Sonic Superstars - SPOILER Thread

[DaBigJ]

As is tradition at this point, yet another Sonic game broke street date. This thread is for any and all spoilers for Sonic Superstars. Please make sure to use spoiler tags when appropriate.

[Palas]

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

Trip is playable. Rejoice.

EDIT: Didn't want the spoiler to go through the home page highlight

[Treacher]

5 minutes ago, Palas said:

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Trip is playable. Rejoice.

Spoiler

She also has her own super transformation into a golden dragon a few zones before the finale. Neither streamer I watched beat the game with all the emeralds.

Also, are you the same Palas from Retro and (the defunct) Sega Forum back in the day?

[DaBigJ]

Might as well continue Trip posting

Spoiler

Here's another Trip

[Iko]

Spoiler

Sadly I missed the leaked stream; I joined it when it was already during a final-ish bossfight, then the stream went offline.

There are probably more than just one stream though, since I've read comments about credits and post game stuff... though I can't find anything else.

Too bad, I wanted to give a look at the new zones and their level design; I guess I just have to wait a few hours before footage of all those levels will leak on Youtube by countless players who got the game early.

From the first look though, I'm not really happy with it... a lot of Chibi Robo Zip Lash vibes, or anyway low budget plarformer in general. I want to see more for a better idea, especially some levels and not just bosses (but I have no idea of where to look at). So far, Mania looks way better than this, coming from someone who doesn't even like Mania that much.

there are no big spoilers or anything, just in spoiler for safety.

[StaticMania]

And I thought Vector would the 5th playable character...

Just based on that spinning animation.

[Sonicka]

Looooove Trips design. Puts to rest what her species is now (yes, I know this has been clarified countless times but I’ve had some bizarre conversations with people that believed she was only dressing up like a sungazer and was actually a raccoon under the armour). 

Was really hoping this was gunna be a Knuckles situation and she’d join the team, so super pleased this is the case for the repeat post game play through. 
 

5 hours ago, Iko said:

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Sadly I missed the leaked stream; I joined it when it was already during a final-ish bossfight, then the stream went offline.

There are probably more than just one stream though, since I've read comments about credits and post game stuff... though I can't find anything else.

Too bad, I wanted to give a look at the new zones and their level design; I guess I just have to wait a few hours before footage of all those levels will leak on Youtube by countless players who got the game early.

From the first look though, I'm not really happy with it... a lot of Chibi Robo Zip Lash vibes, or anyway low budget plarformer in general. I want to see more for a better idea, especially some levels and not just bosses (but I have no idea of where to look at). So far, Mania looks way better than this, coming from someone who doesn't even like Mania that much.

there are no big spoilers or anything, just in spoiler for safety.

This has been my concern as well since watching initial gameplay footage or trailers. In general I actually quite like the art direction they've gone for and understand the purpose behind this (despite preferring sprite based art) - but they haven't pushed it hard enough IMO, especially concerning the basic backgrounds and the level design shown off (so far).

When you are carrying across the main principles of the 2D classics but incorporate a new visual language, you need to adapt your level design philosophy and art design to match this. It might not have had the physics right, but I felt Sonic Generations was the correct approach visually. Sonic Superstars in comparison looks incredibly cheap and empty (and this is 2 console generations later).

However, I have a feeling that the multiplayer design aspect had a hand in why this has happened. When you're accounting for the amount of players on screen, it's likely that design decisions were made to maximise gameplay fluidity so players could focus and see where they are on screen without too much visual noise. 

[Red Hot Jack]

I'm kinda hoping Trip eventually becomes part of the gang in the modern/future timeline too, Ian Flynn said he's interested in modern Trip, I just think that 5th member in the main franchise would be cool, so Trip better not be restricted to classic and they follow up on that Tails tube. Cream and Sticks are kinda done and outdated I guess, don't fit/have some issues like being too boring, safe or too comedy heavy, it's nice that Amy mentioned them and I would like to see them again, maybe not as active in the main team though.

Also, I've seen the leak, and from the looks of it she seems interesting, she has like 3 designs and story-wise I'm not sure yet but it sounds like she's important, in general her concept is really cool, and would be perfect for major character material in the series, but knowing SEGA, it may take a long while since Superstars isn't even out yet and Trip is a significant spoiler character. It's a bit like Sage but Sage is literally shown everywhere in the marketing of Frontiers even though her details were not given, Trip was only teased in the case of Superstars because of spoilers. I also need more Fang in the future.

But these are all just ideas, it really depends on whether Superstars and Trip are well received.

[ShadowForever]

8 hours ago, DaBigJ said:

Might as well continue Trip posting

  Reveal hidden contents

Here's another Trip

WOOOW AMAZING!!! She's too cute!!!

[ZinogreVolt]

Acquired a copy this morning and I've been playing it a lot. One thought stewing in the back of my head is that this game sort of comes across more as a follow-up to 3K specifically, rather than Mania. Like, the way Northstar Island and it's zones have an interconnectedness and it's focus on new gimmicks kinda give me that impression. The only thing that really feels Mania-esque are the Drop Dash and certain parts of the UI being reminiscent of that game.

