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

Really?! I absolutely loathed the bosses of Pinball Carnival, Sky Lagoon and Sand Sanctuary. Press Factory's was great, and I stopped there for the night, but now I'm dreading what's next.

 

Denuvo seems to be just killing the ratings on Steam. I am so shocked. Shocked I tell you.

 

No disrespect to those who dislike Denuvo, but... c'mon, that's not the thing most negative reviews are commenting on.

 

On the subject of denuvo… is it hurting the game’s performance on PC? I have a mid-tier laptop and want to buy the game, but the inclusion of denuvo makes me nervous.

 

PS5 physical version (North America).

- Code for “pre-order” LEGO Eggman Skin is for PS4/PS5.
DLC Size: 3.15MB
— Expires 10-17-2043
- Version on disc is 1.000.000
- Update to 1.000.005 (1.05) is a 8.198GB download…

Emailed Modern Amy costume code was PS5 only (28.84MB), although that’s the version I requested.

 

Warning: angry venting ahead.

Spoiler: Yes, it's about the soundtrack.

Well, it's official: I hate Jun Senoue now.

This is now the fourth time at least that he's ruined a soundtrack with his twangy blippy pseudo-Genesis dreck. His music is repellent; it's god-awful, it clashes with all of the better tracks on the OST, and it's just irritating. I can't decide if he's either straight trolling, washed up, out of touch, or he has some deep-seated agenda to actively sabotage every old-school Sonic game he sticks his hacky little fingers into because he's tired of people preferring them over something like Sonic Adventure. If it's the last one, then congrats Jun, it's working. Whatever his damage is, I absolutely refuse to buy this game until 1) Jun's beta trash is officially patched out, or 2) somebody releases a PC mod that replaces all of his crap with better arrangements. I am beyond done with his D-grade phoned-in amateur-hour brand of bullshit.

SEGA knew from the start we didn't want his "style" in this game, and they still thought it was smart to let him scribble his gaudy signature all over the soundtrack anyway. There is no question that Tee should've been the one directing the soundtrack; he is infinitely more qualified at this point, there is no doubt in my mind about this. Jun should've never even been considered, especially after how he masterfully blundered the Sonic 3 portion of Origins (another game I won't buy primarily due to his sloppy antics). Hell, the reason Bridge Island sounds as good as it does is only because Tee fixed it!

Jun has had four strikes, at least—one more than he should've been allowed. At this point, why keep him around anymore? Is he the studio mascot? The team pet they throw a bone to every now and again? Is he on frickin' tenure and that's the reason he's been phoning it in all this time—what in the world is it that they still like about him over there??

We, this game—heck, even SEGA—all deserve better than to have to tolerate Jun's hacky compositions and abysmal taste in music that are actively hindering the success this game could have had. SEGA, I am begging, for the love of Prince, cut this poisonous tumor out of the game, or at the very least revoke his synthesizer privileges forever. Just please do something; he is ruining these games.

Whew! There. I needed to say it. It's outta my system.

 

Water lauching was brutally murdered.

 

Leaning towards a 7 or 7.5 with this game. Stopped on Sky Lagoon.

 

So far I'm on Stage 10. I really liked how menacing Press Factory 2 is. The gimmick is not entirely original and it is a bit slippy in execution but the tone is really great. In fact I think the game has a minor threat tone in general and I really appreciate it. I will say that there's not much build up though. Feels like you got to the halfway threat of something like Big Arms but for no real reason. Just kind of plonked there.

In terms of levels, I liked Lagoon a lot, especially Amy's silly zone. The second act is a bit slow and plodding but enjoyable. Bridge is fun in general. Pinball Carnival Act 2 is very unique and has a weird vibe which I like. The first act is enjoyable but a bit ugly. Act 2 is ugly too but carried by a really weird and unique design.

I do like the concept of Golden Capital, but it is in this zone where I feel the games frankly ugly visuals really stand out. It's one of the biggest problems for me throughout the whole game and it really sucks in levels where the concepts are really unique.

The bosses suck. The one thing which is going to make me play the game primarily in Time Attack. They go on for ages and waste your time waiting around. Just awful.

 

Speaking as someone who also isn't a fan of Jun's tracks in this game...maaaaybe take it down a notch. I think out of touch is probably the most likely explanation, but you're acting like he's murdered your cat and never brought anything good to this franchise. Even in Sonic 4, where this farce began, the compositions themselves were strong and memorable. I think Jun simply has an idea of what classic Sonic music should be like that just doesn't map for the rest of us. It's aggravating to no end, sure, but you're making it out to be a lot more malicious than it really is.

