By Michael Beckwith

Copyright metro

Mario Kart World haters should love Sega’s new ad (Sega/YouTube)

Sega has recreated one of its old 90s ads, and its 90s attitude, in a new trailer for its Sonic racing game, which takes several jabs at Mario Kart World.

Back in the 90s, at the peak of the 16-bit console wars, Nintendo and Sega were bitter enemies and weren’t afraid to attack each other in their ads, with the latter coining the phrase ‘Sega does what Nintendon’t.’

That sort of public antagonism is largely a thing of the past nowadays, especially since Sega unequivocally lost the fight, dropping out of the console market and forging a more amicable working relationship with Nintendo.

Sega’s recent successes must’ve emboldened the company though, because it’s openly taking potshots at Nintendo again, in a new ad for Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds.

Sure, the ad doesn’t explicitly mention Nintendo, but it’s not exactly subtle. It opens with pixellated footage of ‘that kart racing game’ that’s clearly meant to be Mario Kart World.

But then it segues into footage of Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds running on a monitor attached to the back of a Formula One car, as it races along a track at blistering speed, before cutting back to the monitor with the not-Mario Kart attached to the back of a stalling camper van.

There’s even a cow standing next to the camper van, no doubt a reference to the fan favourite cow racer in Mario Kart World, while the narrator sarcastically quips about ‘roaming around on the open road,’ a clear knock at Mario Kart World’s controversial open world setting.

It won’t be obvious to younger fans but the ad is also a near shot-for-shot remake of an old Mega Drive ad, that tried to present it as the stronger console compared to the SNES – thanks to blast processing.

Of course, that ad has aged horribly since then. The blast processing that Sega boasted of was nothing more than a buzzword and the related technology was never actually used in any games.

More importantly, while still a success at 30.75 million consoles sold, the Mega Drive was ultimately outsold the SNES, which reached 49.1 million units.

This ad isn’t even Sega’s first potshot at Mario Kart World. During Summer Game Fest, Sonic series producer Takashi Iizuka went on stage to say Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds would feature crossplay ‘unlike another kart racing game.’

There was an actual “Sega do what Nintendon’t” at Summer Game Fest in the year 2025. pic.twitter.com/9Wz7E8l0X7— AmericanTruckSongs9 (@ethangach) June 6, 2025

Crossplay’s been a focal point of CrossWorlds’ marketing campaign, but while Mario Kart World does indeed lack it, that’s explicitly because it’s not a multiplatform game.

Plus, it clearly doesn’t need crossplay. The game still sold 5.63 million copies in less than a month, almost as much as the Nintendo Switch 2 itself.

It’s also unclear who CrossWorlds players would be cross-playing with. The game’s unlikely to sell well on Xbox and PC, which only leaves PlayStation and Switch – with the latter almost certain to be the game’s biggest audience, even with Mario Kart as an alternative.

Is Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds a good game?

So, why is Sega being so aggressive? Well, thanks to the movies, Sonic The Hedgehog is more popular than it’s been in quite a while, with the quality of recent games also being better than the last few decades.

But there’s also the fact that Mario Kart World isn’t as universally beloved as its predecessor, with many fans not caring for the interconnected racetracks and open world setting, which the ad mocks.

Mostly though, it’s just a joke, aimed primarily at older fans that remember the old 90s advertising attitude.

The most important thing is that Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds looks to be a good game and is different enough that it can attract Mario Kart fans even if they are happy with World.

Sega will have to hope it doesn’t end up in the same situation as Activision though, which also mocked Mario Kart in its marketing for 2010’s Blur, only for the game to sell a measly 500,000 copies, which lead to developer Bizarre Creations being shut down a year later.

Do you think Sonic will overtake Mario Kart for once? (Sega)

Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.

To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.

For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.

ArrowMORE: Nintendo Switch 2 ad brings back Paul Rudd in a 90s throwback

ArrowMORE: I’m going to say it: Mario Kart World is not as good as it should be – Reader’s Feature

ArrowMORE: Persona sells more than Sonic the Hedgehog in leaked Sega sales numbers