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

That's a whole lot of words to pointlessly defend some difficulty balancing issues that probably could've been fixed with a few hours worth of programming tweaks and testing.

The problems with superstars are straight up poor design choices and balancing issues with a handful of bosses. Those few incidents are so bad they bring down the entire package, which is quite tragic since there's still a lot of good inside it.

Arguably, some people felt the same way about Sonic CD's bosses as well (Collison Chaos has a very annoying boss that's very difficult to beat in a rush consistently even for a skilled player, Metallic Madness 3 has one of the game's only death pit, but it's implemented quite poorly with a very annoying crusher), but this is much more egregious.

Because they seem to have 0 intention to ever fix the issue, I will probably almost never replay the game from start to finish.

You're not alone. I haven't touched the game in months because of these problems, which is a damned shame considering it 'should' be something I rank up there with the other classics. Mania was something I played regularly for a long time after launch despite 'also' having issues with the recycled levels. Why? Because it was fun to replay from start to finish and not so difficult that it negated most of my skill with random chance (like the final boss of superstars does).

 

Defend? Surely you jest. It's just that the reality we live in is one in which they won't fix these issues and it's pointless to hope for Sonic Games That Drive The Industry Forward, let alone by way of decrying the sales the game did get. Which by the way wouldn't come with polish or just... fixing issues. Making bosses not-annoying wouldn't make it Sonic Wonder. And at this point it really doesn't matter.

 

Or, you know, we could just point out these issues (in a civil way, mind you) and hope they get patched and fixed over time, or in the next game like...

Oh, I don't know.

What happens in a lot of major titles these days? Including other Sonic ones like Frontiers. Hell, even Origins.

SEGA actually does listen to feedback and fix issues. I don't know if they'll do so in this case since it's more of a design choice, but they've done it before.

 

Sonic Superstars didn't fully commit to the idea of bringing a banger new 2D Sonic game to the folks. To me, that's the cardinal sin. The second-biggest flaw is that it's not consistently polished. And finally: the replayability is a bit lacking. Let's face it, grinding for medals sucks. The robot parts are just not worth it. They're overpriced as hell.

They can keep working on it, but they can't patch the basic vision. That would be just silly.

As for the rest, I think I can see what they were going for. I don't mind the bosses or Emerald Powers at all. They have their charm.

 

We're talking about different things. It's one thing to point out that a game has a major problem in what it's trying to do. Frontiers got patched to hell and back, but it didn't have much to do with how much it sold, now did it? It's something else entirely to wish for Sonic to be something else/do something else and point out the (good) sales of current game as sme sort of a roadblock. To call for Sonic to "think forward" or have "new and progressive ideas" like the cream f the crop does, which has very little to do with, I don't know, a quality of life update like big rings giving 50 rings after you get all the Chaos Emeralds.

Like you said, these were design choices. They might change it, I don't know. But wanting these things t be changed is still in a completely different league from the idea that SEGA or Sonic Team are creatively held back by their own relative success. The purpose of the system is what it does.

 

@Palas I'm only responding now to make my words clear. I don't need Sonic to always be the cream of the crop or the freshest thing out there.

Sonic Froniters and Sonic Mania are neither respectively (Frontiers ain't cream of the crop and Mania literally reuses levels) but they're both consistently entertaining games that frustrate me way less than Superstars did.

I just want decent games as the lowest bar right now during this period of franchise recovery. Especially when you're charging full price for them.

Superstars problems like the boss design and unfair difficultly at points are too hard for me to ignore for me to consider it to be decent. Again, others might disagree and some might even think these are the best bosses in the entire franchise but I'd argue they're divisive enough amongst fans for this not to be a smart direction to continue pushing this design in.

I don't need Sonic to have Mario Wonder level games for me to enjoy them. Dream Team wasn't that and I put 20 hours into it because it was at the very least GOOD. That's all I want. Something that's consistently enjoyable from beginning to end with the annoying parts not putting me fully out the game.

I don't think that's too much to ask for either.

