Honestly I don't think Arzest was that heavily involved in Balan's issues. They were mostly just caught in the crossfire, which seems to be the case for a select number of other games they happened to develop. I firmly believe they are competent game developers and a lot of them actually being former Sonic Team devs is definitely reassuring.
@@JacktheLightningRipper Except This is the most competent Sonic game I’ve seen by far. I’ve seen a few that were passible, but Forces and Frontiers are too much of a deviation for me to care.
I’m a bit concerned about the music. If Jun Senoue just focused on making a proper soundtrack like he would for a modern game, I think it would be great. However, it explicitly states that they’re focusing on a classic style sound, which I think he has really been unsuccessful with in the past.
It didn't work in Sonic 4. It didn't work with Classic Sonic in Forces. It didn't work with the new music in Origins. How have they not learned that this is the wrong direction by now?
@@oden-sama_ He didn’t contribute to the instrumentation for that game or 3D Blast (Genesis). His compositions are great, but when it comes to choosing how the music itself sounds, he has a horrible track record with the classic-style.
>Taxman's Sonic 5 fell through *It's OVER!* >Superstars isn't made by Sonic Team *We're SO back!* >It's Arzest *It's OVER!* >Oshima is the lead guy *We're SO back!* >Senoue making the OST with that MD soundchip *It's OVER!*
On one hand, I understand the notion of being concerned/fearful by this news. However, I also understand that Sonic Team likely couldn’t have worked on this project themselves, as they are knee deep in development for Sonic Frontier’s future DLC. Diverting or partitioning manpower from that would’ve likely delayed said content, as Sonic Team aren’t the biggest studio to begin with. The best everyone can do is wait and hope for the best. Superstars looks fantastic thus far, and hopefully releases in a stable form, and is content rich, and just really fun to play.
"For one reason or another." That reason being, Whitehead and Evening Star are hard at work on their own game and don't want to take time away from that.
That and the business side of Sega treated them like shit. They've gone on record as saying Sonic Team were wonderful to work with, but they were treated horribly by Sega of American, extremely underpaid and overworked.
It makes sense that Arzest is the main developer since Naoto Ohshima owns it. Sonic Team normally does not work on 2 games at once at least more recently. They did say that additional assistance is provided by Sonic Team so I am sure they are overseeing it and making sure the game will turn out really good.
Tbh naoto oshima doesnt get enough credit, he is very “Timid” when it comes ti taking credit for creating sonic. Naka is always like he is sonics father and stuff. Honestly i think naoto oshima has done more for the series.
@@Blueblur599 Naka has been notorious for being problematic to work with. He made many people leave the development on Sonic 2 because of his attitude, he basically stole a game engine for Sonic Adventure 2 and put its creators out of work while at the same time threw a massive tantrum threatening to quit sega if they used his Nights engine on the cancelled Sonic Xtreme. He also wanted to stay on board with the Dreamcast when Sega was on the verge of bankruptcy if it didn’t go third party and even made the bold statement “Sega doesn’t make bad games.” The Insider trading and Balan development issues don’t make things better.
Just refreshed my page and got you recommended instantly, Love your content Sam and this game is looking insanely promising! Hope you are well dude! This game looks fantastic!
This was what I expected, Sonic Team is still busy and even just dividing the manpower will just delay development of the DLC for Sonic Frontiers. Honest admition of fear is healthy, especially when the project is run by devs who recently contributed to Balan Wonderworld. But I will have a cautious optimism.
Given how clusters the so far shown off stage was do I really fear that Oshima will just like 30 years ago in CD again over stuff the stages with gimmicks that end up hurting the overall experience.
very interesting that plans fell through, but atleast nothing seems to be toxic or bad between the two considering Christian’s thumbs up on that one tweet about superstars and mania’s comparison. anyways another great video sam, and wanted to say good job on the editing this one, sometimes jus a lil I feel like you over edit jus a tad but this was great considering the length!
I KNEW THIS GAME WASN'T MADE BY SONIC TEAM. Genuinely did not expect the BALAN: WONDERWORLD people to be making it though (I thought it was made by Dimps for a while until I didn't see then credited in the trailer upon rewatch)
I mean it's more of a collaborative effort like both parties made the blue print like the physics and design and arzest made the game while sonic team was trying to finish frontiers
I had a feeling that Sonic Team wasn’t making this game, because they’re are still working on Frontiers and more Modern Sonic games and for how long superstars was in the making and being full price. No way Sonic Team could do all that.
I will say this, though; the design of Sonic Superstars reminds me A LOT of Sonic CD and Sonic 1... which makes sense, given the team, but it's interesting to see this style of Sonic game design being seen again. Outside of an animated opening sequence, the level design is very vertical, with many paths shooting all over the place, just like Sonic CD's levels, and the Sonic 1 bonus stages have many layers, which was an idea intended for Sonic CD before it was removed
Part of me didn't want Whitehead's team to be involved, but I wanted Sonic Team proper to be the ones making this. Sonic Team has crutched so much on fans lately that I wanted them to be able to prove that they can still make a good 2D Sonic game.
My initial thoughts about J. Senoue being a lead sound director: "Shit, not this pseudo-Genesis Sonic 4 crap again!". But then you say Tee Lopes is also involved. This brings the hope for the game's OST after all.
I'm excited about the idea of more Sonic 1 style level design. Even today, that is probably my favorite of the 2D series. It has momentum, but not so much you don't feel on control. It invites a bit of exploring and challenges you to do the right moves and have timing. Overall I hope Sonic itself, feels like he does in Mania. The physics were on point and that has been missing from new Sonic games, especially the 2D sections of 3D games.
The music worried me a lot, I knew it was just placeholder music but the fact it was sonic 4 music specifically made my stomach turn because i thought that was the vibe they were going for. Thankfully tee lopes has been confirmed so I’m confident in this soundtrack.
the thing is Tee is working under Jun so its basically Jun's direction. I'm sure Tee will do as well as he can possibly can but, he is definitely going to be limited if he is not getting full creative control this time around.
