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

This is where I stand too. I really like most stages - it's amazing that we have 11 new classic Sonic zones to explore now! Shorter bosses, ditch the "Genesis" music, and I'm all for more like this going forward.

 

I just beat the final boss of trip's story and good lord yeah that took me a straight hour and a half, that was very stressful, fun challenge but it takes wayyyy too long and has way too many instakills

I think outside of the bosses and half the ost, this game is incredibly enjoyable and i liked it quite a bit but oof these bosses are roughhhh

 

I played it, It runs great, solid 60fps all through, only issue is the stutters at title cards, which seems to be present in PC versions too and it's just a Unity Engine issue, but that's not a part of gameplay so it doesn't matter really

 

I also just beat the final boss in Trip's story. I got passed the head-slam section and didn't even have any rings left. Not a fun boss but at least it's more interesting than Eggman's giant mech.

 

Me too, but I'll fully admit it was only because I'd read a tip on here not to chase the Emerald in that one but to try to pre-empt its path instead. As soon as I worked out what direction it was going, I pull hard-left and towards the screen and after a couple of tries just dropped right down witihin range of the Emerald as it shot towards me. Felt good to succeed, but it's not exactly intuitive given the previous ones are all beatable simply by chasing the gem down...!

I seem to recall Mania's 5th Special Stage had a steep jump in difficulty too - I wonder what it is with recent classic Sonic games and doing that?

 

I find it difficult to try and get to where the emerald is going to be because the camera’s fixed on the bloody thing so it becomes a battle that try and stray from that path.

 

The main thing that frustrates me about the special stages in this is that the lock-on seems inconsistent. There have been plenty of times where I feel I should be within range of an orb or something else for the reticle to show up, and it simply doesn't.

 

"Ladies and gentlemen, the weekend" aggregate update:

Opencritic: 74 "Fair", 44 reviews, 58% of critics recommend

Metacritic (PS5): 75 "Generally positive", 44 reviews

Will do another update at some point next week.

 

I reckon it won't dip below 70, which is pretty good. Switch-exclusive reviews may bring it slightly down.

A game like this couldve been the series' DKC Returns/Tropical Freeze moment, which is a shame.

 

Sometimes, music reviewers use the term "textbook guitarist" to describe a guitarist that plays generic (not bad, just generic) inoffensive tunes. I (and you should too) greatly appreciate that Sonic Superstars doesn't seem to fall under that category. Sonic Superstars has plenty of personality.

Just like Super Mario Bros. Wonders, Superstars brings fresh ideas to the table (some of which have been long overdue) and evolves the formula. GOOD.

Just for the record.

 

I wouldn't have minded if the game had used this model for Sonic.

https://twitter.com/BeatzYT3/status/1715171136541995030?t=xAt4Pgfc6GFFKRTLoBXMLw&s=19

 

Finished the main campaign. That was a lot of fun! Don't have many complaints. Some of the bosses were pretty weak and Uncle Jun's Yamaha keyboard was a tad annoying but overall I think that if you liked the classics and were itching for some new levels to chew on, this is a game for you. Definitely going to be replaying it quite a bit.

 

never saw the need for classic sonic in general. but i guess sega did some market research and found the classic chubby sonic has pull that modern doesn't

 

The classic Sonic experience that I truly imagined.

 

I'd be okay with an option for Modern Sonic, as long as Frontiers got an equivalent option for Classic Sonic.

But honestly, this game represents Sega really going all-in on Classic Sonic as its own distinct part of the brand for the first time since the design was re-introduced back in 2011. New zones, new gameplay mechanics, new characters. It feels like they finally recognize that he can be more than just nostalgia bait, or a representation of the series' early days. This version of Sonic has value in his own right. Superstars feels to me like everything that Frontiers wasn't, and as someone who felt alienated by a lot of aspects of Frontiers (despite liking the gameplay a lot), I'm so glad that Superstars is a thing, and that I'm enjoying it as much as I am.

 

I love everything about the game except the bosses. Here's to hoping the next one has bosses more like the genesis titles.

Also, Somehow I got the 6th emerald on the first try...so...that was cool.

 

I've not really engaged in any discourse for this game since a few days before it came out. As it stands now, I'm on Frozen Base Zone in Trip's story and my thoughts are these:

For the most part, Superstars is a perfectly adequate, decent and enjoyable Classic Sonic game that can't hold a candle to S3K and Mania but is still a very fun time. It's difficult to describe something as subjective as how the game feels on an emotional level, but I can't shake the feeling that is wholly unambitious. Almost everything about it is merely "good enough", and I don't get the impression that the development team were ever intent on creating something special. There's only a few areas wherein the game truly shines:

• They got the Classic physics down close to perfectly (but what few differences there are feel jarring and seem like unintentional inaccuracies, see all of Knuckles' unique actions). Unfortunately, the level design is pretty bland and this underlines the importance of good physics and good level layouts in unison.
• They nailed the appearances of the characters this time, especially newcomer Trip.
• The non-Mega Drive style music is utterly fantastic (title screen, Bridge Island, Speed Jungle, Lagoon City 2, Pinball Carnival, Sand Sanctuary). A couple of the Mega Drive style tracks are really good (Press Factory), although they are the exception and not the rule.

