Few game characters are more iconic than Sega’s mascot Sonic the Hedgehog. Making his debut on Sega Genesis in 1991, Sonic’s games were known for highspeed platforming. Like most of the heroes from the 16-bit era, Sonic ventured into experimental territory when 3D became the norm and had mixed results with some of his outings. The blue hedgehog seems to be at his best when he sticks to what made him popular in the first place, which is highspeed platforming firmly planted in two dimensions. Sonic Superstars is an attempt at this, adding modern flair to the classic Sonic formula.
Sonic Superstars takes place in the Northstar Islands. These islands are known for their enormous animals, likely the result of the enormous fruit that is native to them. Dr. Robotnik Eggman has enlisted the help of Fang and Trip in his latest scheme for world domination. He plots to capture these giant animals and turn them into Badniks for his own nefarious plans. But whenever Eggman devises such plans, Sonic and his friends aren’t too far away to put a stop to his half-boiled ideas.
The story campaign takes place across eleven zones on the Northstar Islands. These are all new areas for the player to explore, but longtime fans of Sonic will immediately see the similarities to areas in classic Sonic games. Some of these levels have interesting twists to them, such as the change in graphic style for the Cyber zone and turning Sonic into different animals. The level designs are meant to encourage exploration, with a greater emphasis on platforming that simply zipping through as fast as possible. The exploration typically leads to medals that can be used for multiplayer cosmetics or bonus stages to get more of said medals or Chaos Emeralds. In addition to Story, there’s a Time Attack and eight player Battle Mode. Time Attack is simply seeing how fast a course can be completed, and while it does have leaderboards, the player is only able to compete against their own ghost best time. Battle Mode pits up to eight players against each other in minigames, none of which are more than mildly entertaining.
The player can choose between four characters at the start of the game. Sonic naturally offers the most classic gameplay experience with his high speed and drop dash ability. Tails can use his two tails to function as helicopter blades which makes him a good choice for players who might want to avoid enemies and have an easier time exploring. Knuckles can glide through the air and latch onto walls which he can climb. Amy Rose can get to the hard-to-reach spots with her double jump and use her hammer to take out enemies that may pose a challenge to the other characters. Each character plays differently from one another, but all are viable options for completing the game.
Another Sonic staple are bonus levels that are hidden throughout each stage. The ones that are found at checkpoints when the player has enough rings are similar to the original bonus stages that appeared decades ago where Sonic has to navigate through a rotating series of platforms and using pinball mechanics to get to the medals that can be used to buy cosmetic items for multiplayer. The bonus stages that contain Chaos Emeralds are hidden in the giant rings that the player needs to seek out. Unlike the past games where collecting all the Emeralds granted the ability to turn into Super Sonic, each Emerald grants a special ability. Avatar can summon an ally to fight on screen enemies and Water can transform the player into liquid to easily mover through water or up waterfalls and find new pathways through the level to give a couple examples. These powers aren’t necessary to complete the game but they can make certain situations easier and are nice to play around with.
Sonic is considered more of a runner than a fighter, but boss battles have been a Sonic staple since the first game. The boss battles have been revamped in Sonic Superstars as each boss has been crafted to make each confrontation a special event. The majority of these battles involve Eggman in a ridiculous contraption that seems like overkill to take down a rodent, but that’s what the series is known for. Each of the fights requires the player to learn the boss’s attack pattern and know when to strike which can make them a game of patience, something blue hedgehogs aren’t known for. While these bosses showcase a fair amount of creativity and design diversity, there are a couple that weren’t all fun to fight, mainly because the difficulty primarily came from an environmental fixture that interfered with the game mechanics such as fighting underwater. In early games Sonic could repeatedly jump on the boss to wear down its health. In Sonic Superstars most bosses have a small window of vulnerability from when they aren’t hiding in the background. If this opportunity is missed the player will have to go through the boss’s offensive sequence again and waiting for the opportunity to attack again. It sounds like a more strategic approach on paper, but many of these fights end up feeling tedious in spite of having interesting concepts.
Sonic Superstars isn’t a terribly long game. If the PlayStation 5 dashboard is to be trusted, it took about five hours of playtime to make the credits roll for the first story campaign. Short and sweet seems appropriate for this style of gameplay, and completing it quickly seems to be in line with what Sonic is known for. But this is a game that’s intended to be played multiple times as there are three story campaigns in total, where completing one unlocks the next. In addition to the four starting characters, a new secret character with their own story mode unlocks upon completion of the game. Plus with each level having multiple paths it’s easy to miss the gold enemies in each level along with the bonus levels to collect all the Chaos Emeralds on the first go round.
Sonic Superstars is an enjoyable Sonic game with some caveats. The biggest one of these is actually something could be viewed as a strength by some people and that’s the emphasis on exploration over just speeding through the level. With the exception of finding an elusive gold enemy or a Chaos Emerald bonus stage, there’s little reward for exploring each stage and part of the appeal of Sonic games is just tearing through the level at a breakneck pace. Many of the boss designs are interesting and most battles are downright fun, but too many of them become tedious because the window of vulnerability is short enough to allow one hit and then the player has wait for the boss to repeat its attack pattern, making some boss fights almost as long as the level leading up to them. There were several instances where a death or at least a hit felt cheap due to Sonic colliding with a hazard that couldn’t be avoided or seen prior to said collision due to his current means of traversal.
Sonic Superstars does a fantastic job of bringing the classic character designs to life with 3D character models while keeping the great 2D gameplay intact. The soundtrack is on par with the visuals, bringing great tunes to accompany Sonic throughout his adventures on Northstar Islands. The controls are generally responsive, but some level design choices actually punish the player for trying to get through them at supersonic speed where the launch from a spring or running through a ramp will have the hedgehog colliding with an enemy or hazard the second it becomes visible. Local and online multiplayer co-op is supported, which sounds like a great idea in theory, but due to the nature of the gameplay, doesn’t work well in practice. Instead of locking players together on the same screen or utilizing a split screen the camera arbitrarily chooses one player to player to the detriment of the other which could make this co-op mode the one potentially most damaging to friendships since New Super Mario Bros. Wii.
Closing Comments:
Sonic Superstars shines brightest when it’s sticking to what made the Genesis titles so successful. Running through the levels, launching oneself off spring boards and dashing through loop the loops is just as enjoyable now as it was in the 16-bit days. Cracks in this Chaos Emerald become more apparent with some of the changes. Many of the boss designs are good, but the patterned approach to fighting them can make them excessively drag on. The powers granted by Chaos Emeralds are fun additions, but the overall emphasis on exploration over speed takes away from the core experience of what one expects and loves from a Sonic game, plus the addition of multiplayer is a reminder of why these have traditionally been single player experiences. But criticisms aside it’s still a fun game, and while far from flawless, still a must play for fans of classic Sonic games.
Sonic Superstars
Reviewed on PlayStation 5
