An Oddly Mute SpongeBob And Other Friends Are Joining Sonic Racing CrossWorlds

A new trailer has arrived for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds to coincide with the Kids’ Choice Awards, showing that Hatsune Miku, Like a Dragon’s Ichiban Kasuga and Persona 5’s Joker aren’t the only non-Sonic series natives entering the race.

In the trailer we get to see the racers head to Bikini Bottom, revealing that SpongeBob SquarePants and Patrick Star are jumping into their Patty Wagon and hitting the road:

The surprises don’t end there however, with the end of the trailer also throwing out that additional Nickelodeon properties will appear in the game down the line, including:

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
• AVATAR Legends

So if you have ever wanted a high-speed grudge match between Aang was an Air Nomad and Donatello, this is likely the best arena to make such a thing happen.

Of course one jarring detail that I could not quite understand was how SpongeBob appeared to be entirely mute within his showcase trailer, and some digging online returned some concerning details – with many sources saying that guest characters within the game are likely to have no dialogue within the game. Apparently an interview with vice president of product development Takashi Iizuka revealed that voice dialogue is limited to the 24 Sonic characters “because of the IP”:

Unfortunately, there will be no interactions with base roster and collaboration characters in Sonic Racing Crossworlds.
byu/AsksAllTheQuestions1 inSonicTheHedgehog

Now there is some consternation online regarding this quote, with some questioning if it means that the guest characters would either be entirely mute, or perhaps will not speak directly to other characters within the game. The wording of “won’t have voiced dialogue with Sonic characters” mentioned in the interview does a lot to suggest they will not interact with others, but now seeing a SpongeBob-centric trailer without so much as a peep from the yellow guy is concerning.

Having played the game, there is no lack of friendly banter between racers – many bark and reply at each other when passed or hit with an attack – so the idea of Hatsune Miku herself blasting past Sonic and not even having a quiet “Yay” moment to herself feels like a crushingly disappointing reality. Even the possibility of SpongeBob not dropping his signature laugh occasionally just feels unnerving.

We will likely get to the bottom of this as we speed towards the September 25th release date for the game. If you are hungry for more Sonic Racing CrossWorlds info, make sure to check out Kieron’s thoughts on the game based on the closed network test here, or my own girthy discussion with Adam and Nathan as part of our podcast series here.