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

Just finished the main story. I don't have too many notes. It was a pretty solid experience throughout, and most times I got impatient with the boss cycles were remedied by the emerald powers. My biggest gripe would probably be the one-Emerald-per-Zone limit. It makes finding extra Giant Rings in any given Zone feel like a waste, and the restriction sticks around after beating the story, so grinding out the remaining emeralds doesn't get easier like in 3&K/Mania. (I'll also miss Mania's Special Stages, but the new ones are okay. Just not as exciting.)

Spoiler: Final level thoughts

The rewinding gimmick of the last Act is incredibly cool. I got very tired of the final boss, though, and would have appreciated a checkpoint. It also would've been nice to know that beating it again with all of the emeralds in tow is not the way to reach whatever final-final boss this game has in store.

Also shout-out to Epic for devaluing a collectible since Tokens tie to the Battle Mode I apparently won't be playing.

 

I wanna add that the bosses are probably the worst since Mania or CD and let me say what I mean by that. Most of Sonic 1, 2, 3&K Bosses could be cheesed if you knew how. The amount of wait and hit bosses were kept in a minimum which makes replaying those games a blast even today. Sonic CD was the first Sonic game where the wait and hit bosses started to show up with later 3d games and even Mania using said design. Superstar follows said wait and hit design but later bosses take it to the extreme with long waiting times in between short windows of attack. It's not really hard just frustrating having to wait this much. The bosses are probably the weakest part of the game with the latter asshole stages being a close second.

 

So I’ve finished my first play through (the final boss can go die in a pit with all those checkpoints it doesn’t have). Despite a promising start, I feel like Superstars gets worse in a lot of areas as it goes on. The flow of level design diminishes as it becomes more meandering and sprawling, with several levels taking me up to around 10 minutes to beat (granted while hunting for special stages, but this was never an issue with Mania).

I think part of the issue with the camera is that the environments might be physically bigger? Not just in their layout the space between things or the scale compared to the player, so while Sonic and co. are the same size as before, it feels like less fits on the screen to me.

The game is also pretty rough around the edges in several areas, such as sound mixing and cutscene animations, which is a shame because the gameplay animations are almost all top-notch.

Like this post, the game’s structure is a bit of a mess, but with several zones just being one long act for no discernible reason when really the level layout could’ve been split into two.

I also felt like I rarely had a reason to use emerald powers outside of boss fights. I used slow to access one special stage and that was it for that power, for example.

Spoiler: Story/character/gameplay spoilers

Trip and Fang really could’ve done with more boss fights in the story. I’m left wondering why Fang is even here other than marketing and Trip does fuck all that impacts the plot until she…turns into a dragon for some reason? Trip’s super form is really dumb, especially being slower than her base form in gameplay. Really could’ve done with at least one boss fight against her to do something in aid of giving her a reason to hang with Eggman and Fang.

Also, SEGA are cowards for welching on non-Sonic super forks yet again. MAKE SUPER KNUCKLES PINK AGAIN!

 

Spoiler: Late Game Spoilers

Trip has an exclusive story mode that has her fight Fang, as well as a "last story" final boss

 

Played around half of the game last night and really liked it!

Think the level design is really strong, and when the soundtrack's good, it's really good. but zone 3 really sounds like its a demo, and I wish it had better instrumentation as I love the song itself.

 

I don't see a problem. That's just how it looks. Y'know, being closer to the Mega Drive games or something.

 

Fun game. Had solid pacing and good gimmicks.
Presentation was pretty weak, though. Some rough color choices, some lousy in-game cutscenes, and a variety of graphical quirks and mishaps. Music was pretty weak as well. I do think the camera should absolutely be zoomed out in singleplayer to be like in multiplayer, and that there honestly is no good reason for it not to be.

 

This isn't a Mega Drive game, though. This is Sonic Superstars.

I also think it's a bit too zoomed-in for my liking, but I did a comparison a while ago and it seems the characters take up the same amount of screen real estate. It could be placebo, could be the camera perspective throwing it off, etc. I'm sure there will be ways to zoom the camera out with mods eventually.

 

I think the inherent nature of 2.5D does a lot in changing how people perceive the screen space and probably even the levels themselves.

 

The acrylic display stand is tiny. I thought it would hold the game box, but it's clearly not meant for that.

 

To be honest, this isn't really a big problem if you played the original Genesis games. Since the Retro Engine remakes have a slightly zoomed-out camera, maybe you were just playing Mania or Origins, so you play Superstars, and then you're like "oh, the screen is zoomed in." I've have noticed what you're talking about though.

 

The "zoomed-in" comments are relatable. I actually moved my TV back on its stand and my chair back, which I've never bothered doing. However, I got used to it after playing for a while. Things just seem big.

 

Here am I, stuck in the main story final boss like everyone else, and I still have no idea what you mean. If anything, everything I described got worse as the game went on.

Speaking of which... I was half-doubting the quality of the game would decrease in the latter half, after Press Factory quickly became my favorite zone in the game. But boy, is the decline steep. It feels like the game just wants to get it over with. The music gets progressively more forgettable, yet you listen to it more because the stages are longer. Character-specific acts suffer the mosts: Golden Capital Act Knuckles is bad enough on all fronts, but Frozen Base Act Tails is unbelievable. Straight up unfinished-fangame-tier level design; horrible, unfitting music; ugly-ass ice visuals; etc.

Egg Fortress Act 2 has a very cool concept, but since Egg Fortress Act 1 isn't all that interesting, it kind of falls flat on its face. But I'm done for the day, so I'll have to get through all of it again. Oh well.

 

Got it!

So far so good. I'm only at Pinball Carnival Act 2 atm, but it's definitely a classic Sonic game. In no way matches the sheer vibe of Mania or oomph of Sonic 3, but it's definitely a solid entry in the classic series so far.

I've heard a lot of negative regarding the bosses, but I actually like them so far. They're a bit more methodical and puzzley, harkening CD more than the other classics.

 

Golden Capitol is where the bosses start over-staying their welcome, imo.

 

Gotcha. I'll see how I feel about em when I get to em.

 

Addendum after further play: The Giant Rings still take you to the 5-Token version of the Special Stage even after you've gotten all of the Emeralds... so no easy 50 rings either. And it's not like the Bonus Stages are ring-makers anymore.

EDIT: ...and so far at least one boss intro cutscene has de-Supered me, leaving me with under 50 rings so I can't turn it back on.

 

The input lag for this game on Xbox is unbearable. Don't worry about how the game feels my a**. I hope they put in a patch for this ASAP.

I love the idea of medals, this is already the most I've been inclined to explore in a Sonic title beyond just Emerald hunting.

I have barely any free time so just playing a few acts per day until I have a solid few hours to grind this.

 

I beat the game today and played a couple acts with my dad, it's pretty fun.

It's not all I cracked it up to be with the classic weird SEGA decisions, but it was a pretty good challenge.

I really enjoyed the level design for some of the levels. Sky Temple and Press Factory being my current favorites. All of the emerald powers are fun to use and feel like they have common usage possibilities.
The fruit system is also pretty interesting. I was expecting them to act like keys permanently unlocking the fruit levels, but after seeing the purpose of them, it makes sense why they made it into more of a currency.
It's also been pretty fun getting medals (choose a name for them already, SEGA.) to customize prototypes. Although, I can see the battle mode getting boring after a while. They're probably gonna have to add new levels and maybe even modes to keep it even remotely interesting for any meaningful amount of time.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it. There's a lot of things they could've done to make it better, but in it's current state, it's at least decent. + - I still have to beat Trip's Story though. I'll edit this when I follow through with that.  

 

Just received my modern amy code email for Xbox