 

If you don't want to buy mediocre games because you have limited time and/or money I think that's fair enough. Also if you just aren't interested, fair. But I think the 'don't buy a mediocre game to force the developer to improve the franchise' mentality is fundamentally misguided. The common mantra that if you keep buying bad games they'll never change and if you don't buy the games the company will be forced to give in to fan feedback. Simply not true. Hitman Absolution was a success and sold over 3 million copies. But IO Interactive still listened to fan feedback and changed the game fundamentally. World of Assassination was way better not because their hand was forced but because they actually listened to feedback. Similarly, Crash Bandicoot was on a steep decline after Wrath of Cortex and Activision kept that franchise on a nosedive regardless. Totally disregarded fan feedback for a decade. You get exceptions like Activision backpedalling on Star Wars Battlefront 2's microtransactions. But usually these changes are marketing and monetisation related rather than artistic in nature. And that was an unusual win.

As @Palas has said, most publishers and shareholders are ultimately guided by profits. I know it sounds cliche, but I think it also is related to our powerlessness more than we think. Publishers aren't necassarily evil, I'm not demonising them, but it's always essential to remember that their decisions are not always even done in good logical business sense never mind artistic sense. I mean SEGA are great examples. Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed was a great sales success and SEGA did...nothing. Not until Team Sonic Racing a decade later. Sonic Mania was a great success and...SEGA didn't manage to make a follow up. The corporate decisions are outside of our hands and there really is very little we can do about it. If the publishers and producers decide to listen to us, then that is great. But I think it's a foolish endeavor to try and force their hand artistically by not buying certain games.

Ultimately, if a company like SEGA wants to release something they will. It's unlikely we will be a big factor in their decision. And in many ways that's actually how it should be. Games should be made for artistic reasons that take risks, not simply shaped upon marketing research.

 

All of you guys have these introspective thoughts on all this meanwhile I just thought it was like an aight 7.5-8/10 experience.

Like I'd say it's around Mega Man 11 / Pac-World: Re-PAC cause I played those lol

 

I got a new copy of the game last December for 40€ (the shop had a promotion or something going on)... and I still think it's too much for that game.

The experience is... mediocre, sometimes decent at best.

Glitchy, sometimes boring, graphically just ok. Even a bit dull. Just trying to play safe, I guess.

Bosses, as was discussed here, are the worst point of the game. They take too much time, especially the last ones. And the difficulty ! Metal Fang took me literally 5 hours to beat, and I've beaten it by luck !

Musics are ok but honestly forgettable. Even Sonic 4 had more memorable tunes.

No elemental shields... instead we get that stupid magnet that doesn't even protect you.

Trip is a welcome addition to the classic cast, that was lacking female protagonists, but her gameplay needs to be more explored.

I did not even finish the Last story. The Metal Fang fight burnt me off the game. I tried 2-3 times against that dragon and gave up. This game will not be as fondly remembered as S3K.

 

The fact that the bosses are large sponges, specially the last ones,
kills any desire for me to touch the game ever again. Re-released or not.

 

Thank god for Sonic Mania, right guys?

 

I think the odds of it are decent considering they’ve been holding back releasing the soundtrack, it’s very odd that they haven’t said a peep about it yet so it feels to me that they’re holding it back so it can release with any possible DLC/Plus tracks.

 

Mania is a sign God has abandoned us and Superstars is a sign Jesus has surprisingly loose pull in heaven in his absence.

 

I’m honestly thinking about getting a mini desktop to play this on because my current laptop is unpredictable. It sometimes plays the game great, other times slow and choppy as hell ESPECIALLY during the bosses. I haven’t picked it up again since I got to Lagoon City Act 2. Meanwhile Generations runs smooth as silk.

 

So, what's everyone's favourite zone in this game? Usually I think seems to be at least somewhat obvious what the most popular levels in a Sonic game will be. Strong openings like City Escape, iconic marketing like Studiopolis and memorable set pieces like in Ice Cap all regularly push levels to the tops of favourite lists. And applicable to each of those examples and many, many more levels would be standout music. But little comes to mind with regards to Superstars. As much as I like the game, not a lot of it really grabs you and gets exciting, at lest not without some significant drawbacks. My thoughts below:

Bridge Island: Run of the mill Green Hill clone. It's perfectly fine. Nothing amazing.

