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

After all this time...the mission...the nightmares...they're finally...over?

No Chemical Plant...no Sky Sanctuary...

No...

...Green Hill?

 

I personally feel that S3&K’s gimmicks are either more based on player momentum (AIZ zip lines), afford a greater degree of agency (MGZ spinning tops) or are more organically worked into the level design (MHZ pulleys). Here, I’m not a huge fan of the SSZ booster paths in Speed Jungle, not only because they reduce that agency to only allowing the choice of path, but because they pop up so often. They’re not the most offensive thing in the world and worked fine in Mania, but there’s more of them here than I’d like to see. Generally, the level design strikes me as being a less schizo version of CD’s, which isn’t my platonic ideal but could still be fine.

With regards to Amy, I think giving her unconditional spinning was the right call, even if her jump action could’ve more unique/less OP - perhaps have the hammer swing be the double jump action and have it work like a longer insta shield that increases the effects of bouncing a la the Advance games, but it uncurls her afterwards? I remember Amy’s Advance 1/3 moveset really screwed with my muscle memory and I never wanted to play her for that reason, even if it’s rewarding for older and more experienced players. Ultimately Sonic’s for kids first and foremost and Amy will probably draw in a lot of the young female demographic, so there’s a strong case for making sure they’re not left feeling frustrated by having to learn a much more technical play style.

Anyway, I wonder how Super will work with four players? I’m sure that’ll be a sight to behold…I certainly hope it’s in for all characters, at any rate. With Mania, obviously the fan developers were going to pay homage to the classics, and Origins has it grandfathered in, but are they really going to do Super Amy? I hope so.

Finally, some of the player character animations are absolutely gorgeous. Even in the off screen footage, I could tell Sonic’s jog cycle is bouncy perfection, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to extended to everything…yet. Boss animations and Eggman’s animations after being defeated seem to lack smooth transitions or the kind of liveliness of the player character animations, but the IGN footage is definitely an old build, indicated by the more simplistic lighting (which can be seen in the comparison images of Sonic’s different victory poses from a page or two back). Character models are absolutely gorgeous so I really hope the visuals of the game across the board are that polished upon release.

 

That sounds awesome!! Thanks for the info, I actually love that idea

("spoiler" warning, gonna mention some stuff from IGN and some off camera footage I've seen today)

As far as the footage, I'm really happy with a lot of the little touches they've put into this game and the level of polish it's got so far. The act title cards look really neat, I notice badniks physically break apart and leave behind bits of metal like the Sonic Rush series, the laser Buzzbomber is such a cool way to ramp up the challenge posed by a previously underwhelming enemy, monitors that reveal themselves to be badniks is SUCH A COOL IDEA(!), the little lighting/graphical effects that occur when you use certain gimmicks are a great touch, etc etc etc. This game just seems so... polished! I hope the whole game holds up to this standard.

 

The world wasn't ready for a true sequel...

 

I don't think Jun will be on the project. I kind of hope that even if Tee's present, other SEGA artists are more abundant. I don't think Tee's typical style matches with the visuals.

 

Falk, Funk Fiction and James Landino would be perfect for this game.

But I guess probably someone from SEGA SOUND TEAM will make the soundtrack (in this case, Richard Jacques and Naofumi Hataya would be welcome).

Also, the way Tee Lopes were repling to the Superstars tweets was like he knew something. Still no confirmation if he's composing for the game, tho'.

 

Seems to have gone under the radar, but on the same day the announcement trailer dropped, Ohtani posted the following to his Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Ohtanitter/status/1666733158530973696?s=20

Could be something, could be nothing. If it *is* Ohtani and his team working on this, I really, *really* hope they're using live instruments and not trying to mimic FM synth. Sonic Forces' classic tracks were solid compositions that I feel were held back by the sound font, even if they weren't as egregious as Sonic 4. Classic-esque Ohtani compositions with real guitars, brass, etc. would be sublime.

 

I think this is probably for the Frontiers DLC, tbh.

 

Probably, yes, but given the timing, I think it’s worth keeping in mind the possibility.

 

Tee and to a lesser extent Falk seemed to be teasing a bit but neither confirmed anything yet. Tee’s post-Mania stuff has often been alongside Jun, so I wouldn’t be surprised to have him on the soundtrack even if they are too.

 

If we take a close look at the map from the intro animation, we may be able to get a feel for a few of the game's level tropes. After all, that's kinda what they used to do for the classic maps. I can sort of see 7 unique "structures", and that's not including the seacoast stage. Not embedding the image in case some people would rather be surprised.

