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

It's a title made for a "best of" game made out of iconic levels and gimmicks, like Mario Party Superstars... or Sonic Mania, funnily enough.

 

The placeholder music is 100% exactly what it is.. placeholder.

I recognized White Park Act 2 the second it started playing so there’s no way that SEGA would reuse tracks like that in a new game.

I vividly remember when we got our first look at Mania’s Green Hill Zone Act 2 (can’t remember which video or event it was.. probably SXSW 2017??) the background music that was playing for that stage was still Act 1’s.

So SEGA reusing music is not uncommon.. it only preserves the surprise btw I was initially right about SEGA using the Taxman/Stealth remakes for Origins so I will say that Tee Lopes and/or Falk are involved with Superstars’ OST (you heard it here first )

 

It keeps making me think of a combination of Sega Superstars (the PS2 EyeToy game) and Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing.

 

What you're saying is that we need Sonic 06 2?

Starring Shadow the Hedgehog saving his human love interest as he curses up a storm and has to fight against the devil. That would destroy this place permanently.

 

I once had a similar idea, but not quite the same. It was a 2D moveset concept for Cream & Cheese: every time you break a badnik, Cheese could copy the traits from the animal that you release. I used the classic animals and tied each one of them to a special, passive ability (like walljump, create air bubbles underwater, generate a temporary shield when running at full speed, and so). The abilities were not given by chaos emeralds though, you got them from defeated enemies kinda like in a Kirby game.

The emerald abilities are interesting anyway, I like them so far.

This is why I support my idea that Classic should not be the past anymore and just be a different art style with no continuity implications instead. I know that I repeated it a lot recently but I'm convinced that this is the way to go, especially if Sega decided to stick with the classic design for all the future 2D games from now onward. Most of those people who are disappointed that the new game is classic, feel that way because their favorite content can't be in the game due to it being set in the past where that content didn't exist yet, continuity-wise. If Blaze or Shadow were allowed to appear in a classic game (even just as a cameo or in a battle mode), I'm sure that those modern fans would complain much less. I'm kinda in the same boat, I would like to see modern exclusive content in the classic games as much as classic exclusive content in the modern games, redesigned to fit and all.

"Limit the creativity" are the exact same words I used in a post on Sonic Stadium, about this classic timeline issue; I agree so much.

 

This game nailed the jumpball.



This feels like a modernized take on the "classic style" jumpball. The ball shine remains, but Sonic himself never actually turns into a solid ball like the classics - he stays visible and spinning the entire time. They instead mimic this "solid ball" effect with the wind lines appearing on an interval, surrounding most of his body and making him look rounder. The short trail added when you exit a speed booster is a nice touch as well. Direct adaptations of the "classic style" jumpball have never felt right to me, but this feels perfect.

Generations did something similar to this, but I don't think it was as effective at selling it as a "ball". This looks much nicer, and I imagine it will contribute to the feeling of rolling down hills and slopes.

The jumpball also occludes some of the visual effects. I don't know if this is intentional behavior or not but I found it neat regardless.

 

Didn't some of those leaks of Sonic Frontiers (those that turned out to be real) mention that Infinite's theme was used as a placeholder music during bossfights, too?

 

New media impressions from GameReactor. The big part that stuck out to me:

This interview is not currently released.

 

This game looks a lot more like Sonic 4 as I imagined it.

 

Speaking of the aesthetics, and this game's retro take on the re-envisioning of the past.... I do not think this is a re-implementation of the aesthetic genesis ethos in the third dimension (as many voices from other circuits are stating)

Aesthetically, there's a very intentional "retro cute-fication" of Sonic. And the shonen-like coolness we remember from the classics (especially the japanese artwork) is mostly lost in the process.

The aesthetic of the character models in this game does not resonate with Sonic CD, Sonic 2's japanese artwork, the Sonic OVA, Sonic R's artwork and so many other products of the 90s that blended the juvenile with the cool in an uniquely japanese way. If anything, this game is a modern, subjective and personal re-interpretation of the past using a different lens.

