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

Sonic Retro is historically the most critical, analytical living message board in the entire Sonic community. And I would consider myself one of the loudest, most jaded members currently active -- but even I would contend that liking things about the latest Sonic games, and preferring to speak and bond over them (even as one acknowledges the flaws a game may have), contains a lot more pulse of life than just normalizing bringing the object of love of an entire community down, and the people who do like it with it.

No one can question anyone else's commitment to the series here -- who in their right mind uses forums in an age that is even seeing the demise of the social media which replaced them? -- and I hate toxic positivity more than anyone. But there sure is no good outcome for saying something people might like is objectively bad and people should feel bad for liking and discussing what they like about it.

 

I'm late but I agree with Johnny's review except for the personal severity of how much the bosses drag the game down (using his own scale, I'd say the game is low 7 at worst, though I am weirdly more critical in saying that even without those issues it's only an 8) and also Press Factory Act 1 slaps and I refuse to hear otherwise.

 

How much the bosses impact the enjoyability of the game is obviously going to be super subjective. I like the game quite a bit and didn't mind the bosses too much, but I can absolutely see why they're somewhat of a dealbreaker for a lot of people. I mean, something in a Sonic game relying so much on waiting is going to be inherently divisive.

 

I probably should have bolded the "up until now" part lol. Mario has been £40 the whole time but for the first month of Superstars release it was £50-55 everywhere, hence why I hadn't bought it yet. Now it's finally around the £30 mark here on the black Friday sales which finally puts it cheaper than Mario Wonder. I think if Superstars was a budget-priced release from the get go it'd of sold much better than it has so far is all I'm saying. It's bound to have legs if it stays cheaper.

 

After having played Wonder, here are my thoughts regarding Superstars. And, this is probably a hot take and would also be right at home in the unpopular opinions thread as well but I'll say it here. I think I like Superstars more than Wonder. While Wonder is a great game, I don't like all it is trying to do. Although, it is a bit innovative which I appreciate. I just found it a bit boring overall and I am not too keen on its graphical style. Superstars, for all the hate I've been seeing it get and a few bugs aside, is at least consistently fun to me. The game feels (at least to me in my own honest opinion) really good. I like its look more than Wonder, too, but that is secondary.

 

I can definitely concur that I'm more willing to play Superstars than Wonder. In fact, I still haven't finished Wonder. I can't say exactly why, but I do know why I prefer playing Superstars.

Wonder is, rather obviously, better put together, but Superstars is just kind of my jam.

The REAL hot take is that I enjoyed playing Superstars' multiplayer more than Wonder's. Though I REALLY like how Wonder integrates online multiplayer.

 

This doesn't bring Mario RPG into play,however. That might earn top spot.

 

Top spot in what? Sales? Superstars never had a shot so top spot in sales is irrelevant.

 

What would sales have to do with anything?

 

Boxed copies of Superstars and Origins Plus have been going for $40 and $20 respectively on Amazon quite frequently the last couple weeks (have them on my price alerts). Dunno if that's good or bad. Good bcs it's more the prices they should have been, bad bcs interest has waned?

 

Somewhat relevant because Superstars made me think it: What kind of sucks is that there's no good way to rent games. Redbox and Streaming killed rental stores that would have normally rented games on the side and Redbox killed its game rental services, and there's no streaming service that has pretty much every game you might wanna try. I wonder how that might change overall reviews for some games that end up coming out these days.

 

There's still Gamefly, somehow they're still trucking along despite the decline of physical media.

 

I mentioned it a few weeks back but since the yen is so low against the dollar, full price from Amazon JP is the equivalent of $36. If they have sales, it could probably go to $25-$30. If you want to order some games around the holidays, do it there so the shipping cost spreads out a bit.

 

Amazon and Target both have physical copies for $34.99 right now. The Nintendo eShop has the digital version on sale for $41.99.

 

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/s...on-sale-for-35-for-black-friday/1100-6519092/

Some articles with links for the sale prices.

Sadly no steam sale prices yet, which sucks because mods would do the most to fix this game. Of course, those are only slowly developing due to the switch to unity and no consistent mod loader yet.

35$ is a much better price for the game on consoles, though the only reason I'd hesitate is because there's also a crap ton of other really, really good deals going right now across the entire industry.

https://www.gamestop.com/search/?pmid=C0288
Gamestop in particular has an extremely strong list of console titles on sale this years, so spend your gaming funds wisely.

 

Steam sale should be live now I think. Had an email saying Superstars has been slashed by 30% and I’ve seen a similar discount on Origins Plus DLC. Frankly, I still think both of them are too high. Just give Superstars another couple of years, see how low it gets.

 

There are a few sites discounting the Steam version even further for the next week or so: it's $36.59 on Fanatical and $37.79 on 2Game. (Apparently you can knock the latter price down to $35.90 with a promo code, though I can't personally verify that.)

 

Finally played the 4 player co-op in this yesterday. Everybody hated it. Honestly, the most fun I've had playing the game. It was a comically-miserable "so bad it's good" sort of experience.

Sure was cool to try out the battle mode with 3 people and we all got our own screens. What a concept!

 

I finally just beat the game. Honestly, the bosses are pretty simple once you memorize their patterns. The only thing I wish would be changed is that long period where they're immune to being hit again -- slows down the game too much, which I feel is the central issue with otherwise great bosses. Even the final bosses before Super Sonic's stuff. The only boss that absolutely felt COMPLETELY unfair and needs to be redone (at least just the first phase IMO) is the Super Sonic boss. That was, by far, one of the worst bosses I've ever played. Way too much RNG and way too little rings around.

It seems a lot felt Sonic and Trip's final bosses were the worst, but at least they had patterns one could memorize.