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

I can't definitively say luck wasn't involved, but the Super boss only took me a few honest tries. I banged my head against Trip's final boss for literal hours, and I'm sure Sonic's wasn't too far behind. Make of that what you will.

...not that I'd call the Super boss fun, mind you. It's still flawed and drags on like crazy. But I found it mercifully easier than what came immediately before (not unlike the difficulty curve of Frontiers's Final Horizons update).

 

Can any console players here recommend the best console version of Superstars overall? A friend is looking to buy it on sale and I only play on Steam, so I don't have experience with how it is on other platforms.

 

xbox version apparently suffers from input lag, it didn't bother me personally but if they can go for the ps5 version, they probably should.

 

According to one of those tech comparison videos, might have been Digital Foundry, the Switch version is the only console version with no input lag. PS5 and Xbox both have it, though Xbox's was the worst at launch so it got a patch. From my own experience, I played through the Switch version a few weeks after playing it on Xbox (before and after its patch), and I had a much better time. People will go off about more simplified level geometry and performance issues, but they did what they had to do to try and meet 60fps on Switch, and performance issues have been greatly exaggerated, at least in single player. You might notice some frame dips later in the game when some levels have more going on, but otherwise the Switch version is perfectly playable. Like I said though, that's from a single-player experience. I also can't speak for PS5, but Xbox has its own performance issues, which were more obvious in multiplayer. Even with just two of us playing, the game's framerate went to shit when one of us went Super. It's like they just didn't think anyone playing with friends would get all the Emeralds or something.

 

I can vouch for the Switch version playing well. No lag on my end.

 

There's really no good reason why going super should cause the frame rate to drop. Frankly the latest gen versions of the game shouldn't have any issues at all. Seems like this whole thing is held together with dreams and tape.

 

It’s probably the alpha transparency effect their auras and afterimages have, things like that can get pretty costly at 4K, this is also likely why the big sprays of water during the first miniboss cause dropped frames. Unity isn’t exactly the most optimized engine in the world so it’s not that surprising, we’re just lucky the game doesn’t suffer from the camera judder that used to plague a lot of 2D games using it.

 

Amazon US Best Sellers Day After Black Friday:
1) Super Mario Bros. Wonder
2) Sonic Superstars
3) Just Dance 2024
4) Final Fantasy XVI
5) Minecraft
6) Super Mario RPG Remake
7) Sonic Origins Plus
8) Spider-Man 2
9) NBA 2K24
10) Zelda: TOTK

according to this guy: https://twitter.com/Stealth40k/status/1728383834612465909?t=PbRE6CTFKEsABx0aHkOecg&s=19

Edit: checked and its the switch versions for both Superstars and Origins Plus, PS5 version of Superstars is #19

 

guys I'm starting to think this game didn't bomb

 

See what happens when you price the game at its actual value.

I better never see another Sonic game at $60 USD ever again.

 

They can be worth $60, just this one wasn’t. Frontiers retroactively became worth the $60 lol. But I bet this game did fine. Let’s be real also the $60 is basically just a tax on our gullibility. We all knew this would happen we just wanted to play it sooner.

now if they’d just release a patch, really liked the game but it’s held together by duct tape and prayers.

 

Frontiers did great at $60 tho, the greatest even for a sonic game since like 20+ years

But no one really had an issue with it's price, given it's open world nature and being the the largest sonic game in terms of content

Superstars did try to justifies it's price tag with harder campaign, longest bosses, and battle mode shit, of course it didn't work out

 

Frontiers got marked down to $40 by the time the Holiday season rolled around and did significantly better as a result as Superstars is here.


Sonic games, as they are right now, should not be anywhere near $60.

Given the reactions to the last update are just as divisive as the base game, no, it didn't imo.

 

and Super Mario Wonder is doing better with Black Friday sales as well, it doesn't mean they didn't do well before, or that the price alone is the what makes a game the best selling game in 20 years, Frontiers was doing great from day 1 and even had the biggest launch in Steam history for any sonic game easily, also the biggest Sonic game launch in Japan, this is all before the discount.

if you did have the best launch for a sonic game in 20 years, this clearly shows that prices is not the issue or what keeps certain games from selling

Superstars isn't in the same position and won't suddenly sell Frontiers numbers just because of discounts, it's as simple as that.

 

Frontiers wasn't marked down. Superstars wasn't marked down. They're still $60 games. Of course they would sell better at the holidays, where $60 games suddenly sell for $40 or even $20. Whoa, what a steal! That's literally why these sales exist. A $60 game being $40 during this week only is more enticing to customers than a $40 game, because the former gives the impression that you are getting a deal.

Frontiers did exceptionally well at launch and continues to do well outside of the holiday season (though I'm surprised it didn't chart... but Origins Plus did? Interesting), so people absolutely see it as a $60 game. And why wouldn't they? The big 3D games like Frontiers will absolutely be $60 going forward, and for the sake of the franchise (not necessarily the customers), that's a good thing.

Frontiers is doing better than Superstars because it's fundamentally a game more people are interested in: it's much longer, it's open world, it's 3D, it's the Sonic everyone immediately recognizes. Superstars can go down to $20 and still won't sell as well.

Of course, Superstars doing this well just shows that there is still a lot of interest in Sonic no matter what.

 

The fans have shifted more towards Modern over Classic in recent years but it’s because all the people who grew up on Classic are 30+ years old now. It was a different story back in 2011.

 

I like how we got fantastic news about a game many of us like being successful, and yet it almost immediately devolved into yet another modern vs. classic slapfight.

Regardless of which one YOU liked more, Frontiers and Superstars both being successful is great news for anyone who liked either.

 

Not gonna lie this is one of the single most ignorant arguments I’ve ever heard in the entirety of gaming and it never gets any less funny. If you don’t think it’s worth $60 cool, but I do. So now what?

 

So are you okay with this game stay expensive as it is?