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

A Plus DLC for this game is kind of inevitable but it'll be wild if it costs as much as Origins Plus considering this is already a $60 game, but really I just hope the additions are actually meaningful.

 

So I'm judt doing my first playthrough of this game and it slaps, but dear god

Spoiler

Some of these boss battles. Why even give me rings if 99% of the time dying in just the wrong spot means instant death anyhow? Looking at you, frozen base.

 

I must be sounding like a broken record at this point, but damn. The issues with the boss battles in this game are absolutely palpable. Some people don't seem to mind them too much, but most people clearly finding them to be a huge detriment.

Honestly, the bosses are putting me off replaying the game. Sure, I can just play the levels and quit out at the boss fights, but that's breaking the flow. It's just such a shame that almost every level ends with such a low point. Some of the fights are fine, and some can be breezed through with Avatar. Super transformation also exists. But the entire process of cheesing fights just ain't fun, and they almost all last for far, far far too long..

 

Oh, I don't buy that. Every single Sonic game ever, and I mean ever, is full of new and zany ideas, some of them being divisive. Sonic 2 had Super Sonic! Cool! But you have no choice but to transform once you get 50 rings; Sonic 3&K has everything from the barrel in Carnival Night to every stage in the first half having water to Sandopolis' ghosts; Sonic CD has the time travel mechanic; I suppose Mania can be let off the hook for reflecting upon the franchise's history and very consciously building on these ideas, but the philosophy behind boss design already wasn't that well received in 2017. if anything, every single game would suffer from that syndrome and Sonic 1 is the most concise, well-constructed one.

This should probably be in the unpopular opinion thread, but there you go.

 

I honestly didn't make much use of the abilities to be fair, and that's on me. And yea, most of the bosses are fine - I REALLY enjoyed the last one - it was challenging but fair. But the two SCD metal sonic-but-missing-the-point levels were a bit much. The frustration for me was being completely unable to recover if hit.

I'm definitely gonna keep playing, just unlocked Trip! But am gonna give myself a little time.

FWIW, I really appreciate the emerald abilities. It gave me something new to try to master, but I beat the main game fine without them.

 

What are the odds of a "Sonic Superstars Plus", there isn't an incentive like the prior attempts.

Mania Plus exists for the sake of a physical copy, expanding content, and QoL Updates.

Origins Plus exists for the sake of a physical copy, expanding content (Gamegear Games), and QoL Updates.

Frontiers Updates exist due to the success of Frontiers. Allowing them to expand content and QoL Updates.

Superstars already has a physical copy, so at most you'd get Fang + Encore Mode alongside QoL Updates (Boss Checkpoints would bump the universal score of the game by one point lmao)

 

There is always room for more DLC to sell if it can make enough money.
You can guess QoL Updates, new fruit acts or character exclusive acts, act 2 when there is only 1 act, sound test and other concept arts unlockables with medals...

 

Yeah, I'd price it at forty. I didn't feel ripped-off when Forces cost that much and this game is certainly more substantive than that.

 

I think I paid full price for it and had no regrets. I'm almost tempted to double-dip on Switch at 30 or less, though!

 

Knowing the price was significantly reduced not long after release, I actually do regret buying it at full price - I already had Super Mario Bros. Wonder arriving around a similar time (which, incidentally, I managed to get a fair bit cheaper than full price thanks to a pre-order deal in my region) which I've since very much enjoyed, so in retrospect I'd have been quite content to go through that first while waiting for Superstars to be reduced a month or so down the line.

I don't think I'd have these regrets if the post-game stuff was as strong as the main Story Mode campaign - the main stages were good fun even though the overall experience wasn't as strong as Mania, but everything after that has dragged my opinion of the game down a bit to be honest. When I do eventually end up revisiting it, sufficing to say it's the initial Story Mode stages and the Time Attack mode that I'll be choosing to spend my time on.

