Sonic Superstars (PS5)

Sonic Mania’s success in 2017 convinced Takashi Iizuka, the head of Sonic Team, that fans wanted more “Classic Sonic” content. However, he wanted another angle to help attract a wider audience rather than rehash Mania, a game created for hardcore fans, with a direct sequel. However, the idea of another 2D Sonic the Hedgehog game wouldn’t come to fruition until 2021, when Sonic Team would collaborate with Arzest, a studio created by Sonic co-creator Naoto Oshima. After about a year-and-a-half in development, the final product, Sonic Superstars (Superstars), would release to mixed reception from critics and fans.

Although the idea of another “Classic Sonic” game intrigued me, since I loved Mania in spite of its flaws, I didn’t play it on release for one reason or another (including a previously-mentioned medical condition). However, the hype for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (the movie), put me in the right mood for more Sonic content, which would include Frontiers and Superstars. Unfortunately, for every interesting and novel thing that Superstars does in exploring the potential of the 2D games, it does another that makes it an experience so infuriating that I couldn’t bring myself to finish it.

On the uncharted Northstar Islands, Dr. Eggman wishes to turn the native animals into Badniks and collect the seven Chaos Emeralds to conquer the world. Aiding him in his quest is the mercenary Fang the Hunter, who enlists the help of an armored native named Trip in guiding them through the islands’ hostile environment. Once they’re aware of Eggman’s actions, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy join forces to take him down.

Dr. Eggman (middle) teams up with Fang the Hunter (right)
and Trip the Sungazer (left).

 

Like Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, Superstars divides itself into multiple campaigns. As such, I will go into how they handle the game’s story and gameplay elements separately, though I’d like to start with what they have in common.

Superstars emulates the gameplay of the Sega Genesis games, dividing itself into twelve all-new Zones consisting of one or two Acts in which the player must reach the end as quickly as possible. As the successor to Sonic Mania, it plays how you would expect based on that, down to having a boss at the end of each Act, but with some new twists of its own. There’s no Lives system anymore, instead restarting the Act or retrying from the last Star Post you crossed upon dying. Some Zones also have an additional Act where you play a specific character or a bonus Act that you access with Fruit, which you can obtain at the end of certain Acts. Through each Zone, including during Bonus Stages, players can obtain Medals that they can exchange for parts for use in Battle Mode (more on that later). Players can also replay Acts and bosses at any time through a hub world similar to the one from Sonic Generations.

One of the biggest changes, however, is how the game incorporates the seven Chaos Emeralds. Each Zone has a Giant Ring that leads you to a Special Stage where you chase down an Emerald while swinging through spheres. These also have a time limit that you can extend by collecting rings or overcome with boost pads or spring cannons. Once you collect an emerald, you gain a new powerup, such as creating clones of yourself or summoning vines, that can help you get through a Zone or cheese a boss fight. However, you can only collect one Emerald per Zone, so you can’t repeatedly use the same Giant Ring to collect all seven, and if you fail the Special Stage, you must start the Act all over again for another shot (fortunately, they’re not that far into an Act). Collecting all seven Emeralds grants access to each character’s Super transformation, though you must select it from the same wheel as the other powerups, as well as hold at least 50 Rings.

 

Like Mania before it, I like how Superstars conveyed its story with no dialogue. Based entirely on the characters’ actions, I got a sense of their personalities and some subtle characterization. I even grew attached to Trip and found her resolution and newfound friendship with Amy fairly rewarding. However, that doesn’t really do much against the idea that the game doesn’t have much of a story going for it. Outside of the character interactions, it’s a rather generic Sonic story that doesn’t have much going for it outside of introducing a new character and bringing Fang back into the games after over a decade.

As for the gameplay, I liked how each of the four main characters played differently and offered new strategies for clearing the same levels. I also appreciated the attempts at making each Zone feel unique from each other and giving them a distinct identity from Zones present in other Sonic games. Finding new pathways can feel fun and certain gimmicks can introduce some tension to the levels, plus it’s neat that they tied some gimmicks to the background so that players also pay more attention to them. Unfortunately, that’s about where my praise ends.

A promising start.

The first few Zones are rather fun for the most part and feel like they fit right at home within the Sonic universe. There’s even a new take on the Casino Night Zone that incorporates pinball and carnival game elements. After a certain point, however, the Zone gimmicks feel a little forced or unnecessary, including a second pinball-themed Zone that doesn’t work as well and another Zone where the map automatically bounces every few seconds, which interfered with finding a Giant Ring for a shot at a Chaos Emerald, as well as one where you constantly change forms and abilities. I also found the enemy and obstacle placement rather ridiculous as the game dragged on, with too many opportunities to lose all of your rings and prevent you from getting even one shot at the Super transformation once it’s unlocked. Not to mention that it can feel oddly difficult for Sonic to regain his momentum at times.

