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

*laughs in oil ocean zone*

 

Good video, nice insights on the differences between platforms and I agree with basically all of John's takes.

For those who want a tl;dw:

• Physics and level design are excellent, though the bosses can get pretty annoying
• Series X and PS5 both target 4K, while Series S is 1080p and Switch decides what the resolution is on a per-stage basis, topping at 720p
• 60 FPS is largely stable across all platforms, though Switch dips to the 50s/low 40s in scenes that involve multiple characters and battle mode. PC version feels great at 120 FPS.
• Switch takes a noticeable visual hit to achieve 60 FPS; there's no depth of field (exposing how low-res some of the backgrounds are), texture quality is a lot lower, and some models have lower polygon counts. Regardless, he thinks it's a worthy compromise and is only really noticeable when docked and viewed on a UHDTV.
• Switch has the least input latency among the console versions. PS has some latency but it's minimal, while for some reason, Xbox has a lot of input latency. PC has the least input latency overall.
• John finds the music situation "frustrating", as he thinks 70% of the soundtrack is amazing while 30% doesn't work. He showcases some music mods for PC.
• Recommends that players who have trouble with the classic 2D Snoics should try rolling
• Personally, he loves Superstars and thinks it's the best 2D Sonic game since the classics, excluding Mania. Hopes it gets built upon in the future.

 

The long loop-de-loops in Bridge island zone can in fact be skipped by taking the middle route, and that is the fastest way of getting through the level. Nearly all "automation" that is in Superstars can be skipped with skillful play, which is consistent with Classic Sonic's ethos of learning the level to get through it faster. In fact Sonic 3 & Knuckles has a similar philosophy with levels like Hydrocity.

 

Having never really seeing much Rush gameplay, watching this (and the physics) was a nightmare. I felt like I was watching Sonic 4 gameplay with extra boost. Those dead stops kill me the most.

 

...That doesn't happen in the video, unless you're talking about when they run into a wall or jump dash out of a spring or something.

 

Sonic Superstars has been nominated for best family game at this year’s The Game Awards.

 

It’s more so of what is appearing to be forced, something intentionally left out of S4E1 when it’s obvious that ability was taken away to be more “classic like” but turned out to be very broken.

In easier to explain terms, both Rush and S4E1 gave me uncanny valley motion Sonic instead of the momentum type motion we are used too. I just never realized how different Rush was.

 

Well looka here it may not be doing that bad after all in sales. Maybe I overreacted a tad bit. Lol but we know who’s going to win this.

 

...Bro wtf does this mean. "What is appearing to be forced"??? I don't know what contrast you're trying to draw between Sonic 4 and Rush, but I'm pretty sure this mod retains the physics from base Superstars. It just adds the model and the abilities, like stomping, tricks, the boost and the air dash. Whatever you think you're seeing in the core control that moves significantly different from a classic Sonic game, I don't think it's there.

This is not a good metric for determining sales. Sonic always generates some amount of attention.

Regardless, Superstars is probably going "okay" overall. Worse than it would be if it were better-priced, but almost certainly not a failure or anything.

 

Yeah, Game Awards don't run on sales. Sonic Superstars is nominated because it's a pretty good family game. Note that "Best Multiplayer" is a separate category that Superstars is not nominated for, which I think makes sense.

Still, great that it's nominated. It won't win, but there won't be another war with the Genshin Impact fandom.

 

It won't win, but I'm still pleasantly surprised to see it got some recognition. I'd rather get a nomination than nothing.

 

Party Animals got this in the bag.
Epstein Island, Mario Blunder, Stinkmen Bore and Sonic Stupidstars kneel.

 

"Stinkmen Bore" is kind of inspired, lol

 

While I wasn't disappointed with my experience with Sonic Superstars, I have to say it failed at what it could've done, restore faith with alienated fans. While Frontiers was successful in its own right, it's safe to say that there were pockets of this fandom that weren't fans of the direction of Frontiers' tone, art direction, and experience. Superstars was that chance to restore faith with those fans and bring forth a new, interesting experience. Something to hopefully ease the fanbase while waiting for what comes next in the series, but sadly it failed.

A sorrowful yellow score on MetaCritic, DRM on Steam, and bland graphics resulted in yet another mixed bag for the series that'll result in debate for decades to come. Another game to add to the pile of "Sonic fans will play anything, even awful games." Truly that's the biggest shame, still a laughing stock as ever, and liking yet another Sonic game means something to be ashamed of.

Who knows, maybe losing to Mario Wonder will be a blessing for our community, maybe it'll humble us, or maybe we'll get even worse. I'm just annoyed thinking about what'll happen next.

 

The physics are identical to normal Superstars (which are in turn, identical to Mania's physics) just with Rush's abilities added. I think you're overthinking it

 

It's literally two points away from green, as if that would make much of a difference. 74? Wow, Superstars sucks! A 75? Holy shit, Sonic is back! If review score aggregates matter that much, a 70 anything would all be equally garbage.

The DRM was removed a few days ago. The graphics are an acquired taste, and i certainly wouldnt call them bland. If this makes people laugh at you for saying you like Superstars, that's a them issue. Most people think it's a good game, just not amazing. It's funny, because Superstars is the game that got nominated for the Game Awards, not Frontiers, which didn't even get nominated for best soundtrack (which is complete horseshit, but it says a lot that Sonic is being nomimated for anything at all).

Who looked to Sonic Superstars, a game advertised from jump as "more classic Sonic", as a "new and interesting experience"? Who played the new 3D open world Sonic and thought "that's okay, but you know what would really be innovative? Classic Sonic, the gameplay style from 30 years ago!"

We were promised Classic Sonic, we got Classic Sonic, the majority of people are fine with that at worst.

Why do we need to be humbled? For liking Sonic? And can someone explain the logic of how ONLY Sonic should beat Mario when Mario is probably going to beat EVERYONE, like Spider-Man or Baldur's Gate?

Don't let people who wouldn't care affect your own enjoyment of a game you were satisfied with. You think they'd turn tail if Sonic Superstars was better than Super Mario Bros. Wonder? I guarantee you that even if it was, it still wouldn't get a higher score or win GOTY. Sonic Mania didn't and couldn't. One special Sonic game isn't going to "save" the franchise. Sonic is doing better than ever not because of one perfect game but a variety of pretty good games, and Sgea has seemingly every intention to keep that momentum.

 

Sonic Spinball 2 could

 

I'm willing to admit the constant doom and gloom regarding the game on Twitter got to me, you can only hear something you like being called "mid" so many times before you ask if you're just delusional about the game's quality. Right?

 

I feel there is a decent and consistent way to tell the difference between someone who is genuinely criticizing games like Superstsrs and someone who is just flinging crap around, and one hint is when the latter starts making you feel bad about your own tastes for no real reason.

In any case, that's why social media is garbage and you're better off at least in groups where the former is what you see and not the latter.

 

I didn't consider that, my bad!!!!!!!!! (No, seriously)