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

Jun: I sorry. Here’s a little bit of Death Egg Zone.

 

It’s nice of them to have tracks of what Genesis style music could sound like in this game without Jun, they all sound catchy and fresh then you have one of his tracks in the middle where it’s a nonstop barrage of that snare.

 

Metacritic score is in the green now, at 75.

 

Something we need to learn once and for all is that SEGA will not show footage in which they're not confident. As in: if they showed it, it's final. I can't remember one single recent instance of SEGA showing beta tracks, beta level design, beta renders or beta artwork in the promotional material. So if you see something you think is shoddy in official videos or the like before the game releases or leaks and you come here to post "I don't think the final asset will look or sound like that", I'll refer you to this post because yes, yes it will absolutely look or sound like that in the end.

 

Man's right. Went from 71, 74, and now it's a 75!



Of course that's not really saying much when you consider:

NSMB DS - 89 (Reviewers) / 8.6 (Users)
NSMB Wii - 87 (Reviewers) / 8.3 (Users)
NSMB2 - 78 (Reviewers) / 7.1 (Users)
NSMBU - 84 (Reviewers) / 8.0 (Users)
NSMBU Deluxe - 80 (Reviewers) / 7.0 (Users)

But hey, it'll get better eventually.

 

A Sonic game in the green is a win for me.

This game doesn't need to be the greatest thing ever, I just want to have fun. And all signs indicate to me that it will be fun. I'm excited!

 

Looks like I'm going on blackout these last few days, haven't read the last page or so here.

I am interested in seeing what did come of the "some zones only have 1 act, some have more". I've been suspecting that there never were any genuine 3-act zones, but instead that comment is excused by the handful of zones with a character-exclusive act.

Since the "fruit" acts appear to be more like auto-scroll bonus stages, I'm not counting them on the same scale as things like Bridge Island Act 1.

So I'm thinking that the game's total number of real acts that all 4 characters can play still has a good chance of ending up at something less than 24. Just wanted to say that for the record heh. Hope I'm wrong. I'll see on the 17th.

... If I buy it. Honestly, that price point is nonsense. $95 AUD. That's like AAA huge-fan open world Horizon Zero Dawn/Cyber Punk/The Witcher kind of pricing.

Meanwhile EA Sports WRC, out in a few weeks, costs $60 AUD, and that is a monster of content wrapped around the refined experience of a dev team with decades of expertise in the field. Cities Skylines II, with all its complexity, releasing in a week also for $60 AUD.

But Sonic... a 2D title looking not quite as good as something 10 years old, made by a team that's basically in this "give 'em a chance" phase... $95 here. I'm currently trying to anticipate how much my experience will be dampened by the feeling of "Well, that price was undeserved", should something big-ish go bad while I play.

So for now, I'm undecided and I see I'm lacking the eagerness. I think in the last couple of months, the concerns (or managed expectations) that have popped up just haven't been swept aside by any big show stopper to balance things. Hell, I don't even feel conviction that the zones aren't gonna be too small. There's nothing to say they will be (though, for a 2nd zone, SJZ1 is pretty brief), but there's been nothing to say they won't be either. We just don't know how the devs will go with this. The Sonic franchise as a whole very rarely fails to disappoint, and Superstars' features and marketing betray a passion, imo, for selling points more than the game. I see that I am suspicious of cut corners, just in general ways. Thus the act count blurb I wrote above. Or the apprehension about act length. Will level design really get there? The phasey bosses, the lack of creativity in some emerald powers, the co-op hype when we know 2D Sonic just doesn't embrace single-screen co-op well... all don't help.

Ok I'll leave it there. Clearly just having a vent now. Not enough faith in the team, or the IP. Not enough solidly convincing evidence to overcome concerns. For $95.

 

You know it's funny how Frontiers started with high 70 scores and gradually dropped to its current place, bit Superstars is experiencing the opposite of starting low and gradually rising.

 

A metaphor or something, idk

 

Your point is prescient, but I need to be a smartass:

I wonder what she's doing now...

 

Seems like someone found a discarded print of the PC version's physical box a few weeks ago, but the post seems to have gone unnoticed. It confirms that the physical version comes with a Steam code (thank god, was worried it was going to be Epic), and that it's region locked to Europe (unfortunate). No mention of Denuvo (though I doubt they would anyway if it had it) or whether the preorder bonuses are included.

