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

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by DefinitiveDubs, Jun 8, 2023.

  1. McAleeCh

    McAleeCh

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    That doesn't sound right - did you order from the main "Sold by Amazon" listing or from a different reseller? If the former, when I click through from my order - placed waaay back when preorders first went live - it takes me to the listing that states preorders come with the LEGO Eggman and cel-shaded skins. So I'd assume that means all preorders, even those entered before those were added, should receive those additional extras. I'll reach out for clarification on this when I'm able, as I don't want to be paying full price if I'm not even getting the advertised bonuses for my trouble...!
     
  2. Snowbound

    Snowbound

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    Could u link to a source that states superstars has longer loading time on the switch? I apologize if a source was shared earlier in the thread
     
  3. Solid SOAP

    Solid SOAP

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  4. jubbalub

    jubbalub

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    New interview with Naoto Ohshima and Takashi Iizuka. This has a few interesting bits of information:
    • The Rabbit skin will feature a fully unique set of animations, seemingly based on its appearance in the Sonic prototype stage. This also suggests the rabbit character *was* used in the prototype at one point.
    • Trip will be a key plot point.
    • No post-release plans at this time. Wonder how long that'll last.
    • According to Ohshima, the team was struggling to recreate the classic Sonic gameplay feel for a while. To make this process easier, they recreated classic Sonic stages in Superstars, and overlaid the gameplay of the classics *on top* of Superstars.
    • Iizuka is very confident in Superstars, and believes "Sonic Superstars can stand up to the Mega Drive / Genesis games and even Mania".
    • Of all the Sonic games Ohshima has worked on, he believes Superstars is the best.
    • The director of the opening animation is Toshihiko Masuda, who also worked on Superman: The Animated Series, Akira, and Sonic X.
     
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  5. Chimes

    Chimes

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    Listing Masuda's TMS work seems a little closed in, considering he also worked on Pokémon, Naruto, Jojo, MHA, Lupin, etc. Still interesting knowing he's having another hand with Sonic animation again!
     
  6. jubbalub

    jubbalub

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    I don't know who he is, they were just the first things that were listed on IMDb.
     
  7. Starduster

    Starduster

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    How the hell do you have a director like that and still end up looking the way Sonic X does?

    Anyway,
    This is suuuper interesting and I really hope the rabbit skin isn't digital deluxe exclusive because that's probably the single most compelling skin. I wonder how close fan interpretations of the character like Overture and Legends will be...

    lol, lmao

    The pettiest part of me really wants to just reply to SEGA's promotional tweets for the game with "No thanks, I'll wait for Superstars Plus next year! :)" but the people running those socials don't deserve my bullshit, only the SEGA suits who keep making this shit happen.

    Again, super interesting. Gives me a lot of confidence that the game's going to play well (as if we even needed that confirmation at this point), though I am intrigued to hear about exactly what role Taxman has played in all this, given he said that Retro Engine physics had been fully translated to 3D. Was he a consultant, perhaps? Also really hoping that some of these test levels turn up in the final game's data. Would be super interesting to see mods that spruce them up to look the part of those original stages.

    I'm also happy for Iiizuka's and Ohshima's feelings on Superstars. Of course there'll always be an element of marketing to these kinds of statements, the guys want to see their latest project do well, but between this and Frontiers, it's so refreshing to see those working on Sonic broadcast unabashed confidence. As I've said previously, I don't think Superstars will quite recreate the glory of Mania, but I think "stand up to" is a pretty appropriate phrase, because I reckon it will be a worthy entry into the classic Sonic pantheon (the level design seems most similar to Sonic 2 for me).

    Roll on the 17th!
     
  8. Blue Blood

    Blue Blood

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    According to the SEGA Asia website, the Digital Deluxe content is a separate package that can be purchased on its own. This is the same as the Digital Deluxe content for Colours Ultimate and Origins (but not Frontiers, for which the Adventurer's clothing can't be purchased). You'll have to pay extra, but you can get the rabbit skin, Lego skins and everything else as an upgrade even if you buy physical.
     
  9. Palas

    Palas

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    They did what
     
  10. Starduster

    Starduster

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    @Blue Blood Nah I mean in the sense that I hope its presence in the digital deluxe is just an early unlock type thing, since the Mecha Sonic Mk1 skin(/battle mode parts?) are specifically labelled as “exclusive”, where the other stuff isn’t.
     
