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

Right? Say what you like about the game and the studio, but as far as I'm concerned Superstars gets a thumbs up from me because of those grounds alone. Even if the level design ain't up to scratch, half the music belongs in Sonic 4, the bosses make Chaos 4 look fun and the co-op gameplay makes zero effort to be even halfway decent... Superstars is still an acceptable, new and authentic-feeling Classic Sonic experience. Classic Sonic physics paired with serviceable level design will always make for a good time at the very least.

SEGA just shouldn't have tried charging as for it as they did for Frontiers, and they shouldn't have launched it next to Mario Wonder either.

 

The X6 of Sonic games...

Dog shit at everything else, but damn it still feels good to Hee-Hoo-Haa and dash jump everything.

 

I really appreciate that Arzest took the time and effort to get the physics right.
It's a good thing the physics were their first priority before developing the rest of the game.

 

Wish they took the time to get the bouncing right....

You were there in 1991 Ohshima, you have no excuse. Thumbs down.

 

What do you mean by bouncing? The pinball physics? What's wrong with that?

 

Basically, if you are holding the jump button down as you land on a Badnik or item monitor, you bounce back into the air to the height you fell from. It's an essential part of Sonic's original platforming toolkit. It is present in Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3K, Advance 1, and Mania. Its absence is bad no matter what, but it's especially bad with the amount of verticality Superstars' level design has.

Like if I was forced to choose between this and accurate physics as to what is more important, I'd go with the accurate physics. But there is literally no excuse to not have both.

I will never let this go.

 

While it did exist in the classic sonic games. I wouldn't go anywhere near as far as calling it an essential part of Sonic's original platforming toolkit.

 

Completely agree. I don't normally use the bouncing mechanic when playing the classic Sonic games so I don't miss it in Sonic Superstars.

 

I do...

 

Modders will fix it, right?

 

It's also in Sonic 1 8 bit and Sonic Advance 2. In Sonic 1 8 bit they even made a piece of level design in Bridge Zone where it's needed in order to get a life monitor. In Advance 2 it's pretty cool because by using Cream you can fly to the most convenient position, disable the flight and drop onto an enemy in order to bounce with more precision (it also works on some bosses).

 

I don't see why not. It was there from the beginning, deliberately grandfathered in and modified from the 2D Mario games that preceded it, and stuck around for as long as they were making games in this style. It adds to the player's arsenal of moves and options while landing on things, giving the platforming that much more depth. Using it makes the game more fun. Removing it lowers the fun ceiling and benefits nobody. If you don't regularly use it while playing the classic games, I encourage you to do so.

Unless you think by "essential" I mean "you can't beat the game without using it", which I'm not saying at all.

 

It's not essential because it's a pretty obscure mechanic to an already relatively obscure mechanic.

I think you can get by exceptionally well by not holding the button at all.

Though I do think Superstars neglects badnik bouncing anyway.

 

Yeah it's pretty obscure, and while it's fun and feels really rad pulling it off in a speedrun, it's definitely not required to enjoy the game. Most people don't know it's even a thing whereas say the spindash is an essential mechanic in that it's obvious and mostly required to enjoy the game.

 

Someone, quick post that one clip where you can bounce off several badniks in Emerald Hill if you memorize the exact d-pad inputs to with the argument!

 

This talk of what is and is not "essential" is getting off track from my point, and that's my bad for expressing it poorly. The Badnik bouncing isn't essential in the sense that you need to use it to clear the game or to have fun with it. It is essential if you want to have Sonic's complete original moveset. CD, 2, 3K, and Mania had the complete original moveset (and then some), and I am glad that they did. Superstars did not, and I am annoyed that it did not. I still had fun with Superstars, but I could have had more fun with it if they didn't remove a piece of Sonic's starter kit. I replay Sonic 1 regularly and take full advantage of the moveset offered. That muscle memory and skill fully transfers over to those other games, but not to Superstars. That's a shame, and I absolutely hold it against the game as something that is ostensibly trying to join that club.

I'm not sure I would call the mechanic "obscure". It's not mentioned in Sonic 1's instruction manual (point to you guys there, I guess), but it is described in the instruction booklets for SMB3 and SMW, and even given the name "Super Jump" in the former. Does that make it a non-obscure Mario mechanic? I think so. Does that mean it's a non-obscure Mario mechanic obscurely-inserted into Sonic 1? Perhaps. Does the fact that Sonic 1 was designed and marketed to challenge Mario at his own game mean that the use of Mario mechanics is actually not an obscure move? I would say so. Either way, I never even needed manuals to learn this mechanic. Growing up playing the likes of Sonic 1 and 2, and SMB3, I was instinctively holding down the jump button all the time anyway because I noticed I bounced higher. It's extremely intuitive.

Like I guess it's more obscure than "jump", but I would class it as much closer to "jump" than "jump at the right time in a loop to boost through it" on the Obscurity Scale.

I'm not talking about speedruns or epic tool assisted trick videos, I'm talking about normal casual gameplay, where it's fun and feels good to do.

 

It's essential to being fun. Like you jumping on a trampoline from high up and then just getting your regular jump height from that bounce. That's not fun at all. That's lame.

 

I guess it doesn't matter anymore because nobody does it.

 

It really is as simple as Unity or Unreal are easier to collaborate on with pretty much anybody you might need to or offer up the source to whoever might need to port it to some odd thing that wasn't originally covered in the scope. Like IOS and Android. I think I noticed they maybe just took some Final Fantasy 7 menu code for Balan Wonderworld's own menus? So in instances like that it means you're on the same page.
Personally I think HE2 is behind on some critical advancements but so long as they're making these games consciously aware they have to run on Switch I don't think they'll be able to make those upgrades. Not that they went for any of those effects in Superstars either...

Also nobody said it so I guess I have to. Happy anniversary Sonic Superstars.

 

Happy birthday to the best Classic Sonic game of the 2020s. Now where's Superstars plus?