Balan’s partner Wonderworld Arzest is the “lead development” on Sonic Superstars

Speaking to Eurogamer at Summer Games Fest today, Sonic Team Vice President of Product Development Takashi Iizuka clarified the matter of the recently unveiled lead developer of Sonic Superstars: it is being led by Arzest, the Japanese studio that was most recently involved in the development of Fantasian and the troubled. Balan Wonderworld – Headed by Sonic’s original creator, Naoto Ohshima.

Iizuka-san said, via a translator, “This is a brand-new classic Sonic game in development, and in order to recreate the classic Sonic gameplay, we needed someone who understands the classic Sonic series and understands this gameplay format, in order to perform really well in the final product.” .

And so we’re working together, with Naoto Ohshima-san, who created Sonic the Hedgehog and was there on Sonic 1, creating and developing the game. We’re working with Ooshima-san and his team at Arzest, they’re leading development on the title and they’re doing a great job making Sonic. A completely new classic.”

The question of the lead developer for Superstars has been a prominent question for Sonic fans since it was revealed during last week’s Summer Game Festival presentation – Ohshima-san was already confirmed to be working in some capacity, though in what capacity it was unclear, which may have caused some concern a bit. Due to Balan Wonderworld’s less than stellar reception.

We’ll have a lot more of our interview with Iizuka-san on Sonic Superstars soon, including his suggestion of which classic Sonic game he thinks is the most similar (spoilers: it borrows from a few different games), how the team tried to balance the classic Sonic with more “modern” features, as well as our impressions of a quick play session with the game – and the answer to the all-important question of whether Shadow is in it. Make sure to look for that very soon.