Sonic Superstars was one of the most surprising games at Summer Game Fest 2023. The game will be a mixture of classic and new elements. However, there was an important question: which studio was in charge of the project? Today it has just been revealed that it will be the responsible for the unsuccessful Balan Wonderworld, but don't be disappointed.
The original plan of the Sonic Team (SEGA) was to have Sonic Mania director Christian Whitehead involved in the project, as well as developer Headcannon, but it didn't work out in the end.
So, Iizuka then contacted Ohshima to take responsibility for the project. It was recently announced that the original Sonic designer would return to create a brand new character for the game, but it has just been revealed that the artist will be more involved with his studio, Arzest.
BALAN WONDERWORLD STUDIO WORKS ON SONIC SUPERSTARS
Iizuka mentioned that Arzest is the primary developer and "100%" of the game, but the Sonic Team in Japan is supporting them with design and "some other elements."
Arzest is the studio you may remember from their work on Balan Wonderworld, the Square Enix IP that turned out to be a failure. However, Arzest has a longer history and better games.
In its 13-year history since being founded by key members of Artoon (including Ohshima), Arzest has worked on dozens of titles as a lead or support studio, such as Wii Play: Motion, StreetPass Mii Plaza, Yoshi's New Island, Terra Battle, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Hey! Pikmin, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey, and Fantasian.
It is important to remember that Arzest worked on Balan Wonderworld, but they were not the only ones involved, as they did it in collaboration with Square Enix and Yuji Naka, and there were problems with the project.
SONIC TEAM HAS CONFIDENCE THAT ARZEST WILL DO A GOOD JOB WITH SONIC SUPERSTARS
This could cause concern for Sonic fans who have hope for the next game, but Iizuka reaffirmed his confidence in Ohshima and Arzest, especially due to Ohshima's invaluable experience with Sonic, highlighting that, while he is best known for designing Sonic, the artist also designed levels for the original Sonic and is one of the people who best understands the essence of classic Sonic.
"Many people believe that Ohshima just came in and imagined how Sonic would look, drew the character, and that was it. But he was also doing level design in Sonic 1, in addition to drawing and creating the character. So he has that experience of making a Sonic game because he did level design for the original game," commented Iizuka at a Summer Game Fest 2023 panel (via Video Games Chronicle).
Interestingly, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 composer Jun Senoue will also be involved in Sonic Superstars as the audio boss.
"When we talk about people who worked on the classic Sonic games, there aren't many people left from that really small group who are actively making games," explained Iizuka. "But there are three people, myself, Ohshima, and the third is Jun Senoue from SEGA, who made music for Sonic 3 in his time. He is also participating in the development of Sonic Superstars."
The good news is that there is already a trailer for Sonic Superstars, which generated a highly positive reaction from fans, so judging by the preview, Arzest is doing a very good job.
Do you think Arzest is the ideal developer to make Sonic Superstars? Let us know in the comments.
Sonic Superstars is in development for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
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