@@sofioboros9565 I think I can live with that, I don’t know if you’re a big fan of the team sonic racing soundtrack but Jun and Tee have a couple of songs together and those songs are some of my favorite on the album
To put everyone's mind at easy Arzest resurrected Artoon who was basically an outsource development studio. They have worked on: Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Yoshi Topsy-Turvy, Blue Dragon, Yoshi's Island DS, FlingSmash, and The Last Story.
I am so excited that Oshima will take the lead on this Sonic game, morse so than I could ever be for another Headcannon game, despite how very much I admire their work as well. Oshima is Sonic's last original creator still in the game, and it's a kind of authenticity that will one day be impossible to recapture. I pray the fanbase does not somehow ruin this, and I am very very confident in Oshima's understanding of Sonic. You do make a good point though, a team of Oshima, Yasuhara, and CW would be a very cool project indeed.
I dont see how the authenticity of the character designer translates into a better game than Headcannon could make especially considering Arzest's track record with 2.5D platformers. How Sonic looks has never been an issue. Its about how the games and levels are designed, which is not Arzest's strong suite nor does it have anything to do with how Sonic looks
@@BurnsyRuns It's not just that Oshima brings authenticity, it's that he brings an authenticity that we will eventually lose access to. I also think he is and originally was involved in a lot more than just the character designs. I care less about if the game will specifically be better than a hypothetical Headcannon Sonic, although I am confident it will be good enough. There is something to be said for the art of it all (in the games as art sense, not just visual art specifically), and I am very interested and excited to see another game by this creator who's games, while sometimes flawed, are always full of imagination. Personally I'm just a little more into that than the guarantee of technical perfection. With all that said, I am of course also very excited for Penny's Big Breakaway
@@blahbliff9726 alright, well I guess I understand your perspective better now, I think we just fundamentally disagree on what makes the game fun, because in my opinion level design combined with character movement is the most important thing for a Sonic game to be good and successful, and Headcannon did level design better than Sonic Team or any other studio by a country mile. They also paid tribute to hundreds of obscure things from the past that are important to fans. Arzest are the ones actually making the gameplay, levels, the paths, etc in Superstars, and I do not trust them at all based on recent 2.5D efforts. I hope for everyones sake that you're right and I'm wrong. I will admit it is nice to have one of the men who started it all still involved, but I'm concerned enough about Arzest fucking up the level design to think a character designer we like is not going go be enough to reign in Arzest on their poor instincts.
@@BurnsyRuns I don't think I fundamentally disagree with you as much as it may seem. I mostly agree with what you're saying, it's just not my priority that any particular Sonic game be *the best it can possibly be*, and while I do care about the gameplay a great deal, I feel assured by what has been shown already that the game will at least be good enough. So for me I guess it's more that if I selfishly got to choose, I would take a good but interesting work by a legendary artist who may otherwise never get another shot, over something I'm sure would be mechanical perfection. I mean, in a perfect world I would want both of course, and a team with them all, headcannon included, would be the best I could imagine.
I'm assuming that the sonic mania 2 leak was the plans made with christian whitehead, and then we found out it was cancelled, which is probably the plans "falling through".
What’s the consensus with the level design so far for Superstars? I feel like Sonic 1 and CD are generally regarded to not have good level design (at least past first levels) so this has me worried
It looks like a step back from Mania, which IMO had the best and most clever level design of any of the classic games. I think the S1/CD comparisons are apt but I expect it to be a fair bit more flow-y like 2 rather than the chaos of CD. I think Arzest was a big mistake, the Mania team crushed it and Sega doesnt yet realize how badly they've fucked themselves by treating them like trash
The fact that Sonic 4 type music is likely is a bad omen. Plans with Whitehead falling through also suggests that Sega’s incompetence will once again screw something up. Never get high expectations from Sega
I knew all the way back in 2019 when Christian Whitehead and Simon Thomley made their Evening Star development studio that they'd already parted ways with Sega. I was already sure that Mania was a one-off and that Sega themselves couldn't maintain a collaborative connection with any outside party such as Whitehead and Thomley beyond a single project.
I assume (and its just an assumption mind you) that things fell through and the project Evening Star and Sega was working on didnt took off could be mainly because Evening Star not being "fully there" to properly create a solid foundation for the proyect in general, even if Iizuka could had tried his best they might had thought that it could end up to a mediocre, rushed proyect or prehaps was too ambitious for the short time they were asked to do something by Sega, so i think Iizuka and Christian just decided to not try to keep working on the proyect to avoid an scenario like Sonic 06 or Xtreme.
After playing Sonic Advance 3 and Super Mario Maker 2, there’s no denying that Sonic Superstars *needs* online multiplayer with each player getting their own screen - Sonic characters move too fast for everyone to share the same screen, - each character has different abilities for navigation that’d be hampered by having to drag or be dragged by other characters. - Stages always have multiple pathways and it’d be a shame for everyone to be funneled in one direction instead of letting everybody explore their own path. This game should combine the online multiplayer of Sonic 4 Ep2 and the multiplayer freedom of Sonic Advance 3. Sega shouldn’t be treating this kind of multiplayer the same way Nintendo does with NSMB
I'm more worried about the music tbh with Jun Senoue trying to make music "classic-sounding" was the Sonic 4 soundtrack, as you are, Sam. At least the gameplay has proof of working well, the music tho'..I dunno I trust Tee Lopes heading this kinda effort personally. I guess we shoulda guess Arzest with the random minigame sections thrown in like the Jellyfish like they love always doing. I'm guessing SEGA management made some demands that did'nt sit well with Evening Star when Iizuka wanted it back. Even Iizuka knew getting them was a no-brainer after they made the highest rated Sonic game in decades. I wish Yasuhara came back for ages too, he is a very humble and great guy always trying to learn new technolgies. I think he can bring his own spin into things.
Oh that's a sad opportunity that Arzest and the Mania would not be able to work together due to some business dealing that fell apart but despite that one, I still give my full support on this project because I know it'll still be a great banger of a game for Sonic Superstars and I'm optimistic for this one too.
To be fair though, this game was never intended to be like Sonic Mania. It was intended to be a rebooted Sonic The Hedgehog from WAY back in the day, in the days of the Sega Genesis/Master System II/Game Gear.
