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

My favorite is Sky Temple, its only one act but its pretty long and i've actually replayed it a few times and there's some fun layouts going on that you can really take advantage of with some well placed jumps at top speed.

 

Definitely Press Factory, music aside. Both gimmicks are fantastic. Someone posted an alt music piece for Act 1 that matched the tempo of the press at the beginning of the stage and I basically ascended

 

Press Factory act 2 drives me mad with its instant kill insanity. And this is coming from someone who doesn't mind Metropolis zone from Sonic 2. I still don't get why there's a few seconds where you can't hit a switch but you also don't die immediately. Even Donkey Kong Country got this type of gimmick right in 1994.

 

Don't wanna say "git gud" but how on earth do you run our of time in PF2?
The timer is extremely forgiving

 

Two potential cases I can think of -- routing for the golden badnik (since you have to go out of your way) and trip's story (where the time limit is noticeably lower)

 

I've beaten it several times. I don't think it's THAT hard just to beat. But to try to maintain my flow and beat the level as fast as I can is extremely annoying with all the instant crush hazards and stupid timer. The buttons are placed in awkward positions where it feels like I have to slow down entirely in order to hit them. I also can't really turn my brain off on that level unlike every other classic Sonic level which could be considered a good thing I guess. The timer mechanic is still implemented poorly though. There is no point to that time where you're still alive but can do nothing. This mechanic is especially terrible in a speedrunning game like Sonic. Getting something off like that at the very last possible second is very satisfying.

 

Frozen Base is probably my favorite! Snow levels are my jam anyway, and that mashed up with a late-game factory level is fresh. It's so tricky and satisfying to speedrun - nailing every jump over that crumbling section with speed shoes, mwah! Plus the Tails stage is one of the best character acts, and the Fantasy Zone tribute in act 2 made my jaw drop.

Both acts of Press Factory are awesome as well, but especially 2. I love the tension, and the boss is a highlight.

 

I think Superstars is great and I'm tired of pretending it's not.

The game has several moments that made me feel pure glee, and I'm more than patient enough for the boss fights, which I actually consider a highlight.

 

I like Superstars. The next 2D game should be better, especially in the boss department, but this game's levels are really great.

 

They should get Yasuhara on the next one. Snatch him up from Unity or something and have him as lead level designer and Oshima as art director. That would be true kino.

naka can also be design consultant on the phone from jail or something

 

I'm glad other people enjoy it, but I'm just not a fan of Superstars, I don't think. It's a shame, really. I wanted to like it.

Here's the litmus test: when Mania came out, I would play and re-play it constantly. I'll still sometimes see it on my Switch home menu, click it to "kill a few minutes", and find myself playing the whole thing.

Once I beat the main Superstars campaign and played enough of the Trip campaign to understand what it was... I never really felt the desire to play the game again. I just think about what a pace-breaker the bosses are and I immediately just don't want to even pick it up. It's literally this meme, but "that part" comes after every single level...



Also, music is a huuuuge draw for me when it comes to games... Sonic especially, and this OST disappointed me in a few ways. Maybe not the "most rational" reason to dislike a game... but the game's supposed to be fun. If I don't find it fun for any reason... it's failed.

Overall, no one asked, but here's My GripeList (tm):

• The bosses are a slog
• Aside from a few absolute bangers, this OST is painfully average for Sonic "Even if the game's bad, the music always slaps" The Hedgehog... and some of it's just really bad.
  
• Act 2s where the music isn't a remix of Act 1 are a real bummer, IMHO. Speed Jungle Act 2 is good... I like me some Monkeyball music... but I reallllly wanted to hear the evolution of the awesome Act 1 theme.
  
• I don't like One Act zones. Feels like I got cheated out of half a zone... I know that's not really what's going on, but that's what it feels like
• Most of the level backgrounds are honestly really boring...
  
• Most the the level design is... just kinda okay. Not a lot of particular sections stick out in my mind. Huge step up from Sonic 4 and Forces, though.

I wish I liked it more than I did... I dunno. I don't relish being "a hater" when it comes to Sonic. More fun stuff is more fun stuff.

I'm sure I'll replay it sometime, and maybe it'll fare better then.

 

I overall very much enjoyed the game on my first run through, final final final boss aside, but I've still not touched the game since I initially beat it. This is entirely because I've been dreading hearing some of the music again, and I've just been too lazy to learn how to mod them out. I have resources for learning it bookmarked already; I just haven't had the motivation to actually get to it yet.

It's kind of funny; my fiancée genuinely vibes to Fang's theme, but to me it's one of the tracks that I would describe as auditory diarrhea. I'm extremely not a fan of the early game boss theme or miniboss theme either, but unfortunately the game subjects you to them constantly.

I'm not saying the whole OST is garbage or anything like that. There's plenty of decent music in the game. Even a bit of what sounds like Jun's work was pretty okay to me. Speed Jungle 1 might be my favorite music in any Sonic game ever; I just really wish more of the OST could have been like it.

 

The game really just lacks polish and cohesion. It's perfectly... fine, but the music isn't even consistent throughout, good or bad, and it doesn't look particularly nice most of the time.

I just recently beat Kirby Return to Dreamland, which also is perfectly fine, but the game has a solid visual and audio identity, and it's very polished. So an ok game becomes a good, or even great one.

Superstars could be great with more polish. Maybe they will update it overtime? Something tells me it isnt selling very well and SEGA aren't prioritizing it, so I have a feeling it's just gonna stay as is.

 

I wouldn't say it's selling poorly but there's a reason Frontiers still goes for $60, with regular sales that drop it to $40, and Superstars has seemingly been permanently dropped to the $30 range.

I don't think it's because Superstars did so amazing at launch they decided to drop the price just to be friendly. I think the early sales were very slow and increased a lot after the price drop which is why they did it and decided to keep it because not many people were biting at $60.

 

It does seem realistic for the game to have slow sales on launch but really pick up during the holidays when it's discounted. And it does seem to be discounted... pretty much everywhere except for Steam. I'm not surprised that it's performing well, but it is performing better than I expected it to.

I'll be very interested to see how this stacks up against sales of Frontiers at the end of the day. Did they ever announce any final sales figures for that game?

 

I dont know if we have official up to date numbers but i recall an interview stating that it was up to 3 million after just 6 months.
https://mynintendonews.com/2023/04/...-and-persona-5-royal-remaster-at-1-7-million/

 

no, no I get it, IMO my favorite thing about Sonic games now is the OST. regardless of what flaws and jank Frontiers has, I'm happy it released because the OST (and expansion OST) is one of my most-listened-to OSTs in years.