 

Now that I have replayed the game 6 times (with every character), I can say that the more I play it, the more enjoyable it gets. I learned all bosses patterns the hard way, and this helps immensely: I can defeat them first try and quickly enough, without losing rings, and even take some risky hits when you know when to strike them. They are still a bit too long to defeat because of useless animations, but they are not that an issue anymore. I think at least, you should be able to hit a boss anytime and anywhere not harmful without having a "OMG I'M HURT" invincibility time and stupid animation playing. The worse is that this resets his current pattern! Make him flash and be angry, while going along what he is doing, just like the classic games.

Also, I modded the game for QoL things that you may consider:
- Giant rings acts like in S3&K where you can enter Special Stages until you have all emeralds, no matter if you collect several in a zone. After all emeralds are collected, you are granted 50 rings.
- Giant rings play the legacy giant ring sound.
- Rings monitors play the ring sound as they should.
- The first annoying boss music is replaced with the later boss music (the one starting at Press Factory zone 2).

 

All welcome improvements, although l'll be honest and say that I appreciate the ability to keep returning to Special Stages in Superstars. None of the other games have offered that ability, and Superstars have plenty of layouts to encourage it. The Special Stages may not be a contender for the best, but they're still fun.

 

My prediction.

Superstars Plus comes with a new story mode for Fang with a new moveset that genuinely pushes the game in a new direction. Fang also uses his Mech for his Super form and it is really dumb but fun.

It has a few new stages for his story which are unique. Not just blue Green Hill. Similar to Golden Capital.

The other recycled stages are updated in meaningful ways to focus upon his new movement options.

All boss fights take fifteen hits and the final boss insta kills you with every move. Takes 10 minutes to beat. When Fang dies, there's an unskippable animation of him kneeling in defeat and the game puts in big letters YOU ARE A LOSER, GAME OVER.

If you quit at the final boss, the game deletes your Fang save. Knuckles laughs. He's not patched.

 

Don't threaten me with a good time.

 

I understand. You are right, they are still fun.
But the reward is pointless at least to me as I don't play battle mode. I don't find the medals useful at all. As such, giant rings only break the flow just like starposts bonus stages. I very rarely enter them for the same reason. To replay, I usually delete a saved game and restart from scratch (only one saved game remain fully cleared).

 

I still use the Starposts too, because the bonus stages are also fun. The rewards for doing so are 100% worthless because battle mode sucks, but sometimes the rewards aren't the only important part. It's entirely a matter of preference however.

Big rings offering an immediate 50 rings for Super transformation has anyways been a big OP, arguably. But if the Special and Bonus stages rewarded you with rings and other items that could balance the system. That's not a simple QOL change though. And I reckon that most people don't want to replay the Superstars Special and Bonus stages as much as I do.

I really do hope that the next game can make special and bonus stages more relevant to the base gameplay by offering rewards ala S3K and Mania Encore. And somehow making the transition between them and the regular levels more seamless would go a great way to maintaining the flow of the game. The little warp portals in Superstars that take you those flying sections with rings are a step in the right direction, except they kinda suck.

 

That's true, but I feel that the bosses in this game would have balanced that out, at least a bit. Having a relatively easy way to build up bigger masses of rings in the stage that way would be a welcome tool at the player's disposal all things considered.

 

Flop of the Century is still selling.

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It actually went up a rank this week. Despite the game not making SEGA's launch target numbers (whatever those are), the game is a consistent seller in the US.

 

Did anyone say it was a flop? I remember myself just being happy games like Spider-Man 2 and Super Mario Wonder which cared about pushing the industry forward with new and progressive ideas sold more than Superstars.

If anything the fact this game is selling so well despite its many flaws (boss design, difficulty, pacing) should be considered a bad thing by anyone who actually cares about Sonic as SEGA just got proof they can release games of this quality for $60 and still make a lot of money.

I love Sonic and want it to be great and have amazing games that people find to be masterpieces and I won't apologize for that.