Okay, I'm a bit worried now. Arzest doesn't have a great track record with their main projects being Yoshi's New Island and Hey! Pikmin, which were not good at all. I had a bit more faith thinking current-day Sonic Team was helping on it, but sounds like that's not gonna be the case. And Jun's doing classic-style music again? Have they learned nothing about that after Sonic 4 and Origins? Even with Tee Lopes coming back (which is awesome), this is still a baffling decision, and since we only have placeholder music in the game footage, it's making me very skeptical. I really hope Tee gets the bulk of the work on this one. I'm still overall positive about the game itself from everything I've seen, so at least it seems like an improvement over their previous projects, but this doesn't make any sense, and it's put a damper on my excitement.
I am completely baffled by the soundtrack decision as well. I cant for the life of me figure out why they decided to not to go with the Mania sound for this, it was UNANIMOUSLY praised. The whole classic sound has been such a miss I am baffled they didnt realize this and still keep trying to make it work. I'm glad that Tee is on it, however because he is working under Jun, he isn't going to have the creative control and freedom he had for Mania so we likely won't be getting as good a soundtrack. For me music is like 80% enjoyment of a game so I'm kind of not excited for this now, but I hope im wrong and it turns out amazing.
Fun Fact: Double Helix Games the company that made Silent Hill Homecoming and Battleship 2012, also made (Killer Instinct Reboot). Gaming redemptions have been done before.
I would say no matter what, the game is 100% looking great! The physics are there and the level design seems decent. While they may not have the best track record, I think they may have a winner on their hands. Regarding Jun, I can def understand the hesitancy. From what we heard so far from people playing the demo though, things are sounding very good. So I hope that trend continues!
Exactly, and when tee lopes worked together with him it sounded fire. I recommend checking out boos house from sonic team racing and the remix of splash hill they did.
Its interesting that Alrezt is working on the project but from what i can tell, they are doing mostly everything right. If it works out we could see further collaboration with them in future Sonic products; Sonic Team needs the help.
Having Ohshima back in action is something i dreamed since Generations. Honestly im not sure what to expect, but what i can say is its gonna be a blast. Hopefully they realize this game needs a full online experience to exploit its full potencial.
Why is it still an issue with people that Sonic Team doesn't work on 2D Sonic games anymore? It's like if some people in the Sonic fandom take issues to Sonic games that aren't made by Sonic Team and I find that to be absurd
I think people dont know about Coop even is in regards to iconic IPs, since you DROP in or DROP out during gameplay since there is a HUGE reason why local Coop is a huge deal since it focuses in story mode ONLY so you do realized you cant have a online feature to Coop in a story and a ton of video have story modes that cant have online coop at all.
What I think it happened at the meeting: SEGA: "Hey, remember when we treated all of you like trash? Yeah, good times, come work for us again!" Evening Star: "Yeah, no."
I think he will spark a great rediscovery for sonic, he has a fresh vision from it and coming from nintendo he is coming with that QUALITY, this actually might be one of the best sonic games ever I don’t people people truly understand what this means, Sega isn’t making this game ? That’s kinda crazy with the original creator of sonic this will feel soo fresh and original it’s gona be amazing
@@bluefire9285 It had pop-ins due to them using the same engine that forces had, bugs, the runnings physics were wonky, the final boss was disappointing, the animations when sonic talked to sage or anyone else were just bad, and the supreme boss fight was super underwhelming. Btw sonic forces had pop-ins thanks to the hallway style gameplay they were able to hide it. They knew about the pop-ins and didn't bother to delay the game and fix it. Sonic frontiers was a 7/10 at best.
@@nilesdobbs4215 okay so? Every decent game that comes out today has a lot of effort out into it. That doesn't justify the glaring problems that came with the product.
This is promising actually. If Arzest is cool with it, they could be the 'Classic Sonic guys' for the foreseeable future. Meaning Sonic Team can work on the 3D games while Arzest works on the 2D games. No more 5 year game droughts. Here's hoping though, since we hoped the same for Headcanon.
Makes sense, as this does NOT look like a Sonic Team game at all, despite probably utilizing the Hedgehog Engine. It feels like a Sonic game made by Nintendo, which I'm still not sure is a good thing.
I’m traumatized by 3d classic sonic 😅 I can’t deny everyone wanted mania 2 but I’m glad the physics are working well and they have two masters of music (tee and jun)
Now that I think of it when was the last time Sonic Team even made a 2D Sonic Game on their own? Wasn’t Advanced and Rush made by Dimps? Sonic Rivals was made by Backbones Entertainment Sonic Mania was Christian Whitehead? And I mean…I don’t know if it counts but…I mean Sonic Team also didn’t make Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog from my understanding The last time Sonic Team made a 2D game themselves I don’t even think I was born yet
Could be why CW shared that post on Twitter with the emoji because they was supposed to be apart of it. Hopefully the game is a success. Definitely hope the music is good as well.
Considering Arzest's track record, that is a bit concerning. They do seem to have nailed the classic Sonic physics which is good, but the level design does look more like something from Sonic 1 or CD from what we've seen, which are more platform heavy and maze-like rather than focusing on momentum based speed. And while I do enjoy Sonic 1 probably more than most Sonic fans, I'd still rather a sequel pull from Sonic 2, 3&K, or Mania level design which struck a better balance in my opinion. My hope is that Sonic's run speed isn't capped like in Sonic 1, but considering this game has to account for 4-players on one screen, I wouldn't be surprised if they slowed you down to accommodate.
Fun Fact: Double Helix Games the company that made Silent Hill Homecoming and Battleship 2012, also made (Killer Instinct Reboot). Gaming redemptions have been done before.
@@AppleSlipper Naka originally intended to make a social mobile game, but SquareEnix encouraged him to make a platformer. The problem is that Ballon is a Collect- a -tion, rather than a linear platformer, something that Naka had no experience in.
Arzest being the main developer is a surprise... I think they can do alright, I enjoyed some of their past games like Hey! Pikmin, so I think they can pull through.
When Tee Lopes is involved with anything you know it’s gonna be great. Like bro cooked so hard on the Ninja Turtles Shredders Revenge soundtrack last year
My guess is that the Mania devs saw how abusive SEGA were being with the remaining Retro Engine staff when working on Origins and refused to return for Mania 2 because they didn't want SEGA to force them to rush out an inferior product. Honestly, good for them for not taking SEGA's abuse if that's the case.
