Ambitious kart racer Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is just around the corner, but Sonic Team’s franchise won’t be the only one in the limelight, as a certain yellow peril’s 45th anniversary celebrations continue with the upcoming release of Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac and a two-way collaboration between both games.
In case you’re unfamiliar, CrossWorlds will feature Pac-Man as a playable racer (along with a track inspired by the series) as part of its downloadable content (DLC) roadmap. Meanwhile, Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac (a fully 3D remake of the well-loved PlayStation 2 and GameCube platformer) will receive a Sonic-themed DLC pack including the iconic Green Hill Zone as a playable stage.
At Gamescom 2025, I got to sit down with Sonic Team’s Takashi Iizuka and Bandai Namco’s Yuji Yoshii. I quizzed them on everything from what excites them most about the upcoming collaboration to their respective favorite games in each other’s long-running franchise.
Put a ring on it
Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds has been making waves in the run-up to release, with full cross-platform online play being one of its standout features. It’s not, however, what Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka is most excited about.
“What distinguishes us from other racing games are the Travel Rings,” said Iizuka. “When you come to the second lap, you’ll pass through a Travel Ring that takes you to a completely different world. I think this surprise element is something which really stands out. Every time you play, there’s something new, exciting, and surprising.”
Travel Ring locations are something that Sonic Team is really betting the farm on. We won’t just be driving to familiar Sonic locations. Instead, they’re quite literally an opportunity to tie into other popular franchises such as Minecraft, SpongeBob SquarePants, and, of course, Pac-Man.
“Initially, we were approached by Sega,” said Yuji Yoshii, producer on Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac, “They said it would be wonderful to have Pac-Man in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. But we also thought that a two-way collaboration would be great, so that was something we proposed to Sega. We were also really drawn by the uniqueness of the Travel Ring [system], so we’re really excited about being able to join in!”
Go go gadget
I took a moment to chat with Iizuka about my experience with the gadget system from my previous Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds preview.
While I really enjoy the player expression and modes of play offered by these equippable perks, I expressed a concern to him that certain combinations may be preferred online due to their incredibly powerful nature. I’m sure many of you have seen clips from the open network test of the monster truck item absolutely decimating racers off the starting line.
“We see the gadget system as an innovation for racing games,” Iizuka said, “and you can combine them very, very freely. If you’re really good at drifting, for example, you can use gadgets to make drifting better. Or if you like placing items, there are gadgets that help you do that, too.
“For now, we are not concerned about [balancing], but as we are also planning to update the gadget system, we have to take care and ensure it remains a system that everyone can enjoy.”
We’re not yet sure what these gadget system updates will entail post-launch, but I can guess that Sonic Team will look at adding in even more new gadgets, as well as hopefully bringing some balance to ones that could potentially be exploited for an advantage online.
Look, as hilarious as the monster truck is at the Apotos starting line and its comically narrow straight, that’s something that’s already striking fear into the hearts of online rank chasers.
Best of both
Lastly, as a bit of fun, I asked Iizuka what his favorite Pac-Man game is, and vice versa for Yoshii. Both revealed to me that they were longtime fans of each other’s franchises, and Yoshii had particular reverence for the series he’s currently producing.
“I’m an old man already now, as you can see,” Yoshii joked, “but I really enjoyed playing Pac-Man from a very early stage. I played [the original] in arcade game centers when I was an elementary school boy. So from a gamer’s perspective, I’m really a huge fan of both old and modern Pac-Man.
“For Sonic,” Yoshii continued, “it’s difficult to pin it down to just one game, so I’ll have to go with Sonic Generations, which is like having two games in one, I think!”
Iizuka added: “Today, Pac-Man World 2 Re-Pac is a 3D game, but the original [Pac-Man World] – and Pac-Land before it, were more like sidescrollers. I really enjoy this side-scrolling style of 2D game, and when I got the chance to play them for the first time back in the day, it was awesome!”
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