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

Stealth publically complained about the crunch and conditions in Headcannon's part in making Origins. The fact that they chose to come back for Origins Plus in spite of those conditions, and that Sega wanted them to make Origins Plus in spite of Headcannon publically calling them out, should quell any idea of bad blood.

For comparison's sake, Activision-Blizzard fired an employee for making a nondescript "greedy corporation" joe in WoW. Not even CLOSE to the worst thing that company has done, but it's a great example of how petty a company could be.

 

Suggesting that there might have been drama shouldn't be a taboo talking point, just as long as it doesn't go into tabloid territory. I sincerely think that it might have been a matter of pride.

People rag on "lol fans outdid sonic team", and phrasing it like that is absolutely disrespectful to both parties. But even when you take a step back, and look at it empirically. The state of the franchise in hindsight, at the moment of Mania's release, wasn't a good look. There's no getting around that, Mania's fan reception and critical reception when compared to everything after Adventure 2 is genuinely pitiful. And I don't mean that in a "Sonic Team sucks" way, I am sincerely bothered that it came to that point. And they probably were too.

 

Not to backseat mod, but I think we should enjoy the fact that the creator of Sonic wants to make another Sonic rather than speculate about dev team rivalries. So far, this game and the apparent quality seem to be great signs for the future.

 

This is a common view and I used to believe it. But I honestly don't believe it is true.

Sonic Team were notably more confident after the release of Mania. Frontiers is a game which was made with a lot of confidence. Superstars also seems confident. If anything I'd say Mania's success seemed to jolt them out of their stagnation and inspire them.

I think Sonic Team historically fall into slumps after poor critical reception and get inspired after positive reception. Unleashed wasn't well received but the daytime srages were. They led to Colors and then to Generations. Lost World was nor very good but it was bold and trying a new approach. They then immediately fell into insecurity.

Sonic Team may have felt embarrassed that (to them) an inexperienced group of fans outperformed them, but I believe the actual creativity in the games indicates that they felt more inspired by them and the fervour in the fandom. The one thing Iizuka and Sonic Team care about are us fans. As misguided as they often are.

Not to romanticise Iixuka. If the summaries of recent interviews are true then he decided not to go ahead with Mania 2 because he doubted there was more to do with pixel Sonic. A bone headed decision if true, even if I can appreciate where he's coming from. But he seems like a nice guy and someone who cares about the fandom. Stealth has publicly said that he likes Iizuka especially and thinks the fandom are too harsh on him.

So in sum, I doubt Sonic Team were intensely jealous and had a falling out with Team Mania.

 

I didn't say they were jealous, you basically hit the nail on the head.

 

Also, yes, it's useful to have an in-house engine instead of having to rely on a licensed engine. This could be the next "let's use it for all the games moving forward" in the way Sonic Rush was.

 

Okay, so an article came out with some big news.

https://www.videogameschronicle.com...d-by-original-designers-studio-sega-confirms/

• Iizuka talked with Whitehead and Headcannon about ideas for a new 2D game, but it fell through.
• Arzest and Ohshima are indeed the primary developers of Superstars, with Sonic Team in Japan assisting in design and "other elements". Ohshima designing levels and such.
  
• Jun Senoue is leading audio, but is also working with internal teams at Sega and external composers like Tee Lopes.

 

"Sonic Superstars is really all developed by Arzest, but Sonic Team in Japan is working with them on design and some other elements. Arzest and Ohshima-san are 100% developers of the game.”

This is is pretty surprising, I figured Sonic Team had a B Team doing most of the heavy lifting but no, it's the opposite.

 

I don't see a mention of him designing levels for this project, just attribution of credit for having been involved in level design for Sonic 1. Still, I'm not into Sonic Team not being the primary devs, frankly. There are a number of things that become far more unsure as a result. Still looking good so far, though.

 

Jun composing with Tee Lopes and others arranging could be REALLY good tbh but it does admittedly make me nervous hearing “Jun Sunoue” and “Classic Sonic Vibe” in the same paragraph

 

So, both Tee Lopes and Jun Senoue will be working on the soundtrack. Good. I hope the songs will sound similar to the YouTube re-arranges they made.

 

I mean, Speed Jungle would make perfect sense now if he is.

 

So Jun is the main guy behind the new music, but is getting help from Tee Lopes and others within Sega.

Pretty succinctly explains the discrepancies with people saying the music sounded both better and worse than Sonic 4. It sounds like it's more of the same, but with some extra flavors tossed in to help it feel fresh and complete.

 

https://xcancel.com/TeeLopes/status/1667718371746488327

 

Well I was correct that Sonic Team did not choose Superstars OVER Mania 2, and it is super awesome that Ohshima is back (I’m legit excited)… but it does sting knowing that a Mania 2 almost happened. In a different timeline we could’ve had Mania 2 and Superstar. That said, Taxman and Stealth have been public about having to crunch for Sega. They have every right to decide they don’t want to work under those conditions. Also the project could have fell through for other reasons. We don’t know the details. All I can say is that I wish everyone the best of luck moving forward.

 

Around 52-53 minutes into this Game Informer audio show, a question is asked about why they went for something 3D as opposed to pursuing something that would meet the aesthetic expectation of a classic entry. That sort of premise prefaces the question of why they did Superstars instead of something like a Mania 2 or Sonic 5. This is answered in terms of appeal and how using pixel art end up targeting a limited/core audience. They felt that using 3D assets would help make it look and feel more appealing to a wider audience. They know that old-school fans want that classic nature, and they cater accordingly with how it controls, looks, and feels.

I bring this up because I saw a journo tweet simplifying it to "Iizuka says they declined doing a Sonic 5 or Mania 2 because they feel pixelated 2D limits the audience appeal.", which I think can easily be misconstrued if it propagates without context, as the questioner applied those metrics of visual expectation to Mania 2/Sonic 5 in his inquiry as opposed to Iizuka in his answer.

To be fair, I don't think it'd have been regarded as a Mania 2 if Superstars represents the ideas Iizuka was trying to get wrangled into a project. Visually, it might have been similar to classic games, but it would almost certainly have been a wholly new entry instead of another tribute/anniversary project- or really a variation on what we see now with Superstars on a core level despite the assured differences in design.

 

I always read Whitehead's "Friend to Polys and Pixels Alike" to mean "come on Sega, please let me make a 3d game too yer miserable cunch of bunts!".

 

Thank you for calling out that misleading tweet. I listened to that interview and saw how that tweet took Oshima’s answer out of context and my heart just sank. I immediately knew it was going to be the source of a bunch of misinformation.

edit: Ohshima is a typo, I meant Iizuka

Tbc I don’t mean to suggest the tweeter had ill-will. He probably just took notes too quick and immediately posted them.

Good point about Mania 2. I was just using that as shorthand for “a new sonic game developed by taxman and stealth”.

 

While Whitehead on this would've been great I've seen enough positive impressions and promising gameplay footage to not be too disappointed.

Only thing really concerning me still is the music; great if it's a collaborative effort between Jun Senoue, Tee Lopes and other SEGA sound staff like Team Sonic Racing was, but Sonic 4 flashbacks are making me dread it if it'll be a really weak attempt at sounding 'retro' occasionally intercut with something good (like Stardust Speedway's track suddenly showing up in Sonic 4 Episode 2). Even Forces' classic level music would be preferable, though I honestly dug those tracks despite the shortcomings.