I think that the real reason things fell through with the Sonic Mania team was because of the nonsense that happened with Origins. It's a shame really... however I am happy that the game is using some form of the Sonic Mania engine which is known to be 1 to 1 with the Classics and Arzest working on the title as well is a great thing too. As far as the music goes.... they wanna go for a classic feel... I just REALLY hope it's not gonna sound like Sonic 4... Sonic 4 had it's own uniqueness to it and I LOVE the Music in Sonic 4, but it does get tiresome after a while.
@@cristianovogt5586 and had barely any input, the one button design was from Yuji Naka and it was a shit fest. Not to say Arzest makes great games outside of Balan Wonderworld, because they don’t. They’re decent.
I hope the level design for Sonic Superstars is more like Sonic 2 and 3&K then it is like Sonic 1 and CD. Not trying to hate on CD level design but I think 2 and 3&K level design is superior.
Fr because I enjoyed sonic 2 more than sonic 1 and CD But speed jungle gives me mushroom hill and stardust speedway vibes. And a bit of lost labyrinth (not good) in the second act. At least the dark segments are very short but I rather it not be there.
I'm not so concerned as to whether or not it was made by Sonic Team. Fans have made games that nail the physics, which is what matters most. In fact, I am not as picky on the exactness of the physics, so long as the basics of picking up momentum, especially when rolling down hill, is intact.
On the one hand, I'm relieved it's not Sonic Team because Frontiers is the only redeemable thing they've put out in nearly a decade. On the other hand, who the hell at Sega was all "The Balan developers?! WE NEED THOSE GUYS RIGHT NOW! Sorry Whitehead, you're bumped."
Fun Fact: Double Helix Games the company that made Silent Hill Homecoming and Battleship 2012, also made (Killer Instinct Reboot). Gaming redemptions have been done before.
@@toamatoro570 Super Stars is going to be made one Year after Sonic Frontiers. So Sonic Team can't compete the game by themselves in that short amount of time.
The game looks awesome! Yea it sucks about the mania team; But the fact that they at least talked to them and tried to make some plans was still cool though!
Interesting. Oshima is under arzest and Naka is under arrest.
LMAOOOOO
As it should be.
Oshima is the creator of sonic tho he came up with his name and desighm right?
@@sammyjaohnson5631 The true creator as far as Sega and us are concerned.
@@rayvenkman2087 im just saying naka is always credited as the creator but from what i gathered that dont really add up
Honestly I don't think Arzest was that heavily involved in Balan's issues. They were mostly just caught in the crossfire, which seems to be the case for a select number of other games they happened to develop. I firmly believe they are competent game developers and a lot of them actually being former Sonic Team devs is definitely reassuring.
So like what sega did to big red button
@@mattkugelman4369 Yeah, pretty much.
@@JacktheLightningRipper Except This is the most competent Sonic game I’ve seen by far. I’ve seen a few that were passible, but Forces and Frontiers are too much of a deviation for me to care.
I liked Balan, most people who bash the game haven’t even played it or learned to play the game
"It's all just a giant coincidence that it was all our games were affected I'm telling you!!"
I’m a bit concerned about the music. If Jun Senoue just focused on making a proper soundtrack like he would for a modern game, I think it would be great. However, it explicitly states that they’re focusing on a classic style sound, which I think he has really been unsuccessful with in the past.
It didn't work in Sonic 4. It didn't work with Classic Sonic in Forces. It didn't work with the new music in Origins. How have they not learned that this is the wrong direction by now?
@@SilverSpireZ So it didn't work with sonic 3?
Tee will be helping. I hope it works out
@@oden-sama_ He didn’t contribute to the instrumentation for that game or 3D Blast (Genesis). His compositions are great, but when it comes to choosing how the music itself sounds, he has a horrible track record with the classic-style.
don't forget that Jun Senoue is also working with Tee Lopes and other internal members, so he isn't solely composing and creating the music
>Taxman's Sonic 5 fell through
*It's OVER!*
>Superstars isn't made by Sonic Team
*We're SO back!*
>It's Arzest
*It's OVER!*
>Oshima is the lead guy
*We're SO back!*
>Senoue making the OST with that MD soundchip
*It's OVER!*
But he’s working wit tee lopes at least
*We're SO back!*
with tee lopes
*we're back!*
>Levels are only made by 3 developers
*It’s OVER!*
That's what I thought too. I wouldn't trust Senoue as messed up Origins pretty bad.
Sonic Superstars is gotta be fantastic once it's released, this game is looking promising
On one hand, I understand the notion of being concerned/fearful by this news. However, I also understand that Sonic Team likely couldn’t have worked on this project themselves, as they are knee deep in development for Sonic Frontier’s future DLC. Diverting or partitioning manpower from that would’ve likely delayed said content, as Sonic Team aren’t the biggest studio to begin with.
The best everyone can do is wait and hope for the best. Superstars looks fantastic thus far, and hopefully releases in a stable form, and is content rich, and just really fun to play.
Amen!
I’m about 90% confident Kishimoto said Sonic Team wasn’t working on this title before it was officially announced. But I could be mistaken.
He said his division wasn’t working on it right?
He said that he was aware of other games being made but he wasn't developing them. Though Sonic Team has been split before.
He said the team had multiple directors working on different projects. And Iizuka is directing this game, so there you go.
"For one reason or another."
That reason being, Whitehead and Evening Star are hard at work on their own game and don't want to take time away from that.
That and the business side of Sega treated them like shit. They've gone on record as saying Sonic Team were wonderful to work with, but they were treated horribly by Sega of American, extremely underpaid and overworked.
It makes sense that Arzest is the main developer since Naoto Ohshima owns it. Sonic Team normally does not work on 2 games at once at least more recently. They did say that additional assistance is provided by Sonic Team so I am sure they are overseeing it and making sure the game will turn out really good.
When I heard the team that developed Balan Wonderworld were also making this game, I indeed panicked. 😅
Most of Balan’s awful choices and problems came from Yuji Naka and Square Enix then Arzest
@@Butwhythough881 maybe that's the real reason Yuji Naka went to jail
@@Blueblur599 The inside trading scheming?