What really killed my enthusiasm, however, was how the game handled its boss fights. The issue isn’t necessarily that they have different gimmicks or unique attack patterns, but rather the fact that in some effort to balance out how the player can cheese the fights with certain Emerald powers, every single boss feels tedious and slow. It’s not that bad at first because the bosses have simple patterns or feel more creative, but it only gets worse the further in you go. Aside from taking more hits than you’d think in some cases, they have a very limited window of vulnerability and the wait for the next opening grows more excruciating with each level.

Did Fang really need these tedious obstacle courses?

The boss where this felt the most apparent was in Golden Capital Zone, which ends with a boss fight against Fang, who steals all of your Chaos Emeralds right before the start of Act 2. You not only have no powers that can help you, but after every other hit, you go through a slow and lengthy section where you must dodge various obstacles while holding onto what few precious rings you may obtain. On top of that, this boss fight lasts several minutes and if you die, you have to start all over again. It does feel good when you finally win, but I never wanted to replay the level afterwards.

One other flaw with the boss system is that if you do somehow make it with the ability to use your Super transformation, you only have one shot at using it because if you somehow die while it’s active, there aren’t enough rings around the last Star Post to give you the Super transformation again. This came to a head with the final boss of the main story, which combined the tedium of previous bosses with the Super issue and added attack patterns that you can’t possibly predict unless you lose multiple times. The only way I could possibly win was learning how to cheese it with specific Emerald powers in its second phase, but even then, it took a few hours before I could finally claim victory because I had to redo the same five to ten minutes over and over in an exhausting loop every time I died. It would have helped if the game at least provided a checkpoint between Phases, as it would have prevented me from feeling actual physical pain throughout my attempts, plus it would feel more fun for the younger players this game was meant to appeal to.

 

After beating the main story, you unlock Trip’s Story, in which you play through the same eleven Zones as before, but they’re more difficult and you play as Trip (think of it like an unlockable Hard mode). Trip has an interesting playstyle where she plays like a version of Amy and Knuckles put together, but has a Super form where she transforms into a dragon and can breathe fire. Although she still feels unique and rather fun, her level and boss design discouraged me from going that far into it, not helped by the fact that bosses now take more hits to defeat than usual. It doesn’t help that after watching more of her story on YouTube, there isn’t much of a noticeable difference between her story and the main story, with only a single short cutscene as your reward. I also felt discouraged after seeing and hearing a number of complaints about how her final boss fight is even harder than the main story and didn’t think that that single cutscene would make the effort worthwhile (especially after how the main story’s final boss hurt my hands). For similar reasons, I also didn’t bother playing the Last Story, which requires beating Trip’s Story and collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds.

Aside from the story mode, there are also two extra modes: Battle Mode and Time Attack. Battle Mode plays like a party game of sorts where you play three minigames and determine the winner based on how well each player performed. However, you don’t play as any of the main characters, but rather a robot whose appearance you can customize with parts purchased with Medals that you can earn throughout the main game. You can also play this mode both online and offline by yourself or with other players. Although this mode does give some replay value, I personally found the minigames lacking for my taste and I’m not sure I would go out of my way to play it (plus, the robot parts can get pretty pricey).

As for Time Attack, you can (re)play any of the game’s Acts at your leisure, but there are no Star Posts and you don’t have any Emerald powers. Between the two modes, this one provides better replay value, since it gives you more of personal challenge and lets you avoid the stress of tedious bosses.

Perhaps the better way to play as Trip?

 

On the technical side, I didn’t encounter any major bugs, though there are exploits that speedrunners can easily take advantage of, including one where you can skip at least two of the final bosses outright.

Although Superstars doesn’t use the same pixelated art style from Mania, I thought the 2.5 art style still fit within the series aesthetically and found the models pretty expressive. Plus, the traditionally animated cutscenes look incredible. The real issue, however, comes with the Zones, as the earlier Zones look pretty and fit well within existing Sonic games while some of the later ones lack the same care and attention or border on generic. I also found the music a mixed bag, as some tracks wouldn’t feel out of place in the Genesis games while others won’t necessarily stick with me later on.

In the hands of another developer, Sonic Superstars may have lived up to the quality of Sonic Mania or even surpassed it. As it stands, however, with no real fixes in sight, I can’t recommend this game except to diehard Sonic fans and even then, certainly nowhere near full price.