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

The camera being zoomed out to accommodate extra players makes me hope they add a feature to zoom out the camera for singleplayer as well.

 

Man, I'm not too bothered about the lack of a lives system in SuperStars, but I adore those character Ring counter silhouettes in co-op. Having those used as a life counter in an optional "Limited Lives" mode would be boss. This game is firing all cylinders for me, aesthetics wise.

 

Oh ya I love the faux life icons, they’re perfect. I’m amazed they were able to help themselves and not use that fucking Generations head icon they love using (even colors ultimate, they just made a Tails head in the same style)

And ya emerald powers are basically classic wisps, but unlike wisps you can use them wherever, they’re completely optional, and they charge up each starpost. So like wisps without the crappy parts lol

 

I guess I missed the memo on Wisps then. For what they are in Colors (from a gameplay and story standpoint), they were alright there; but as a series mechanic/mainstay as they were being pushed to be after Colors' positive reception, no. Too limiting in gameplay/controls and extremely situational in use/implementation. Hell no after Sonic Team went to town in adding them in more games after Colors. Their implementation in Lost World in particular was probably the worst; especially when that game was initially released, because you could only use them via gyro/motion controls until the patch dropped.

IIRC there is an interview out there about Superstars that made a point of saying the Emerald powerups are not like the Wisps, in the regard of being needed to progress. For that I really hope that holds to be true for the final game--the Emerald powers being Wisps transformations by proxy would be a way more damning statement about Superstars' level design for me, far more than anything else that's been shown. Especially when you look back at Arzest's last game--the costumes and overall gameplay in Balan Wonderworld are the absolute zenith of what happens when you have mechanics developed underneath one-dimensional game design philosophies.

 

Id assume just from the nature of unlocking the powers, they have to be optional. Because there’s a chance you might not have all or any emeralds and you still have to be able to beat every level without powers. They seem specifically designed to find secrets and fuck around in fun ways.

 

Hey technical bods, how compilcated is Tails' AI in Sonic the Hedgehog 2/3?

My best guess is that Tails gets a vague instruction every x game ticks to "follow Sonic", and if he's too far off-screen, the "fly back in" function kicks in. There seems to be a few edge cases to ensure Tails doesn't look like a total idiot, but is it actually a complicated algorithm that's tricky to reproduce?

I ask because Arzest clearly haven't bothered with AI Tails in Sonic Superstars (which hilariously might be because the Sonic Retro wiki doesn't include it in the physics guide). Was it always intended to be omitted, or is the 4-player co-op a strange compromise, i.e. three humans can play as "AI Tails", because we don't know how to program him. This wonky-sounding single screen co-op is clearly a poor fit for a high speed platformer, to the point where you'd really think someone would notice its limitations well before announcing it.

 

There's actually an article for it

 

I bet the original intent was always co-op with people. I doubt this game will have the traditional “Sonic & Tails” pairing, they prob expect you to play with friends.

But thanks to emerald powers you don’t need Tails, there are plenty of movement options for you to traverse regardless of Tails flight.

 

I would have preferred camera panning, split screen, or combi-link, but insta-respawn ala Kirby kinda fixes my problems with Sonic 2/3 type co-op. Guess we'll see lol

 

Honestly, as someone with a family that never does local multiplayer stuff except on birthdays/holidays and no real friends to share such experiences with, it's good to know Superstars is singleplayer-focused in level design and the co-op doesn't literally kneecap the entire game, so I guess that makes me a minority on appreciating the design here. Besides, New Super Mario Bros. (and Super Mario Bros. Wonder) already did same-screen co-op which seems to be the fundamental basis for Superstars in inspiration here, and that stuff is utter carnage of everyone vying for progression control, so I figure some element of that was intended here too.

 

Something interesting from the new Famitsu article, the linked quote tweet is a summary:
https://xcancel.com/inazumag11/status/1696461449026232558?t=rakKtxSC1ITKEUu7m91mcg&s=19

Apparently Iizuka not only wrote the story, but he was also involved in level design.