Tbh naoto oshima doesnt get enough credit, he is very “Timid” when it comes ti taking credit for creating sonic. Naka is always like he is sonics father and stuff. Honestly i think naoto oshima has done more for the series.
@@Blueblur599 Naka has been notorious for being problematic to work with. He made many people leave the development on Sonic 2 because of his attitude, he basically stole a game engine for Sonic Adventure 2 and put its creators out of work while at the same time threw a massive tantrum threatening to quit sega if they used his Nights engine on the cancelled Sonic Xtreme.
He also wanted to stay on board with the Dreamcast when Sega was on the verge of bankruptcy if it didn’t go third party and even made the bold statement “Sega doesn’t make bad games.” The Insider trading and Balan development issues don’t make things better.
Just refreshed my page and got you recommended instantly, Love your content Sam and this game is looking insanely promising! Hope you are well dude! This game looks fantastic!
This is the best content sam and your channel is fantastic!
This was what I expected, Sonic Team is still busy and even just dividing the manpower will just delay development of the DLC for Sonic Frontiers.
Honest admition of fear is healthy, especially when the project is run by devs who recently contributed to Balan Wonderworld. But I will have a cautious optimism.
I don't understand why they didn't get the Sonic Mania team to develop this game.
Ask them.
Given how clusters the so far shown off stage was do I really fear that Oshima will just like 30 years ago in CD again over stuff the stages with gimmicks that end up hurting the overall experience.
@fundachi183 I certainly hope so.
And while it has been 30 years so is this properly my greatest fear with Oshima actually directing.
@@rynobehnke8289 you forgot he was also involved with the first Sonic game and Sonic Adventure 1.
very interesting that plans fell through, but atleast nothing seems to be toxic or bad between the two considering Christian’s thumbs up on that one tweet about superstars and mania’s comparison.
anyways another great video sam, and wanted to say good job on the editing this one, sometimes jus a lil I feel like you over edit jus a tad but this was great considering the length!
“Sonic Superstars is NOT made by Sonic Team!” I guess that explains why it’s so good.
Considering the team making it works on Balan Wonderland...is that a good sign?
@@cristianovogt5586 yesn't
Yoshi's New Island devs, rip
@Cristiano Vogt Yes cause it's not lead by Yuji Naka.
@@evdestroy5304 They also worked on Hey Pikmin, It not Pikmin 1 but its better than Balan Wonderworld.
I KNEW THIS GAME WASN'T MADE BY SONIC TEAM. Genuinely did not expect the BALAN: WONDERWORLD people to be making it though (I thought it was made by Dimps for a while until I didn't see then credited in the trailer upon rewatch)
Some people have given early short impressions of the demo and the consensus is, it’s really good👍
I mean it's more of a collaborative effort like both parties made the blue print like the physics and design and arzest made the game while sonic team was trying to finish frontiers
100%
When I heard Jun mentioned to do the music I was absolutely scared. But once Tee Lopes was mentioned I got excited again!!
Just a note, none of the music in that released footage is new, the boss music might seem new but it's unused Sonic 4 music.
The fact that we are getting a new 2.5 D Sonic game this year is a truly a wonderful thing to see.
I had a feeling that Sonic Team wasn’t making this game, because they’re are still working on Frontiers and more Modern Sonic games and for how long superstars was in the making and being full price. No way Sonic Team could do all that.
I will say this, though; the design of Sonic Superstars reminds me A LOT of Sonic CD and Sonic 1... which makes sense, given the team, but it's interesting to see this style of Sonic game design being seen again. Outside of an animated opening sequence, the level design is very vertical, with many paths shooting all over the place, just like Sonic CD's levels, and the Sonic 1 bonus stages have many layers, which was an idea intended for Sonic CD before it was removed
Thank you for the constant coverage, makes the wait for the game much easier! :)
I’m loving the video streak Sam please keep going. Feels like few years back when you made tons of videos 😄
Take a shot every time Sam says "for one reason or another".
Part of me didn't want Whitehead's team to be involved, but I wanted Sonic Team proper to be the ones making this. Sonic Team has crutched so much on fans lately that I wanted them to be able to prove that they can still make a good 2D Sonic game.
Yeah and Mania was mostly just rehashed levels and garbage special stages from seizure inducing camera movements
With Sonic being Ohshima’s creation (and CD being one of my absolute favourite games ever) I believe this game is in good hands.
My initial thoughts about J. Senoue being a lead sound director: "Shit, not this pseudo-Genesis Sonic 4 crap again!".
But then you say Tee Lopes is also involved. This brings the hope for the game's OST after all.
Did anyone notice knack peering behind a tree at the start of the SSS trailer? When sonic is zooming between worlds back and forth?
I'm excited about the idea of more Sonic 1 style level design. Even today, that is probably my favorite of the 2D series. It has momentum, but not so much you don't feel on control. It invites a bit of exploring and challenges you to do the right moves and have timing.
Overall I hope Sonic itself, feels like he does in Mania. The physics were on point and that has been missing from new Sonic games, especially the 2D sections of 3D games.
The music worried me a lot, I knew it was just placeholder music but the fact it was sonic 4 music specifically made my stomach turn because i thought that was the vibe they were going for. Thankfully tee lopes has been confirmed so I’m confident in this soundtrack.
the thing is Tee is working under Jun so its basically Jun's direction. I'm sure Tee will do as well as he can possibly can but, he is definitely going to be limited if he is not getting full creative control this time around.
@@sofioboros9565 I think I can live with that, I don’t know if you’re a big fan of the team sonic racing soundtrack but Jun and Tee have a couple of songs together and those songs are some of my favorite on the album
@@SquidwardProfilePic I heard the ghost one and it was fiiiiiireee
@@sofioboros9565 yeah if that’s the energy they’re bringing to sonic superstars I’ll be very satisfied
To put everyone's mind at easy Arzest resurrected Artoon who was basically an outsource development studio. They have worked on: Blinx: The Time Sweeper, Yoshi Topsy-Turvy, Blue Dragon, Yoshi's Island DS, FlingSmash, and The Last Story.
The boss music is also a placeholder Fadel was asked about it.
Okay but what about the non-boss musics?
Ah, makes sense!
