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

I will say that while I liked the game I wasn't huge on the stage transitions. They didn't feel as seamless as 3K or Mania's, IMO

 

If you are going to put a story in a game it should at least not be completely nonsensical. This is not an absurd opinion.

 

So does anyone see Trip appearing in any games after superstars? I mean, the most likely way shed come back is some sort of superstars 2, but Trip is the first character to be made for the modern "classic" sonic games (not counting the Hard Boiled Heavies) so I wouldn't be too surprised if they made a modern Trip design.

If Trip doesnt appear in any modern games after this it does have the unfortunate implication that they just stopped talking to her after a while.

And with Fang in this game and Mighty and Ray in Mania, I hope the next classic sonic character they bring back is Hip and Hop the Kangaroos from the hit game sonic Spinball. I like them because they are honestly probably the most obscure character to have actually appeared in an official game.

 

I feel like Trip herself is one of the most well received aspects of superstars, I would be genuinely shocked if she didnt make at least in appearance in future classic sonic comics

Canonicity of tailstubs aside, they mentioned in the one before (or wass it slightly after) superstars release that they "hadn't talked to her in a while" so i imagine the assumption is that yes, they just fucked off at some point and never said hi to her after

 

Friends grow apart, it happens. Mighty and Ray also just kinda fucked off.

 

Mighty and ray were shot dead in an alley in san francisco. Theres a reason generations had missing posters up for them

 

Yeah, but Trip had her whole arc about overcoming her shyness and learning to trust others. Them ditching Trip feels a little unintentionally mean spirited.

 

We don't even know what the timescale for any part of the series other than Little Planet and Forces is. Characters can come and go whenever they want. It's not a big deal and never has been.

 

The game had a story?

(no seriously I genuinely did not think there was anything to it aside from "Eggman hates Sonic and wants to kill him")

 

tbh many of Mania's transitions I wouldn't call seamless either. There are way too many instances of being warped random places with the Phantom Ruby. It was interesting once when it was green hill -> chemical plant, but it feels like it gets overused near the midpoint of the game (IIRC, press garden -> stardust, and then stardust -> hydrocity, which means they used it two zones in a row!). For transitions between dissimilar zones, I thought the hydrocity -> mirage saloon was a good way of doing it, since the Tornado is already pretty strongly established within classic Sonic as a way to get places.

also I thought the added flying battery -> press garden zone transition wasn't entirely great either. the gliders are just there for some reason and haven't shown up before or since (at least, in mainline classic Sonic). honestly I would've taken a riff on flying battery -> sandopolis from S3&K, or since the game likes to reference dev material a lot, just outright cribbing the originally planned flying battery -> icecap transition.

 

I dunno if I'd cite the Hydrocity -> Mirage Saloon transition as particularly super good. Back when the Plus patch accidentally leaked, I initially had assumed they were still working on that.

The character you're controlling just kinda...gets pushed around (with no unique sprite work) and then walks off-screen. Then you're suddenly in the desert in the air. It's the one that feels really iffy to me. I feel I would've just recycled the transition from 3K or added something to indicate the Tornado was somewhere.

 

What I also don’t get is why this and Mania have to credit absolutely EVERYONE, ie people who probably didn’t even work directly on the game- why do we need to know the names of the HR people, for example?!

 

Eh, I think I slightly would prefer something to 'over-credit' as opposed to 'not credit'. The Grant Kirkhope situation in the Mario Movie really left a sour taste in my mouth (and I don't believe any digital release of the film tried to restore proper credit).

If I had like any excuse to get my name thrown in a Sonic title you know I'd take it too.

 

Beyond the weak transitions and insufficient story details, the level progression falls apart after Press Factory anyway, and going through a cinematic rigmarole wouldn't fix that.

By all standards, Cyber Station feels like penultimate level: a) it breaks the act sequence logic established beforehand (not unlike Sand Sanctuary, but with a completely removed world map to boot) b) its structure is very treacherous and filled with asshole gimmicks c) the music indicates tension and urgency d) it features a returning element as a boss (which also breaks logic established beforehand with its surprise second phase and has a unique theme to boot!).

But then, after that, you're thrown into Frozen Base, which a) works more like the other levels, in its organization b) is more open-structured and less vicious c) lol d) has a boss that isn't even that different from Cyber Station's mechanically, takes less hits to beat and follows the logic you're used to, and then you have a stage that's a Fantasy Zone tribute (which is pretty cool).

It feels like a buffer zone, but then there's another buffer zone that feels less like a buffer zone than the first one. It's just all very jarring. I don't think a good story would have shaken up this feeling.