 

Sonic Team does usually retain some control over the direction, game and level design of these outsourced games (Advance, Rush, etc.), so it’s not too surprising.

What would be surprising is if Iizuka actually pulled out some graph paper, Yasuhara-style, and drew a level. I imagine it’s more along the lines of, “Eh, don’t put that there, put it here,” but who knows. I don’t think he’s ever actually designed a 2D Sonic stage with his 3K contributions being bosses IIRC (correct me if I’m wrong here).

 

Pretty sure Iizuka's last credited roles as a level designer are Shadow the Hedgehog (regarding Sonic) and the NiGHTS Wii sequel (overall), he's largely worked as a supervisor/producer capacity since the 2010s. I reckon Iizuka's input in regard to Superstars' level design is probably reviewing level maps submitted to him by the designers and making changes/corrections, as he did with Mania.

 

My thinking too. I could maybe get behind the idea of the Vision power if it was a case of activating it, then hunting in a short amount of time it gave you. It'd be a fun incentive for blasting around levels at high speed too.

Or if the power came with some environmental cues, like Water does. A glint of light on the edge of some object that isn't usually on that object. Or a shadow can be seen where there's nothing to cast it. Or perhaps some very faint echoes of the chime as you collect some rings in the vicinity of hidden ones.

And that's just the discovery. Then the actually play of the ability could involve timing; maybe blocking enemies at the right moment, maybe things are only visible as clouds drift over a piece of terrain, maybe making some ground appear makes other ground disappear so you have to work your paths.


But literally just a square icon appears whenever there's something to reveal? "Press right stick and X now"?
Ehhh.

 

Quick thought occurred to me - I'm pretty sure we've now seen all but two of the stages Superstars' story mode has to offer. If there's 12 stages, right off the bat we know the first 7, in order, are:

Bridge Island
Speed Jungle
Sky Temple
Pinball Carnival
Lagoon City
Sand Sanctuary (Have we actually seen visuals for this one?)
Press Factory

Thanks to screenshot filenames and recent reports, we also know the names of two later stages we've seen visuals for, taking our total up to 9:

Cyber Station
Golden Capital

Finally, the multiplayer trailer shows a split-screen race on a snow-themed stage with girders and conveyor belts. Similar footage is also shown of Press Factory in the same trailer, and since the snow stage isn't just made up of thin floating platforms like the Battle Mode Green Hill stage, I'm fairly certain this means it's one we'll also be seeing in the main game. It also fits with the presence of snowy mountains shown on the Northstar Islands in the animated intro. If correct, this takes our total of revealed stages up to 10, with only 2 still remaining to be seen.

Personally I'd like some surprises left when the game launches, so I'm hoping we don't see anything of the remaining unrevealed stages until the game's actually launched...!

 

If I'm not mistaken, his last non-producer/supervisor credit was directing the Wii version of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games in 2009.

 

Here’s the B-roll they’ve been using. Weirdly the first half of the video is devoid of music so you just hear sfx

 

Pretty sure that's done to make it easier to transition between shots.

 

Think of each new mechanic added to the Classic series. Sonic 2 introduced the spindash, everybody wished it could've been used in Sonic 1. Sonic 3 introduced insta shield and elemental shields, everybody wished they could've been used in Sonic 1 and 2. Sonic Mania introduces the drop dash, which everyone wanted to be implemented in all the previous classics.

I can't see everyone getting a chubby over the thought of using wisps/emerald powers in Sonic 1-3k and Mania can you?

 

To be fair, people in this very thread were ecstatic about it and said they didn't know why it wasn't a thing in the other titles. Emerald powers that unlock secrets or new routes in stages you've already been through would make very little sense in purely sequential games like Sonic 1, 2 and CD, or even in games without much in the way of extras, like S3&K. Not to mention they throw Naka's precious one-action-button philosophy out of the window, of course.

But I think it isn't helpful to think of Superstars as a Classic game like Mania was. It's a Classic game for kids in 2023, I suppose. I dislike the very concept of emerald powers, but what can you do.