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

I have no clue what all has been shown to this point, but I just saw a ten minute gameplay video. Not sure how the game will play, but dear God, why does the music sound like Sonic 4 episode 3? Why does Jun insist on this cheap "retro" style now??

 

The second one's a lot better. I hope it's not an earlier MIDI that was meant to convert into the first *worse* version though.

But honestly I wish they'd just go for Sonic Mania style music. Why aren't they? That Sonic 1/2 snare is annoying at this point too.

 

That's placeholder music from Sonic 4 Episode 2.

The boss theme seems new though, and sadly sounds a lot like Sonic 4 lol (hoping that too is a placeholder).

 

Someone for the love of all that is holy just hand Senoue a guitar and tell him to rock out, he kicks ass at it and what I'd love to hear in a game again.

 

I was already considering sharing this before you asked such a question, and now I feel even more compelled, so here goes!



It's obviously not on the same production quality nor instrument quality level as the collab' remixing Tee Lopes and Jun Senoue did, but I still very much enjoy the arrangements in this video and come back to it periodically for re-listens. Contains my favourite version of Sky Fortress Zone Act 2 for sure.

I can just imagine Jun performing similarly to the renditions in this video on electric guitar, if only...

 

Everything is placeholders and reused stuff from previous games besides the boss/miniboss themes that seem to be designed but WIP for this one. Jun composes well, but he never did his own conversions to the Genesis chip, supposedly, as that was someone else doing it. So when Sega yet again tells him to "make a classic track", he probably has some generic Yamaha electronic keyboard synths mixed with a Sonic 1 drum sample either left over from his work or sent his way by Sega and runs with it.

Part of the blame is Sega constantly going to him for this despite fan complaints, part of it is Senoue simply never adapting, altering or improving anything but the raw technique put into the compositions. He's been using these sounds for over 13 years at this point and still keeps doing it, as Origins and the Superstars placeholders attest.

 

This video had me wondering if Naka was ever even somewhat involved in the project

 

Jun and his idea of what classic music sounds like seems to have never been challenged internally so there’s not much reason for him to change it if he’s not seeing it as a problem unfortunately.
Origins was well over a decade after 4 and he didn’t attempt to make his new super theme for 3 sound like the rest of that game’s music and instead went very 4 on it complete with those snares so it’s fair to say his position on this hasn’t evolved.
Lopes being involved does bring some hope unless he’s told to tone down his style and make his tracks fit with Jun’s bizarre concept of what classic music sounds like. There being a collaborative process where Lopes helps Jun get the sound right would be great but I wouldn’t bet on that.

 

Best case scenario? Jun has some music direction involvement like themes, tones and stuff but they can go with whatever for the final product. Mid-case? Jun composes and Lopes arranges/converts. Worst case, Sega and Lopes have to sound like Jun's retro.

 

We've known about a multiplayer co-op Sonic game for a bit iirc, it was part of one of the pitch idea leaks for Sonic Frontiers.

Although, that was using Modern Sonic - but I feel like there was a similar idea with Classic Sonic. I wouldn't be surprised if the feedback from that shaped Sonic Superstars in some way.

 

I don’t think the Sonic 4 type music is final, as surely SEGA are fully aware of the backlash from Sonic 4’s

with that said, I agree that Sonic 4’s compositions are good, it was just the meow meow soundfont that grated on people. They sound better using a Mega Drive font:

 

I feel Tee's involvement is a good sign. Every project he's been involved with (Sonic and non-Sonic) has really good music. So hopefully he can influence/guide Jun and help improve over the crap-fest which was Sonic 4's soundtracks.

 

I'm gonna go ahead and say I don't think we've heard any of the proper OST to this game yet, whatever those boss tracks are aside. I feel like if they're getting this many different people on the music team then they're not going to smush Tee and the others' work into sounding like Sonic 4 just for musical consistency, and Senoue is already an accomplished musician on real instruments.

 

It WOULD be funny if those were reused demos from an unfinished/canceled Sonic 4 Episode 3, you know.

 

Honestly, we'll see with time, but sound modders are always on the ready now so long as the engine is accepting of it; since this is Arzest, that means this isn't assuredly Hedgehog Engine 2 now but probably something more like Unreal Engine.

Speaking of Arzest, that's the new painful narrative point against the game people are throwing all over the place. Yoshi's New Island (and Yoshi's Island DS as Artoon), Hey! Pikmin, Mario & Sonic at the Rio Olympic Games 2016 for 3DS, they're all completely okay products that play solidly, but because fans regarded them as not what they wanted folks are acting like a bottom-tier developer was assigned the project as a death knoll.

Frankly the game looks fine, if a bit in the "it's not the most polished level design" category, so people are really blowing it out of proportion.

 

It's just "the game will be bad because Sonic Team bad" narrative with "Sonic Team" swapped for "Arzest".

And even though we have gameplay footage that shows the game delivers on what people say they want it to deliver on, people will insist that it will just be "bad" in some inexplicable way. Yeah, sure, maybe the final boss will be underwhelming, but the game isn't going to ship with different physics or anything.

 

I compared the walking acceleration in Superstars to Sonic 1. It matches up extremely well (no surprise tbh)
https://twitter.com/SonicPhysics/status/1667833900972875779
(Proudly obsessed)

 

I'd be interested to see these kinds of comparisons include Mania/Retro engine footage too tbh. It's a big question on everyone's lips right now yet this kind of analysis doesn't seem to be directed at it. Honestly, if this isn't built on Retro Engine and the physics are a ground-up recreation from Arzest, mad respect.

 

Arzest have a reputation crippling mediocrity (Hey Pikmin, their Yoshi's Island sequels, M&S Rio) and the atrocious Balan Wonderworld. Yes, Ohshima was pivotal in the creation of Sonic as a character and the early games, including his role as director of CD, but that was 30-odd years ago. His last credits with Sonic were in 1998 for cutscenes and CGI in SA1.

Superstars looks absolutely grand to me. I'm pretty convinced we've got another winner of our hands with this one, and my only real concern is for the music. But honestly, Arzest aren't some kind of pedigree developer. Their history on gameplay and design isn't great. And Sonic Team? Let's not even talk about how inept they are.

People might be getting a bit too cautious, but I certainly don't blame them at all.

 

If we only heard that Sonic Team/Arzest is making a game, that kind of skepticism is definitiely warranted. "Will they get the physics right"? We'd have to see.

But now we can see. They got that right.

There is a contingent of people who have seen the game and know the developers and are still skeptical, but they are rare in my experience.

Most people who are going "it's going to be bad because x is bad" do so like the game is a complete unknown, but it's not. It's just cynicism for the sake of cynicism. Arzest bad so game will be bad. Sonic Team bad so game will be bad. An insistence that "ineptitude" is some inherent quality and not the result of various factors we can't confirm will be here and will just suddenly make everything bad.

Despite examples of good content from both, and despite "miracles" like the guys who made some forgettable Castlevania spinoff making the best 2D Metroid game ever, it'll persist.