Balan Wonderworld studio Arzest is the lead developer on Sonic Superstars

The next game recently announced by Sonic sonic superstars is being developed by Arzestprobably better known as the team behind Wonderful world of Balan.

Sonic Superstars was easily the best reveal at Summer Game Fest earlier this week, as it looks like an incredibly fun return to the series’ classic 2D gameplay, with a few new twists. But it turns out that the game is being developed primarily by a non-Sega studio, Arzest, who you’ll probably remember for being behind Balan Wonderworld, a game he wouldn’t describe as well-received. In an interview with CVGSonic Team boss Takashi Iizuka shared that Arzest would be developing the latest Sonic title, which makes a lot of sense considering the studio was founded by original Sonic designer Naoto Oshima.

Interestingly though, Sega initially approached Sonic Mania director Christian Whitehead, but the plans didn’t pan out. “When we were making Sonic Mania and the game was done and Chris was done, we had a discussion with Chris and the team about what should be the next 2D game we’d make,” Iizuka told VGC. “We had some concepts and ideas pitched between the teams, but we couldn’t get the project started. So he disappeared for a while with Chris and the team.

“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.” And in turn, Arzest became the lead developer on the project, with Iizuka explaining that Sonic Team is helping him on the design and other elements. Iizuka also expressed a lot of confidence in Oshima, for the obvious reason that he is Sonic’s character designer, but also because he also designed several of the original levels.

“A lot of people think that Ohshima-san just came in and figured out what Sonic would look like, drew the character and that was it. But he was also doing the level design on Sonic 1 as well as drawing and creating the character. So he has that experience of make a Sonic game because he did the level design for the original game.”

You’ll also be happy to know that Jun Senoue, a veteran composer for the series, is the audio lead for Sonic Superstars.

Sonic Superstars will be available this fall for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and One, and Nintendo Switch, where you’ll be able to play as Sonic himself, along with Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, with co-op.