When it comes to things like music, movies, books, and video games, people typically have a soft-spot for one genre over the others. With video games, platformers, Metroidvanias, and RPGs are pretty popular, among many other types of games out there. For me, I don’t have a favorite genre as much as I do franchises. Sonic, Mario, and Pokemon are the reasons I’m even writing this right now, and because of my love for them, I tend to take on any adventure they have for me. This has led me to enjoy the detective style of The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog and the unfolding adventures of the Paper Mario RPGs. Naturally, this means I’ve spent plenty of time racing in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and Mario Kart World.
The last 10 months or so since Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds was announced have been very nostalgic. I watched as Mario Kart World was revealed, and Sonic Team was quick to say their game was better throughout the press cycle. Fans kept the rivalry alive by saying how one game clears the other due to this-and-that feature or cool element. Every other week, these two games were being placed side-by-side and compared. I didn’t participate. I was just happy that 2025 was stacked with GameCube kart racer callbacks with Kirby Air Riders in the mix. To my surprise, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds released to strong reviews, which led to tons of earlier fans shouting that Sonic may have beaten Mario at his kart racer game. With my interest piqued, I revved up Mario Kart World alongside CrossWorlds‘ early access to put both to the test.
Mario Kart World Puts Wonder into a Warm and Fuzzy Road Trip
Seeing the Mario Kart World title screen and intro music after a while without it gave me a strange nostalgic feeling for a game that’s not even a year old. I’m going to chalk this up to how Mario Kart World is built like a classic Nintendo game, where it hardly holds the player’s hand and lets them explore and unlock things all on their own. I feel like Mario Kart World‘s thesis is to look around and take in the world as it passes by, and I love how the pacing gives me time to do that. There are a lot of details I get to catch while driving and racing, and the way I’m not punished with items one after another to where I stop moving, even online, keeps me having fun every step of the way. It’s been a long time since Mario Kart’s item-based chaos hasn’t discouraged me one way or another, so I feel like Mario Kart World might be my favorite out of all of its entries for its exploration and player-friendly items.
I feel like it needs to be said that I’m an outlier when it comes to Mario Kart World. I know some people don’t like the open world and the intermission tracks, but I enjoy them and what they add to this Mario Kart’s formula a lot. Being able to literally go between tracks and have the course itself serve as a finale to the lap feels great and makes them all feel important through every Mario Kart World Grand Prix and Knockout Tour run. Of course, this also means I enjoy the Free Roam mode. Being able to drive everywhere, take on small challenges, and discover things is a great way for me to unwind.
The intermission tracks gave Mario Kart World the chance to have Rainbow Road appear and open up in front of the racers in the Special Cup, and the beauty and elegance of it all was enough to nearly make a grown man like me cry.
Grand Prix is made into a bit of a challenge with the unlockable character of each standard cup being made into a “rival” of sorts; they’re the best-performing NPC on the track. Beating them does take some earnest effort, which has given me something to strive for every time I play. Knockout Tour is where the real meat and potatoes are, in my opinion. It’s incredibly fun to push past everyone for a chance at making it to the top, and getting past 4th place against the computer characters takes a lot out of me to pull off. Mario Kart World online is still the best place to get the usual kart chaos fans expect from the series, but it’s definitely bogged down by Switch Online’s lackluster connections. I hopped on for some Knockout Tour while working on this article. I managed to get into first place, only to be immediately disconnected. Not a great feeling.
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is Gonna Show You What True Speed Is
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds may have just been released properly, but I’ve spent considerable time with the game through the Open Network Test, the demo, and the Digital Deluxe early access. CrossWorlds puts what many consider to be Sonic’s greatest asset on full display, and that means that players gotta go fast. The instant players start up the game, they have to complete the first Grand Prix, where a Sonic character will be waiting there as their designated rival. Each of these rivals is randomly chosen on the Grand Prix screen (though players can choose favorites if they want) and comes with unique starting cutscenes. These cutscenes are based on each combination’s personal history or the lack of any, like how Storm the Albatross mistakes Shadow the Hedgehog and Silver for Sonic just because he doesn’t know them and apparently needs glasses.
