For the past few years, the Sonic franchise has had a Green Hill Zone problem. The opening level to 1991’s original Sonic the Hedgehog is certainly iconic, but it seemed like the Blue Blur was returning to Green Hill just as often as Star Wars revisits Tatooine.
Sonic fans played through levels set in Green Hill Zone in 2011’s Sonic Generations, Sonic Forces and Sonic Mania in 2017, and last year in Sonic Origins and Sonic Frontiers. But in Sonic Superstars — Sega’s newly-announced sidescrolling Sonic game with 3D graphics and four-player co-op — the series is finally speeding away from the classic levels we’ve seen time and time again. In an interview with IGN, Sonic series producer Takashi Iizuka said Sonic Superstars will be full of fresh locations.
“In Sonic Mania, Green Hill Zone changed up a little bit,” Iizuka said through an interpreter. “And even Sonic Origins, we did have Green Hill as part of Sonic the Hedgehog. But what we wanted to do with Sonic Superstars is really create something new and go in there and create these brand new islands that you get to explore as Sonic… We wanted to take Sonic to [the] brand new North Star Islands and have Sonic run around in this new environment. So we wanted to make brand new places for Sonic to go in this new title.”
That’s right — no Green Hill, no Chemical Plant, no levels you’ve seen in prior 2D Sonic games. That being said, Sonic Superstars is set to return to Sonic’s foundation from a gameplay perspective. Sega’s announcement of Sonic Superstars said Sonic’s movements, physics, and controls will feel familiar to longtime fans, and Iizuka also explained how Superstars is a return to the classics.
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“One of the things we wanted to do is make sure we really had the roots of that classic gameplay solid. And I’m sure the classic gameplay, you’re playing as Sonic, you jump, you go into a ball and you attack the enemies. The very first thing the team did was went and replicated that classic gameplay down very precisely. So when you’re playing Sonic Superstars, you’re going through the core classic Sonic game loop. You’re running, you’re jumping, you’re getting into a ball, you’re defeating enemies and you’re continuing forward.”
But you won’t only get to play as Sonic. Sonic Superstars introduces four-player local co-op into the mix, where players can choose between Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose. The additional characters retain the unique actions you’d expect from the series: Tails can fly, Knuckles can glide and climb, and Amy can use her hammer.
The classic approach will also carry over to the story presentation in Sonic Superstars. Iizuka said there won’t be voiceover or a lot of text in the story. Instead — in classic Genesis fashion — the story will unfold simply by watching characters move around and interact with each other in between levels.
Of course, the biggest difference you’ll immediately notice between Sonic Superstars and the 16-bit originals is the graphics. Sonic Superstars uses a 3D aesthetic, which we’ve previously seen in the Classic Sonic sections of games like Sonic Generations and Sonic Forces. But now a whole game is being built around this style, which Iizuka said will bring new gameplay opportunities.
“It is that 2D classic Sonic game, but because we’re using 3D models to create the world and the characters. We’re able to do things inside of that 2D gameplay formula that we couldn’t have done before. So sometimes it’s going to be sending the character back further into the world. Maybe it’s going to be turning the character, spinning the character in a way that we couldn’t really do with the classic look and the pixel art. Or it could be a boss battle that we’re going to have in this kind of 3D space. There’s all these things we can do because we have 3D models, even though we have a 2D game style and a game format, we’re able to play around and do things that the classic Genesis and Game Gear titles couldn’t do.”
Sonic Superstars is coming to PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC this Fall.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over seven years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.