November 11 saw the announcement of four all-new free DLC racers to Sonic Racing Crossworlds’ already stacked roster. With the game’s initial release arriving for gamers with the enticing offer of a host of paid DLC as well as free DLC racers and events running as long as at least until late 2026, fans began to theorize early on whether familiar faces from the previous Sonic Racing titles not already present in Crossworlds would make guest appearances. As has been the trend so far with the game’s paid DLC, however, with guest characters like Minecraft’s Steve and Alex, SpongeBob, Patrick, and Aang from famous Nickelodeon cartoons, this paid DLC would primarily be focused on bringing characters previously unfamiliar to Sonic as a series and Sega as a whole. Were it the case that Sonic Racing Crossworlds only had plans for paid DLC with no added free DLC, gamers would certainly be out of luck in their hopes of returning Sega reps; however, this is thankfully not the case.

Free DLC roster additions for Sonic Racing Crossworlds so far have included Hatsune Miku, Persona 5’s Joker, and Ichiban Kasuga from the Yakuza series, with each one originating from Sega-related properties. With this in mind, and with the recent announcement from Sega of the free additions of AiAi and NiGHTS to the roster, fans can rest assured that there is a possibility their favorite Sega or more niche Sonic the Hedgehog representative will get the chance to appear as a free DLC roster addition. While characters like NiGHTS and AiAi were, for the most part, expected, the final two additions, bundled together in the same way SpongeBob and Patrick were in their paid DLC, are two characters featured only in the Sonic the Hedgehog IDW comic series up until this point, those being Tangle and Whisper. This addition should be incredibly shocking to Sonic fans, as very rarely do the Sonic games ever make references or call back to the series’ other forms of media, whether that be comics, cartoons, or movies. The most recent example of this happening for Sonic in particular is the infamous Sonic Boom spin-off games, which were based on the far more popular Sonic Boom Cartoon Network show.

These three free DLC additions to Sonic Racing Crossworlds’ ever-increasing roster will release in a staggered order, with NiGHTS releasing first in December, AiAi to follow in January, and Tangle & Whisper planned to drop last in February.