Famitsu interview with Naoto Oshima and Takashi Iizuka on Sonic Superstars

[Shiny Gems]

A key thing, as maybe said before, is that the Emerald powers are optional here. Pretty nice.

[ZinogreVolt]

Interesting that development started in early 2021 and the game is nearly already here. I forgot that Sonic games used to actually have fairly quick turnaround times. I hope that's a good sign for more projects outside of Sonic Team. 

Other things to note is that Iizuka played influence on the level design and that the rabbit skin will have a different pose and animations from everyone else.

[castell-neath]

Maybe, just maybe, the long development times of some more recent games has been the issue as they over think matters and things get muddy and a bit half ar*ed. (Looking at you, Lost World!) 

 

[Palas]

I never really buy the idea that a certain feature is a Sonic game is optional because it never really means anything. The spindash is optional in Sonic 2; why would you not use it? Sure enough, it means the level design and emerald powers aren't lock-and-key, but that's the bare minimum. It says very little about how engaging they'll be to use.

[Cosmos Rogue]

I remember when Sonic Team was telling us that guns would be optional in Shadow's game.