Releasing on October 17th, Sonic Superstars is the latest platformer to feature the titular blue blur and his friends. This new title is in line with what SEGA considers its classic series of Sonic games – which includes the Mega Drive / Genesis ones, the Sonic Advance trilogy, Sonic Mania and more – whilst at the same time shaking up the formula by bringing multiplayer and Emerald Powers to the table.
As part of gamescom 2023, I had the opportunity to sit down and interview Naoto Ohshima, who designed the character of Sonic, directed Sonic CD and is the president of the development company Arzest, and Takashi Iizuka, the head of Sonic Team and director of the Sonic Adventure games and many subsequent others.
Sonic Superstars is co-developed by Arzest and Sonic Team and marks the first time the duo have worked together again since 1998, with the former serving as development producer and character designer on the game and with the latter donning the title of producer. Translating and interpreting on behalf of SEGA was Austin Keys, Senior Director of Game Production at the company.
In the full interview below, I ask Ohshima-san and Iizuka-san about working together once more, how local co-op multiplayer differentiates Superstars from past Sonic entries and more:
Thank you so much for having me! So, Sonic Superstars is a collaboration between Arzest and Sonic Team – how’s that relationship been so far?
Naoto Ohshima: I used to be part of the Sonic Team at SEGA way back in the day and actually know a lot of the people who I’m working with now. And we’ve been having a really fun time working together to create this game.
Takashi Iizuka: I know Ohshima-san from when he was at SEGA. We made NiGHTS Into Dreams together…we worked together on Sonic Adventure…but it’s been about 20 years since I got to work with him so I had a really good time working to create Sonic Superstars.
This is the first Sonic title since the Advance trilogy to have co-op multiplayer – how has that shaped development, and how might this make Superstars different from past 2D Sonic games?
Takashi Iizuka: Sonic Superstars is really a direct sequel in the series of the classic Sonic games. So, we didn’t really think ‘oh, let’s try to make a multiplayer game’! The first thing we wanted to do was make sure we captured that classic Sonic gameplay in Sonic Superstars. So, the touch-and-feel, the physics, the controls…everything that defines that classic Sonic experience.
And that’s really the objective of Sonic Superstars. But, from there, we started saying ‘okay, now that we have the touch-and-feel down, the classic gameplay intact, let’s start adding additional things to do: let’s add in the Emerald Powers, let’s add in multiplayer and let’s add in all these other features so that we are not only making a game in the classic series but also adding to it to make it a new experience.’
How did you decide on the cast of playable characters?
Takashi Iizuka: So, because this game is a direct sequel and it’s an additional game in that classic series – we are following, you know, Sonic, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and Knuckles…Sonic, Tails and Knuckles are playable characters in those games so we absolutely had to have those three characters playable in Sonic Superstars. But we also have Sonic CD, made by Ohshima-san, and that’s where Amy first appears…not as a playable character, however.
Amy became really popular due to her appearances in the modern series and, so, when we started thinking about what we could do to make fans excited, we kept saying “hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we had Classic Amy as a playable character’? So, yes, we need to have Sonic, Tails and Knuckles but we definitely wanted to add Classic Amy as a playable character in Sonic Superstars as well. So she completes the roster of Superstars and she’s the fourth playable character.
“Yes, if you’re a fan of Sonic… Sonic Superstars will be a great title for you to pick up. It’s a very easy-to-play game.”
I know there are going to be some skins for these characters – what can you tell me about them?
Takashi Iizuka: So, included in the Digital Deluxe Edition there are LEGO skins. We have Tails, Knuckles and Amy as LEGO versions and we also have Rabbit as a character/skin.
Naoto Ohshima:Rabbit is the character that we created in the middle of development of the first Sonic, way before Sonic even existed. We were looking to put a character into the game and Rabbit was the prototype that I made when we were developing the game just to test it out and see how it worked. So that prototype character is actually going to be the skin offering for Sonic but, what is actually happening is that it’s not just a skin that is going to be put on Sonic.
We went in and actually recreated, from memory, what Rabbit used to move like and we went in and animated all the poses for the character. So, it’s offered as a skin, but we actually built out a whole new character that’s fully animated, that works like Rabbit, and that you can swap out [for Sonic] and play as in the game.
How involved is the plot of Superstars? Is it simple and light-hearted or should fans expect more?
Takashi Iizuka: This game is a classic series game so, in staying with the tradition of these games, we are not going to have any text or voice-over to tell the story. We’re going to have the characters emote and show you the story. And that’s something that’s been happening since the Mega Drive / Genesis games.
The amazing thing is that, without any text or any voice, we’re going to be telling a story that anyone can understand. But there are some parts that will be interesting…and this touches on one of the new characters that we haven’t really spoken about much yet: Trip. She’s going to be a key factor in the things that are going on in the world and we hope that people will really enjoy everything that’s going on.
Seeing as this is going to be a direct sequel, would you say Superstars is a good entry point for newcomers to the franchise?
Takashi Iizuka: Yes, if you’re a fan of Sonic, say because you watched the recent movies or even if you saw the Netflix series and that was your introduction to the characters, Sonic Superstars will be a great title for you to pick up. It’s a very easy to play game…Arzest did a really good job at explaining what the characters are and what their actions are and so you can pick it up and have fun.
Sonic Superstars only features offline co-op multiplayer. Are there any plans to add online co-op in the future?
