Some rivalries never end, and the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo is one of the longest and most legendary.Both companies currently have newer racing games launched: "Mario Kart: World" was released with Switch 2 in June this year, while "Sonic Racing: Cross World" was released last month.

Sega poked fun at Mario Kart World in a '90s-style pre-sale ad for Sonic Racing: Crossworld, urging players to "throw away the open track" and belittling "that kart racing game"; now the developer appears to be detailing exactly what qualities make Sonic Racing: Crossworld a better kart racing game.

In an interview, "Sonic Racing: Cross World" creative director Masaru Kobayakawa said that Sega's racing game "looks like a party game on the surface", but its core design is to make technology rather than luck the key to victory.

"We designed the system so that no item can guarantee victory, and players can always find ways to deal with items," said Kobayakawa. "Our goal is to retain the fun and chaos of party games, while ensuring that the ultimate victory belongs to those players who know how to think strategically and have excellent racing skills, rather than just relying on luck."

Kobayakawa also pointed out that prop-based racing games (i.e. the Mario Kart series) often put the front runners at a huge disadvantage - because everyone will throw turtle shells at you from behind.Mario Kart even weakens the leader by giving it only the most useless power-ups and by extending the time it remains shrunk after being struck by lightning.Not to mention the blue turtle shell specifically aimed at the front runner.

At the same time, "Sonic Racing: Cross World" offsets the inherent disadvantage of the leader by adding a "travel ring": the leader player can use the travel ring to decide which "cross world" the second lap of the game will take place.

Kobayakawa said that the development team of "Sonic Racing: Cross World" attaches great importance to the entire racing game category, and "balance" is their core consideration when making games.

"Frankly speaking, our arcade development team includes several of Japan's top players in the field of racing games," Kobayakawa said. "We let them engage in countless formal battles with all their strength, and constantly adjusted the game until everyone agreed that the balance was up to standard. This approach may not be adopted by many other studios."