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

I noticed you can't choose Steam for the Newsletter DLC.

 

Is there a way to get that subscription costume bonus on the site while choosing Steam as an option? Seems like it's left out of the choices on my end when it gives a selection for what platform you're intending on buying the game on.

EDIT: Missed JaxTH's post above mine whoops.

 

I am so hype for this. Cannot wait to see Fang's model.

 

Personally, I don’t mind grinding if it’s done well. Up until 06, it was an addition that felt very “Sonic” in the sense that it utilized physics to provide a fun movement option. The fun returned in Frontiers with the rail jumping, but it seems almost an incidental quirk of the engine rather than a deliberate choice.

If it functions similarly to rolling, in that you build up speed going down and lose it going up, I don’t really care that it’s here.

 

Realistically it’s probably gonna have physics that feel different from the MD games on basis of being a 3D engine. Maybe it’ll be better than Forces physics. The level design maybe won’t be up to snuff with S3&K. The PC version is probably gonna ship with Denuvo. They might announce a confusing DLC/package system like with Origins. The soundtrack might even use Jun Senoue’s cat soundfont from Sonic 4. It’s not going to be the greatest game of all time, no game is (although S3&K comes pretty close lel)

Yet, I’m excited. This looks awesome, and I appreciate that SEGA seems confident about the direction of both 3D and 2D Sonic now. As much as I would’ve liked a sprite-based Mania sequel, I can understand SEGA wanting to evolve/modernize 2D Sonic (again) in a way that it can stand alongside games like the NSMB and DKCR series.

 

I absolutely adored how grinding was handled in that classic sonic improved mod that just came out for generations. In that mod you could press down to roll down rails and gain additional speed. I would love to see that implemented in an official classic sonic game

 

I like what I see but I need to see someone playing it or get a demo, after how Sonic 4 burned me I can't trust Sega with 2D Sonic by default unless Taxman/Stealth are involved.

 

Not sure how I feel about this. Stylistically, I feel like I'm looking at the love-child of Sonic 4 and Sonic Origins.

...I'll wait and see what happens with very cautious optimism. And to that, definitely not a Day One purchase. For the rest of you, I do hope it satisfies your hype and expectations.

 

Not much info to be certain yet but its possible grinding might be an exclusive gimmick to that jungle zone since all the clips with grinding in it were only in there

I don't particularly mind anyways as long as they do something with it. Lost World HD's grinding levels come to mind, easily the best use of the mechanic since SA2. Doesn't have to be like that but at least something more involved than what Unleashed-onwards is doing.

 

It was cute when the joke was that it's dumb to treat the minute art style differences as actual different characters, but then people unironically used and still use "Santiago" to complain about 3D Classic Sonic and treated them as different characters...

Anyway, the game looks great. If anyone can point to the parts of the physics that look bad, I'd love to see it, but to me it looks accurate enough in all the ways it'll be fun. The only thing we haven't seen comprehensively is rolling, which admittedly is what Sonic 4 fucked up the most (somehow), so there is cause for concern.

But I'll say outright that even the look of Sonic's speed is better than 4 or even the modern games after Generations. The way Sonic moves, the way the camera follows him all hue closer to the Genesis games and make him feel fast.

A final note: people are complaining about automation but IIRC only one scene in the whole trailer has dash panels at all, and it's in that wide, foreground-to-background loop that would actually need some automation so the player doesn't fall in the void between layers.

 

There's a grand total of one rumor I might take stock in and it's that Sega of America had a number of job listings a bit ago with some saying this might be a US project rather than JP. We already know Sonic Team isn't 100% Sonic / Sonic Frontiers, but I have to wonder what's really going on under the hood here.

 

I have a pet theory about Superstars that it was developed closely alongside Origins and the Sonic Team involved on that game are making this one.

My evidence is how Amy in both games seem to play the same, the Orion logo looking incredibly similar to the Origins logo, and the closeness of development time.

 

I feel like I'm looking at a modern Sonic game with a classic coat of paint. I remember the Mania trailer, and I had instant confidence in the project the second it showed Whitehead was involved, I'm not getting that here, just mild despair. This feels like a spiritual successor to Sonic 4, and the 2d bits of Generations and Forces.

 

I asked about there being no Steam option and this was the answer from Katie, the social media manager.

At first that made me worried that the game might turn into an Epic exclusive despite the Steam logo on the trailer. But she made another response to another user:

Didn't want to keep bothering her with questions, but can't think why it's missing for Steam but not for Windows and Epic. Unless there's going to be another way to get it for it.

 

How many people who say this actually remember Sonic 4?

I recently watched a playthrough of Sonic 4--just a few minutes of Splash Hill--and it's astonishing how obviously and blatantly off it is in a way that clearly isn't the same for Superstars. I have no understanding how anyone could earnestly think they're the same.

And not only is Sonic 4 not like the Classic stages of Generations and Forces, but that's a bad comparison too. Classic Generations is in the realm of "actually good physics" (and good level design... and ORIGINAL level design...) and the bare minimum of what Superstars needs to achieve to be good itself.

I also notice that these comparisons always only think of Episode 1, when Episode 2 looks distinctly different and has improved physics as well.





And in motion, these games look and feel differently too.

 

I have to see full gameplay of it before I'm sure of anything. It looks like it may control better than Sonic 4, but by how much is the question. The level design having dashpanels everywhere in those few shots isn't very assuring, but we'll see...!

The new ideas, the character animations and the new stage concepts are cool. The lighting kinda gives everything this crusty rim-lighting and bloom though that makes it feel like I'm looking at a game from two gens ago. Like mobile game or 3DS or something. What's up with that?

At least co-op multiplayer is a slam dunk idea, props for that. Consider me interested, but not yet convinced.

 

The physics aren't everything to me. The level design actually being good in a game designed to allow for same-screen local co-op is my big concern, actually.

 

Can we appreciate for a moment how Sonic is relevant again to get a brand new announcements for new games on big events like Summer Game Fest? this has never really happened before, only vaguely recall sonic Free Riders getting an E3 announcement in 2010, and that's cause it was one of the handful games for the gimmicky kinect hardware at the time

 

I definitely appreciate their confidence. While I was making that big post up there, I also decided to watch the first trailer for Sonic 4--there was only like 3 seconds of actual gameplay. And it's Sonic running in a corkscrew. And after all the hype about "only Sonic playable" and "Sonic like you've never knew him before"!

So having Sonic be the highlight of SGF according to many people online is quite the step up.

 

If we're going to bring in comparisons to marketing and confidence, Sonic 4: Episode I literally premiered with three seconds of footage and a official title announcement after five months of nothing but a codename and PR community campaign games. Forces' gameplay debut had thirty seconds of Sonic running in a straight line, after eight months of nothing but a CG trailer.

As someone who has railed against the marketing strategies of past Sonic games--I likewise don't have an immediate affirmation of a good MD game in the works, like with Mania's premiere. But Superstars' reveal is for me far and away better than the above dogshit. That Sega kept this as a surprise reveal for SGF, instead of another event specifically targeted towards the Sonic community, I'd also say is a fairly confident move inof itself.