Takashi Iizuka: The multiplayer system in Sonic Superstars is a little bit different from other multiplayer, cooperative games that exist out there and the design is really based around players being present together. But that being said, we do have an online mode as well in the game: it’s a battle mode where eight people total will be online through network connectivity and competing against each other for first place.
Can we expect any post-release content of sorts? Anything similar to Sonic Frontiers’ roadmap?
Takashi Iizuka: We have no post-release things to talk about.
What are you most proud of with Sonic Superstars?
Naoto Ohshima: What I am proud of most is that Superstars represents a progression of the classic series. With Superstars, though, we started out by looking at the gameplay of those previous games and trying to recreate that in our engine and see if it felt the same. And it wasn’t working for the longest time; it was extremely difficult to actually recreate it.
So, we had to think about different ways to make sure the game felt correct. Eventually, what we started doing is recreating the classic stages in our new engine and having someone play through the level and overlay the old gameplay from the Mega Drive / Genesis titles on top of it and do an overlay check to make sure that the physics and character handling was matching the classic gameplay. And, after a lot of time and iteration, we were able to recreate that classic feel, that classic character movement and everything that made those game classics.
“We really believe that Sonic Superstars is a title we can recommend to people because they’re going to like it. It’s going to play the way they want it to.”
Takashi Iizuka: Sonic Frontiers, for us, was an evolution of modern Sonic gameplay. It was something new that fans got really excited about. And when anyone asks me ‘hey, what would be a great Sonic game for me to play’, if I’m talking to a modern player, I’m like ‘you should play Sonic Frontiers…you’re going to like Sonic Frontiers’.
But, when we talk about the classic Sonic series, there have been a lot of amazing titles but Sonic Mania, up until now, has maybe been the answer to the question of which classic game one should play. However, we really think that Sonic Superstars can stand up to the Mega Drive / Genesis games and even Mania…we really believe that Sonic Superstars is a title we can recommend to people because they’re going to like it. It’s going to play the way they want it to.
What is something you’ve been most proud of during your time with Sonic Team?
Naoto Ohshima: Being able to work with Iizuka-san is something that I’m really proud of. There was a lot of time we spent back in the day working together so when everyone started moving on with their careers, one of the things I wanted to do was work with Iizuka-san again at some point.
Takashi Iizuka: I feel the same way. Getting to work with Ohshima-san on NiGHTS, on Sonic Adventure…being able to have very creative conversations with other creative people and make the games together was something we got to do in the past and that I’m really proud of. Ever since Sonic Adventure, I really started making games as I thought they should be made and, it’s only now, with Superstars, that I got to collaborate with Ohshima-san and really make a game together with someone again.
I’ve been a Sonic fan my entire childhood and I still remember the launch of Sonic Heroes, which is the first Sonic game I was old enough to really anticipate. So, I’d like to ask you: what would you say is your favorite or most memorable Sonic game?
Naoto Ohshima:Out of all the Sonic games I was involved with making, I really think Sonic Superstars is the best one! [laughs]
Takashi Iizuka: I get asked this question a lot and the game that made an impression on me the most was Sonic Adventure 2. It was an extremely challenging development process but it was also a lot of fun getting to work with the team. It was very satisfying to have that experience. But that’s a modern Sonic game, so when it comes to the classic Sonic series, Sonic Superstars is that title. Working together with Ohshima-san again really has made it the most memorable.
Finally, anything else you’d like to add or emphasise?
Naoto Ohshima: I’d like to mention more about the battle mode, in which you fight using the metal versions of the characters: Metal Sonic, Metal Amy, Metal Tails…I originally created Metal Sonic for Sonic CD, but I have now also created metal versions for the rest of the characters in Superstars. I really hope everyone looks forward to unlocking and enjoying these new designs. And, all of these fighters are made out of different parts so, because of this, yes, you can make Metal Tails or you can create your own metal fighter and go out and battle with that.
Is this something similar to the customisation we’ve seen previously in Sonic Forces?
Naoto Ohshima: In Sonic Forces, those were actual characters that you were creating, but the metal fighters in Sonic Superstars are robots. So, you actually get to replace the head, the arm, the leg or the body with whatever else. It’s a different kind of thing and we hope everyone enjoys unlocking parts and customising their own metal fighters.
Takashi Iizuka: I’d also like to add that a lot of people at the show have been saying that Superstars really feels like a good classic Sonic game. We really appreciate that people are playing and appreciating it…but we also want to remind people that, yes, this is a classic series game, but one that also has a lot of new things: it’s a classic game with a lot of new stuff, like the emerald powers and the multiplayer. Two more things that we added, with the help of LEGO, are the LEGO character skins and LEGO stages for the battle mode. We hope people really enjoy and appreciate all this content because we’d love to make more.
Naoto Ohshima: One more thing! This is something that I don’t think any of the other media have asked about…so this might be a scoop for you! We have a really cool opening animation in Sonic Superstars and the director of that opening animation is Toshihiko Masuda – he won Emmys for his work on Superman and Batman and also worked on Sonic X.
He’s done a great job with our opening cinematic and we hope everyone really appreciates it because we have a super pro providing some really cool animations. We really wanted to preserve the feeling of classic Sonic games…the environment…the experience. So, when you’re watching the opening cinematic, it will probably feel very nostalgic – we really wanted to make sure that when people watch it they say ‘oh yes, this feels like classic Sonic’!
Thank you so much! It’s truly been my honour interviewing you both.
Sonic Superstars launches on October 17th on Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S and Steam for 79.99 CAD.
