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

Hard agree. You wanna know when I realized how much effort they were putting into the visuals here?

Right here:


No, no, not the voxel characters. I mean, those are fine? But no. It's this bit:



We were just talking about motion smears in 3D the other day, and this game is doing it with Sonic's feet on a model that can't even bend! Seriously, it knocks it out of the park visually. It's not exactly my ideal style for the franchise, but anyone acting like this isn't polished to a mirror sheen is kidding themselves.

I can't tell if it will be a genesis Sonic game in terms of core design, but it's clearly making a confident showing and will almost certainly be a fun game in its own right.

 

The government has been doing that for three years and just kept printing money giving thousands of dollars to everyone who has a pulse and expected to just reverse the inflation they've been causing for three years and that's how the inflation exist

 

We've sort of always had grind rails in Sonic -- in Labyrinth Zone and Oil Ocean and... Launch Base? I think? They'd just use water or other fluids instead of proper grind rails. To be honest, I'd have liked to see different aesthetic approaches to the same mechanical principle, tying it to the level, but rails are indeed nothing we have never seen before. In principle, at least.

 

I wanted to make a joke about Sonic Fan Remix but I guess I got beaten to the punch by about 3 people, lul

But this looks...good! I had no idea Summer Game Fest was ongoing so this announcement kinda came out of nowhere for me. Talk about a nice surprise!
Game looks lovely, definitely would've preferred if they used the modern cast but I'm guessing I'm in the minority here, lol
Also... GHZ is apparently nowhere to be seen in game? Will the curse be finally broken after 13 years? And by a 2D throwback game to boot? That'd be really fucking funny lmao

And for the record, I know I've been very critical of the way Sonic games are advertised in the modern era, but I gotta give them credit for this one.
This is how you reveal your game: no shitty 20 seconds CG cutscene, no "WIP Title", no waiting 6 months to get an actual name and gameplay footage...in fact the trailer was almost entirely gameplay, and it's honestly so refreshing.
I can actually get excited for the game for real! I don't have to guess what the game will play like lol, they actually bothered showing it this time around.

I mean, I know the only reason they're doing it this way is because it's not a "main entry", and they'll absolutely be back on their bullshit with Frontiers 2...but I'll rejoice in the fact we don't have to wait a year to actually see the game for once

Overall an amazing surprise to wake up to. I'm super super excited :p

 

Wait, has it actually been confirmed that Sonic Team themselves are the developers for this game?

I guess this at the very least means Kishimoto didn't direct this one, since he was busy helming Frontiers (and he did an interview in February where he said other directors will be responsible for some of the future ST games, Superstars presumably being one of them). And I have to give ST props for finally making their first 2D Sonic game in-house since...well...literally since Sonic 3 & Knuckles. (Guess it also explains why this is also Sega's first "major" 2D Sonic game since then as well.)

Nonetheless...Sonic Team developing Superstars isn't exactly thrilling news to hear for me. Best I can hope for at this point that (miraculously) the team of designers/producers/directors assembled to this had a completely fresh design philosophy going in. (As opposed to "let's take Classic Sonic in Forces/Sonic 4/the 2D sections in Frontiers, and build an entire new MD Sonic game out of that.")

 

When you put it like that...
Yeah it makes total sense to reveal this game in particular with SGF. from the 3 reactions that I've seen that I'd consider casual, the worst feedback is "I don't play Sonic games." (But they did like it visually!) Past games have sucked at shooting for their target audience. Sonic Boom Fire and Ice was another casually oriented game but instead of finding a way to advertise it to 3ds owners in general they put a demo of it in the back room of the 25th anniversary party and just said "Hope you liked Sonic Boom!" while debuting Mania (a game that probably did at least have most of its target audience there or at least watching at home) and then teasing Forces (a game that was built for a casual audience but just entirely marketed like it was for the hardcores)
Only problem I really see here is that Superstars could end up messing with Frontiers' ability to be an evergreen title, which it seems like they wanna push it as.

