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

It's similar, but different. The Superstars version has asymmetrical eyes (one round, one cross), no lips, and different detailing on the hat. They could just both coincidentally be based on the same type of clown. But the head could also be from one of Pinball Carnival Zone's Badniks (along with the pumpkin head), so maybe the game will have a slightly redesigned version of the Juggling enemy.

 

Want to pre-order it on Steam, but know if I do, they'll add Denuvo to it after I pre-order. I am simply going to wait and hope I'm wrong.

 

The EULA already states the game has Denuvo. It's probably not on the Steam page yet since the game has not released.

 

I missed that. I'm not up to date with Sonic news these days.

I always thought After the Sequel made a great follow up to the OG trilogy. I haven't played it in a while, I'll have to dig it out. Fresh zone ideas and a fantastic soundtrack. And to be honest, I had more fun playing it than Mania. It made me feel that sense of wonder of what the next zone was going to look like, I haven't got that from a Sonic game in years, I pretty much know all the tropes they are going to use now before I've even seen anything.

Most people here seem to be excited about Superstars so I might grab it on switch. I've still got to play frontiers at some point...

 

I'm super excited about the multiplayer. Yes we've had multiplayer on quite a few Sonic Games but other than SA2B I wouldn't consider any of them to be good. Sonic 2 had 4 stages, Sonic 3 had 3 with bad aspect ratios. Sonic Heroes had like three and they were like 30% of the full levels etc. So Superstars having 4-player coop in every level plus an 8-player battle mode is super exciting. I hope it's fun.

Also pre-ordering digital games is stupid and the fact that Sega is offering a couple skins as incentive is an indictment on the gaming community as a whole.

 

This Asia collector's edition looks pretty nice..

 

Just a friendly heads up: when you post news like this, you've should really include a source and the full breadth information. It's kind of rude not to do so because you'll just leave people with questions.

The Collectors Edition was mentioned in a recent update on the SEGA Asia page for Superstars.

At present, there's nowhere to order this edition. However, it will very likely be available via the ebten SEGA store, just as the Colours Ultimate and Frontiers collector's editions were.

A DX version is currently listed on ebten, and I guess that it'll soon update to have "Collectors Edition" and "Collector's Edition + DX Content" options, again as per previous games.

If you're interested in importing any version of the game from Japan, I'd recommend using Zen Market. I used them for both Colours Ultimate and Frontiers.

 

Finally! I knew I couldn’t have been the first to notice this! No one else was talking about it. They totally snuck in the Act 2 music!!

 

Act 1 was a decent bop. Act 2 is an absolute banger. Jun got in there with his electric guitar and man it just works. When the guy plays to his strengths and has partners like Tee to work with on arrangements and mastering, he can't lose.

 

I'm going to have to agree to disagree, I actually quite like the visuals of Superstars.
Wonder looks much better than the awful visual style of the other NSMB games but imo it's upgraded from looking like plastic to now looking like a modern mobile game, I still kind of don't care for it's visual flair at all, imo DK Country Returns and the Rayman games already did that type of 2d-3d hybrid stuff much better.

 

I'm still don't get people being all head over heels for Wonder. Sure it looks fun, but it doesn't look all that different from NSMB. Just NSMB on acid.

 

Is this game going to have a Plus version in a year?

 

I mean, NSMB was "Mario 3 on Oatmeal" , so I think "NSMB on acid" is a great pitch for a game.

 

Well, NSMB (NSMBU specifically) is to me some of the best Mario games ever, and if it takes it being pretty for people to realize that, so be it.

Though I'm sure a lot of people don't even recognize how similar Wonder fundamentally is to NSMB. It's crazy what different graphics would do.

But then again, Superstars is pretty much Mania 2, but people think otherwise simply because it isn't sprite-based.

 

Superstars is very much Not Mania 2 and that's the whole point of its existence.

 

The point of Superstars' existence is a new 2D Classic Sonic. The major difference between it and Mania is original levels (which I do not consider to be part of Mania's identity, per se, like having remixed levels is for Generations) and a change in art style, which even the developers agree make it Not Mania 2, but that was my point: a change in art style can be enough to be considered a new game, even if the core is the same.

 

So co-op, a completely new character, fundamental changes to the progression loop, brand new abilities that have absolutely nothing to do with any previous gameplay philosophy don't make a completely new game? Because then any possible new 2D platformer with Sonic in it would be Mania 2 to you.

 

None of those make Superstars any less of a sequel to the original quadrilogy, to say nothing of Mania, which is itself a sequel to the original games.

Superstars pushes the envelope further than Mania, but not pushing the envelope is not necessarily Mania's identity. When people say that Superstars isn't Mania 2, they don't mention Emerald Powers or a single new character, they mention the different art style and the change in development team.

If Superstars kept everything it already has but was sprite-based and called "Mania 2", no one would disagree.

Wonder has a whole new different art style as well as a metric ton of other changes from NSMB, but qwertysonic is not wrong at all to call it NSMB on acid.

 

Well I'm people and I'm saying not going out of its way to include mechanics like lives, and including individual emerald powers, things that Mania either could have done or even did later on, do make Superstars Not Mania 2 by principle. Not pushing some envelopes is indeed the direction they specifically wanted for Mania and specifically didn't want for Superstars:



"Let's not to the Mania thing of reusing stuff," said Iizuka, the man who specifically wanted Mania to reuse stuff. Also,



"The game was created from zero", meaning they actively didn't want to use anything from other games, Mania included, to make it. If Superstars kept everything it had but was sprite-based and was named Mania 2, it would've been made for a completely different reason to the reason it actually was made. So it's hard to argue it would keep everything it does have. It's a useless thought experiment.

 

Here's some off-screen gameplay of Superstars at Gamescom. They're not allowing recording or photography at the SEGA booth, but I guess the Nintendo booth missed the e-mail.

Also, if you listen closely, you can hear the Nintendo Direct theme music in Speed Jungle Act 1.