Not that it is "bad" or "good". But it is definitely not the same vibe as the artwork of say, S1,2,3k, CD, Chaotix, Jam, Fighterz and R. In this game, there's a bit too much of an extra "cuteness" and many things seem a bit too "chibi" aesthetically speaking, which is not optimal. Just an observation.

 

Game Informer's interview with Takashi Iizuka is now out:

https://www.gameinformer.com/2023/0...uka-summer-game-fest-2023-all-things-nintendo

Scroll to the bottom and skip to 51:26

 

Yes. Currently the "coolness" is more associated with Modern Sonic, while Classic Sonic is like "kid Sonic".
I'm fine with this. It's not bad, and it sells.

 

Good to hear Ohshima's involvement/influence over Superstars appears to have been extensive. Gives me hope this could turn out to be really good game.

 

YES, the spinning is actually truly great. All that needs to be done for retro perfection to be achieve in this specific department is to make the spinning speed dynamic, and vary according to how fast the player is going. Heck, adding some very subtle extra effects to those wind lines when he'd be spinning REALLY fast would be nice as well.

I say this because one of the trills of going fast in the olden days was seeing those sprites then cycles real fast -- both when spinning in a ball and when running (even the lack of a figure-8 type running animation was compensated with a very very fast "normal running animation").

 

yeah I love how his shoes bend to suit the motion. I can't wait for them to start animating modern Sonic like this again

 

Mostly agreed. While I'd love to see the "shonen cool" make a return, "cute Sonic" is also very much a retro aesthetic - I'm thinking of all the SegaSonic merchandise, the artwork from e.g. the Harmony covers, as well as most of the Game Gear games.

Heck, with Fang's return, and level names like Bridge Island and Speed Jungle, this feels like a spiritual successor to the 8-bit games in a sense, which is fine by me.

 

From the sounds of the interview they started with the physics and built everything on top, that sounds promising.

 

Brazilian review, at 2:26. Translated here:

Sonic Superstars, today, definitely, from the tests we did here, from everything I played (there's still a lot to see, there's Mortal Kombat to test, etc.), the new 2D Sonic game announced at Summer Game Fest was the most spectacular.

A game that mixes 2D with 3D very well, the old with the new, the retro with the current. It doesn't have pixelated graphics, it's a 2D game with that old footprint, side progression, fast, with modern graphics. With current graphics. His animation reminded me of Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, some people commented that they resemble Zelda's cartoon style. Particularly, it reminded me a little of Rayman, that UbiArt Framework style that Ubisoft used in Rayman games. Very well applied here in this Sonic game, lots of colors exploding on the screen, and a game with a lot of speed.

A game that uses level design to its advantage, which is for the older crowd in my thinking, and at the same time manages to be more accessible. How? It mixes in some 3D too, it's not a 2D only game. Some bonus stages you access to get the Chaos Emeralds are in 3D. You have this perspective of jumping, going through platforms, finding the exit from those mazes that Sonic has to go through. And this perspective changes from 2D to 3D, in a very interesting and intelligent transition, well applied, well implemented.

I faced a boss, a Robotnik's stage. The boss underwent a transformation there during the battle, it became more difficult, and then we could advance.

There are many things hidden in the level. Don't go crazy and speed up - I know it makes you want to when we play Sonic. Don't do that, explore a little more calmly, you'll find a lot of cool stuff.

 

Sonic used to have that cool factor for sure, especially in the States with his weird mohawk-donning American design, but I think there's an aspect of cuteness that has always been there from the beginning. I personally always felt it in Ohshima's original artwork, and I think that's the kind of thing he's going for now. I have always loved the way classic Sonic kinda fuses cute and cool, from the little "needlemouse" sketch drawings of Sonic to the images from Sonic the Screensaver (I think that's what it's called). They definitely are running really hard with the retro niche cutesy chibi thing, but I like that they've tweaked the characters' designs a little bit so it feels like Sonic's own quirky little world, whereas Generations retro cutified Sonic by making him seem almost like a little chibi toy running through a miniature playset.

Though I definitely can see how, so far, this game's aesthetic is definitely not Sonic CD-levels of edge and style. It doesn't feel like they've *nailed* the mix between cute and cool that I prefer, but I feel like it's closer.