Later this year, Sonic the Hedgehog will return again with a brand new side-scrolling adventure in the form of Sonic Superstars.
Players will take control of the Blue Blur alongside Tails, Knuckles, and Amy as they work together to take on the dastardly Dr. Eggman and the returning fan-favourite, Fang.
In addition, however, Sonic co-creator Naoto Ohshima has designed what will be his first original Sonic character in decades with Trip, an "intimidating" villain showcased in a recent Game Informer article. The character will prove to be a different take on the usual Sonic villain, with Ohshima and Sonic Team creative officer Takashi Iizuka striving to add complexity to Trip in a way that hasn't been seen before.
Here's what Iizuka had to say:
"The team wanted to show that Trip is not that usual enemy, and we wanted to introduce her in a way that's not the obvious 'Oh, I'm super strong' way. When we presented Trip in the very beginning, I think she even falls on her face in the very first scene you see her in.
"The first thing I think people will be thinking is, 'Who is she, and why is she a super strong enemy? What's going on?' We wanted to introduce the character in that way to make it different from how enemies have always been presented in Sonic games."
Iizuka goes on to state that Sonic Superstars will retain the unique flavour of classic Sonic games, opting not to include voiceover work in order to allow the story to be told through action. Regardless, Iizuka is confident that people will "enjoy watching Trip and watching her go through the story as an enemy".
Sonic Superstars will launch on the Nintendo Switch in Fall 2023.
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What do you make of Trip's design for Sonic Superstars? Let us know your thoughts with a comment down below.
[source gameinformer.com]
Comments 21
It looks... ridiculous in my opinion.
Is that Marine the Racoon?
Yep, we've already seen her in the opening animation (even before it was published on the official YouTube channel), looking forward to meeting and learning more about her in game whenever that comes out - speaking of, would be nice if SEGA announced the specific release date!
@brandonbwii
Actually, it does add up.
Female, likely a raccoon, has weird machinery that they probably built themselves.
I'm generally avoiding news for this game because I'm really looking forward to it and don't need to be spoiled on anything else pre-release. Superstars may not be coming from Evening Star (the Mania team), but I've seen enough to know that it's going to be good.
It's a special treat for fans that Trip was designed by Ohshima. Even though he's the man behind the original designs of both Sonic and Eggman, he didn't design any of the other characters. The fact that Arzest it's even making this game had me worried because their entire history is made up of forgettable titles, mediocre sequels to old favourites and... sigh Balan frickin' Wonderworld. I never wanted Ohshima to front a Sonic game again because CD was always the weakest of the Classics (it was the only one he directed) and the rest of Arzest's history just ain't great. But I'm so happy to have been proven wrong with Superstars; A new and fully original Classic Sonic game that proves that modernises the original formula without sacrificing anything.
Anyway, back to Trip... The Sonic series needs a few more mainstay villains to occasionally take the load off Eggman. The are even fewer who exist in the Classic games than Modern ones. Bringing back Fang (with a clever way to explain his multiple names and long absence) would have been great on its own. Getting a brand new villain with a a very unique design, personality and a touch of mystery is icing on the cake. I can't wait to have the game in my hands to see what she looks like underneath that helmet. Right now I wouldn't be surprised to see her and up siding with the heroes, and I'd be okay with that. But I'm also hoping she remains a bad guy. She's a goofball and not obviously a female character. Until now, Amy was virtually the only girl in the Classic Sonic brand (the only others would be Heavy Magician and Heavy Knight from Mania, if you even count them). And whilst she's gotten a lot more positive representation recently, she's still very much the "Girl the Female". Trip looks like a great addition!
@RupeeClock actually, if you read the game informer article Nintendo Life links to, they confirm she is actually based on a Sungazer Lizard (the tail design actually matches up).
So we won't be finding any racoons under there I'm afraid.
@Sonicka
Yeah that's the thing, the armor is obviously a lizard, but the character underneath might not be as the tail is easily mistable as being fur.
She also wasn't introduced as a lizard in this article, new Sonic characters are almost always introduced as a species.
You know that Fang the Sniper (aka Nack the Weasel) is actually a Jerboa, which is a type of mouse?
Yeah that helmet's coming off
You "defeat" this Boss and all the armour falls off and becomes a new playable character, you just wait.
Not sure why but I've got a nasty feeling that Trip is going to go the route of Kirby final bosses of starting out cute before becoming absolutely terrifying.
@RupeeClock (taken from the interview):
"When you look at her, obviously she's covered in armor, and the reason why she's covered in armor in the game is the base of her character is a sungazer lizard in English," Iizuka says. "In Japanese, it's more direct – it's literally 'armored lizard' in Japanese. But the sungazer is that animal that was being referenced for the design of Trip."
...So either her character design is based on a Sungazer Lizard (personally, I read this as them saying that's what the species of this character is, as they said it's her base design) or it's another fuzzy animal that creatively looks like a Sungazer lizard under all that Armor.
I suppose we won't know for definite until that helmet comes off though.
@Sonicka
Yeah, the ambiguity might be intentional here, it's clearly a mysterious character and they don't want to reveal the surprise.
I miss that emotionally unstable tin can theory supporting ferret with a boomerang, she was in Sonic Boom
@Mauzuri I liked the jokes revolving around her being unhinged
I've been on board with this as soon as they confirmed they are keeping the retro engine's physics.
looks cool. pretty sure she is super cute inside the helmet
@Mauzuri Some people love Sticks. To each their own.
But yeah, you can put me squarely in the camp that thinks she's an absolute abomination. Unbearably unfunny, and downright annoying whenever she opened her mouth to spout some "the government is evil and lol im so random" humour. Go figure the best episodes of Boom are the ones where she took a backseat of was absent altogether.
I dunno. Hope it's good. Good luck, I guess.
...lol.
Another one for the Sonic ... fandom
@Fizza My guess is that it will go the route of Kirby bosses immediately before those if you know what I mean!
I think trip is a female knuckles
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