I am so excited that Oshima will take the lead on this Sonic game, morse so than I could ever be for another Headcannon game, despite how very much I admire their work as well. Oshima is Sonic's last original creator still in the game, and it's a kind of authenticity that will one day be impossible to recapture.
I pray the fanbase does not somehow ruin this, and I am very very confident in Oshima's understanding of Sonic.
You do make a good point though, a team of Oshima, Yasuhara, and CW would be a very cool project indeed.
I dont see how the authenticity of the character designer translates into a better game than Headcannon could make especially considering Arzest's track record with 2.5D platformers. How Sonic looks has never been an issue. Its about how the games and levels are designed, which is not Arzest's strong suite nor does it have anything to do with how Sonic looks
@@BurnsyRuns It's not just that Oshima brings authenticity, it's that he brings an authenticity that we will eventually lose access to. I also think he is and originally was involved in a lot more than just the character designs.
I care less about if the game will specifically be better than a hypothetical Headcannon Sonic, although I am confident it will be good enough. There is something to be said for the art of it all (in the games as art sense, not just visual art specifically), and I am very interested and excited to see another game by this creator who's games, while sometimes flawed, are always full of imagination.
Personally I'm just a little more into that than the guarantee of technical perfection.
With all that said, I am of course also very excited for Penny's Big Breakaway
@@blahbliff9726 alright, well I guess I understand your perspective better now, I think we just fundamentally disagree on what makes the game fun, because in my opinion level design combined with character movement is the most important thing for a Sonic game to be good and successful, and Headcannon did level design better than Sonic Team or any other studio by a country mile. They also paid tribute to hundreds of obscure things from the past that are important to fans.
Arzest are the ones actually making the gameplay, levels, the paths, etc in Superstars, and I do not trust them at all based on recent 2.5D efforts. I hope for everyones sake that you're right and I'm wrong.
I will admit it is nice to have one of the men who started it all still involved, but I'm concerned enough about Arzest fucking up the level design to think a character designer we like is not going go be enough to reign in Arzest on their poor instincts.
@@BurnsyRuns I don't think I fundamentally disagree with you as much as it may seem. I mostly agree with what you're saying, it's just not my priority that any particular Sonic game be *the best it can possibly be*, and while I do care about the gameplay a great deal, I feel assured by what has been shown already that the game will at least be good enough. So for me I guess it's more that if I selfishly got to choose, I would take a good but interesting work by a legendary artist who may otherwise never get another shot, over something I'm sure would be mechanical perfection. I mean, in a perfect world I would want both of course, and a team with them all, headcannon included, would be the best I could imagine.
@@blahbliff9726 a well reasoned stance to be fair, I respect it. Hopefully this is the game that turns my opinion on Arzest. Thanks for explaining!
They know what they're doing, I haven't been worried about a solid game coming out in a while, it's about to be heat.
Just the fact that the physics are very similar to Mania's confirms they're doing this game well.
I'm assuming that the sonic mania 2 leak was the plans made with christian whitehead, and then we found out it was cancelled, which is probably the plans "falling through".
This is still looking pretty promising!🌟
I expect the game to feel more like Sonic 1 and CD which from what I have seen it seems to be the case.
Ew more backtracking climbing chores like. CD. Definitely not worth getting
What’s the consensus with the level design so far for Superstars? I feel like Sonic 1 and CD are generally regarded to not have good level design (at least past first levels) so this has me worried
It looks like a step back from Mania, which IMO had the best and most clever level design of any of the classic games. I think the S1/CD comparisons are apt but I expect it to be a fair bit more flow-y like 2 rather than the chaos of CD.
I think Arzest was a big mistake, the Mania team crushed it and Sega doesnt yet realize how badly they've fucked themselves by treating them like trash
I believe that the mania team could have done this. But I’m glad one of the fathers of Sonic is back.
THE father. I believe that because Ohshima created the character design himself that he is the father.
@@killswitchlee123 Correct. Get screwed, Yuji Naka.
The fact that Sonic 4 type music is likely is a bad omen. Plans with Whitehead falling through also suggests that Sega’s incompetence will once again screw something up.
Never get high expectations from Sega
I'm just completely happy with local coop honestly... Nobody understands how awesome it is to even see that from a Sonic game haha
“Hey! Pikmin and Yoshi’s new Island.” that track record is worrying me but idk we’ll see
I’ve been to the Arzest offices, Naoto Oshima is a beautiful person ❤
If Tee Lopes is gonna assist Jun then we need him to teach Jun how to do retro style music again
As long as we're getting a new Sonic game, I'm happy.
I knew all the way back in 2019 when Christian Whitehead and Simon Thomley made their Evening Star development studio that they'd already parted ways with Sega. I was already sure that Mania was a one-off and that Sega themselves couldn't maintain a collaborative connection with any outside party such as Whitehead and Thomley beyond a single project.
When I heard that Jun was doing the OST my head flashed back to Sonic 4
I assume (and its just an assumption mind you) that things fell through and the project Evening Star and Sega was working on didnt took off could be mainly because Evening Star not being "fully there" to properly create a solid foundation for the proyect in general, even if Iizuka could had tried his best they might had thought that it could end up to a mediocre, rushed proyect or prehaps was too ambitious for the short time they were asked to do something by Sega, so i think Iizuka and Christian just decided to not try to keep working on the proyect to avoid an scenario like Sonic 06 or Xtreme.
After playing Sonic Advance 3 and Super Mario Maker 2, there’s no denying that Sonic Superstars *needs* online multiplayer with each player getting their own screen
- Sonic characters move too fast for everyone to share the same screen, - each character has different abilities for navigation that’d be hampered by having to drag or be dragged by other characters.
- Stages always have multiple pathways and it’d be a shame for everyone to be funneled in one direction instead of letting everybody explore their own path.
This game should combine the online multiplayer of Sonic 4 Ep2 and the multiplayer freedom of Sonic Advance 3. Sega shouldn’t be treating this kind of multiplayer the same way Nintendo does with NSMB
I'm more worried about the music tbh with Jun Senoue trying to make music "classic-sounding" was the Sonic 4 soundtrack, as you are, Sam.
At least the gameplay has proof of working well, the music tho'..I dunno I trust Tee Lopes heading this kinda effort personally.
