Two months ago, SEGA held a special panel at SXSW detailing some of the coming attractions for Sonic the Hedgehog. The big announcement to come out of that was a mysterious title with an "R," suggesting that a new racing game was underway. Earlier today, a Wal-Mart listing popped up, with the title "Team Sonic Racing," complete with box art and details. This listing was probably put out early on accident, because today SEGA itself confirmed "Team Sonic Racing" as being the next Sonic game.

Sumo Digital, the developer behind Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, has confirmed that it is working on Team Sonic Racing. The game is available for pre-order, and the listing description states what to expect from the racer. According to Amazon's pre-order listing, Team Sonic Racing will feature online multiplayer, as well as local play. There will be 12 players in a given race, with split-screen four-player. According to the description, there will be "various offline/online race modes including grand prix mode, exhibition mode, time-trial, & team adventure mode."

Speaking of Adventure mode, the listing also confirms a story mode. Interestingly, "Team Adventure Mode" implies that the Adventure mode can be played by one person, and also cooperatively. Next, the Wisps, little alien creatures that first appeared in Sonic Colors, will be used as "offensive and defensive items" the description states, which sounds similar to how items are used in the Mario Kart series. The listing also states that there will be 15 playable characters, with different classes: speed, technique, and power.

Via amazon.com

Unfortunately, no gameplay is shown in the trailer. It does show an impressive cinematic of longtime rivals Sonic and Shadow about to race it out. The previous two racing games from Sumo Digital did very well in reviews. The first All-Stars Racing has a 78 on Metacritic, while its sequel has a solid 82. Clearly, Sumo Digital has done a good job with putting Sonic in a car. Many might ask, why not make another All-Stars Racing? It could be that, at this point in time, most people are familiar with Sonic, but do not know the other SEGA characters well. After all, there hasn't been a Super Monkey Ball, Alex Kidd, or Billy Hatcher game in years, for a few examples. Making the Sonic characters the focus could be a wise move for marketing purposes.

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Team Sonic Racing will be released this winter for Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC.