Whitehead backs up this story with his own recounting of the events. "When we started Evening Star, it was always our goal to move beyond 2D pixel art into 3D games, and develop all-new, original IP," he says. "Evening Star did work with Sega to explore possible directions Classic Sonic could go after the success of Sonic Mania. Sonic Mania 2 was never in development, though, because we actually agreed early on that we should try to make something fresh, like hand-drawn 2D or 2.5D. At the same time, Evening Star was developing our new Star Engine, so we also ended up making a cool Sonic prototype that played with depth in 2.5D, and some other gameplay ideas."
Following those initial planning sessions and a mutual decision to not proceed with development, Evening Star began work on Penny's Big Breakaway. "As Iizuka-san said, though, [Evening Star] did not continue to full production on the game, at which point Arzest took the helm and made Superstars alongside Sonic Team," Whitehead says. "We moved forward with our plans to develop an original 3D title, which is, of course, Penny's Big Breakaway! Superstars looks awesome and our team is really excited to play it when it comes out."
Whitehead also dashed away one of the big points of speculation among Sonic fans: that Sonic Mania 2 falling through was the result of bad blood between Sega and members of Evening Star. "Contrary to any rumors, we maintain a friendly relationship with Sega and hope fans are pumped to play both games once they release," he says.
