Some new info coming from a Game Informer article on Sonic Superstars:
Zone names: (There will be 12 Zones Total) 7 of them are as follows:
Bridge Island
Speed Jungle
Sky Temple
Carnival Pinball
Lagoon City
Sand Sanctuary
Press Factory
Sky Temple will be a one act zone that will be 9 minutes long!
There will be character specific optional acts or instances to some zones. For example with Sonic, Fang will chase him through the entire act 2 of the Zone.
Emerald Powers:
Avatar: Multiple Sonics/Amy/Knuckles/Tails run across the screen doing damage.
Bullet: Shoot across the screen in multiple directions.
Water: Swim up waterfalls and under water.
Ivy: I vine grows upwards to find hidden items/Emblems.
Vision: Turn this on to make hidden rings, items and platforms appear
Slow: Slows down time.
Extra: Character specific moves. Sonic gets a Homing attack, Tails gets a tornado move, Knuckles gets a punch move and Amy geta a hammer throw move.
All Emeralds: Will give you Super Sonic and Super versions of all characters as expected.
Character Customization:
Apparently, we can turn on alternate character skins as well as different clothing items for head, body, legs and arms!
Hub World:
The game will have a hub world where you can move around and select the stages. Maybe the game will have missions as well?
Info on why Sonic Mania 2 was never made and it’s not because of bad blood between Whitehead and Sega:
“There was a period after the development of Sonic Mania when we worked with them to consider concepts for the next generation of Classic Sonic,” Iizuka says. “It’s too bad that it didn’t become a finished game. Still, I’m pleased that the next generation of Classic Sonic that we talked about with them has been achieved with Superstars.”
“When we started Evening Star, it was always our goal to move beyond 2D pixel art into 3D games, and develop all-new, original IP,” he says. “Evening Star did work with Sega to explore possible directions Classic Sonic could go after the success of Sonic Mania. Sonic Mania 2 was never in development, though, because we actually agreed early on that we should try to make something fresh, like hand-drawn 2D or 2.5D. At the same time, Evening Star was developing our new Star Engine, so we also ended up making a cool Sonic prototype that played with depth in 2.5D, and some other gameplay ideas.”
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Following those initial planning sessions and a mutual decision to not proceed with development, Evening Star began work on Penny’s Big Breakaway. “As Iizuka-san said, though, [Evening Star] did not continue to full production on the game, at which point Arzest took the helm and made Superstars alongside Sonic Team,” Whitehead says. “We moved forward with our plans to develop an original 3D title, which is, of course, Penny’s Big Breakaway! Superstars looks awesome and our team is really excited to play it when it comes out.”*
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Whitehead also dashed away one of the big points of speculation among Sonic fans: that Sonic Mania 2 falling through was the result of bad blood between Sega and members of Evening Star. “Contrary to any rumors, we maintain a friendly relationship with Sega and hope fans are pumped to play both games once they release,” he says.*