Sonic’s Creators Fully Utilizing the Classic Sonic Kit With Ohshima and longtime Sonic Team director Takashi Iizuka serving as producers, the developers had a clear goal in mind: to update classic 2D Sonic to bring the magic of Mania to a new fanbase, and hopefully create a new 2D lineage that can progress in parallel to the more experimental 3D titles. Inspired by the runaway success of Mania, Superstars was a collaboration between Sonic Team and Arzest, a studio founded by Naoto Ohshima, who designed Sonic and Eggman and directed Sonic CD. For me, the momentum-based physics and outstanding level design make this one of the best-feeling Sonic games ever. I am beyond pleased to report that Sonic Superstars throws down the gauntlet hard, quite literally taking over from where Sonic Mania left off, as it uses the same finely-tuned physics engine perfected by Christian Whitehead. Limiting the player’s movement to 2D allowed the fledgling Sonic Team to accomplish their stated goal of delivering a game that would serve as both a technical showcase for the Genesis and a “Mario-killer” to blow away Nintendo’s seemingly unstoppable plumber, and the recent Sonic Mania showcased how rich and filled with potential the 2D Sonic formula remains, at least when the right hands are there to guide it.īecause 2023 has been another year of remakes, reboots, reskins, and rehashes, it’s only fitting that the early ‘90s has returned in a big way, with the SEGA-Nintendo war of mascot platformers going head-to-head once more. And when Sonic inevitably moved into the third dimension, the games retained their charm and sense of speed, but also lost something important, something intrinsically tied to the 2D plane - simplicity. I bought the Sonic 3 strategy guide and memorized every level. I explored every nook and cranny of those games.
So it’s no exaggeration to say that the classic Genesis-era Sonic games were formative for me. I watched every show, subscribed to the monthly Archie comics, and still have my original Sonic and Tails plushies, the first ever released. That was my first ever home console, and in no time, I became a Sonic superfan.
Little did I know that the course of my life was about to be forever altered. Underneath the black beanbag was a SEGA Genesis and a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog. I eagerly scoured the room as she and my Mom guided me by saying ‘hot’ or ‘cold’. My aunt had bought me a present and hidden it in the living room. It was 1992, a nippy autumn in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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