Sonic Superstars' Brand New Villain Character, Trip, Designed by Classic Sonic Veterans

Lest we forget, we're getting a new 2D Sonic game later this year. Sonic Superstars combines the old, familiar gameplay fans expect from the classic games with new visuals, zones, and abilities. On top of all that, though, the title will mark the debut for a brand new character to the series. Trip is her name, and she's on Eggman's side.

This new addition isn't the typical Sonic villain, though. Rather than being some all-powerful threat, Trip is a small, mysterious character that the developers are hoping fans will grow attached to. Based on a sungazer lizard, she's wearing strange-looking armour, including an oversized helmet that hides her face. When you first meet her, she's shown as clumsy and confused, but through the story, ends up on Eggman's side, where she presumably becomes a larger threat.

Trip was added to the game to balance out the opposition. Eggman is "always there causing problems", says Takashi Iizuka, so players know to expect him. They added in Fang as they wanted to bring back a classic character not seen for a while. Rounding things out, Trip is a completely new character, and one unlike all-powerful beings like Infinite or Chaos.

She was jointly designed by Iizuka and Naoto Ohshima, who both worked on the classic games together. In fact, Ohshima is credited with designing the original look for Sonic and Eggman, so there's plenty of history and experience here.

"The team wanted to show that Trip is not that usual enemy, and we wanted to introduce her in a way that's not the obvious 'Oh, I'm super strong' way," Iizuka tells Game Informer. "When we presented Trip in the very beginning, I think she even falls on her face in the very first scene that you see her in. The first thing I think people will be thinking is, 'Who is she, and why is she a super strong enemy? What's going on?' We wanted to introduce the character in that way to make it different from how enemies have always been presented in Sonic games."

Are you excited to see Trip and learn how her character develops in Sonic Superstars? Go fast in the comments section below.