Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed already has a pretty large roster of classic Sega characters, and appearances from others who aren't formal racers. Fans had some more suggestions, and developer Sumo Digital issued a challenge: if they could agree on three characters, and show interest from at least 1,000 people per character by December 1, the company would present the ideas to Sega. And wouldn't you know it, that's just what the fans did.

Fans on the Sega forums (via Kotaku) organized a vote and have picked their top three. At last count yesterday, Hatsune Miku (Project Diva), Ryo Hazuki (Shenmue), and Segata Sanshiro (Saturn mascot) were leading the pack with more than 2,500 votes each, far above the 1,000 requirement. Vectorman, Bayonetta, and Ristar also crossed the thousand-vote threshold, but the challenge only requested three characters -- plus Ristar already makes a cameo.

This is no guarantee that any of the characters will be added to the game, but Sumo has at least committed to presenting Sega with the ideas. That may give the company a better idea of what fans want from downloadable characters, which could help guide decisions going forward.