Console-Exclusive Characters in SEGA All-Stars Racing? “Not So Fast,” Says Sumo

A few days ago, we brought you a rumor that much like other games such as Soulcalibur, Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing might feature console-exclusive characters. This was evidenced by in-development box art depicting Rare’s Banjo and Kazooie on the back of the package.

TSSZ News caught up with Steve Lycett of Sumo Digital for comment, who said “Banjo in a SEGA character racing game? Really?”, adding “Given we’ve not seen any box art, I’d not hold too much stock in that.”

To reinforce his point, he asked “Where, for example, is the Sumo logo?”

Of course, it was said to be a “work in progress,” so that could account for the missing logo. Still, it all seems more like he’s stalling, dodging the question– you’ll notice that he never actually outright denied they were in. If anything, it seems more as though he’s trying to lead us astray.

I’m not really trying to say one way or another here, but this is a slippery business where we’ve seen time and time again that someone will say something just to maintain the veil of secrecy. And would it really be that difficult to say “no, Banjo is not in the game” if that were indeed the case?

Perhaps it is simply an unresolved element, with details still to come. We don’t know the whole story, but things will be made clear when the game is released in a couple of months.

Personally, I love the idea of this, provided it’s characters who make sense (Banjo, Mario, Sackboy), rather than something like Toejam & Earl on PlayStation 3 and NiGHTS on Wii. The latter case, I could see upsetting fans, but somehow, I doubt that an Xbox 360 owner would cry much over not getting to use Mario.