Curious about Sonic and the Fallen Star? Developed by Stardrop with music by Hollie Taylor, it’s one of the newest titles in the fan game scene.
In this article, I’ll interview the key people behind Fallen Star, and summarize what players can expect from this fun 2D Sonic the Hedgehog experience.
Hopefully I can encourage any curious fans to try out this fan game!
Keeping old school alive
Playing through the stages of Sonic and the Fallen Star was really exhilarating. My favorite parts of the original 2D Sonic games & Mania are going at top speed through loops and running on water. Fallen Star recreates those moments very often!
Fallen Star plays exactly like the past 2D Classic Sonic games. Past Sonic abilities return, such as the peel-out from CD, and the drop dash from Mania. Elemental shields made a return as well, with new looks and abilities to pull off.
Alongside Sonic, you can play as Tails! His signature flight ability returns, and you can cancel the flight too!
Running on top of a body of water triggers a rainbow to follow behind the character. This could possibly be a Sonic CD reference.
Special challenges
Just like the Sonic games that inspired it, Fallen Star allows you to collect the seven Chaos Emeralds. You may encounter a hidden special stage ring, similar to 3 & Knuckles and Mania, as you play through every act too.
Although this time around, there is a new way to receive the Chaos Emeralds! Fallen Star throws you into a straight course with hazards to avoid such as pits and spikes. Collecting enough blue orbs throughout the special stage will allow you to blaze through the track.
With each special stage you complete, the next is more of a challenge. You’ll have to be on your toes, especially if you’re at your max speed.
During my initial playthrough of Fallen Star, I did not manage to collect all seven emeralds by the end, with my reasons zeroed to the difficulty of the special stage, and how well hidden the special stage rings were.
Not being able to overcome the challenge of collecting the emeralds does affect the outcome of the story, so it is encouraged that players try their best to collect all seven emeralds.
Super Spoilers
Par for the course, collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds grants the Super Sonic transformation to the player. Fallen Star does a great job at capturing how cool and powerful Super Sonic is. Fortunately, there is a cancel button for the form. It comes in handy when you need to stock up on some rings.
Having all of the emeralds does not only grant you the ability to use Super Sonic, you can receive the true ending of Fallen Star. During the final showdown, Sonic and Tails get captured and attacked by Doctor Eggman. Thereafter, Sonic uses the power of the emeralds and the fallen star, which introduces the game’s new transformation, Nova Sonic.
The game has a true final boss fight between Sonic and Dr. Eggman. This showdown is very similar to Sonic Mania‘s final boss fight.
As a fan who likes Sonic having multiple transformations, this is a very cool form. To learn more about this new transformation, take a look at the Q&A section below!
Interview Q&A with the developers
We have managed to get a few questions sent to the team who created Sonic and the Fallen Star, and we got them answered!
What were your inspirations for the visual design for Sonic and the Fallen Star?
Stardrop: The main inspirations for the visuals were my artstyle mixed with other Sonic visual tropes and elements, namely Sonic Heroes and Sonic 3. As well as some other inspirations like LakeFeperd’s fangames Sonic Before and After the Sequel.
How did you come up with Fallen Star’s story?
Stardrop: The story was honestly created a while after the game started development, around when I had 4 or 5 zones done. I wanted to have a story that was simple enough to follow and develop but thats about it really, I’m still learning to write and develop stories so its nothing amazing.
What music influenced/inspired you for the original soundtrack?
Hollie: That’s a hefty question. I’ve been exploring a lot of music ever since COVID locked me up so I always have a massive musical palette to pull from. Some of the biggest ones are Tyler the Creator’s neo-soul production, the harmonic complexities of Radiohead, the tightness of early Arctic Monkeys albums or even just indie rock in general. I also was heavily inspired by Danny Baranowsky’s crazy and complex melodies for Super Meat Boy, as well as the general sound of the first few Paper Mario games. Trying to fit all of this complexity into 2 minute loopable songs was certainly a unique challenge.
Are you able to say more about the new Sonic transformation?
Stardrop: Well, the form was created cause I wanted to play around and make a different transformation for Sonic. It also helps to make the game a little more unique but I had fun while designing it. Its name is also Nova Sonic but its not really mentioned anywhere in the game itself. Lore wise, its meant to be a mix between the Chaos Emeralds and the Star, and it’s power comes from the star itself and the bearer’s good heart.
Are there plans for more content to be added in Fallen Star in future updates?
Stardrop: There are plans to have a release for SAGE this year, that includes some new features and bug fixes. But that’s planned to be the last major release of the game, aside from minor bug fixing updates.
What was the development time for Fallen Star? Do you have any advice for other (fan) game developers?
Stardrop: It started development around late 2020, and it took about a little over a year and a half to complete. The OST wasn’t done yet at that point so I spent the rest of the time until release trying to polish and clean up the game as much as I could. My personal advice for any other devs out there would be to just work on their projects and try to learn something from them. I’m still really new to the game dev scene myself, Fallen Star being my first serious project but I think I managed to learn a lot from it. So going into a project, fan made or not, with a learning mindset is something I think would be really helpful in building up your skills and getting better at what you do. Again like I said, I’m really new to game dev so please excuse me if my advice isn’t the best haha.
Going forward
Sonic and the Fallen Star is a fan game that will be at the back of my mind for years to come. It’s a fun 2D Sonic experience from beginning to end. There is much love and passion put into the game. The music makes the experience more energetic and the mellow moments magical.
This fun game is a must-play and should be remembered for years to come in the community. Thank you for reading through this fangame overview. I will be listening to Forever Faith in the Stars for the next few millennia.
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