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

There’s nothing except those two pics. Everyone is psyched over the concept art but there’s only one actual shot of the level which I shared. It looks pretty lame in my opinion, which is sort of par for the course when it comes to looking at concept art, but still.

 

Fun fact about the Pinball Carnival clip from the Switch trailer: iirc Amy's legs are actually clipping through the floor.

This has been your Daily Fun Fact.


(Speaking of the zone in question, it reminds me of Chaotix for some reason. Hope the background is more detailed in other places, but it looks very cool)

 

I for one am REALLY excited about this game! Over the years I‘ve come to learn that you NEVER get what you expect - will it evoke the same feelings I got when I tried Sonic 1 back in 1991 when i was 5? Will the music just be as memorable? Probably not, but I am not 5 anymore… are the level tropes more bland? Seems to look like it, but it doesn‘t matter! It appears we are getting a nice sounding and looking, albeit a little „plastic-y“ apprearing game with PROPER 2D Sonic physics, and to me that‘s WAY MORE than we could have hoped for! The art evokes a VERY „me being 5 and zooming through Green Hill Zone“ feeling and I really missed that!

 

Background looks unfinished, but gives me Donkey Kong Country vibes. I think it basically just needs more layers to it to make it pop like the silhouetted levels in those games do, so I'm really hoping this is just a case of outdated footage.

Taxman did tweet about Retro engine's physics being translated into 3D and knowing more about that but being unable to elaborate, so it seems to me like he absolutely knew about Superstars ahead of the rest of us and my inference from that is that he was likely consulted by Oshima/Azrest/whoever during the development of Superstar's engine. Not a whole lot of evidence to back that, but I think it's a reasonable theory.

 

The LEGO game "Speed Sphere Challenge" game contains some clean music from Sonic Superstars, including Bridge Island Zone Act 1, the title screen music, and a Genesis synth track we haven't heard before. I've uploaded them to YouTube here:

 

These all sound great. I don't care if it's going for the faux Genesis synth sound, because it's done really well here. I'm genuinely really excited to hear the rest of this soundtrack!

 

The melody of Bridge Island Act 1 at around 0:33 reminds me of Sylvania Castle.

 

This... actually doesn't sound bad and better than anything Sonic 4 and Sonic Forces have doing together. I still would prefer Sonic 3 drums here, but even Sonic 2 drum are not bothering me here.

 

The synth song definitely sounds closer to Forces, and I generally liked those tracks outside of the instrumentation, which is definitely improved here.

 

I think I should clarify I was mostly talking about Classic Song songs in Forces here, and with exception of Faded Hills, I think they all sound good or decent enough. I guess everyone get it, but just saying in case.

But yes, that said, the instrumentation is a huge improvement here. To me, it almost sounds like something you would hear in ROM hack.

 

Hm, I… I like the Sonic 4-ish sounding song on its own merits, but combined with that miniboss track it basically confirms that the game's music is going to seriously be that level of stylistically inconsistent, and, like… why? It's like the thought process behind the sound direction is… I don't know what it is. I'm kinda dumbfounded

 

I was with both the first two tracks, but yeah, the third one is literally just one of the better Sonic 4 tracks (due to not having the cat synths, mostly). If that's part of the final game it's going to be really weird.

 

Yeah I'm gonna have to mod this music out lmao

 

I'm not a fan of that leading synth on the non-Genesis tracks.

I hope this isn't gonna be another Mega Man 11. It sounds almost like Mega Man 11's lead synth they used in almost every track.

 

I mean, the lead synth is the norm here... what instrument do you wanna hear instead?

 

Fucking hell these tracks are amazing nggggggggggghhhhhhh

...ahem. Sorry about that. I'll be eagerly waiting for the official uploads on the youtube channel

 

This unknown track is quite short before looping again. So I'm thinking this is for Super Sonic?

 

Sonic 4: Episode III, right there.

I look forward to the better remixes put out by the community.

 

How on earth can they think that Sonic 4 style music is in any way acceptable after the glorious Mania soundtrack? Fuck right off with that shit!

 

Meh. The songs sound like nothing to me. Somehow a little worse than the Sonic Level Creator music compositionally. Sonic 4s had a lot more going on for them so I'm not sure what happened here. It's dissapointing but I was expecting not to care for it. But also I don't think they've been working on this soundtrack for too long. I'm not gonna work myself up for my dream SEGA composers taking over for the rest of the project.

This is in response to the actual songs and not some critique on their overall sound. I feel like people have convinced themselves standard Genesis sound is now Sonic 4 and anything not composed in the past is somehow wrong even when it's exactly right.

I guess we'll see where it goes from here but I honestly expect a really great Sonic game with a really boring soundtrack.