I guess we shoulda guess Arzest with the random minigame sections thrown in like the Jellyfish like they love always doing.
I'm guessing SEGA management made some demands that did'nt sit well with Evening Star when Iizuka wanted it back.
Even Iizuka knew getting them was a no-brainer after they made the highest rated Sonic game in decades.
I wish Yasuhara came back for ages too, he is a very humble and great guy always trying to learn new technolgies.
I think he can bring his own spin into things.
Oh that's a sad opportunity that Arzest and the Mania would not be able to work together due to some business dealing that fell apart but despite that one, I still give my full support on this project because I know it'll still be a great banger of a game for Sonic Superstars and I'm optimistic for this one too.
To be fair though, this game was never intended to be like Sonic Mania. It was intended to be a rebooted Sonic The Hedgehog from WAY back in the day, in the days of the Sega Genesis/Master System II/Game Gear.
Okay, I'm a bit worried now. Arzest doesn't have a great track record with their main projects being Yoshi's New Island and Hey! Pikmin, which were not good at all. I had a bit more faith thinking current-day Sonic Team was helping on it, but sounds like that's not gonna be the case.
And Jun's doing classic-style music again? Have they learned nothing about that after Sonic 4 and Origins? Even with Tee Lopes coming back (which is awesome), this is still a baffling decision, and since we only have placeholder music in the game footage, it's making me very skeptical. I really hope Tee gets the bulk of the work on this one. I'm still overall positive about the game itself from everything I've seen, so at least it seems like an improvement over their previous projects, but this doesn't make any sense, and it's put a damper on my excitement.
@@jaretco6423 fromtiers averaged a 7 which is far from a hit and miss.
I am completely baffled by the soundtrack decision as well. I cant for the life of me figure out why they decided to not to go with the Mania sound for this, it was UNANIMOUSLY praised. The whole classic sound has been such a miss I am baffled they didnt realize this and still keep trying to make it work. I'm glad that Tee is on it, however because he is working under Jun, he isn't going to have the creative control and freedom he had for Mania so we likely won't be getting as good a soundtrack. For me music is like 80% enjoyment of a game so I'm kind of not excited for this now, but I hope im wrong and it turns out amazing.
@@jaretco6423Ahem, Unleashed is right there, y'know (NOT counting the Werehog, that was only decent).
Fun Fact: Double Helix Games the company that made Silent Hill Homecoming and Battleship 2012, also made (Killer Instinct Reboot). Gaming redemptions have been done before.
I would say no matter what, the game is 100% looking great! The physics are there and the level design seems decent. While they may not have the best track record, I think they may have a winner on their hands.
Regarding Jun, I can def understand the hesitancy. From what we heard so far from people playing the demo though, things are sounding very good. So I hope that trend continues!
It's pretty mean that they made Senoue imitate the Genesis sound twice on his own. He has his own style and everyone would rather hear that
Exactly, and when tee lopes worked together with him it sounded fire.
I recommend checking out boos house from sonic team racing and the remix of splash hill they did.
Its interesting that Alrezt is working on the project but from what i can tell, they are doing mostly everything right. If it works out we could see further collaboration with them in future Sonic products; Sonic Team needs the help.
Having Ohshima back in action is something i dreamed since Generations. Honestly im not sure what to expect, but what i can say is its gonna be a blast. Hopefully they realize this game needs a full online experience to exploit its full potencial.
1:46 I like how Sam said "Hey! Pikmin" as separed words.
Oops lol
Why is it still an issue with people that Sonic Team doesn't work on 2D Sonic games anymore? It's like if some people in the Sonic fandom take issues to Sonic games that aren't made by Sonic Team and I find that to be absurd
I think people dont know about Coop even is in regards to iconic IPs, since you DROP in or DROP out during gameplay since there is a HUGE reason why local Coop is a huge deal since it focuses in story mode ONLY so you do realized you cant have a online feature to Coop in a story and a ton of video have story modes that cant have online coop at all.
What I think it happened at the meeting:
SEGA: "Hey, remember when we treated all of you like trash? Yeah, good times, come work for us again!"
Evening Star: "Yeah, no."
So we have an original level designer for the game. That's promising.
I really hope they add online coop
I think he will spark a great rediscovery for sonic, he has a fresh vision from it and coming from nintendo he is coming with that QUALITY, this actually might be one of the best sonic games ever I don’t people people truly understand what this means, Sega isn’t making this game ? That’s kinda crazy with the original creator of sonic this will feel soo fresh and original it’s gona be amazing
Really, my only hope for this game is that we get at the very least a B tier sonic soundtrack. I think that’ll make the game even better
The Demo at Summer Game Fest does show the Sonic Team Logo
Seeing the Avatar box mixed in with all the Sonic merchandise reminded me of Jet.
I KNEW IT! this game looked way too good AND so much care for sonic team to have developed it.
Sonic frontiees was good and had a lot of care and love put into it, snd that was all sonic team
@@bluefire9285 I don't think so, Sonic fans have been eating poorly, and any average game becomes a masterpiece
@@bluefire9285 It had pop-ins due to them using the same engine that forces had, bugs, the runnings physics were wonky, the final boss was disappointing, the animations when sonic talked to sage or anyone else were just bad, and the supreme boss fight was super underwhelming.
Btw sonic forces had pop-ins thanks to the hallway style gameplay they were able to hide it. They knew about the pop-ins and didn't bother to delay the game and fix it.
Sonic frontiers was a 7/10 at best.
@@TacoSama-js6hz So? The game still has a lot of effort out into it.
@@nilesdobbs4215 okay so? Every decent game that comes out today has a lot of effort out into it. That doesn't justify the glaring problems that came with the product.
That’s a whole lot of info for one article and it’s not what I expected!
This is promising actually.
If Arzest is cool with it, they could be the 'Classic Sonic guys' for the foreseeable future. Meaning Sonic Team can work on the 3D games while Arzest works on the 2D games. No more 5 year game droughts.
Here's hoping though, since we hoped the same for Headcanon.
you know they made hey pikmin.... and yohsi's new island....
@@marioluigibros.8176 So? They have real direction this time.
Makes sense, as this does NOT look like a Sonic Team game at all, despite probably utilizing the Hedgehog Engine. It feels like a Sonic game made by Nintendo, which I'm still not sure is a good thing.
