Sega Explains Why Team Sonic Racing Opening Cutscene is Missing on Switch
The size limitations on the Switch cartridge is to blame.
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Team Sonic Racing players on Switch discovered a surprise when it was learned that the Nintendo version of the game doesn't include an opening cinematic movie features in all other versions. Sega has confirmed the reason for the movie's absence and revealed there are no plans to add it in later.
There exists an intro cutscene in Team Sonic Racing, but Nintendo Switch players wouldn't know since it's noticeably absent in that version. Instead, Team Sonic Racing just cuts to the title page on the Switch. Sega says the absence is due to a size limitation for the Nintendo Switch cartridge.
"The intro cutscene was removed from Switch build of Team Sonic Racing due to the cartridge size restrictions," Sega told USG in a statement.
Nintendo offers a variety of storage sizes for developers to use when shipping games for the Nintendo Switch, but it costs more to ship games on larger storage size cartridges. Team Sonic Racing clocks in at 7GB, so presumably the intro cutscene was removed to keep it below the 8GB card size limit.
Unfortunately, Switch players may not expect to see the cutscene added in post-launch as a patch as Sega told USG that, "At this time, there are no plans to add the cutscene back in via patch."
Perhaps Sega doesn't think it's worth it to get a cutscene patch certified and shipped. Also, the intro cutscene, which doesn't add to the game, can be viewed on YouTube if you're a Switch player who wants to see it.
For more, check out our Team Sonic Racing review for our take on the latest Sega kart racing game.