Since its first debut in 1991, Sonic The Hedgehog has remained an iconic game with unique settings and levels. Players have spent thousands of hours trying to hit the high scores, as a sort of boasting rights.

Over the years, many of these backgrounds and levels had become iconic, despite some of them being re-used once too many. However, in the recent Summer Game Fest, developers SEGA dropped the trailer for the latest installment of the franchise, Sonic Superstars, where they seem to be finally abandoning the old backgrounds that had become almost staples of the game.

No Green Hill Zone for the Sonic Superstars

Even though Sonic Superstars had been announced as a project only for a few days, the developing team let the fans in on a sneak peek by dropping an official trailer at the 2023 games convention. The players were pleasantly surprised to realize that almost all the backgrounds and levels of the new 3-D side-scrolling game were featured for the first time. Even backgrounds from all the previous games were ditched for the new looks.

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The Green Hill Zone debuted in the original Sonic game back in 1991. Since then, either the map itself or its alternate versions were used in almost every single Sonic game. It was the first level players had to conquer in the original game, while upgrades of the map have become the support system that gave every major Sonic release a sense of security, so to speak!

Maps and backgrounds like the Green Hill Zone, Sky Sanctuary and Chemical Plant are iconic and even nostalgic for many long-time lovers of the game. However, in a recent interview, Sonic producer Takashi Iizuka explained that this sense of nostalgia and an attempt to hold on to the old standards have helped the franchise to limp on. While even in last year’s Sonic Frontiers many of the previous maps and backgrounds were featured, Iizuka reiterated the mission to beef up Sonic Superstars with fresh locations and new features.

Sonic treads on new territories

“We wanted to take Sonic to [the] brand new North Star Islands 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.” Iizuka explains the new Sonic release will also be an attempt to go back to the roots, where cut-scenes and texts are abandoned within the game for in-game interactions to help players progress through the game levels. A  co-op playing mode has also been featured in the new game with different characters and their abilities being announced by the developers.

With such a return to its origin, Sonic fans can’t wait to try out the new features and test the waters on Sonic Superstars.

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