Team Sonic Racing was an outlier among the hedgehog's racing games from the past decade. While Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed used characters from across SEGA in their rosters, including representation from series such as Super Monkey Ball, Jet Set Radio, and more, the latest title limited itself to characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe.
The Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed roster includes characters from across SEGA
In aninterview with GameSpot, Derek Littlewood, design director at Sumo Digital, and Ben Wilson, a designer on Team Sonic Racing, explained the reason for this approach. According to Derek, the intention was to innovate:
It was a difficult decision for us, but we believe it was the right choice. It allowed us to create a brand-new kind of experience for Team Sonic Racing that I do not think the audience would have had in the previous games.
Team Sonic Racing gave a chance to characters who would not normally make it into the "All-Star" games.
Restricting the roster certainly must have helped when building the team mechanic that separates the game from similar titles. Expanding on the previous argument, Ben Wilson stated that one goal of this restriction was to explore Sonic's universe more deeply:
Because this game takes place in a universe with characters who already have relationships, it allowed us to create a dialogue system where they shout to one another, are familiar with one another, and refer to the past, which we could not have done if characters from other franchises were present. At least, not naturally. Because of that, we were also able to do additional things.
Despite that, Derek confirmed that fans of the previous titles should not lose hope, emphasizing how the Sumo Digital team are fans of SEGA and its entire history.
The team is made up of old-school SEGA fans who are open to continuing with the All-Stars side of the game. We have nothing to announce or even anything planned. But it is something we would love to do again.
While Team Sonic Racing has been well received by critics and fans, the possibility of a new "All-Star" game is tempting to many people, especially when considering the potential for new racers and tracks from franchises not yet represented, such as Bayonetta, Persona, and Yakuza. We now know that the developers have certainly not discarded the idea.