 

The gliders are from Sonic 2 8-bit, just like the tiny Silver Sonics in Stardust Speedway.

 

I don’t think there’s anything in there that makes the story bad-bad per se, rather it’s increasingly hard to tell just what the story is. When I think of a bad story I think of something with bad twists or plot holes, something like 2006 or Shadow. Superstars just kind of stops showing you things.

Okay, so:
Eggman discovers the giant animals and black dragon on the Northstar Islands and hires Fang to track them down. Fang bullies Trip, the guardian, to help him. That’s pretty much the plot for most of the main story. Eventually after being pushed too far Trip uses the emeralds to turn into her dragon form and defeat Fang then tags along with the heroes. Sure, that makes enough sense. But after that nothing really happens. The Egg Fortress is there all of a sudden, then takes off and goes into space. Why? I guess it doesn’t really matter, but it’s not really telegraphed at all beforehand. Then Eggman has a time reversing machine? It’s a really cool set piece but… why? How? Does it have something to do with any of the rest of the story or the Northstar Islands or is it just something he made specifically for that level/boss? After that they escape the exploding fortress and go home. A normal ending. All’s well that ends well, right?

well, apparently not because Trip has a story that seems to take place afterwards. Eggman’s replaced by Egg-Robos so he’s out of commission or busy doing something else, and Fang is the main villain. Okay, I guess that works. It’s not that much more convoluted than Knuckles’ story in S3&K. But everything else happens exactly the same as the main story, like somehow the Egg Fortress is back after exploding? Did it get put back together? Is it a new one? I mean, I get that it’s necessary in order to play the last few acts of the game, but they could have at least made it look damaged or patched together or something. Overall it seems like a bit of an afterthought and I’m not sure if it’s meant to be part of the “true” story or just a bonus, but if it’s the former then it’s sloppy. Not as sloppy as Mania’s encore mode, but still sloppy.

Then there’s the last story: the black dragon. The big monster that’s been teased since the beginning, the thing that Eggman and Fang have been looking for. Did they find it? Is that what Eggman was doing during Trip’s story? Who fucking knows because it just appears out of nowhere and those two never show up. Why is it here now? The only clue we get is the onyx egg or whatever it’s called that’s been sitting on Bridge Island in the overworld, which seems to be activated for some reason. So you fight the dragon and Trip uses the onyx egg to absorb it, somehow. What was that about? Nothing is explained.

so yeah, I still feel like there’s nothing inherently offensive about it but the presentation is a mess after the midpoint of the main story and everything after it just kind of happens with no explaination. I’m still waiting for some comic or interview to explain just what was meant to be going on.

 

I think the story is just another part of Superstars where it feels like a step back from the series' previous high points (S3K or Mania, take your pick). It's less that it's bad on its own and more that it's clearly lesser than the obligatory points of comparison.

Seconding this. I spent the last third of the game expecting it to end any second now. Kind of a weird vibe that definitely wasn't intentional.

 

Playing through Trip's Story, I was starting to ask myself why I am still playing this. Trip's Story is not fun. Enemies are placed in a way to make sure you get hit, and I'm not just talking about the Egg-Robos that litter each stage. You can't just roll off a slope in peace; you have to know in advance when to jump or stop because if you don't you will roll into an enemy that will damage you. Or an Egg-Robo will snipe at you from off-screen.

You might as well remove the ring bonus at the end of the act, because rarely will you get through the boss fight without getting hit and losing all of your rings.

Then I finally got the 7th Chaos Emerald, so I could just blast through the rest of the game! At least, in theory. Because the assholish enemy placement means that you will have a tough time to gather 50 rings to transform. And because bosses take forever, especially in Trip's Story, there's a high chance you will run out of rings while fighting it. If you make it to the boss with enough rings at all, because your super form gets cancelled at the start of the fight, requiring you to transform again, because fuck you.

Then comes Cyber Station with its mandatory out-of-place but still kind-of-cool transformation sequences that cancel your super form (except for the rocket one because if you hit a wall it's insta-kill). Also, why aren't the Egg-Robos low-definition like all the other enemies?

Slight tangent, but when are 2D Sonic games going to get out from under Sonic 3's shadow? The tally results screen uses Sonic 3's theme. Every act has a boss because Sonic 3 did. Special Stages are entered through big rings scattered in every level because that's what Sonic 3 did.

 

no, some of the 3D ones use it too. it's probably because it was written by Senoue lol

 

It's so ironic how this series' definitive level clear jingle came from the one game whose soundtrack Sega avoids acknowledging like the plague.