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

Random thought. I don't think we've had extra lives confirmed and I don't think anyone else has even brought it up. I think the fruit or the medals might be trying to fill in for that?
If anything is possible, I might even say that the fruit serves a purpose with some form of a-life system (not necessarily Chao, but maybe there's something unseen they're doing with saved animals in this game.)

If other people are going to do it, I might as well too.

 

Actually, Palas made an observation based on the apparent lack of lives and the knock-on effects of that choice. Medallions have had a place in Mania and unlocked little things depending on how many are earned. It may be that they function similarly in this context as well. As for the fruit, we can see it represented in the Capsules at the end of Zones/certain Acts by way of a sort of roulette mechanism. The reward may be some kind of point bonus or the like. Image attached for reference.

 

I'm pretty certain lives are just gone from the series at this point. Superstars has no extra live counter in the HUD and impressions haven't mentioned them, Forces and Frontiers don't have them, and even Origins axed them out of the older titles. Whether this is a good or bad thing is up for debate, but I'd say it's unlikely we'll ever see lives return unless we get Mania 2 or something.

 

The possibility exists for a "marathon mode" of sorts to include them. It's a small possibility, but it is there.

More games should embrace lives again imo. Modern classics like Doom Eternal have integrated them well, so it can be done without feeling dated.

 

It would neat to have unlockable costumes, songs or art and stuff with the Medals because I can't really figure how any of the Fruits and Medals factor into an extra-life-less, infinite tries Sonic game otherwise. Something like the fruits I can see going into a score attack kind of approach but they opened the door for costumes with the Modern Amy newsletter thing.

 

That may be my favorite one so far! Other than the rather long percussion intro the form works really well


Re: lives I forget the name of the outlet (it was the one where the player was pretty bad at the game), but he mentioned there are no lives, but maybe that's just for the demo. There's probably a good chance they add a "classic mode" with lives for whoever wants that, but I think it'd be neat if a 2D Sonic game experimented with some other way of imposing challenge on the player. I've been playing a lot of modded Celeste, and that game obviously has no lives, but even for the easier maps there are ways to IMPOSE your own challenges beyond simply clearing a map. Something as simple as giving the player a Platinum Medal or a Golden Fruit for clearing a stage without taking damage is such a great incentive, or rewarding them for getting a certain time like Frontiers' Cyberspace missions.

 

Lives definitely have their place but they are a little bit pointless in a game that presumably autosaves between acts. Just losing your checkpoint isn't much of a punishment for losing all your lives. I agree though there needs to be some kind of 'classic'/marathon mode with lives (and maybe no saving?) and since Origins had something similar there's really no excuse. This could actually be an opportunity for more challenging level design since death has been officially made so much less punishing. That might be wishful thinking from nu-ST but it certainly would help it still feel like a classic platformer despite the infinite lives. The more aggressive enemies seem to indicate that it won't be a baby-easy NSMB affair at least.

 

You know a good way of doing "retro" music and it being modernized at the same time? Something like both Undertale and Deltarune soundtrack did.

But I still want the soundtrack to sound something like Sonic CD and Sonic 3D Blast Saturn, because the soundtrack of these games counts as "classics".

 

Everyone keeps saying how they can't wait for Trip to turn good and be playable in a series desperately lacking in recurring villains. I hope Trip is all cute and awkward but unapologetically evil. I hope the reason he trips is because the natural state for his legs is kicking puppies rather than walking.

 

IGN preview impressions

They liked it.
(they thought the game was kinda challenging, and that one of the bosses was pretty hard)

 

Difficulty was something I was silently curious about, since one thing I haven't seen in any trailer or gameplay is a bottomless pit, or even Sonic getting hit that much.

 

Based on the bosses they've shown off, are we sure this isn't a Game Journo Moment™? Because those bosses looked like they were made for actual burbling, cooing, covered-in-spit-up babies.

 

Huh, is that the "Sonic was never good" guy in this video?

 

Yes.
There was recently a video where some other guy from IGN confronted him about that, and he apologized.

 

More like he was never good (at the game) if he considers the classic games the "harder" of the old platformers.

Sonic games were so much more forgiving than many titles. It was only the lack of a save system (and the no rings final bosses) that ever made S1/S2 a serious challenge.

 

https://twitter.com/TailsChannel/status/1667269452478533632

...I realize I'm a little late on this, but both of Amy's jumps spin the hammer around her? All the time? Maybe I'm nitpicking, but that feels both excessive and overly simple. I would've rather seen the hammer spin relegated to just her double jump. (Then, if I wanted to get fancy, I'd make the hammer ball bounce further off of springs as an Advance callback, or maybe let it badnik bounce off of the ground.)

 

Huh, just found the video where he apologizes and I actually think he handled that well. Now it is kinda funny in hindsight that he did first impressions on Sonic Superstars 5 months later, perhaps a little too eager to win Sonic Fans; favor for IGN, but I will give Mr. Altano props for actually apologizing for that comment.

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As far as my thoughts on Superstars, I didn't think I would want this over Mania 2 but it looks really fun! I'm looking forward to playing it!

 

Even if this isn't as good as Mania, at least it will be more novel. All brand new levels and mechanics will make for a much more memorable experience, even if Mania's raw level design was nigh perfect.

 

Like I said before, it's a co-op game. And with the characters already getting unique abilities that compliment their solo play, it'd kinda suck if you had to keep up with everyone else in a Sonic game and you were dealing with alternate physics and weirder controls for one character since Knuckles already has his gimped jumps presumably. No one wants to be the Super Mario 3D World Toad, or have a Rosalina everyone wants to steal the slot for.

Plus since she's lacking a manual attack, the Hammer is effectively Amy's spin attack justification in Classic terms I guess, so whatever works.

 

Tails is already a much bigger problem in that regard than Advance Amy would be. How is anyone supposed to keep up with his flight?