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

See? Told you you might like it. I think Trip's campaign and final boss are even more up your alley, although some challenges are less well constructed (I think you might like the ones that force you to use Slow, although maybe you might dislike how miserable it feels to get out of them).

 

Speaking of the “Slow” power, it doesn’t work when we need it the most. There are sections where the game just does not care that you have it activated and breaks to run things in real time anyway. Absolutely useless.

 

Slow is one of the most annoying to use. There's a slight delay between selecting a power on the wheel and actually being able to activate it, which can really bite you in the arse WRT slow specifically. And I really dislike how every power, especially slow, is cancelled the moment you take damage.

 

Sorry I should have made it clear: Episode 1 on the Wii, Episode 2 on the phone app (even worse tbh).

 

Also, the "Slow" power sometimes adds a slight yellow tint to the area that you used it in way after the power itself has ran out, this is most notable in Egg Fortress' final boss arena.

 

More than anything I believe the bosses need a rework. The fact that more than one of them use the stupid blue rocket gimmick from the studiopolis zone boss in Mania is already violently unoriginal, and has stopped me from wanting to continue playing through the game again since I know they're coming and facing them just makes me upset and very very impatient.

That being said I'd totally wanna see Arzest give classic Sonic another go. just maybe without making the entire game a multiplayer gimmick

You're not the boss of me now >

 

this is so bizarre, too. who in their right mind would go out of their way to remake this in 3d

this game makes me suspect they literally remade mania first for the (pre?)production phase

 

The game's 60% off on Steam for both Standard and Digital Deluxe editions, basically $25 and $30 USD respectively. PlayStation version hasn't gone on sale since earlier this month, at least for the US, but as soon as it does I'm pulling that trigger.

 

Amazon has it physical on PS4 everything for 30 bucks

 

I just beat Trip's story.

First, something that is kind of funny is that I unintentionally skipped the Frozen Base Act 1 boss completely. Not sure how this glitch happened, but the part of the level that gets replayed for the boss in that long auto scrolling section transitioned into the part with the sign post was before the boss was beat or really even before I landed a hit. And so I just beat the level, all the while the boss was doing it's attacks in the background. lol

A number of funny glitches like that. However, I really wish a glitch like that showed up while fighting Fang.

While I was still trying to figure out how to beat the boss and dying all those times, this is when I finally started to feel the boredom and the waiting and the "just get on with it' my guy."

In addition, I started to dislike this boss for the same reason I am not getting the rest of the golden strawberries in Celeste. (I got everything else in that game.) Because what it translates to is that you play this part of the level (or in the case of Superstars, this part of the boss) a bajillion times to where you master it and it just becomes boring, and the only way to actually die is to just be really careless. And then you finally get to the part you actually need to work on, only to mess around die a few moments in because again, that's the part you need to work on, only to get sent right back to the part you already mastered and is boring.

And then that boring section is where you spend most of your time in your attempts. Like, I started saying to myself whenever I beat the first phase, "Ah, so now on to the real boss fight." lol

Like, I got to the point where the only time I would die in the first phase is stupidly jumping into the hole in the ground he makes when he dives down with the holograms, due to not paying enough attention. None of the other attacks give me problems. I don't even think I got hit from the lasers outside the very first time I fought the boss and realized "Oh, that's an insta kill."

I don't mind that some attacks are insta-kills. by the way. It doesn't bother me there are actual consequences for failing to handle his attack properly. What I moreso mind is the lack of checkpoints because it prevents me from practicing the stuff that I actually need to work on, or figure out.

And really, at the end of the day, it really is just a matter of figuring out what to do. This a battle based more on knowledge than skill. I say that because when I finally figured out the last thing I needed to, I beat the entire boss THAT TRY. And I'll relate that.

But first, I want to ask why did they make a boss where literally almost all of the emerald powers are useless. Like seriously, not a single one was useful. And in the end I just had to beat the boss without them.

Anyways, these are the things I needed to learn:

In phase 1 after he gets mad, the number of lasers he shoots out is 6, so gun for him after that.

In phase 1, don't even bother trying to hit him when he does the hologram attack because it's just not worth the risk. (Though you jump when he gets to the middle of the screen.)

In Phase 2, when he is firing the webs, run to the top of a slope. Right before he locks on, jump (as that makes him spread the reticles further apart,) and then run over to the nearest slope. Repeat until done with the reticles. And when he starts shooting corks, just start tapping the direction to outrun the corks, tapping rather than holding so you don't go so fast you circle around and come back to the webs. (For the longest, I knew all of this except the jump to spread the reticles apart, which was the last thing I needed to know to finally beat the boss)

After about 6 or 7 hits, he gets that attack where he slams his face down on the ground which took me COMPLETELY off guard. But just jump when he's about to do it and you won't fly up.

Now that I know all this stuff, I would probably not have as much difficulty fighting him again. But I have no intentions of fighting him again, ever. Because that definitely got to the point that it was no longer fun, and I just wanted to be done. lol

So now that just leaves the last story which I hear also has a terrible boss. That's for tomorrow, though.

 

Sega sees net loss of 6.6 billion yen due to business restructuring in Europe and cancelled games

What does this have to do with Sonic Superstars? A little nugget / silver lining:

 

Arzestbros have we made it?

 

#SuperstarsSweep #Sweeperstars

 

I was going over their financial report last night but I fell asleep. I haven't had time to go over it in detail, but here is a basic summary of some numbers.

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SEGA doesn't break down per title, but they categorize titles by New and Repeat and do an overall franchise summary. Sonic Superstars and Sonic Origins Plus are the "NEW Titles" being tracked according to page 9 of their Full Year Data report. Unfortunately, that doesn't really tell us much since they released 14 New Titles this year.

Using only the Sonic Series data, Sonic is lagging behind the previous year, which of course had the massive hit (for a Sonic game), Frontiers. It's also slightly above 2022's numbers. The drop from Q3 to Q4 are about the same, with 2024 only being 64% vs 2023's 66%.

Despite the decline vs 2023, the Sonic franchise is still outperforming SEGA's other pillar franchises like Yakuza and Persona. The Consumer Area overall had a decline though, but this is mainly due to several other titles underperforming like Samba Dance Party, Total War Pharaoh, and canceling Hyenas.

 

I finally got the game, and have started playing through it. But, so far, I'm not enjoying it.

For starters, the camera feels too zoomed in. I can't see where I'm going. Everything feels too busy, and I've never been a fan of 2,5D because it just looks weird.

Then I faced the first boss, and Sonic got instant-killed. The first boss of the game. No telegraphing that the boss is about to dive down and instant-kill you. You just have to know to jump at that moment, which damages the boss, and suddenly it's over. What the hell?

The other bosses so far don't seem too bad, but you do need to wait between each single hit, which is annoying.

 

Just a heads-up to anyone interested, the previously IHOP-exclusive Amy skin is apparently now free to download on all platforms. Not had the chance to verify, but given that this is from the official account, if it's not up on your store of choice yet then expect it to be in the near future.

 

Now we just need those damn comic skins....

 

About that, someone just posted an image of a PEGI-flavored Switch copy they just bought that has the skins plastered as a bonus - has this been a thing?

 

Just picked up the IHOP Amy skin on Steam, I really like that they decided to release it easily for download (they should've done that with all the skins)

Love the IHOP Amy skin, the blue waitress outfit looks great in contrast to her regular color scheme. I'm just happy I don't have to go to an IHOP

 

Didn't Amazon UK had the comic skins included if you got the game from them? It could be that.