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

What point are you even trying to make here?

 

That people (not everyone, but that'll never be the case) did get a chubby over the thought of using wisps/emerald powers in Sonic 1-3K and Mania, or at the very least wanted them to be a thing before Superstars. But, at the same time, it's pretty obvious why that was never the case. How about you?

 

I'm not referring to you. I didn't even see your post.

 

Oh! I assumed as much because it came right after mine. Sorry.

 

I distinctly remember being disappointed as a kid after struggling through the first Sonic 1 special stage and then realizing the one emerald I earned was worthless in of itself. Ever since then I've pined for individual emerald abilities and I think it's just an obvious idea with how distinctly colorful and powerful-looking each emerald is. Comic/anime tropes dictate they each do something, even AOSTH knew that. Point is I think it's valid to want em despite me being a little dubious about how Superstars is executing the concept so far. Them helping you explore is good but whether that exploration is actually worth it is yet to be seen and other abilities like the prompt-based vision or the famous green emerald just making vines show up are pretty limp ideas and inversely make the individual emeralds seem superficial and UNpowerful.

No one should get chubby for Wisps in the Genesis games because IMO they kinda require in-setting explanation otherwise would feel extremely obviously tacked-on. The emeralds are a much more natural idea in that regard so I don't like the implication that the two desires are the same lol.

 

Sonic 1 & 2's act clear was made by a composer who was no longer on after those games (and who has ownership rights), so they had to change it. Similarly this is why the Chaos Emerald Get jingle has survived for so long - it was made in house so Sega owns it, so they could still keep using it everywhere.

 

Convenient omission of the Sonic 1 purists who only ever want to play that game without the bells and whistles, not to mention we’ve got 30-odd years of hindsight to fall back on in that regard. Superstars’ emerald powers could get such reverence a few years from now (but then again, maybe they won’t). I certainly think it’d be cool to be able to ascend the waterfalls in Green Hill, and the bullet power is basically just the Hyper Sonic seizure attack. Time slow would be a godsend against the final bosses of 1, 2 and CD. And sure, I don’t want these things *badly*, but that’s just because the idea of using them in the context they were designed for excites me more, and I don’t think that diminishes the value of the emerald powers one bit.

 

So if anyone was wondering, Pixel Art Sonic Is Dead For Good (Unless They Change Their Minds).

"'[W]e look at the pixel art — it's great — but when we think about 10-20 years in the future, we don't think it's going to be a viable art style or presentation for our players,' Iizuka said through a translator. 'And in order to advance and really step things up, we did want to make sure that we're presenting something that 10-20 years down the road we're still evolving and creating new content for.'"

This may even deserve its own thread because it's not just about Superstars or even any other 2D Sonic game they decide to make.

 

The 3D Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for society

 

Prior to this quote Iizuka talked about how he wants Frontiers to serve as a foundation for 3D Sonic over the coming decades, so what he’s saying here is thay he wants superstars to serve as a foundation for 2D classic sonic titles going forward. Since Iizuka said he likes pixel art, and Headcanon was given additional opportunities to patch Origins Plus, I don’t think pixel art sonic is entirely dead. It’s in the realm of possibility that Headcanon could make an original sprite-based title… but let’s be real: consumers will not spend $60 on a new pixel art sonic. 2.5d is a better foundation to build on to ensure regularly released classic sonic games. That’s what I think he’s saying in terms of pixel art not being viable. we could still get pixel art titles, they’ll just be uncommon when compared to 3D and 2.5d games

 

It's a very dumb way of saying "3D graphics sells better than pixel art so we're gonna stick with that where we can". I've seen people freaking out over it on various sites, but ultimately it's nothing we shouldn't have expected. Personally, while I love good pixel art, I think the lukewarm reception to this game's visuals has more to do with it being a pretty safe application of the style. I'd still love to see an attempt at stylized low-poly graphics, for instance.

 

I love it when Sonic developers/marketers make comments that seem specifically engineered to infuriate people on this site to astronomical levels

 

A couple more videos of hands-on first impressions and design deconstruction:





I find the second video particularly interesting and informative as it's quite in-depth, going through some of the finer details and more granular intricacies of various control and momentum aspects, as well as level design elements.

 

Took the words right out of my mouth. This part especially:

People counter Iizuka's claims by bringing up indies, which by itself supports his argument when no one knows of or remembers pixel art games made by bigger companies like Nintendo or Sega, but also, none of those games sell for $60.

What Iizuka says is implicitly shared by the mainstream market. Mario, Zelda, Fire Emblem, Pokemon, Kirby, Mega Man, etc. all moved to 3D graphics for a reason.
Iizuka said the quiet part out loud and everyone kills the messenger He wasn't even a dick about it, people are just mad the "Sonic Team guy" said it.

I'm interested in the second video's concept. But I only have room for one long video essay and Noah Caldwell-Gervais just made a 9 hour video on Fallout lol

 

I also think it has something to do with costs. Pixel art has to be drawn, while 3D renders are a bit easier to do and you can manipulate them better to fit other styles. Each has its own downfalls, but from a cost perspective 3D art is a far safer bet.

 

Cheaper to make and more likely to sell. From Iizukas perspective not using sprites makes absolute sense.

People here might hate it but those are the ropes.

 

Yeah, fair enough. I suppose depending on what the character-exclusive acts are like, this could potentially have the most levels in a 2D Sonic game. I would consider a bit of fidelity an acceptable tradeoff for that.

 

Bingo! Iizuka may want us to believe they're going for the 3d look because they're so benevolent and want to give us players the most up to date and cutting edge stuff. But it's really laziness at the end of the day, 3D or not, the visuals for Superstars just scream "fuck it, that'll do".

 

Well I don't think I had any hopes for a pixel art Sonic game ten years ago, so it's just confirmation of something everyone kind of already knew. Like everyone said, it just makes sense.

Also, the way Iizuka talks looks like long-term planning too, not just a basic fact like "3D is general, 2D is niche". He talks like 3D is something that can evolve and be worked on, while 2D more or less can't. I can understand the sentiment: you'd have to be an absurdly specialized team to keep evolving 2D aesthetics for 10-20 years without getting stale, and Sonic Team can't afford to be hyper-specialized.

 

Calling the developers lazy because they chose 3D over pixel art is a gigantic reach. Especially in an industry where crunch is as prevalent a problem as it is.