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

Yeah, unlike the level select track, this does sound very Sonic 4. The contrast between it and the other songs is jarring, considering I'm pretty sure Senoue has a hand in Bridge Island Act1 at least.

 

Short video by GamXplain talking about their experience (pros and cons) when they played co-op:

They like the graphics, character animations, level design & boss fights.

At 1:33 they show a bit of Pinball Carnivall.

At 2:35 he says he played a cyber level with Casino (Pinball Carnival) & Speed Jungle - not sure what he means by "with". Does this mean Cyber areas appear in different zones?

3:55 talks about his criticism of the game camera when playing multi-player. Also criticism of some of the emerald powers.

5:20 I like that at the result screen it says "THE TEAM GOT THROUGH ACT 1".

 

New preview. Level design is apparently "peak 2d sonic level design", hot damn
Coop mode is apparently not so great, which isn't too surprising for the 7 people that tried playing coop mode in sonic 4 episode 2, lol

edit: got sniped. Curse you, inspector gadget!

 

That is an exhausting Youtube voice.

Sounds like the co-op camera could have actually been better, but I don't think anyone was expecting co-op to really be much more than a gimmick anyway. Sonic 2 is what we grew up with, so it's ok guys.

Speaking of gimmicks, I agree with their impression of the emerald powers. The idea has always been there and been fun, but in execution it's hard to think of how it'd ever work in a classic Sonic without just clunking up the game's design. Even if I never use the abilities, the fact that the little Emerald Power icon is going to keep appearing -- even when invisible things are around -- bugs me.

 

I see an autoscroller, I smile.

 

When I see one, I smile, for I know it will make YouTube reviewers mad

 

Damn, the 4 player co-op was what had me the most intrigued about this game. Not surprised that it's this bad, but still disappointed. Really should have gone with split-screen and/or online for it instead.

 

I'm glad the ̶w̶i̶s̶p̶s̶ emerald powers are described to be optional at least.
It's more of Lost World or Forces where you're able to completely ignore them and have fun actually playing through the game, and less of Colours with absolutely dreadful stop and go level design that forces you to use them every two seconds.
Crisis avoided...hopefully.

 

Ah, so that’s how multiplayer works, the person who falls behind gets a prompt to come back. Ehhhh not the smoothest way to do things but I get it with the solo screen. Split screen co-op might’ve made more sense but least it’s better than Sonic 2’s.

 

I'm not too fussed on the co-op. I don't really see how they could make four player co-op work smoothly. On one hand I question why they made it. But on the other hand, it's just a fun diversion so it's fairly harmless.

I like the news that the levels are very readable. That was a problem in Generations so it's good to hear the simple art style may not be very impressive graphically but does improve gameplay experience.

 

Little Brother Mode 2.0 was definitely worth the hype.

 

Oh for fuck's sake we're getting shared camera despite being told otherwise. No wonder they haven't been showing off the co-op. That's such a clearly terrible idea and barely better than how the Genesis games did it. I was going to go into this more but I already said what I've wanted to say in this regard.

At least I don't have to think about it anymore...

 

I don't remember them ever saying it was splitscreen. No footage was in splitscreen and such a feature is uncommon in co-op platformers.

The solution of having the camera follow the player making progress is also what I expected.

 

Lol. Lmao even.

But yeah it's perfectly fine if you just ignore all the obvious problems people have with it including the guy in the video.

 

In a no-life-system environment, I do think single-screen, progress-following camera makes the most sense. The team will act as a unit that is always going forward, and members can save each other just by walking ahead a little. It makes the game easier to handle, and if you're not waiting for Little Brother, you're an asshole anyway. Because the co-op is local, it's assumed people will be talking while they play, so I can't imagine a world where people will just be playing four single player modes together. They'll have to voice their objectives and concerns, and it'll be a screaming party, but it's (potentially) more interactive than split-screen.

 

What challenges presented in the game so far would even hypothetically require a second player to help a newbie? Just jumping into an enemy? I'm sorry but that's trivial even for a little kid. Fighting bosses? Well you'd have to do that together no matter the camera system. All the typical troubles people have with Sonic games have to do with the physics/controls which another guy being in-game doesn't help and in fact makes worse with a shared camera. I just don't understand the necessity of making everyone huddle together. I don't think that older brother is an asshole just for wanting to play the game his way while still being in the same levels as his little brother. In your scenario you're just trading the older brother's fun for the younger brother's fun by forcing the older brother to wait around anyway. Someone's still not having fun.

 

It just doesn’t make sense splitscreen, and I was never under the impression it would be. I hadn’t seen any reports stating that.

Like Palas said, you all move forward and tackle obstacles as a unit. If one person can make it over something, then it helps everyone go through. Having splitscreen with Sonic’s gameplay and level design would just equate to 4 separate games going on at once. That’s not multiplayer.

That said, it’s not like I’m thrilled about this either. Maybe it’ll finally make my gf try Sonic though. She will only play Mario Kart, NSMB, Fall Guys and, as of two weeks ago, Animal Crossing (and the Sims lol). I think the NSMB-style co-op could make this an easier sell.

 

Aw, what a shame. I was looking forward to the co-op, but it sounds like it's not much different from Sonic 2.

I wish they could have offered 2P VS with split screen for the levels. (I know there's a battle mode, but the levels don’t seem that big for racing against each other).

 

Oh honey, I don't even remember making that comment, lol. Shacknews is literally the only source I've found to even mention split screen, and only in their website article. In their video interview with Iizuka, co-op isn't even a question that they ask to Iizuka.

So they just kind of made that up? I'm sorry I got your hopes up, but get mad at them, lol.

The guy says that in the actual intended environment of sitting on a couch with friends, instead of playing a demo with a random journalist, the co-op would probably work as intended and be fun.

I've played New Super Mario Bros., Kirby's Return to Dreamland, and Rayman Origins & Legends with friends; all 4-player co-op platformers, all using the shared screen setup, and all RIFE with the same problems that Gamexplain explained happens in Sonic Superstars.

Mario and Kirby are slower games and it happens, and Rayman is almost as fast as Sonic and MUCH harder and these problems happen A LOT. Those games all have "little brother" syndrome.

I expected what Gamexplain said about Superstars' co-op. I had no illusions that playing with people will be chaos. That's what I want!

As for the idea of split-screen, sure. It would fix this issue. Everyone has their own screen and thus doesn't have to worry about what other players are doing. That kind of ruins the point of being co-op, though.

Yeah, it's not fun that your little brother Tails falls behind big brother Sonic because he's better at the game and faster. But how is it better that any player even slightly better than you can finish the level before you even get past the first part?

If big brother Sonic beats the level, are they supposed to wait until the younger brother beats the level? Or will the game force them both to move on? If that's the case, then either the younger brother isn't playing the game or the big brother still has to slow themselves down.

Split screen isn't an elegant solution either. Gamexplain is right: co-op is just not a mode that's conductive to Sonic. But for me at least, and I know a lot of other people anticipate this, the chaos is the fun.

There is a racing battle mode, and since one of the battle stages is Press Factory, I assume that most if not all of the campaign levels are in battle mode.

 

Also, this is funny, but I think I found the other player that Gamexplain played with. Well, I joke, but he's confirming the same complaints about co-op.

https://www.vg247.com/sonic-superstars-gamescom-preview