Sega Reveals New Cartoon Promoting Sonic Team Racing

One of the best things to come out of Sega over the past few years is not a game: I think we can all agree they’ve been struggling on that front a bit, sans the always-excellent Yakuza games. No, it wasn’t a game, but rather, trailers: specifically the adorable-as-all-heck cartoon shorts they released to promote and celebrate Sonic Mania, which showed the adventures of Sonic and pals in a lighthearted and joyful way that brought a smile to my face.

Well, at SXSW earlier last weekend, Sega had a presence, and they announced that not only were they working on the next mainline Sonic the Hedgehog game (which should surprise absolutely no one), but they also gave us a brand-new cartoon by the same people (Tyson Hesse and Neko Productions) to promote the upcoming Sonic Team Racing. And I gotta say: it’s every bit as charming as we’d come to expect.

Team Sonic, Team Rose, and Team Dark face off at Wisp Circuit in this first of two parts of a special animation based on Team Sonic Racing! As usual, the diabolical Dr. Eggman seems to have his own plans – can the teams overcome his tricks, or will they find themselves more than a little distracted?

The video doesn’t quite live up to the Sonic Mania videos, if only because this one dedicates a fair chunk of time to actually promoting the game and its racing mechanics itself. But it’s still super cute. And the fact that a second one is coming in the near future is fairly exciting. More exciting than the new Sonic game, in any case.

Also: the Sonic the Hedgehog twitter, which promoted the video, is swarmed with people who are turning frames from the cartoon into memes. And if people are making memes, you know you’ve done a good job.