Banjo and Avatars in 360 Sonic Racing

By Oli Welsh Published 21 December, 2009

Joining Shenmue's Ryo, JSR's Beat, more.

According to 1UP, SEGA and Microsoft have announced that Banjo-Kazooie and Xbox Live Avatars will be playable characters in the Xbox 360 version of Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing.

They're the only non-SEGA characters announced so far for the kart racer, due early next year and being developed by Sheffield's Sumo Digital. SEGA reckons it will be the first time Avatars are playable in a racing game, implying the game will beat Microsoft's own Joy Ride to the market.

Banjo and the Avatars will be joining an eclectic cast of SEGA faces: not just Sonic, Tails, Shadow and crew, but AiAi from Super Monkey Ball, the Samba de Amigo monkey, Beat from Jet Set Radio, Alex Kidd, Billy Hatcher and Shenmue's moody teen hero Ryo Hazuki (driving either a motorbike or his famous forklift truck).

A rumour round-up on Wikipedia names a number of other, unconfirmed possibilities: Ulala from Space Channel 5, Akira from Virtua Fighter and Vyse from Skies of Arcadia to name three. SEGA has also been wrangling with ToeJam & Earl creator Greg Johnson over the rights to the iconic nineties duo.

Fan service as only SEGA can do it. Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing is also due for release on Wii, PS3, PC, and DS, but there's no word of special guest apperances on those formats.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (19) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • wizlon #1 2 years ago

    If we all buy this can we have another JSR? Please SEGA, please...

  • miiiguel #2 2 years ago

    I can't understand why Avatars aren't being used more often, at least on Arcade games. Every single Indie game which feature Avatars, even if they're shitty they're allways the most sold. There's definetly a market for it.

  • peteb #3 2 years ago

    I'm actually starting to think this might be quite good. :)

    I'm a known Sonic Forgiver though.

  • GiarcYekrub #4 2 years ago

    Really ... James Cameron is going all out with his publicity machine

  • Ignatius_Cheese #5 2 years ago

    Seeing as this is developed by Sumo Digital of OutRun 2 and Virtua Tennis 3 & beyond fame, I think it is reasonable to assume that something half decent will come out of this.

    I really enjoyed SEGA Superstar Tennis so will no doubt lap this up! :D

  • Monkey_Puncher #6 2 years ago

    I could do with a good Kart Racer on 360, I'm not sure I want to be forking out for a game that features Shadow the hedgehog though...
    Edited by Monkey_Puncher at 21/12/09 @ 10:20

  • Toothball #7 2 years ago

    @miiiguel

    I'd rather Avatars featured in fewer games really. Most of the time they look out of place, like in those Guitar Hero videos. And in Lips it seems to take ages just to load them rather than letting you actually sing.

    Banjo could probably work in this. It's not his first outing on the race track after all.

  • lucky_jim #8 2 years ago

    I'm looking forward to this, but then I'm a Sega fanboy. If it's as good as Sonic R on the Saturn, I'll be happy (especially if the music's equally cheesy!).

  • Cappy #9 2 years ago

    Hopefully we'll see Clippy in the PC version. :)

  • miiiguel #10 2 years ago

    Tooth, I'm not saying I want Avatar games, I'm just saying there's clearly a demand for them. Contrary to general "thread talking", ppl seem to like the Avatars stuff.

  • gav_and_the_gavster #11 2 years ago

    If I win as Banjo, I hope I don't have to then load a seperate level, drive to its trophy-o-vend to collect my trophy and then drive it to the trophy-bank before it counts...

  • redgiemental #12 2 years ago

    Mario in the Wii version maybe?

  • RobotRocker #13 2 years ago

    The avatar special move is a form of genius and the best use of the useless things so far

    (especially if the music's equally cheesy!)

    Sonic R. composer Richard "The UK:R Restraining order is still valid" Jacques is on tune duties with a load of unlockable music in the store.

    If S0L pops by, he can explain it better but there are a lot of reasons to be excited about this.

  • muscleblade #14 2 years ago

    Superstars tennis was a silly little game. Pretty fun in short burst. Dont expect superior graphics as this is the same version that the Wii gets exept the 360 version is in HD obviously.

  • Stomp224 #15 2 years ago

    So, considering the Sonic Sackboy outfits ( http://kotaku.com/5409594/sackboy-gets-f... that were outed a few weeks ago, does this equate to a Sackboy appearance in the PS3 version? Or just the Helghast?

  • Ced_Flanders #16 2 years ago

    Ready, Set, GO! Everybody speeds away in their kart, except for Ryo who keeps driving in circles looking for places where sailors hang out.
    Edited by Ced_Flanders at 24/12/09 @ 13:34

  • metalangel #17 2 years ago

    Who the hell likes Beat from JSR? The guy was a smug arsehole. Give us Cube, or at least Gum.

  • smelly #18 2 years ago

    >Mario in the Wii version maybe?

    considering how big a franchise mario kart is.. i heavily doubt it.

  • orakio #19 2 years ago

    the fact that Ryo is in there means they haven't given up on the character :-) who knows...