But in the areas where the game fumbles, it hits some absurd lows. Its shortcomings are so blatant and so unfathomable that they give the impression of the development team not really caring or trying. They make the game feel cheap and phoned in.

• Other than the music mentioned above, the soundtrack is absolute arse. You know how people regularly say that even the worst Sonic games have great music and then often give S4 a pass because it was a downloadable mobile game first and foremost? Superstars warrants no such exception. Most of the game sounds like the S4E3 we never got, and some tracks manage to be even worse, like the 90s MIDI boss tracks. They're so bad, so unfitting and do half-arsed that I was convinced they were early WIPs we were never supposed to hear. This soundtrack is atrocious, end of story. It shouldn't be comprised of faux Mega Drive tracks because that doesn't match what the game actually is. And Senoue clearly doesn't know what the Classic Sonic games on the Mega Drive actually sounded like. He got it wrong for S4E1, wrong for S4E2, didn't even try for Generations (he had other people handle all of the Classic tracks except Emerald Coast and Death Egg Robot), doubly wrong for S3K Origins and seemingly didn't notice all of the other Superstars composers wiping the floor with him. His approach now seems stubborn and/or ignorant.
• The boss fights are awful. Mania has too many bosses and several of them are unfun, but that's nothing compared to Superstars' shitshow. At best, many of the bosses take several minutes to go down even if you don't die, taking up a significant proportion of play time that should be spent on the main levels. Where they get really bad though is the unfair level of difficulty, resulting in instant deaths. And none of the bosses have checkpoints, not even the multiphase ones. You play the same bits over and over, dodging boring attacks and waiting for you opportunity to deal one hit of damage. Many of the fights are sadistically difficult and blatantly unfair. Trip's Story is especially painful. For the love of God, now that I've beaten story mode once PLEASE let me toggle boss fights off. The game would be so much better without them.
• The story is crap. The game does a really poor job with its cutscenes. There are only like two moments of story in the entire game; Amy's Lagoon City and the end of Golden Capital 2. It's hard to even figure out what Eggman and Fang are doing or trying to identify Trip's role. Level transitions? Zero intrigue or creativity. It's always just jumping on to an object from the next zone and calling it a day. Why even bother with transitions at all if you're only going to do the bare minimum? Even when Mania first came out and was missing many transitions, all of the ones that existed were excellent, and really connected the zones, with cutscenes at the end of one level and at the start of the next.
• Co-op is apparently trash. Any concessions made for it (longer boss fights, heavier/slower physics, samey level design for the entire game) is a lose:lose scenario. The co-op isn't good, and the single player has been made worse as a result.

Most of Superstars is, you know, pretty good. It's better than alright and I like it. A few small parts of it are 10/10, chef's kiss, Sonic 4 as you truly imagined it. But a very, very significant chunk of it is intolerably bad.

 

I do hope this does well because there’s absolutely a place for not just classic Sonic but 2D Sonic generally like Advance and Rush, and Ohshima and Arzest could be good stewards for this part of the franchise but good lord I need them to have a good, hard look at their design philosophy. Kishimoto is a goddamn saint in terms of fielding feedback so this isn’t really a fair comparison, but if Ohshima and co. can be so receptive then I do believe we could be onto a winner. The engine is more or less already there, I just want them to change what they’re making with it.

@Blue Blood Wasn't Ohtahni sound director for Generations? If that were the case, Jun might not necessarily have gotten a say in what tracks he got (and perhaps for the best in such a scenario). He did also give us that kickass arrangement of Door Into Summer that is completely unlike his style in the best way possible.

 

Thoughts on the game 3 days later, I'm liking this game way more than Mania and the other classics too tbh. Nothing against Mania but Superstars feels new, distinct, and fresh in a way that Mania never felt (even if its a better quality game). I remember that one preview saying Superstars made them appreciate classic Sonic in a way they never did before and I can agree with that as someone who's never been too hot on those games either (funny considering S3&K one of my fav Sonic games).

That said, these bosses man. I don't like that I have to rely on the emerald powers to make them tolerable. So glad lives aren't a thing anymore because I probably would've never continued playing if I kept seeing game over screens on some of the really long ones (Golden Capital boss I hate you so much)

 

No, Senoue was the sound director for Generations. Ohtani is usually the front man for major 3D games these days, but Senoue was in charge of Generations specifically because he'd been with the series for almost as long as its existed.