Sega sees last year’s “Sonic Frontier” as “a real evolution of the modern series”, so this year it will be released in the form of Sonic Superstars instead. “We want to do something similar to the classic Sonic series.” These are the words of Team Sonic’s CCO Takashi Iizuka, who talks to Gameactor in the “Jungleland” interview below.
“We first needed to implement what made it great, and that was the original physics, and that was the gameplay, and that’s all the stuff that made the classic series great. On top of that, we wanted to add all the new stuff, make it even better.
During the Summer Game Fest live show, fans were quick to point out that the characters looked like the work of Naoto Oshima, and Sega immediately confirmed this.
“Yes, a lot of the look and feel goes to Mr. Oshima,” added Mr. Iizuka in an interview when asked about Mr. Oshima’s involvement. “He’s what really makes this project work.
This title actually started when we were talking to Mr. Oshima about making a new game in the classic series, and as one of the original creators of the Sonic series and the designer of Sonic the Hedgehog, we really wanted to work with Mr. Oshima . I’ve also worked in game design, so there’s a lot of ideas between us.
Who will be Mr. Oshima’s brand new character in Sonic Superstars?
“Mr. Oshima also has a brand new character in this game, which we’ll also show later,” teases Iizuka at the end, hinting that there could be another superstar joining Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy.
But this new character isn’t the purple wolf/weasel everyone saw in the trailer, since that’s the sniper side, as Mr. Iizuka is quick to remind us of his origin and the side he’s taken:
“Fang is a character from the classic series, one of the Game Gear games actually. So, it’s been at least a few decades since Fang first came out. But Fang is back, and he’s in Superstar, and he’s with Eggman in enemy team.
Finally, for those trying to make a connection between Sonic Front and Sonic Superstars, “I can’t talk too much about the story of Sonic Superstars yet,” admits the producer, “but I can say It takes place in the Polaris Islands, and we have Eggman, Fong, and another superstar to fight against a mysterious enemy. (…) Unfortunately, the modern series, so Sonic Frontier, is a different kind of timeline, a different universe. So it has no connection to Sonic Superstars.
Click through the full video to learn more about Emerald Power, Squid Jellyfish Transformation or the 3D Bonus Stage. Additionally, Mr. Iizuka confirmed that the multiplayer game will be a local couch co-op mode with up to 4 players with different roles. This fall, Sonic Superstars launches on nearly every platform.