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

So someone's had a go at filtering out the constant speech in the recent footage. The result gives us a vaguely passable listen to Bridge Island's Act 1 theme (presumably - boths Acts are the same in this footage, but that was also the case in Mania's Green Hill demo, so hopefully we'll still get Act 2 remixes in the finished game), the Special Stage theme, and two boss themes.

Bridge Island sounds to my ear like it may be a Senoue composition, although it may be the poor quality rip playing tricks on my ears. First impressions are it's not quite as catchy or multi-layered as anything from Mania, but it still gives an appropriately chirpy feel to the opening stage. If it is indeed a Senoue track, it mercifully it doesn't use Sonic 4 style instrumentation - actually the overall sound gives me serious Mario Kart DS vibes for some reason.

The Special Stage we don't hear much of, but it sounds energetic and fitting for the relatively quick stages we've seen so far.

The boss themes... are the same Sonic 4 style ones we've already heard in the demo reel footage. I'm hoping the instrumentation at least will be revised before the final release, as at the moment they stick out like a sore thumb amongst the other tracks. Fingers crossed that there'll be some kind of consistency pass on that front.

As a side note here - the Stage Clear jingle seems to be ripped directly from Mania; unsure whether or not it'll receive a new remix for the final game.

Finally, the theme heard in the Nintendo Direct trailer is also heard again - this definitely has an energy and complexity lacking from the other music, 100% a Tee Lopes track. Hopefully there's more of these throughout, as for me it's definitely the standout track from what we've heard so far.

All in all, a bit of a mixed bag so far - having heard these I'm definitely not expecting something on the level of Mania's soundtrack overall, but the boss themes are the only ones that raise any major red flags.

EDIT: As noted below, there are also better rips of Bridge Island/Special Stage sourced from the Ohshima interview segment. These give a much better idea of the overall sound of the tracks.

 

While I would obviously prefer to hear a higher quality (or really quality anything) version of these tracks so I could have solid judgement, I'm digging how I think the songs here sound and I feel it fits how the game looks. It's cute, If the music was a physical entity, I will pinch its cheeks.

 

Whoops, missed that there are better rips of a few tracks sourced from the Ohshima interview segment. These include a much clearer listen to Bridge Island Act 1 and the Special Stage theme. Apologies for missing these first time around!

 

Actually now that you bring that up that IS an issue I've heard of firsthand. (I guess secondhand, since I wasn't technically part of the conversation) because I've heard someone say they didn't know it wasn't just a collection of the old games or a weird remake or something.
The problem being, if people don't KNOW it's new just from a very surface level look, then they might not bother with a second look and because of that they're not interested in buying it. And that's a pretty self explanatory problem.

I literally cannot tell the difference in styles between any of the tracks I've heard. I'm supposed to be the one who hates Tee Lopes and I could not for the life of me pick out which of the tracks is his in this assumedly pretty large sample size. For all we could know each one is by a different composer at SEGA!

This proposed "Jun Senoue at his worst vs Tee Lopes at his best" is the deepest level of self-gaslighting I've ever seen.

 

I kinda thought they might be referring to the boss tracks in that, rather than any of the four they specifically posted.

 

OK, I already love the Bridge Island theme! Sounds something straight from the 90's Arcade, which in essence, reminds of Sonic the Fighters.

Do you guts think Jun Senoue composed one of these tracks were in the video from interview? Because I'm pretty sure it was Tee composed the Bridge Island theme and Tee said himself he composed the music was in the Nintendo Direct trailer (it's the video with Fang).

Edit: Come to think of, a lot of songs from Superstars (well, the ones we've heard from these rips of course) soudns like a lot Sonic the Fighter songs. I REALLY hope that's what they meant by "like Classic songs" in that one article.

 

I think the OST so far sounds pretty good! It's definitely a different style to Mania (which was trying to be more like CD than anything), but I really think they sound nice.

 

Honestly I'm glad Tee Lopes ins't limiting himself to Mania style (again, I'm not sure if he composed all of these tracks). Love he's trying different things that still fits with Sonic!

 

I've actually heard 2 different versions of the boss theme I can't for the life of me find out where though. But there was one without the guitar, instead it was some sonic 4 synth, leads credence to the idea that these are still being worked on. It'd make sense if whoever made these (probably Jun) sketched out the song in midi before finalising the instrumentation.

