Sonic Superstars Being Developed by Controversial Studio

Sonic Superstars was one of Summer Game Fest's most pleasant surprises, offering a new 2D take on Sega's blue blur. Fans have been eagerly awaiting a new 2D entry in the series since the excellent Sonic Mania, and many were wondering if Headcannon and Christian Whitehead might be involved with this game, as well. However, as revealed by Video Games Chronicle, the game is actually being developed by Arzest, the studio behind Square Enix's infamous Balan Wonderworld. Apparently, the studio was selected because it was founded by Sonic the Hedgehog co-creator Naoto Ohshima.

"I'm friends with a lot of my old coworkers and I was having a conversation with Ohshima-san about how we should make a Sonic game together and if he'd be interested. He's the original creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, and so we had a conversation about whether his company Arzest would be interested in working on a Sonic game," Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka told VGC. "So there were ideas with Chris and the team that fell through. Sonic Superstars is really all developed by Arzest, but Sonic Team in Japan is working with them on design and some other elements. Arzest and Ohshima-san are 100% developers of the game."

While that news might seem like cause for concern among Sonic fans, Iizuka went on to point out just how instrumental Ohshima was in the franchise's early days. While Ohshima is often credited for merely creating Sonic's design, he actually designed levels for the original Sonic the Hedgehog on Sega Genesis. He also served as director on Sonic CD, which is widely considered one of the very best Sonic games.

Following Balan Wonderworld's critical and commercial failure, director (and Sonic's other co-creator) Yuji Naka placed the blame on Square Enix and Arzest. It's impossible to say why that game released the way that it did, but hopefully Ohshima and Arzest can deliver something special with Sonic Superstars. With the game set to release this fall, fans won't have to wait long to find out.

Are you looking forward to Sonic Superstars? Does Arzest's role concern you? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter and on Hive at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!