 

I've changed my mind about the physics. They're basically perfect. I'm pretty sure the air drag thing was just Ryujinx stuttering, because when I switched to the more stable Yuzu it ran perfectly and the air drag felt much better.

I took a break after dying to the final boss. Here are my very abridged thoughts. There's no real spoilers here, but it's tagged just in case.

Spoiler

The first four zones - Bridge Island, Speed Jungle, the third zone, and Pinball Carnival - are by far the game's strongest. All of these levels showcase large, expansive levels, clever platforming, fun gimmicks, and banger music. Special shout-out to the third zone, it has very hands-on gimmicks that require you to think about what you're doing.

The 5th zone is where things get a little dicey. The middle portion of the game feels noticeably lower-quality than what precedes and follows it. Level design starts to get more difficult, at times frustratingly so. The 5th, 6th, and 7th (kinda) levels feel a little undercooked and uninteresting compared to the rest of the game - you'd have to play them to understand what I mean. They're still solid, just not quite as good as the ones before.

The 7th and 8th zones are where things get really wacky, and will probably be the make-or-break moment for many people. This is where the game starts to get HARD, both in good and bad ways. The game asks quite a lot of you in terms of platforming and reaction time, and if you can't keep up, you'll be left in the dust. I also think this part of the game has some of the most interesting levels - the game does some pretty weird shit, and it's a nice breath of fresh air. Thankfully the lack of lives makes dying in a level not too punishing. This does NOT extend to the boss fights - these are difficult and have no checkpoints.

All this culminates in a final zone that might be one of the best and most creative in the series. Difficult, complex platforming, quick reaction times, interesting gimmicks, and a wicked boss fight. I had a big smile on my face the whole time, and was easily a highlight of my playthrough.

I get the sense that this game was frontloaded. The outer two thirds of this game are quite good, but you can tell they ran out of steam at some point. The presentation is VERY inconsistent, especially when it comes to sound. The sound mixing is rather dire, and in the middle portion of the game the music sorta drives off a cliff. It's not BAD, but you'll understand when you hear it.

The big takeaway from my playthrough is that this isn't a good entry point for the series. This game is almost expert-level in its difficulty, and personally, that is a very good thing. This is a platformer's Sonic game, as redundant as that sounds. Don't go into this expecting a traditional classic Sonic game, because this game breaks all sorts of conventions for the series. Go into this with an open mind, and be willing to change how you play. This game is not trying to be "another Sonic Mania". It's its own thing.

If you're a big classic Sonic fan, you'll probably get your money's worth. For anyone else, I am hesitant to recommend this at $60. This game is a lot harder than I think anyone expected, and doesn't do a good job getting newbies up to speed. Classic Sonic games are also relatively short - I'd say this game is somewhere between Sonic 2 and S3K for a normal playthrough.

If you're on the fence, I'd say wait for a price drop. If you're a big fan of classic Sonic who wants to play what may be the most difficult game in the classic series, you'll have fun. I had a ton of fun with the game, despite its shortcomings, and I'm very excited to see where the future of classic Sonic goes.

 

Sonic Superstars joins Sonic Frontiers: The Final Horizon on the "why the fuck is this so hard, I mean I kinda like it but kids play this game ffs" bus

 

I’m honestly super excited to hear we’re getting a challenging entry after I found Mania waaaay too easy.

I was scared they were gonna make the game even easier since this seems to be targeting a more casual audience; nice to know it’s not the case. Reviewers taking off points because of the difficulty would probably upset me if I had any respect for them left in me…but that’s thankfully not the case lol

My copy has been preordered for a while, hopefully it’ll show up on time on release day. Can’t wait!

 

They really said

 

I'm pretty sure Battle Mode hits differently when you're home alone and bored as hell. The gang awaits you.

 

This is surprising, I didn't see ShopTo or Hit selling physical PC versions. Also, the Eggman render on the back of the box looks pretty nice.

 

I'm starting to see more Superstars videos recommended on youtube. Was trying to avoid seeing Trip's identity...and just got spoiled-saw it on a youtube thumbnail

 

I still feel annoyed at those bushes that slow you down, there just to cap your speed instead of making a layout that will control it for you, it's like placing boosters before speed sections in terms of bad design.

 

Like the good ol days