other characters. This was one of the things that the PS5 beta had that shouldn't be removed from the main game, as players didn't have to settle for second or third favorites. Skins would allow racers to play as their favorite character while remaining identifiable on mini-maps and result screens, and fans have been requesting them since day one as it is.
Why Character Skins Are So Important to Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Players
One of the exciting aspects of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is the return of Sonic Riders' EX Gear. These airboards haven't been used in a racing title since Sonic Free Riders, and it was once a pipe dream to have EX Gear available in a title like this. Thus, their inclusion plays a very big role in the hype around Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. It's also why fans have begun asking for character skins. The Riders series has a unique style to it in its courses and character designs. Having the EX Gear as an option for every character is enough to make any Riders fan happy, but those very same players have expressed that it would be weird to race as any of the original Riders cast (sans Jet, Wave, and Storm for obvious reasons) without being able to don the outfits from the classic racing game.
One Pre-Order Bonus May Confirm Character Skins Already, and Would Benefit From It
As much as fans are already excited about the idea of a racing roster that includes Sonic Frontiers' Sage and other potential Sega IP representation, there's one aspect of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds that would benefit from skins that may confirm the feature by just existing. Digital Deluxe owners will be given Sonic Prime character DLC, and that could go a few ways. Either it's alternate gloves and shoes for Sonic, which confirms skins outright, or the Sonic Prime DLC will deal with the series' multiverse characters like Tails Nine or Thorn Rose. From there, it's a question of whether Tails Nine, for example, will have his own roster slot, or be a skin for Tails. From both a development and multiplayer standpoint, the skins would make these similar characters easier to animate and program while also allowing more than one Tails fan to technically play as Tails.
Character skins might only be in CrossWorlds to make the Sonic Prime characters easier to include, but there's a lot to gain from the feature in general. Riders fans would get to race on EX Gear dressed the way they love, and the other skins from games like Sonic Dash and Sonic Forces: Speed Battle would help with whatever "battle pass" CrossWorlds might have. Players will just have to wait and see what's in store when Sega's ready to reveal more, and thankfully, that's sooner rather than later.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 84 /100 Critics Rec: 95%
- Released
- September 25, 2025
- ESRB
- Everyone / Mild Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- Sonic Team
- Publisher(s)
- Sega
WHERE TO PLAY
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.
Speed to victory solo or as a team in a variety of offline and online modes and compete against players from around the world.
Build the ultimate machine to match your racing style, unlock gadgets to gain the upper hand, and unleash power-up items for the win!
- Genre(s)
- Racing, Action
