Bayonetta was almost selected to be a playable character in the game, but she was scrapped because the developers had trouble trying to keep her in-character without potentially raising the ESRB/PEGI rating.

Segata Sanshiro, the Japanese mascot for the Sega Saturn console, can be seen riding a missile while holding a Sega Saturn console if the player is in the lead on the final lap of "Race of Ages".

In response to fans requesting additional characters as downloadable content, game director Steve Lycett posted on Sega's official forums, challenging them to organize a vote to nominate characters for him to recommend to Sega. Seven characters were chosen for recommendation, including Ryo Hazuki, Hatsune Miku, Segata Sanshiro, Vectorman, ToeJam & Earl, Bayonetta, and Ristar. On January 24, 2013, Lycett has confirmed that Ryo Hazuki had been approved for development.

When asked about guest characters, similar to Banjo & Kazooie in the Xbox 360 version of original game, Steve Lycett stated that they would prefer to go with characters who aren't tied to a specific company for the sake of including them on all platforms. He goes on to list Bub and Bob from Bubble Bobble, Arthur from Ghosts ’n Goblins, Mega Man, and Pac-Man as characters they would love to use under this criteria.

Despite this 'available on all platforms' preference, Lycett added, "Though if I personally had my pick, it’d be Kirby! Everyone knows he is nails!"

Stickers for Hot Wheels and Go Daddy brands can be seen on Danica Patrick's vehicle.

General Winter's red Soviet star symbol on his tank was altered due to complaints on the game's official forums due to its apparent visual similarity to the Swastika.

When showcasing the Rogues' Landing racetrack to Skies of Arcadia co-director, Shuntaro Tanaka, Tanaka was reported to sit in complete silence during Steve Lycett's presentation. When the presentation concluded, Tanaka suddenly started crying tears of joy claiming, "It's brilliant - you've perfectly captured what the original game was like. You've made me really, really happy!"

The Announcer will express approval when voice volume is increased and anguish when it is decreased in the audio settings.

In an interview with RadioSEGA, Sumo Digital executive producer Steve Lycett revealed that a Sakura Wars character was considered for inclusion, but “with the tone of the game we’re making, and considering the type of vehicle it would probably need was already covered elsewhere, we decided against it this time.”

The House of the Dead series, despite being featured quite prominently, has rarely been namedropped in SEGA crossover games.

In Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Zobio and Zobiko's character bio shortens their debut as "HOTD EX" (despite games with longer titles such as Billy Hatcher & the Giant Egg and Alex Kidd in Miracle World not being shortened).

In Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, Sega Superstars Tennis, and Sega Superstars, all instances where a House of the Dead logo would be placed are instead swapped for a logo reading Curien Mansion in the same style as the series' logo.

Sega Heroes would be the game to finally break the trend, referring to the games by their title and with their original logo.

This may be due to the series being banned in Germany.

In the Nintendo 3DS version of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, there are a set of unused mugshots:

• Ryo Hazuki, who was in the first Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and was available as PC-exclusive DLC for Transformed
• Billy Hatcher, who was in the first Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
• Classic Sonic
• An Xbox 360 Avatar
• Sackboy from LittleBigPlanet, implying that may be have been planned as a PlayStation 3-exclusive character at some point.
• A soccer ball with "temp" written above it, possibly either a placeholder or related to the Football Manager character who would appear as DLC in the PC version.

When he was first released as DLC, General Winter's All-Star move effects had communist motifs. However, following complaints from the Russian populace about the portrayal of the USSR military as under-equipped in his source game Company of Heroes 2, and a voluntary recall of said game from Sega in that region, an update in 2013 would replace the hammer & sickle with a generic red star in all regions.