Speed Jungle: Act 1 has a fun layout and fantastic music. Act Sonic gets dragged by Fang's awful music, and Act 2 has the darkness gimmick that people seem to hate (even though personally I'd say it's entirely inconsequential to gameplay). Maybe it's some peoples' favourite?

Sky Temple: One of the better zones in the game and the breakout gimmick is fun, but it's sadly just a single act.

Pinball Carnival: I think that this one may get vote? Two solid acts with excellent music and fun gimmicks. Nothing stands out mechanically about the zone, but at least the haunted theme of Act 2 is a welcome twist to the otherwise bland visuals. It's got two very inoffensive bits fights as well.

Lagoon City: It's Hydrocity Lite. The only thing remarkable is the adorable ending to Amy's act (and a great show of her character) and the stellar Act 2 music that categorically does not suit the level at all.

Sand Sanctuary: Great music and a nice deep cut callback with the giant snake appearing throughout the level. But it's so derivative and uncreative as far as dessert levels go. And that horrible, awful boss fight...

Press Factory: Maybe this is a hot take, but I think this is another favorite of mine. I genuinely love the gimmick of act 1. Generally though, the gimmicks is both acts seem to frustrate people and hear about everyone likens the act 1 music to the infamous Spinball Options theme.

Golden Capital: The fact that it's based on S1 concept art means that it should be the standout zone of Superstars. The gravity gimmick in act 1 is trippy and there's so much satisfaction to be found in collecting hundreds of runs. It's really feels like something that fans should love. But the music is horrific, lots of people seem frustrated by the fact that it's the second zone in the game to have pinball features and the Act 2 boss is unforgivably bad.

Cyber Station: The other visual stand out. It was even part of the game's reveal trailer. But we've got another shitty boss fight, whilst the transformation gimmicks are all poorly realised with janky controls and cheap hits.

Frozen Base: Is this the most forgettable zone in a major Sonic game?

Egg Fortress: Act 2 genuinely has a stake gimmick, but, you know when I'm going with this, the boss fucking sucks. It also felt like the most phoned in final level thematically. Why did Eggman suddenly launch a random space station again? Yawn.

So, yeah. Thoughts? I'm going with Pinball Carnival, but only because it doesn't have significant draw backs. I guess that Speed Jungle and Sky Temple will be the most popular.

 

Golden Capital Zone for me.

 

Guess it's time for a tier list of sorts:

• I think Bridge Island and Pinball Carnival were the only two that got it right from start to finish. (S)
• Lagoon City, Sand Sanctuary and Frozen Base would have had the potential to be top tier if they were a bit more fleshed out. (A)
• Speed Jungle has too much grinding. Sky Temple is a bit of a convoluted one. (Am I going in the right direction?) Press Factory Act 1 and 2 rely too much on their gimmick. (B)
• Golden Capital and Cyber Station, sadly, lack any real personality. (C)
• Hating the elevator sections in Egg Fortress. (D)

Why is this such a mixed bag? I wholeheartedly enjoyed this game, but it could've been a lot better with a little more time in the oven.

 

Love Press Factory, especially act 1. But then I'm the sicko who thinks Sandopolis is secretly the best S&K level

 

I'll have to go with Pinball Carnival too. It's got a nice aesthetic for a carnival level and the music is a straight up jam, ESPECIALLY Act 2's.

 

It's a tie for either Speed Jungle or Pinball Carnival. Besides the Fang section in act Sonic on Speed Jungle, I love all the acts. Tthe mix of Stardust Speedway gimmicks with a deep jungle aesthetic worked better then I expected, and the music for both main acts are superb. I actually didn't mind the darkness gimmick in act 2, it made it feel like you were really deep in the Jungle. It was fitting.

Pinball Carnival Act 2 is just such a massive breath of fresh air. I love the Halloween Carnival visual design and the music is so funky. I also loved the second half of the stage where it started to use the Rollercoaster gimmick way more, felt challenging in a way I hadn't been challenged by an official Sonic game in a while.

Honorable mention to Sky Temple for it's soundtrack alone (though I did like the stage) John "Joy" Tay's remix of that track is fantastic.