Sonic Superstars: A New 2D Sonic Game (Fall 2023)

When is this coming out? "Fall 2023" means September, October maybe?

 

Fall means November, for Sonic. Feels like it's always November.

 

I thought November was Holiday? God, American marketing is so confusing...

 

Seeing paralells to Samba de Amigo: Party Central in terms of announcement and release strategy. Just "Sega", no Sonic Team branding, no immadiate PR in terms of interviews (like we usually get with SoJ titles). Coincidentally, both are by 2nd Division which has over 400 people.

Was reading that there is a chance that Arzest is co-developing, but I'm seeing assets from past HE titles (like Lost World and Forces with the Jungle), all over the place.

 

"Fall" can mean anytime between beginning of September and near the end of December.

I agree with Shaddy. November seems about right as Sonic games often get released then.

 

Personally, I don't find modern characters silly.
They just could've stayed as they did in SA1... ^^"
An aesthetic progress from classic design without changing too much.

 

Sure, let’s actually question why they’re there

as far as I can tell the only boosters in this entire trailer are on these specific loop structures that transfer the characters from the front layer to the back layer

What that tells me is they’re hiding a scripted transition between front and back 2D planes; it says nothing about the reliability of the physics

 

I guess this is a pretty minor gripe, but I really hope they can go back on their decision to use (what seems to be) rim lighting everywhere, even on the backgrounds. It makes everything look oddly bright, even the places that look like they shouldn't even be that bright, such as the area on the bottom right on the screenshot below:

bottom is edited to show how it'd look like with less rim lighting.

 

I want to love it but the gameplay to me just screams 2010s badly made 2.5D Platformer. Hope I'm wrong.

 

We got Tropical Freeze, NSMBU, Mega Man 10 AND 11 in that period, I don't know what you mean by "badly" made.

Just because Sega shat the bed with Sonic 4 doesn't mean everyone else did.

 

Cautiously optimistic is the word right now, for me. Early showings are positive but even with the physics looking right at a glance, I’m wary after ST and co have managed to stuff it up how they feel time after time - not to mention that physics are only part of the puzzle.

On the whole though, undeniably excited to see where it goes. Having Classic Sonic running through new levels, with multiple playable characters… that’s exciting. I think it looks visually fine too, though I guess I maybe don’t have high standards in that regard lol. And Ohshima being back on board is a huge huge win in my book.

 

I'll do you one better:

And honestly...yeah, I guess I kinda get it, but it only really shows in this beachside stage, where it seems clear to me that the sun is meant to reflect off the water and highlight the underside of the cliffs, like caves (if you have ever seen this on an IRL beach, it is very pretty). The rocks here all have this shiny, almost crystalline quality, whereas I don't feel either the jungle or computer levels do as much, and don't have that same lighting in kind.

I get weirded out by the "mobile game" comments on their own, but I can at least draw some comparisons. What does this even mean? I can't really think of many archetypes for "2010s badly made 2.5D platformer". An example, perhaps? If this game reminds me of anything, it's Kirby's Return to Dreamland (specifically the computer level looks a lot like the sphere dimension). Is it just the powerup transformations, perhaps? I don't get it.

 

I'm excited. I have a blast playing the new super mario bros games with my kids. If this is anywhere close with the multiplayer, it'll be an instant buy for me.

 

It's nice that they're using Rafa's models for something, though this is fairly unexpected. She did good work.

 

Not that, I remember something else specifically mentioning a 2.5D title. Was probably a few months ago IIRC?

Edit: Did some sniffing and only found this

Maybe I'm just full of shit and remembering things wrong? ‍

 

Rocket Knight and Sonic 4 come to mind for me first thing.

 

Okay, my hype just got raised even more! I also think it’s very possible that whitehead did some consulting on Superstar. Tbc I’m not suggesting he was as involved here as he was with mania… but he did make some tweaks to the retro engine for origins. I know he’s working on evening star’s original 3d platformer but he could have time for a little bit of consulting work

 

Again I'm hoping the game is great but this is Sega so who really knows. I have a right to be critical. For every great 2.5D game there were lots (mostly download only) that sucked.

That is the vibe this gives me but I'll wait til the final game is out to see what people think.

Remember people at first thought Sonic Forces looked good.

 

I'm sorta torn. On one hand, I've wanted a classic Sonic game with co-op for ages. On the other hand, *gestures at Physics™ discourse*. In a post-Mania and Origins world, there's really no excuse for Sonic Team to not be able to execute this stuff, the reverse-engineering has been done for them. That comparison video and Whitehead's approval are mildly reassuring, but not sufficient for me, especially when compared to how thoroughly Mania's reveal trailer quelled those concerns. I'm gonna need more direct demonstration before I can be truly optimistic in this regard. I can definitely understand if not having accurate MD physics was a compromise of sorts to handle the shared-screen co-op, but split-screen is also an option, so that would feel a weak excuse in the end. I'm still interested and defs gonna cop, because I'm sure it will be fun. Generations was fun, but I definitely never go back to play those classic stages, and that probably wouldn't be the case if the physics and level design were more true-to-form. Either way, I can see myself replaying this more than Generations' classic stages, if for no reason than the co-op.

Many have already said this game's visuals remind them of Sonic Fan Remix, but I'll say it again. And in a good way! Also happy to see that Santiago is a thing of the past, courtesy perhaps of based Ohshima?? An unexpected twist, and one which makes all of the recent Naka stuff even zanier.

I'm glad to see Speed Booster Gate has returned for 2023. Recently re-read bits of the old Sonic 4 threads, so this is funny timing. Anyone participating in this discourse who wasn't there at the time might appreciate how flat of a circle time is.

This is a very silly complaint to make when Frontiers came out last year, and hasn't even had all of its DLC released. Maybe multiple sub-fandoms can eat at the same time, actually.

Do we know what the budget is for Superstars? Seems like something we'd need to know before saying it's not comparable to Metroid Dread.

 

We don't even have a complete idea of who's making the game, let alone the money it takes to do so.