Yakuza team initially wondered if it’d be OK for Ichiban to be in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds

One of the highlights for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is its various collaborations, and one of these is for Yakuza’s Ichiban Kasuga. Creative director Masaru Kobayakawa recently shared a bit of backstory about the character’s inclusion in a recent interview with Famitsu.

Kobayakawa told the Japanese magazine that there was some initial hesitation from the Yakuza team about the collaboration. He said:

“Sonic is popular with kids globally, and I remember very well that when we first went to the Yakuza team with the proposal, they confirmed, ‘Is this (referring to subject matter of the game) really okay?’ (laughs). We just said, ‘It’s fine because people will definitely be happy!’ and reassured them without any real basis, so when the collaboration was announced and fans were pleased, we felt more relieved than happy (laughs).”

Another collaboration featured in Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is Hatsune Miku. Kobayakawa shared a few words on that as well, stating:

“Also, on the topic of Hatsune Miku, she was developed while Crypton provided us with various ideas, from design direction to coloring, so she left a strong impression. The music project PJ Onsoku also cooperated with us, and from the conceptual stage they suggested, ‘Let’s choose fast songs for the Sonic feel’, introducing us to songs and songwriters that other projects did not have, so I think this was something that the two companies SEGA and Crypton really worked together to create.”

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds is out now on Nintendo Switch and soon on Switch 2. SEGA recently spoke about the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game – read about that here.