This game's definitely gonna be something special.
this is great news it means it will be the best sonic game since Sonic 3 and Knuckles
I’m traumatized by 3d classic sonic 😅 I can’t deny everyone wanted mania 2 but I’m glad the physics are working well and they have two masters of music (tee and jun)
Yoo this guy is doing videos again!
Now that I think of it when was the last time Sonic Team even made a 2D Sonic Game on their own?
Wasn’t Advanced and Rush made by Dimps?
Sonic Rivals was made by Backbones Entertainment
Sonic Mania was Christian Whitehead?
And I mean…I don’t know if it counts but…I mean Sonic Team also didn’t make Murder of Sonic The Hedgehog from my understanding
The last time Sonic Team made a 2D game themselves I don’t even think I was born yet
Sonic 4 was also Dimps. I think it legitimately may have been Sonic and Knuckles
Sonic forces was their last 2D sonic game. You can say whatever you want but that game is 60% 2D
@@ascaro1885 lol
IT'S SONIC "ADVANCE" IDIOT GRRR
Dimps also made Sonic Color DS. IMO, the superior version to Colors.
Liking these new videos, miss you making videos
That would explain why it looks like effort was placed into it.
Could be why CW shared that post on Twitter with the emoji because they was supposed to be apart of it. Hopefully the game is a success. Definitely hope the music is good as well.
No wonder the game looked so good.
Nope.
Considering Arzest's track record, that is a bit concerning. They do seem to have nailed the classic Sonic physics which is good, but the level design does look more like something from Sonic 1 or CD from what we've seen, which are more platform heavy and maze-like rather than focusing on momentum based speed. And while I do enjoy Sonic 1 probably more than most Sonic fans, I'd still rather a sequel pull from Sonic 2, 3&K, or Mania level design which struck a better balance in my opinion. My hope is that Sonic's run speed isn't capped like in Sonic 1, but considering this game has to account for 4-players on one screen, I wouldn't be surprised if they slowed you down to accommodate.
Fun Fact: Double Helix Games the company that made Silent Hill Homecoming and Battleship 2012, also made (Killer Instinct Reboot). Gaming redemptions have been done before.
Arzest only helped out with Balan Wonderworld. That game was mainly Yuji Naka and Square Enix.
@@AppleSlipper Naka originally intended to make a social mobile game, but SquareEnix encouraged him to make a platformer.
The problem is that Ballon is a Collect- a -tion, rather than a linear platformer, something that Naka had no experience in.
Arzest being the main developer is a surprise... I think they can do alright, I enjoyed some of their past games like Hey! Pikmin, so I think they can pull through.
I’m really hoping that the music isn’t the origins/ sonic 4 midi music. Other than that, I don’t really have any other fears for this game.
Bummed about Whithead and Headcanon not involded but I still have faith it will be good.
Once this game got announced idk how and why but i heard Fadel and Sam screaming all over the world
I CANT WAIT FOR THIS GAME! LETS GOOOOOOO!!! IM SO HYPED 😁
When Tee Lopes is involved with anything you know it’s gonna be great. Like bro cooked so hard on the Ninja Turtles Shredders Revenge soundtrack last year
Oh, Jun Senoue is the music director. That explains why the music sounds like Sonic 4.
Sam, have you seen the sonic Team survey yet?
My guess is that the Mania devs saw how abusive SEGA were being with the remaining Retro Engine staff when working on Origins and refused to return for Mania 2 because they didn't want SEGA to force them to rush out an inferior product. Honestly, good for them for not taking SEGA's abuse if that's the case.
So glad the garbage Mania team is not returning. All they did was make seizure inducing special stages and rehashed maps.
I think that the real reason things fell through with the Sonic Mania team was because of the nonsense that happened with Origins. It's a shame really... however I am happy that the game is using some form of the Sonic Mania engine which is known to be 1 to 1 with the Classics and Arzest working on the title as well is a great thing too. As far as the music goes.... they wanna go for a classic feel... I just REALLY hope it's not gonna sound like Sonic 4... Sonic 4 had it's own uniqueness to it and I LOVE the Music in Sonic 4, but it does get tiresome after a while.
Yes Tee Lopes and Jun!
Happy to hear that!!
One of the best remakes of all time not a remaster. Can’t wait for release.
It's a Sonic Origins situation: Sonic Team are designing SOME things on the side just like some Mania devs were working on some Origins stuff.
So that's why the game is so good
They also made Balan Wonderland.
@@cristianovogt5586 and had barely any input, the one button design was from Yuji Naka and it was a shit fest. Not to say Arzest makes great games outside of Balan Wonderworld, because they don’t. They’re decent.
I hope the level design for Sonic Superstars is more like Sonic 2 and 3&K then it is like Sonic 1 and CD. Not trying to hate on CD level design but I think 2 and 3&K level design is superior.
Fr because I enjoyed sonic 2 more than sonic 1 and CD
But speed jungle gives me mushroom hill and stardust speedway vibes. And a bit of lost labyrinth (not good) in the second act. At least the dark segments are very short but I rather it not be there.
I'm not so concerned as to whether or not it was made by Sonic Team. Fans have made games that nail the physics, which is what matters most. In fact, I am not as picky on the exactness of the physics, so long as the basics of picking up momentum, especially when rolling down hill, is intact.
On the one hand, I'm relieved it's not Sonic Team because Frontiers is the only redeemable thing they've put out in nearly a decade.
On the other hand, who the hell at Sega was all "The Balan developers?! WE NEED THOSE GUYS RIGHT NOW! Sorry Whitehead, you're bumped."
Fun Fact: Double Helix Games the company that made Silent Hill Homecoming and Battleship 2012, also made (Killer Instinct Reboot). Gaming redemptions have been done before.
@Orange Slash I'm incredibly impressed with what I see. I'm questioning Sega's thought process here, not the product itself.
@@toamatoro570 Super Stars is going to be made one Year after Sonic Frontiers. So Sonic Team can't compete the game by themselves in that short amount of time.
Did not hear a single thing about yuji naka. Bro is done 😂😂😂
The game looks awesome! Yea it sucks about the mania team; But the fact that they at least talked to them and tried to make some plans was still cool though!