  11. Iggy for Short

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    Even when we won't be playing it, they can't help but put in Green Hill, huh? :V
     
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  12. shilz

    shilz

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    Plot twist, recreated stages are unlockable somehow.

    This makes me wish Origins was 2.5d remakes of the games even more.
     
  13. qwertysonic

    qwertysonic

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    It would be super cool to one day find a prototype with Genesis levels in it.
     
  14. Deef

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    No particular source, just I'm pretty sure pretty much all the running playthroughs we've seen are Switch builds. The long load times are present in a video from a week or two back also... I think the TGS one with the 4 hosts (IIRC).

    I was very confused by this so thought I'd quote the interview here:

    Annnd I'm still confused. One, because it makes it sound like they were still working out the motion as if Mania et al wasn't a thing. It was... "extremely difficult"... to recreate? Did you have a crack at it before deciding to replicate Mania's equations? I'm just really unsure what to make of what's being said here. I mean, if they're actually referring to the technicalities of the transition from 2D to 2.5D, that's different, but I don't feel that's what they were getting at in that quote.

    Two, because I can't guess what "overlaying" means. Was there some old Emerald Hill emulation superimposed in the same window... and... I don't know.


    I mean, good to hear about the effort, whatever it looked like. But I'm so uncertain about what this is actually saying that I'm more inclined to put it down to 85% marketing fluff, 10% lost in translation, and 5%... well, still confusion.

    You struggled with the classic feel? We're post-Mania guys. I thought we were past this. Or are we talking about something other than motion?

    *That-Aussie-interviewer-in-that-interview-with-Trump face*
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 8, 2023
  15. Kyro

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    They said the game was made in unity, right? Or at least we think it is, unity isnt the retro engine, i doubt you can just 1 to 1 port over the physics and be done with it, they probably had to reference and cross reference their work with mania/the classic games to get the proper feel. I dont think what he's saying is that confusing at all, really.
     
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  16. Fadaway

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    Overlaying here probably means superimposing video to run checks.
     
  17. Deef

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    Technicalities are one thing, but there's a gap between:
    "I doubt you can just 1 to 1 port over the physics"

    and:
    "...trying to recreate that in our engine and see if it felt the same", "...it was extremely difficult to actually recreate it".

    To me, that didn't sound like they were just expressing a technical struggle to port some physics to 2.5D, ala SFR. It sounded like they were talking about a struggle to get the feel.
     
  18. Ritz

    Ritz

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    The classic physics were strictly optimized for a tile-based layout. Like, "when the player touches an X-degree tile, fetch this specific angle from this precalculated sine table," right? A modern collision system needs a totally different model.
     
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  19. shilz

    shilz

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    "Overlaying" meaning taking video footage and making it transparent so you can see what lines up and what doesn't. So say, in case you have a spring next to a wall, and you want to make sure Sonic jumps the correct height when pressing against that wall and hitting the spring, you take footage of that from the old game and you try to recreate it, and it turns out Sonic jumps too low so the footage doesn't quite match up, so you make adjustments until it does.

    I don't think they even tried to translate any code over, otherwise there's very little reason to eyeball it the way they did.

    I wonder if they meant actual Genesis footage or "footage of Sonic 1, 2, 3, and CD as provided by SEGA" (so the botched Retro Engine versions) because there might end up being some oddities and mix-ups if they just used whatever "looked" right.

    I guess we'll see soon.
     
  20. Deef

    Deef

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    Ah yeah, that's true. I had forgotten this.
    Makes me wonder what SFR did, back in its day.

    This Ohshima quote actually makes me more concerned for the physics/motion, not less. To realise that the game's motion is a product of tuning so dependent on eyeballing to the point of (if that's what we're to believe) overlaying old games' video, as opposed to a product of solid equations simply being converted to a new engine.

    I suppose it's both. When it comes to running, airborne motion, and simple flat surfaces, it was probably straight-forward for them to replicate things with perfect definition. But anything more influenced by the old tile-based system... yeah, fair enough that would be finicky.

    In that case, I guess it's a good thing then to have those physics finally in a more modern form. Bodes well for sequels (assuming this does mimic the classics well, which I'm still edgy about).
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2023