 

It looks like SEGA is using an Amy model that was commissioned by brazilian artist RafaKnight without telling him. He commissioned it to be used for toys but surprisingly it's being used for Superstars.

https://twitter.com/Rafaknight_rk/status/1666914599042514948?s=20

 

We already know Frontiers 2, or at least a game in its format, is the idea and direction they want to go with for the future mainline titles. When Mania came out six years ago people were wondering if it was going to spearhead (no pun intended) side games again, and that didn't happen; I wouldn't be surprised if Superstars is an effort to do more with the Sonic brand again than just a mainline game every several years, and I am not opposed to it so long as quality control remains in effect.

 

Oh me too. I have nothing against the classic designs. They’re very cute but why not use the modern designs? They’d fit too. Lost World was also very bright, colorful and cartoony. Now my headcanon says this takes place before Sonic Adventure. Haha. Not because of Nack/Fang but everyone is their younger self to me.

 

Small games between the big Sonic Team title is what the series need. Thankfully, it seems that Superstars wasn't made at the expense of Frontiers or its DLC.

 

I don't think that's enough information to necessarily prove anything. Sonic Team's logo is also on Team Sonic Racing's website for instance, even though we generally consider that to be Sumo Digital's affair.

 

https://vxtwitter.com/CinosLikesPizza/status/1666967931995996160?s=20

For what it's worth.

 

New 2D Sonic, interesting.

• That wall running / waterfall climbing power looks like fun, abilities that add onto your moveset like the elemental shields or speed shoes are always welcome. Praying the jellyfish transformation is just a one-off gimmick-level setpiece and not something like Wisps. That multi-Sonic thing (looked like a screen wipe) is a very strange addition, unsure what that existing implies about engaging foes.

• Wtf is that 3D Boom-series enerbeam section.

• Surprised to see 4-player co-op both existing in the first place (finally!), and not being split-screen. (Very likely that this will mess with level design and physics.) The Sonic 1 / Beta CD maze room shows some players lagging behind off-screen, wonder how that's gonna work for such a fast game? Imagining the traditional 2P Tails / Encore recall system but with two extra people sounds like hell lmao

• Visuals are weird, gives a 3DS / mobile game feeling. Player models look nice. Environments range from good (costal HillTop), to real basic (grind vine ruins), to eyesore (digital world). Thankfully nothing looks as bad as Lost World. Normal enemies having Sonic 1 eyes and the larger one (miniboss?) having modern / Metal Sonic eyes is cute.

• Time of day system? The costal HillTop in daylight has rings off of the ramp, but jump-cuts to a sunset version with launchers.

• We don't see Sonic's double jump action. I'd be shocked if they changed it from the Drop Dash, since it's been in three games in a row (... actually four, counting Origins).

• Putting multiple boost-pads in the middle of some loops is a very red flag (I do NOT buy it existing in 3D space or being somewhat long as reasonable excuses)

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Gut feeling on Superstars is that it'll be inoffensive at absolute worst ala Advance 1.
Gonna wait patiently for good ol' reliable 240p shaky camera footage to one day grace us (=v= )

 

Why didn't they show him rolling down the hill I wonder? I think he sped-up a teensy bit when running, but I couldn't tell.

 

They didn't show the ball because they want to show the models.

 

I agree about the website not being enough to go off of… especially since the Origins website doesn’t have a Headcanon logo.

Alright I’m starting to get legit optimistic. The clip from the superstars trailer is edited (unless they’re using a dev tool to toggle between characters) so I don’t wanna get too excited… but I can’t help myself lol

 

It's on Steam, meaning -- maybe macOS as well, or only Windows as is the usual for them? Mac's been getting better for games -- especially mid-performance-heavy ones. I mean Death Stranding is being ported.

 

Grinding looks like a focus of the jungle level, and possibly even a level specific gimmick. It's surprising to see it includes and it makes me cautious for the same reasons as you. But I game to admit that I don't immediately hate it. Classic Sonic had rudimentary grinding included in Generations and it was certainly a welcome mechanic.