Sonic Superstars: A New 2D Sonic Game (Fall 2023)

I feel like these tracks are okay, but don't have very strong melodies. It's a little busy.
Rintaro's my favorite composer from the Frontiers soundtrack, but this one is still pretty messy.

EDIT: part of the pinball track does remind me of one of the tracks in Frontiers. I can't pinpoint it exactly.

 

Part of it sounds like it was lifted from Casino Forest, then forced to go in a different direction.

 

I feel a similar way in regards to Rintaro Soma's stuff. Although I can't seems to hear any similarities between the Frontiers tracks and Pinball Carnival.
I think this one in particular is a little extra frustrating for me personally because I think parts of it could ALMOST pass itself off as something like Hot Shelter or another Sonic Adventure track (not that I think that'd be super fitting thematically), but the instruments and sometimes whole instrumentation style are distinctly those from Sonic Mania. Same trumpets, same piano, same brass, same synth. Ironically, one of the things this song could really use beneficially to make it feel more like a carnival, a percussive organ, isn't used here, but IS used in the opening to Studiopolis. So... work that one out.

 

I like the track, but it's highly derivative of Studiopolis, both just in its overall composition and even melodically at times. Almost like "Studiopolis at home", but still good. This is only Soma's second Sonic game, and it's a pretty far cry from Frontiers thematically. Going from Frontiers to Superstars is about as extreme as you can get. He's done a good job here but I'd be lying if I said it didn't sound like he was finding his feet and playing it a bit too safe.

That's the one thing that really gets me a bit antsy about Superstars; nothing about it screams "original". It's better than Green Hill and Chemical yet again, but it's not exactly going above and beyond either. Bridge Island very often looks like Grey Hill Zone, Speed Jungle isn't really much more visually interesting than S1 8bit's Jungle Zone, Pinball Carnival is really plain visually etc etc. I'm. Being careful about what media for this game I see pre-release, but even that Lagoon City concept art looks like Pink Hydrocity. They're leaning really, really hard on existing Classic Sonic ideas here. In contrast, the four original zones in Mania (and frankly, some of the remixed Act 2s to tell you the truth) were brimming with so much visual creativity that they could have stretched the ideas even further. Studiopolis for example was another version of a nighttime, neon-illuminated city and casino/pinball themed environment, but it was world's apart from anything in a previous game. And Press Garden continues to amaze me; it was an old building in the middle of forest that Eggman had transformed into a printing press, only for the second act to to take place in the snowy Japanese gardens outside. I'm not expecting even half as original in Superstars.

Superstars is playing it safe. Really, really safe. And I can't tell if that's because it's a lot of people who are new to Sonic (/haven't been near the franchise since 1998) or if its because the game is just creatively unimaginative.

 

Could you elaborate on what critical bug was fixed with the DLC packs? And is the critical bug specific to the Xbox 360 version or does the PS3 version also have this bug (and fix with the DLC packs)?

 

It had to do unlocks from the quiz lady in the game in which she will just stop showing up so you can't get the CD/video/whatever from the end of her questline. Affected me too, but I never wanted to buy the DLC.

 

The one track Cyberspace 2-7 that he did actually sounds like a great fresh Sonic track with balanced instruments, so I know he can do it.

 

I love this track!

...I also don't feel it's anything like CD. Jazzy, sure, but then again, that's what Sonic 1 8-bit sounds like too. In fact, the closest relative I can think of is that game's Special Stage theme.

 

Eh, that's one of the tracks that really hasn't left much of an impression on me even after all this time. I listen to the Frontiers soundtrack a lot, but Floating in the Blue is one of the more boring pieces that I just tend to skip over. I'm not getting it when people say that it sounds like a "Sonic track". Sounding typically "Sonic" is neither a good or a bad thing, for the record. I just can't tell what sets it apart from the rest of the Cyberspace music, which just goes more into the EDM genres than Sonic typically does.

Pinball Carnival Act 1 sounds like something I'd more typically expect of Sonic. Soma was clearly trying to emulate the feeling of CD and/or Mania, and he did so successfully.

 

Strange. It’s one of the only tracks that seems to have a melody and key change. Each to their own I guess.

 

2-7 is my favorite cyberspace track it manages to capture the spirt of both Sky Chase and Sky Sanctuary beautifully, one of his other tracks 3-5 which is unfortunately wasted on the worst level is basically a vaporware take on CD’s special stage music.

 

2-7 stands out in a sense that it's very nice on the ears, and thus lets you better focus on the level layout and work on your gameplay. I found that to be very Nintendo-esque. It gave me Wii Sports vibes. Lol 4-1 in comparison, is the complete opposite. It would be a better fit for a boss fight.

 

I think you mean "vaporwave". "Vaporware" is a term for stuff that's announced/promised but never delivered on. See Beyond Good and Evil 2.

 

So it seems like this is another Sega Sound Team collaboration then. My hopes for HIRO making a stage theme are now rising.

 

I feel like this song has an impressive length. Even my favorite songs from this series tend to have too short of a loop.

 

I think technically the longest songs in the series are in Sonic 2006, since most of them are like 4-6 minutes. Buy yeah, some of the songs are like pieces of X section from stages gather together in one song in the soundtrack album.

But if you want a song that really counts as a huge length before looping, I think it's Red Hot Skull from Sonic Adventure. This song last almost 5 minutes, not only in the soundtrack, but in-game too:

 

The song need to grow on me a bit, but I'm glad that the soundtrack is having fun by including different composers on each level, though. That's something that I like from Frontiers.

It reminds me of fan remix albums where they get different amateur artists to contribute a song. I live for those type of collaboration on works like these, giving everyone a chance to flex their artistic/musical muscle.

 

After hearing it on repeat over the last day, it’s grown on me and I love the part where the square lead is basically singing!

Also, I’m unofficially calling it Studiopolis Act 3.

Edit: Also need to give credit to the length of the song, it’s nearly a minute and a half from intro to the loop point.

 

What sells in the music for me is that bass and the piano, damn, it's so good.

It really feels like I'm listering to a Mega Drive song, but on a modern hardware now.

And you know what it reminds me of actually? This:

It's from SEGA SOUND TEAM's original music album from 1992.

 

Holy motherforking shirtballs!

1. Further Proof that the Superstars sound track has finally nailed the MD/Genesis style while remaining fresh.

2. Modernized Classic Sonic is here to stay.

3. Where can I find this album???