This feature is important because it is the crux of everything Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is: competitive and unapologetically Sonic. Everything about the game ties into a drive to be the best in the franchise’s long-running history — and those things fit together often. The game pulls from a wide variety of racing game mechanics like Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing Transformed‘s titular transformative track design, Team Sonic Racing‘s team mechanics in Race Park, and the way that the Extreme Gear from Sonic Riders feels exactly how I’d expect a true modern-day Riders entry to feel has my heart soaring. The courses also pull from practically every game in series history, and believe me, I kept track personally. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds feels like an early 35th anniversary title because of how much it embraces the series and why fans adore it.
For those worried about Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds‘ tie-in characters, I’m happy to report that the game is Sonic first and foremost. The free update and DLC characters don’t intrude on the Grand Prix mode, and if players don’t interact with the crossover characters or play online, then they won’t appear at all beyond the character select screen.
The competitive nature of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds goes hand-in-hand with how the game truly is a high-octane race to the finish. I worked up CrossWorlds‘ rival level ladder all the way to the cap at level 10, and every upgrade pumped me full of more adrenaline. I’ve had many victories that I’ve stolen within an inch of my opponent’s cars, and vice versa, thanks to well-timed items at the finish line. The list of items in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is insane, if you ask me, and I can tell Sonic Team has worked hard to get the balance right.
Still, sometimes I feel like my skill doesn’t matter compared to a few lucky item pulls, but there may be nuances players haven’t figured out yet. After all, someone just figured out that Sonic Colors‘ basic white Wisp has a frame-tight window to get away from the Blue Shell equivalent. In the end, I can only name two or three races where I got taken out unfairly due to items in single-player, and I think that speaks for itself.
At the Finish Line With Mario Kart World and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
With my history with these franchises and their past racing games, I had fun playing these two games side-by-side and comparing them. If I had to describe them, Mario Kart World‘s gameplay feels like a warm hug, while Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds put me on the track and told me to show it what I’m made of. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds fosters a unique challenge that the Sonic series has taught me to seek out, and I don’t think a racing game from it has made me feel this pumped with adrenaline since the original Sonic Riders. That’s why, for me, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is a stand-out racer just for how it manages to be this fast with well-balanced items and a never-ending list of rewarding challenges. I’m aware that this comes with a fair bit of personal bias, and that’s actually my biggest takeaway from this little experiment. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds and Mario Kart World together taught me just how important it is to run your own race.
Now that both games are out, and I’ve played them both, I feel like comparing Mario Kart World and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is a lot like comparing apples and oranges. They might be fruits, but the way you eat them and the way they taste is completely different. Mario Kart World and Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds have so much more to offer than just basic kart racing, and they each do it in their own way. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds might be fast, embrace the franchise, and takes players to all kinds of fantastic environments, but Mario Kart World does the same thing in the same way Super Mario 3D World acts as a platformer.
Mario Kart World tells players to take their time, explore, find secrets, or race to the end if they want, and that feeling is uniquely Mario‘s. It also embraces the Super Mario franchise through its many, many remixes, costumes, and enemy racers. It’s very much the same as how Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds requires quick thinking, problem-solving, and a key understanding of its dynamics to master its speed, just like how many of Sonic‘s own platformer challenges operate. I also found myself wishing that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds‘ selection of skins was larger, and also that it came with a photo mode like Mario Kart World did. And I wish there were more to do in single-player in Mario Kart World, like Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds‘ endless unlocks and customization.
Even the online modes have comparable pros and cons. Mario Kart World doesn’t punish me for losing, so there’s no challenge, but I encountered a fair bit of toxic players when grinding for the top rankings during CrossWorlds‘ open network test, so I’m not looking forward to encountering those players again.
While some fans have been comparing and debating whether the apple Mario Kart World or the blueberry Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds are the better racer between them, some people have seen them as more like two cakes. It doesn’t matter which one has pretty decorations or has more funfetti filling, there are still two cakes for everyone to enjoy, and there’s nothing wrong with having a personal preference. Mario fans will enjoy racing with their favorite characters and taking in the gorgeous world they have to explore without a doubt.
Meanwhile, Sonic fans are going to be mighty pleased helping their favorite characters go head-to-head at such breakneck speeds. As long as we all enjoy these two great kart racers, then I believe there’s no need to make this competition into anything deeper than a fun rivalry based on personal preference. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have rivals to beat on Super Sonic Speed in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds, and I want to finally get that victory in Mario Kart World‘s Knockout Tour.