The crossover characters and tracks are my least favorite thing about Sonic Racing: Crossworlds, an otherwise excellent kart racer that didn’t need a bunch of licensed partnerships to stand out. That said, it doesn’t surprise me that the modding community has taken that concept and run with it. I do wish someone would add more Sonic characters, such as Agent Stone from the live-action movies, but it seems like modders have other ideas, like Jack Black’s Steve from the Minecraft movie. This is basically my worst nightmare.
Steve, as he exists in the Minecraft games, is already in Crossworlds as DLC, but now you can play as his obnoxious film counterpart. The “Jack Black Steve Collection” mod on GameBanana comes courtesy of user BROCHONKY, who has added two skins for Jack Black’s character to Crossworlds. One is a photoscanned action figure that looks just like the actor, while the other is a stylized version of the character that uses Minecraft‘s signature blocky style. As a bonus, the mod also includes the infamous Chicken Jockey as it appears in the original game.
The mod doesn’t just include skins, it also has voice lines and music from the movie. Black’s trademark hammed-up delivery followed him into Overworld, so the movie has several soundbites that became memes, such as when he announces the Chicken Jockey’s arrival and says “flint and steel” while teaching the other characters to craft. All of this seems like the making of a troll character, but I also feel like hearing these voice lines repeatedly during races would rot your own brain, so you reap what you sow.
Sega is apparently cool with character mods, so Steve will live to Chicken Jockey another day. The company recently banned cheaters who used mods to win races, but the company’s End User License Agreement explicitly encourages creative work like adding new characters to their games. If I see Jack Black Steve on the racetrack, I will be running him off a cliff expeditiously.