Spoiler: Link

https://twitter.com/SSF1991/status/1667336780536840192?t=J98QIo5LalQsl_mmb3bxaw&s=19

 

Interestingly, you've picked the one gimmick there has been nothing but praise for to compare.

3&K is far more gimmicky than the previous games, sure, but you'll notice its gimmicks are mostly aesthetically integrated to the level they're in (exception being the spinning tops) amd basically never repeat. Also, as far as I can remember they help defining an aspect of movement in that stage. Sandopolis sand is slow and carries you over platforms (or works like rails in Act 2); Death Egg's gravity switch messes your orientation up; etc.

Not directly comparing, not the reason why I disliked what I saw in the jungle level. Just wouldn't say 3&K has these gimmicks in opposition to some platonic idea of pure platforming.

 

Regarding those rumors about a possible additional character missing from the title screen, I guess if it's going to be added in the final game, or if they will repeat the "plus" thing once again and add it later as a DLC.

It would be weird is nothing is being added, because the screen is really unbalanced visually. In my opinion it's probably Fang or the mysterious new character that will become playable at some point, after turning good.

Not sure how I feel about Amy's gameplay yet. It flows well with the game's formula, but at the same time it's super basic, just a double jump and some broken damage boxes. I miss the flip jump from Adventure/Advance and the ability to hammer a spring to gain more heigth, I think it was more unique; but on the other hand, she seems to play fine here, it's just a bit too basic of a gameplay, nothing new nor original.

The ideal thing would be to have a mix of both styles, trying to merge both movesets into one. Also I'm not sure if the double jump should stay as an exclusive move to Amy, I mean it's useful but also every character can have it, Sonic had it already in some games (including recent ones).

 

The music is terrible.

Y'all delusional to think this is temp. I'll be very pleasantly surprised if it does get changed, but good grief, I jested about Senoue and well here we are: reminded once again this is definitely not Sonic 4 Ep 3

 

Everything in the gameplay footage is Sonic 4 Episode 2, Mania or Generations audio, besides the mysterious boss themes of no known origin. Hell, the level music used is White Park Act 2. If you're going to complain about something being the third coming of something you hate, know what you're complaining about first.

 

i mean, the level music is from Sonic 4 Episode 2 and the act clear and pause jingles are from Sonic Mania, so I don’t think it’s too delusional to suggest the other 2 tracks might be from a different source too.

 

I hope the level design is consistently good and that the game is substantial. I don't want to again be given a lacking game with a "plus" version down the road.

 

I don't think Richard is working for SEGA anymore, unfortunately. His last work for music was Fire and Ice and seemingly last work for SEGA period was as "recording engineer" for Sonic Forces. Apparenlty he got some awards for his work on Square Enix's Guardians of the Galaxy game.
My line of thinking is that the soundtrack sounds maybe like this bit from Sonic Frontiers. Alternatively, play some of this over the 10 minute video and see how that matches up. That's the vein of what this sounds like to me. And I guess if Jacques was in the conversation he could maybe compete in that space going off both of his Seaside Jungle tracks from Shattered Crystal (although that doesn't seem to match up as well at any point.) while Paleo Tarpits actually kind of goes well.

 

this ain’t just a case of bad/rushed music or anything, though, most if not all cues we hear in the direct feed recording are outright reused. Sega’s got some low standards but an entire ost of pre-existing non-remixed tracks would be a first here

(edit: Man I gotta start double checking I don’t have an old post drafted before I start new ones)

 

I know where you're coming from. S4 typically gave each act 1 specific gimmick and then repeated that gimmick ad nauseum until the next act replaced it with something else. There's was little continuity between acts in the same zone, and every act felt life it was built from the gimmick down.

S3K was not like that. If you take a level like Marble Garden, it introduced several gimmicks in Act 1: three-armed rotating platforms, the arrow-shooting Reliefs, blue spinning tops, earthquakes, mud pools and key to the level design were those huge, steep slopes. Act 2 then kept all of those gimmicks, expanded significantly on the earthquakes and then also added in the pulleys. The abundance of different gimmicks gave a certain robustness to the level design, because they all provided different kinds of platforming interaction.

SSS appears to lean harder on the gimmicks that S3K and Mania, but not quite to the same degree as S4. SJZ has more variety than S4 did, with grind rails, SSZ booster tunnels, hanging vines and more. They all contribute to the overall more slow feel, which is probably intentional to accommodate co-op. But like S4, they're kinda of isolated from the rest of the level design at times. They can feel a little bit binary.