Sonic Superstars Easter egg references arcade shooter Fantasy Zone

The newest entry in the Sonic franchise, Sonic Superstars, is now available. In addition to its many references to past Sonic games, a reference to another more obscure Sega title has recently been discovered. In Act 2 of Frozen Base Zone the game takes on the sidescrolling shooter genre, and directly references the 1986 arcade title Fantasy Zone.

Fantasy Zone was a sci-fi shooter originally released in arcades. It was later ported to a number of other systems, including the NES. Today, it’s even available to play on Switch under the Sega Ages banner.

The Sonic Superstars level in question features enemies and a boss that are clearly designed to be more modern counterparts to the old school sprites from Fantasy Zone. Below, check out some comparison screenshots courtesy of Destructoid: