Takashi Iizuka Goodbye Green Hill Zone! Sonic Superstars Has No Reused Areas!

[SSF1991]

There's no question about it. Green Hill has been in a lot of Sonic games. In fact, it would probably take an entirely new article here on Sonic Stadium just to tell you how many appearances that Green Hill has had in just the past 10 years alone! But, Sonic Superstars is a thing now, and Takashi Iizuka has given fans some reassurance that Green Hill Zone is nowhere to be found here.

Actually, Takashi Iizuka didn't just confirm the absence of Green Hill to IGN today, but of all reused levels! As IGN bluntly puts it, "no Green Hill, no Chemical Plant, no levels you've seen in prior 2D Sonic games". Every zone in Sonic Superstars will be completely original. Takashi Iizuka said that this is intentional 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".

Of course, the story presentation won't be any different from what you're used to either. There won't be lots of text, and there won't be much in the way of voiceovers. In fact, it will be similar to Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic Mania, where the story will play out between levels. So far, the only levels we know of are Speed Jungle and Bridge Island, thanks to the Summer Game Fest Play Days demo.

So, are there any other interesting details Takashi Iizuka shared today? Well, yes! We now know, thanks to Iizuka speaking with Gamertag Radio, that Fang is actually a mercenary hired by Dr. Eggman to help him, which explains why Fang is in the game. We also learned that each emerald will grant the characters a new ability, meaning that there will be 7 emerald powers in all. Oh, and that Emerald Power where you summon clones? It's called "Avatar", according to Iizuka.

That's pretty much everything. It's a busy time for Sonic fans right now, and it's very likely that Takashi Iizuka will be participating in more interviews this month. If there's anymore interesting details that Iizuka shares with us, we'll let you know. In the meantime, stay tuned here at Sonic Stadium as we continue to cover Sonic Superstars up until the game's release this fall.

Via IGN & Gamertag Radio

View full story

[Waveshocker Sigma]

Between this and the thumbs up from Whitehead, I think everyone's worries about this game should be mostly alleviated aside from extreme nitpicks at this point.

Time to just sit back and enjoy the short wait.

[DaBigJ]

I wanna put this in perspective.

The last Sonic mainline game to have no returning zones from other games was Sonic Lost World.

And guess how long ago was Lost World.

So it's not hyperbole to say it has literally been 10 years since we had a FULLY original Sonic game.

[Waveshocker Sigma]

@DaBigJ Considering every level in Lost World was just an alteration of Windy Hill, which itself was just Green Hill but as a Mario Galaxy level, I'm not counting that game. Colors was the last main series title with original levels. So that makes it even worse.

[ZinogreVolt]

Genuinely have to wonder what was going on at Sonic Team.

The Superstars team immediately prioritized both fully original levels and the first fucking thing they worked on before anything else was getting the controls just right. Meanwhile over on the Frontiers side, you have them reuse a bunch of levels and layouts, and the controls are getting fixed in a patch. I still like Frontiers and all, but aren't these dudes in the same damn office @_@

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

54 minutes ago, ZinogreVolt said:

Genuinely have to wonder what was going on at Sonic Team.

The Superstars team immediately prioritized both fully original levels and the first fucking thing they worked on before anything else was getting the controls just right. Meanwhile over on the Frontiers side, you have them reuse a bunch of levels and layouts, and the controls are getting fixed in a patch. I still like Frontiers and all, but aren't these dudes in the same damn office @_@

Depending on how long Superstars has actually been in development, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the positive feedback Frontiers got, in addition to sessions Kishimoto had with fans on Twitter, might have played a part.

First and foremost, they definitely wanted to find good ways to keep the positive momentum that Sonic and his image have been gaining ever since the first movie released.

They could have potentially had this cooking on the side alongside Frontiers.

[Sonicka]

3 hours ago, DaBigJ said:

I wanna put this in perspective.

The last Sonic mainline game to have no returning zones from other games was Sonic Lost World.

And guess how long ago was Lost World.

So it's not hyperbole to say it has literally been 10 years since we had a FULLY original Sonic game.

Using Sonic Lost World as a parallel is a pretty good omen. That’s the last time (other than Frontiers) that I felt Sonic Team went all out on their creativity. 

You’re pretty bang on about original levels too. Lost World had its homages (like Superstars clearly does) - but they don’t outright copy paste past Zones. Hell, most acts were pretty one and done in themselves which is what kept it wonderfully fresh all the way through. 

In any case, that’s where I hope the coincidental parallels end as if Superstars turns out to be good, it will hopefully be appreciated by the masses (although in Lost World’s defence, the console version was tied to Nintendo’s underperforming platform before getting a PC release), and we still need that Switch/multi console port later on down the line... Maybe next year. 

[sonicclaasic]

<iframe width="100%" height="300" src="https://embeds.audioboom.com/posts/8315270/embed/hero" style="background-color: transparent; display: block; padding: 0; width: 100%; max-width: 700px;" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="allowtransparency" scrolling="no" title="Audioboom player" allow="autoplay" sandbox="allow-downloads allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>

Here are a few notes from the interview:

Each of the 7 emeralds have their own abilities

Mentioned abilities: water, avatar (both shown in trailer), spikes (mentioned by interviewer)

3D Special Stages are where you collect emeralds

Bonus Stages based off Sonic 1

There are specialized/easier special and bonus stages for co-op

Wanted to do 4-player co-op for a long time, Iizuka (through translator) says was co-op “removed” from past games during development

Wanted to maintain high-speed for all 4 players, doesn’t elaborate on how co-op will work (is asked about split-screen but Iizuka does not acknowledge that part of the question)

Wanted to have surprising moments in each stage, Iizuka says this was lesson he learned from SA1’s development

Eggman has “employed the mercenary fang” and they have an evil plan together. They are joined by an additional character we’ll see more of in the future

They have been working on this game for “quite some time”, the dev team is busy trying to finish game

Unfortunately, he does not give details on dev team members (even Ohshima is not mentioned)

Edit: Sorry about the code I'm trying to embed the radio Interview never done It before I do apologise.

Gamertag Radio

Edited June 10, 2023 by sonicclaasic

[castell-neath]

Thank the Lord! I was really and utterly fed up of Green Hill in recent years, both in terms of in game apperances and in other Merch. 

Hats off to Sega for using Emerald Hill in the launch trailer too!

Lets hope some of these new zones becone truely iconic like Studiopolis has becone since Mania

[Razule]

How will people be able to tell this is even a Sonic game if it doesn't feature Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Sky Sanctuary, or take place in a realistic setting?? Yes, those are the only options

[MetalSkulkBane]

I mean, it's not GreenHill-GreenHill, but the first stage we see is still kinda GreenHill-esque, you know? Grass has patterns, palm trees, waterfalls.

Baby steps I guess.

[DaBigJ]

IT.

WON'T.

DIE.

Holy shit.

[StaticMania]

This is great news.