 

They gave you a warning

 

Such hate towards Senoue feels kinda performative, tbh. Yes, his Genesis style tracks aren't good but you'd think he murdered somebody over making subpar tracks. They have great composition even when the instrumentation is terrible so the idea that he can't make music at all is horribly disagreeable. If anything, that's why I would be so mad if I were.

Again, I'd actually prefer if he'd stop doing this style and just go regular music, but I just don't get how people can be unironically angry over it, y'know?

 

XD You get it.

I mean, I could've also said "ragepost" instead of "vent," but it really became more of a vent by the end. Just felt better to launch all my frustration over a persisting issue in these games. Eh. =P

That said, I still maintain that I'm holding out on this game. There's enough games in the world now—I don't need to spend my money on one that still needs more polish. I agree, it would just be nice if Jun could learn to give OG Sonic games the same treatment and quality he gives 3D Sonic games when it comes to music.

 

Made it all the way to the Egg Fortress boss before putting down the game. Its pretty fun, the visuals are actually nice (playing on Switch), the controls feel great, and most of the music is pretty good. Unfortunately the bosses are incredibly miserable experiences, and I'm really getting sick of the "act 1 > boss > act 2 > boss" formula, these bosses aren't good enough to add them at the end of almost every level. Speaking of the levels, this really is a classic Sonic game because the later levels turn into the typical marathon slogs with tons of hazards that pop up out of nowhere. Having to go through them and then deal with overly long boss battles is a trial

 

Finished my first run through story mode tonight, it was pretty fun and Egg Fortress Act 2 is really cool, i just wish the level this gimmick was attached to was better in the first place. I actually... didnt have as much issues with the bosses as some people here did. That said, yeah, if this is the direction bosses are taking for even classic sonic games, i would rather act 1 not have one at all, they definitely take WAYYYY too long.

Will work on trips story tomorrow

 

I kinda did a dump on the TWITTER about it, but yeah. There's a competent game here, but it feels like it makes so many weird design choices that conflict with itself. This game is a bastard child of Sonic CD, Sonic 4, and a bit of Rush even (though, it'd be more correct to say a DIMPS Sonic game.)

The boss length is definitely a bit egregious later on and is probably the biggest weakness the game has going for it. I don't mind challenge, but I do when it's at the expense of the player's time for no real reason. And that's WITH taking the shortcut hit opportunities.

I won't harp on the music, as it's pretty well documented here the issues with it, but I'll sum it up like this. With Mania, the goal was to capture that "What if Sonic was on the Saturn" mid-90s vibe, which I think Tee and Falk certainly nailed. To hear Sega, and specifically Jun, revert back to "GENESIS SOUND-ISH" is really strange. It's like if Nintendo asked Koji Kondo to compose for Mario Wonder and he made a whole soundtrack in the Super Mario World style again. If they're going to be doing more Classic Sonic, I do hope they consider moving away from Genesis sound and just going wild on regular songs. Besides Mania, look at stuff like After The Sequel. The move won't tarnish the experience.

 

Meh. I rather keep the camera zoomed-in so I can see the character while I'm playing.

 

Not really a spoiler as such so I think it's OK here (please move this post to the Spoiler thread if I'm wrong on that!), but apparently folks have found how to enter the game's debug menu. Apparently the method is:

• Highlight an option in the Main Menu
• Press X 10 times
• Press Y 2 times

Not sure if the combination is reversed on Switch as I know the X/Y buttons are the opposite way around on that platform - will try to confirm next time I get the chance to play. Allegedly some folks have also managed to do it by pressing Y twice, X four times and then Y four times, so there's either more than one code or the actual requirement is slightly different to what people currently think it is.

From the looks of things, it seems the menu contains a (rather barebones) level select and sound test. Apparently level select prevents you from entering a character-specific Act with the wrong character though, which is a shame.

 

X 10 times, Y 2 times works for me on PC. But I've yet to get any code working on Xbox or Playstation.
Edit: Won't have my Switch cart until Thurs, so haven't been able to test that.

 

Finished the game this morning and I'm rather conflicted.

There's easily a 9/10 platformer in there, but the god awful bosses easily bring it down to like, a 7/10 at best.
It's a shame because the actual stages are easily among the best in the series, with some of the best level design I've seen in a platformer period. But...I can't see myself replaying them often with those absolute insult of bosse battles at the end of every stages.
I thought Advance 3 had secured its position as the game with the worst bosses in the series but god damn, this game takes the cake and then some.

I'll try and see if I get better at them on repeated playthroughs, but the fact they have so much invincibility phases doesn't bode well. I'm considering investing in the PC version if a mod that removes them ever comes out like for Lost World, that honestly was a game changer lol