Hold on to those chili dogs, folks – Sonic Snedakon is speeding towards some thrilling racing action. Sonic will henceforth bring his signature speed and attitude to Gameloft’s free-to-play arcade racer as part of the Nintendo family. The announcement by Nintendo Twitter also tantalizingly promised decals of the iconic characters, a soundtrack packed with bangers, and, most importantly, that renowned Sonic taunt: “You’re too slow,” cue that nostalgic feeling.
In some strange way, these two brands dial into each other. Sonic has drifted into racing spin-offs ever since the Sega Saturn days, has he not? And with all its crazy and overtly arcade-like physics, the Asphalt series is just too suited to becoming the playground where the hedgehog usually outruns explosions. In fact, now come the usual Asphalt craziness of nitro boosts, midair stunts, and cars handling like roller skates, with that loud, blue mascot either cheering (or jeering) you all the way to the finish line-so Switch Asphalt craziness just got louder and more entertaining.
Reactions? Mixed as ever, with some players excited about this one (“This looks 🔥!” tweeted the @OBE1plays), and others licking their chops about Asphalt as the microtransaction king (“How much real world currency will this cost?” sighed @Romey_Yo). Then comes the Switch 2 crowd, with @dramaton69 flatly announcing, “No Switch 2, no buy,” as if Sonic cares about hardware generations. (Spoiler alert: He doesn’t! He is too busy going fast.)
This collaboration brought forth some classic console war disputes. “Remember when Sonic used to rival Mario?” asked @Hamidgx027, from the shadows of a 1991 memory. Meanwhile, @Dave19Brown83 chimed with: “No more Sonic Heroes, so give collabs a chance.” And in this regard, he’s right, as for decades Sega’s mascot has been a sort of Nintendo flagship, at least until the two start rivaling each other in the form of Mario & Sonic Olympic events.
Asphalt Legends Unite is already a cross-platform beast (mobile version, Xbox, Steam Deck, and everything), but the Switch-Win cross-progression got praise from @kaz_maniandevil. Well, not on PlayStation, as Sony loves its walled gardens.
Is Sonic’s appearance in Asphalt worth a download? Absolutely, if you want every kind of crazy racing there is and don’t mind the F2P grind. Just don’t expect an intricate narrative—this isn’t Sonic Frontiers. This is pure dumb fun that will have you spending countless hours trying to pull off the perfect drift with Sonic yelling in your head, “Gotta go fast!” And sometimes, that is all that matters.
