Sonic Superstars Ultra Mega Spoiler Containment Thread for Spoilers [SPOILERS]

Yes the video posted on the other page of Lagoon City makes me quite happy. it looks like some influence from 3D Blast and the Game Gear games was melded in with everything else, which is unexpected and very fun.

Also i do think, if the zones and music and visuals and overall game were too good they would never be able to follow it up!! and perhaps the amazingness would become familiar over time; instead this seems like it will keep growing for those who do like it, and, they can definitely follow it up someday. (In my opinion, Mania and S3K were close to being impossible to actually follow up, where as Sonic 1 and 2 left a lot of room for something new.)

 

Okay, this stage looks really good honestly.

 

Lore freaks are going to start asking questions about this...

 

Agree. I'd say this game's main problem is consistency. Some levels are better than others, some tracks are better than others, some gfx are better than others, even some sfx are better than others. But I'm watching the PS5 stream and there's a lot to love. In a way even more than Mania, since that was half nostalgia. Don't get me wrong, Mania is the better and more polished product... But this is a worthy next step.

 

This game’s a masterpiece from what I’ve seen and it will be very challenging! The platforming looks great! It looks harder than all of the previous classic titles.

 

Holy shit, I am honestly in love with Egg Fortress Act 2. I'm going to honestly say this is one of the best final zone levels for a Sonic game, bar none!

Spoiler

Act 1 but in reverse, going back the way you came (right to left); and time is literally reversing everything you've done prior is such a phenomenal concept! I would legit be mad that I never came up with such an idea myself for a Sonic level.

 

I need to get TF outta this thread, too many spoers popping up

 

I'm not gonna see more spoilers so goodbye guys.

But before I go I wanna mention I love how Trip jumps like Vector...

 

Also, the music in this stage goes very hard imo.

 

By the way, after the first stream, it seens the impressions of the game are improving a lot and it makes me happy honestly.

 

Final boss is HARD.

 

Would it be a stretch to say this is honestly one of the most difficult bosses in the entire series? It's a gauntlet of phases with no rings or checkpoints...

 

It reminds me quite a lot of the multi-phase final boss in Death Egg Zone Act 2 because of this. Sonic 3 & Knuckles is, in a way, more brutal as it doesn't provide rings after death; however, on the flip side Sonic Superstars' final boss has some less forgiving and not-as-well-telegraphed attacks, despite providing rings after death.

 

I might need some cheat codes to beat this. Any idea if there will be some? Debug a ringbox into phase 2, for example.

 

Played the first six Zones.

+ Controls and physics are about right. People mention the Spin Dash launch speed or the air drag feels off, but I honestly don't know if they do. It feels like they're about right to me, but also a bit weird? I can't tell if it's the mechanics themselves or if I'm just used to 2.5D Sonic feeling "wrong" by default.

+ I dig the level design for the most part. It doesn't feel like Mania or Sonics 1-3, but it doesn't have to. The maps feel really straight-forward and a little dull if you just run forward, but I think the game is insistent on you exploring or engaging with puzzles, which reminds me a lot of Sonic CD. Which makes sense; same creator and all. There's still plenty of spaces to roll down steep hills and all that too, it's just a bit unconventional in it's shape. I can easily see someone giving the level design bad marks for the same reason I'm giving it good, haha.

+ Some of the music has turned out better than expected. A few jams have really surprised me along the way, and while there's one Zone with S4 instrumentation, it has a composition strong enough to stand over it. (And I don't just mean that in the way people swear S4's OST is good if it had better instruments, because I don't agree with that.) IDK who's who in the music credits yet, but kudos to those tracks.

+ There's a lot more creative ideas than I think I was expecting coming in. Not just stage gimmicks, but just in regards to the scenery. There's something weird about this game's vibe, and maybe the weirdest is it's insistence on strange animals. I kinda like it?

+ I love Trip. I love saving Trip. I hope Trip is having a good day.

? The Special Stages are kind of pushovers when you know what to do. Pretty mindless. Also very non-plussed by the bonus stages, especially the random wormholes that send you falling for a bit. Not true negatives because I don't have strong feelings on them, but they're weird? Hm.

? I can't seem to find much want to use any of the Emerald powerups. They seem extremely situational at best. I've played with them a bit, but I don't feel like there's a lot to them worth stopping in place to fiddle with. I have found a few places that you can explore using things like the fireball, so hopefully I'll get more mileage out of that.

- These are some of the worst bosses I've ever seen in a Sonic game. Not just for their cheap shots but how much they waste your time. I've never seen a Sonic game give this much pause between hits on an enemy before, ever. And it's REALLY hard to read when they're open to attack or when they're going to hurt you. Combine this with really frustrating arena layouts and just. UGH. They're like the number one reason I'm not super keen on continuing.

- It feels like when you lose rings, they disappear way too quickly. Again, don't know if this is following the frame count of how Mania handled it to a tee or what, but I'm tripping up a LOT on ring loss. I've died more than I ever do in the classics, and I can't call most of those deaths at the fault of enemy placement as much as just feeling like my rings don't last long enough.

- I said some of the music is good, but just as many tracks are fucking dreadful. The menu and boss themes are so, so bad. Jesus. They have to put away this soundfont for good. But it's not just that either, it's how some of these tracks loop after less than 20 seconds. It's like they asked them deliberately to go unsophisticated with the melodies; which makes no sense when put against the more complex tracks. This is easily the sloppiest a Sonic OST has ever been in execution.

- These visuals are crusty as hell, jeeeeeesus christ. The only way to truly appreciate them is to pretend you're playing a XBLA/PSN game, or a sixth gen title. It's rough, folks. LOL

Overall so far: ???????/10
Super confused so far. The gameplay and level design is a decently fun time but the horrible bosses and unpolished visuals/music are driving me nuts. I'll try to pick it back up later.

 

If you're playing anything (ahem, switch Emu) other than the current gen versions (ps5, ect), the visuals are a major downgrade and only look good if you play it at a very high res (like scaled to 4K).

So unless you have a legit ps5 copy early, I wouldn't consider these visuals truly representative yet. Even the 4K screencaps and footage I've seen from emulation look a lot sharper than the streams showed.

Music is sadly all over the place, though. I really want to hear the full OST to better get an understanding of it.

 

My only major complaint is that the bosses not having checkpoints is a massive design flop. I don’t want to play the 3 minute auto scrolling boss again and again and again just to get back to where I died….
Also the music is jarring to go from S4 sounding to lopes sounding, why? Lol. Why not just make it one or the other.
Otherwise, if mania and 3K is 10/10, I say 8/10 for superstars is fair, maybe a 7 depending on what your looking for.

 

No super sonic fight it seems, but each character does have a slightly different ending animation.

So previews said 12 zones, but there's only 11 in the main game. Is there a hidden area, or were they counting battle mode, Trip's story, or something else?

 

I stopped at the boss of Golden Capital Zone. This boss is abysmal. Holy shit, who signed off on this? A slow Sky Chase section with very few rings, long sections of avoiding dangerous hazards with little room for error, no checkpoints, a few awkward attacks, and DID I MENTION NO CHECKPOINTS?

So far, the first four zones of this game are its strongest. They are masterful. I love the level design, the music, the aesthetics, the gimmicks, all of it. I really couldn't be happier. The next three zones don't quite match up at times, but I still had fun. Up until the awful boss, of course.