 

If any of those in the tweet belong to Jun, that ain't bad work tbh.

 

Here are the two different mixes:

 

I haven't quite worked out how to communicate this yet, but the lead instrument in Sonics 1, 2 and 3 usually plays a very simple melody.

By contrast, Tee Lopes' music in Sonic Mania was often needlessly "complex"(?) with quick, tangential melodies to fill the space and did I mention I can't communicate this yet.


I would guess that in that Tweet, Tee Lopes composed all of them, except maybe the one with Sonic in the background. But I imagine he's been involved in the whole set, and as they might not be finalised (given we've had prototypes with no music at all)), it might not be fair to judge at this stage.


It's weird situation. Statistically, music has been one of Sonic Team's strong points - even Sonic 2006 managed to deliver in that regard, but I guess because it looks a bit like Sonic 4, the assumption is it'll sound a bit like Sonic 4. I have all the faith, and yet not much faith.

 

I'll never be able to explain this in proper musical terms, but Lopes' music is very distinctive in how much is sounds like TV news vignette music, what with all the brass instruments making really fast staccato notes for a melody, and question-and-answer melodies that use different instrumentation (usually brass and piano). The one with Amy on the background has a lot of one-tone or half-tone glissandi, which is different, but Lopes does that a lot too (see Press Garden Act 2). I can more or less safely assume all tracks in that tweet are his.

Senoue's style is a lot more sing-along, with shorter melodies composed of longer notes that rest on the tonic or, if not, are "filled" with a counter melody, usually with a guitar, or a drum roll. I can more or less safely assume the boss music is his.

 

Hearing these again, I cannot stress enough how much I want Jun to go with Adventure style instrumentation. The melody here is great. In my mind's ear I can hear it with his usual crunchy guitar, real drums and maybe some rock organ and those funky little twinkles he put into a bunch of Dreamcast era tracks. That's the boss theme I want. I'm holding out hope that these are both outdated versions of the track because everything else we've heard sounds great with regards to instrumentation, and I couldn't image them going with either of these passes on the track when neither of them actually fit with everything else we've heard.

 

I could go either way with Bridge Island Act 1 (the one with the Amy background in the tweet) being Lopes or Senoue. It reminds me more, instrumentation-wise, of Lopes' work, but I also feel like I get Splash Hill Act 3 vibes from it. (Maybe they collaborated lol)

Yeah, I mean the fact that it's minutely different for the same boss clearly shows that it's actively being worked on as we speak — with that and the other music sounding how it does, I would be shocked if the boss track wasn't still pretty early.

EDIT: not to mention that that's in addition to the other aforementioned standout "music is early" signs like the same song being in both acts of Bridge Island and the Mania level clear jingle being re-used verbatim.

 

You know, you're right. It has some serious Senoue-ness to it, especially in the main melody and in the way that inflection at 0:23-0:24 reminds me a LOT of Sonic Adventure music (a lot more than Splash Hill). Gives me Emerald Coast vibes.

 

Let's not forget we're getting new composers as well, not only Jun Senoue and Tee Lopes.

 

I think I'm warming up to bridge Island, but something about the instrumentation is throwing me off. The chord progression feels 100% Senoue, that second synth in the B section feel 100% Senoue, and I think Senoue is entirely more likely to stick to one lead for the entire song.

But it definitely feels like a mixed bag, between the trailer theme and Bridge Island 1, versus the Special Stage and the track in the tweet with the Sonic image. The Special Stage imo sounds okay, the intro feels almost like an homage to CD. But that track with the Sonic image... something about that piano VST (im assuming) sounds really out of place in the mix. It's like Walmart Studiopolis. The melody also sounds a bit weirdly articulated and it's not really doing anything for me personally. Not really sure what I expected out of the OST, but other than the trailer theme, Im a bit underwhelmed.

I agree, also just because... hopium. I'd like to think they wouldn't allow that much stylistic juxtaposition in the game. The tracks used in the interview were at least somewhat cohesive, that boss theme sticks out like a sore thumb. I'm just ignoring it completely.

 

Interesting thing to take from this: the magnet isn't a shield at all. It's simply a power-up that you lose when you take damage.

It also stacks with the actual shield, meaning you can have both at once. If you lose your shield, you still keep your magnet.

 

Thanks for the reminder — I really did forget.