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

I'm actually pretty hopeful for the soundtrack. Sonic 4 was a looong time ago and I'd like to think Jun took those criticisms seriously, considering even mainstream critics were harping about the game's OST. The idea that he's working with SEGA's own internal talent, PLUS multiple outside composers, has me really curious.

Surprised to learn that Arzest is the PRIMARY developer of this game, and not just a collaborator / helping out with a few things. I only know they're responsible for that one Pikmin spinoff and Yoshi's New Island, which is a perfect example of a modern evolution of a classic series that failed to actually capture what made the series good. But obviously Ohshima didn't create Yoshi, so it's apples to oranges.

 

I hold Jun to a high regard and think that he is a great composer but he couldn't make music "sound like a classic game" and also sound good in 2023 event if his life depended on it.
Tee is a welcome inclusion though.

 

Just give Senoue access to a real Genesis kit, that's literally it. Most of Sonic 4's music works compositionally. And his music outside of Genesis styles is still amazing.

 

Fair. I'm rather pedantic, which is why I tried to dig into it a bit. I hope it's at least reassuring to know that it seems like the ideas at the foundation of Superstars were going to shape the project regardless of the team, so it's not really a loss of one or the other so to speak. Personally, at least knowing Sonic Team's involved in design is reassuring to me, as the core looks very strong.

I think it was just Iizuka on that segment, but I'll reconfirm. But yeah, while I don't think it was deliberate either, I was similarly frustrated. Glad to see someone else also caught it. Misinformation sticks really bad sometimes for Sonic stuff, so I wanted to at least bring it up here, as I don't have a twitter and know that it might come up in the future as a badly attributed source on what Sonic Team internally considers the project being or something along those lines.

 

Origins is only a year old, and the new music Jun composed for Sonic 3 was just as wank as the ear raping he gave us with Sonic 4. He's learned nothing. Have the utmost confidence in Tee Lopes though, and I wish he was doing it all.

 

It's amazing Superstars didn't leak at all (since this news definitely proves Zippo's full of it).

A whole 2D Classic Sonic game made by the guys who made Balan Wonderland with Sonic Team supervising. Evening Star or Headcannon not involved. Soundtrack directed by Jun Senoue.

This place would be unbearable.

But now it's "oh, really? This is nice. Looking forward to it".

Origins in general was rushed as hell.

 

I think the real solution would be to have someone else on staff who knows how to use the genesis chip and have Jun give his normal style of music to them instead

Even back in the day he wasn’t doing the conversions on his own tracks

 

Sorry, I'll have to strongly disagree with this. No videogame soundtrack ever was better off made by one person. All good soundtracks made by one person end up sounding samey and could definitely be improved by having several artists work on them.
And before you say "but Sonic Mania" you have to understand that Tee had 5 games (counting SegaSonic) worth of music made by other people to remix and modernize - task which is, in my opinion, way easier that making something from scratch. Tee did a tremendous job with Sonic Mania but claiming that he "made all music by himself" is designations.
I just hope Tomoya Ohtani also contributed, he's probably my favorite Sonic composer

 

I think people are forgetting why Jun Senoue's contributions to Origins and Sonic 4 weren't good to begin with - they were trying to be like Genesis music. And evidently, Jun Senoue is not good at that.

However, Sonic Superstars is all about being brand new, with new levels, new gameplay mechanics, and new playable characters, all made with modern technology. It's a classic Sonic game, but made in the modern age. Why wouldn't this extend to the music? It doesn't make sense to me that they'd give this shiny new innovative game a soundtrack that "sounds like a Genesis game".

I think we'll be getting something similar to Team Sonic Racing, the last game Jun Senoue was sound director for. Maybe something a little more bubbly and less rock-oriented.

 

There's at least one cutscene with Green Hill Zone in it, so we might get some cool references. It's also a very cute snippet.

 

Honestly, all I wanted was Mania 2 and I'm crossing all fingers and praying to all gods that this scratches that itch. I remember Stealth saying he wanted to keep the bridges be built so he could create 2d Pixel games in the future (or so I understood, correct me if I'm misinterpreting) and when Superstars got announced he posted this which might or not have to do with the new game but if it does, think about it.

This makes me so sad. It would've made all of us happy to see a Mania 2 with all original levels come out but the fucking profit dictatorship didn't allow this to come to pass.

Once again, I hope this game feels like as close to Mania 2 as we can (and I hope Stealth can get back on board for a new Sonic game/new IP).

 

Since the article mentioned Jun is the lead composer and is trying to make it sound like a classic game I think I’ve officially changed my mind about those boss songs being placeholders.

 

Sonic 1 and 2 would like a word.

 

The mini-boss theme is probably the real deal, but the zone boss being a remix of Episode II's boss theme means that's likely a "Sonic Generations 3DS Big Arms" situation.

 

This. They said "like Classic" but we're not sure if it will be be "Mega Drive Classic" (I know Fadel said "sounds like chiptune", yeah), "Sonic CD Claissic or even "SEGA Saturn Classic". It was too vague. I honestly hope it will be SEGA Saturn-Classic tho' lol.

 

What bums me out about the Sonic 4 OST is I think most of the compositions are fine. There are plenty of remixes and arrangements and even Sega-sanctioned live performances of those songs that prove this.

The problem is, like you said, they were trying to make them sound like Genesis music. But that wasn’t the intent of the Genesis games’ composers at all - they were written as “real” songs first and the in-game music is simply the Genesis’ best approximation of the original instruments. And there’s nothing wrong with chiptune, but the way Sonic 4 does it just feels like a cheap way to invoke nostalgia rather than trying to do cool things within those limitations.

Sonic 4 also doesn’t even try to be retro in its presentation in any other way, so it’s just a weird choice in general. If you’re going to have 3D graphics, the modern character designs, all that, why are we handicapping the music?

 

Damn, that's a good call actually.

 

The problem is that they said he’s “really focused on making it sound like a classic game”. That doesn’t sound like he’s interested in using live instruments and such. Original quote:

(from the VideoGamesChronicle article)

 

Even if the Genesis-style music sounds great, I'd vastly prefer if they didn't limit themselves like that.

(7:10) I may be wrong in the end but I think it's the same base melody

Or maybe it's just unoriginal.