[mayday2592]

@ZinogreVoltWould you say the stages are well designed? The Jungle and Bridge Zones look great, but the Pinball Carnival zone looked kinda sparse and barren.

[Sonicka]

Was going to be my immediate question as well @ZinogreVolt- how well does the game flow and play so far for you. 

In your opinion are we talking a Sonic 3&K / Mania successor in terms of overall quality, or are we looking at Sonic 4 Episode 3? Maybe it’s neither. 

[ZinogreVolt]

The core fundamentals of Superstars is rock solid. It is through and through a Classic game of the same blood as the Genesis originals and Mania. How receptive you'll be to the stages is up in the air but I will say that Pinball Carnival Act 2 in specific is one of my favorite levels in the whole game. I've only beaten six zones so far, but the "openness" of Pinball Carnival seemed like it was something that was exclusive to it.

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

The boss music is changed right??? It's just early street date broken copies, the real boss music is in the official release copies....right? RIGHT????

Spoiler

 

[Palas]

19 minutes ago, A super No.1 washedupgamer said:

The boss music is changed right??? It's just early street date broken copies, the real boss music is in the official release copies....right? RIGHT????

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I'm so sorry for our loss

 

In other news, someone in Sonic Team really likes shmups (and I'm all for it):

 

Spoiler

 

[DaBigJ]

Some multiplayer gameplay.

Spoiler

 

This looks....unfun.

Not the zone, though that's a little suspect too, but the multiplayer looks like a shitshow and a half.

[Palas]

2 hours ago, DaBigJ said:

Some multiplayer gameplay.

  Hide contents

 

This looks....unfun.

Not the zone, though that's a little suspect too, but the multiplayer looks like a shitshow and a half.

Have you seen Speed Jungle Act 2? It makes a valiant effort to be even worse, since, for whatever reason, only the leading player gets a spotlight and everyone else gets lost in the dark if they go too far away. Which is not very much far.

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

59 minutes ago, Palas said:

Have you seen Speed Jungle Act 2? It makes a valiant effort to be even worse, since, for whatever reason, only the leading player gets a spotlight and everyone else gets lost in the dark if they go too far away. Which is very much far.

I don't know why but how you described it and imagining it playing out in my head sounded hilarious.

[Sonikun]

Can someone PLEASE for the love of all that is chili dogs, please tell about the Time attack mode in this game?

Are times tracked per character? Unlike Sonic Origins which tracks your best time regardless of character?

Is there a option to race your previous best time, like Mania?

Is there a quick reset option, like Frontiers and Mania?

I'd really appreciate this info, I feel like the only one who cares about TA mode...

[Sonicka]

That’s fine, as long as one player or a local 2 player co-op functions well enough I can cope. I was never going to play the main campaign with 4 players.

My main concern really is all the compromises or sacrifices made to allow for 4 player to function, because it will strip the core experience down somewhat. It would be a shame if rather than an excellent 4 player adventure or a focused single player that we end up with neither. 

[Tornado]

Seeing the videos from the copies that broke street date, I'm not seeing where the $60 goes for this.

 

 

 

 

Not because the game is 2D or anything like that. Instead because this looks like a PS360 XBLA platformer (like that mediocre Rocket Knight reboot), and those all topped out at half as much.

[DaBigJ]

Oh okay.

[Iko]

I wrote a post on Sonic Retro, want to post it here as well:

Spoiler

Quote

I didn't play the game myself, but I watched the gameplay of many levels on streams and youtube videos.

My opinion so far is that by starting with low expectations you can have fun with it... it's not a super high quality product, but fans of platformers can enjoy it.

The game is very rough in some places, to the point that some of its mechanics just don't work, and I've already seen glitches too (in that italian stream linked earlier in this thread, at some point the player went to the shop, then returned to the map, and got teleported to the zone 11 map instead of zone 4, plus clipped through the ground and fell into the infinite void).

Though there's a lot of creativity in it as well, I've seen many original ideas, interesting stuff. The level design (and boss design) is kinda inconsistent: it's very good in some places, horrible in others... I've never been a big fan of Sonic Mania (I enjoyed it a bit, but it's far from my favorites, especially due to its style of level design which I don't like much); the good parts of level design in Superstars, I like them more than what I've played in Mania... at least, that's the impression I got from watching other people playing them.

Overall, the biggest problem that I've seen in this game is that it seems to expect the player to be already familiar with Sonic and platformers in general: it does a bad job at teaching the game's mechanics, there's some stuff that you have to learn from trial and error or brute force (some gimmicks and some bosses' patterns are confusing, unintuitive or kinda unfair). It seems to expect you to already know how Sonic's gameplay works, so, regardless of the difficulty, I think that this game is not for beginners and overall not the best entry point to the series. Occasionally, the game has no problem oneshot killing you at random (with bottomless pits too, such as in those rollercoaster sections).

I'm not going to give it a score because I didn't play it yet, but I think it's an ok game with some great moments. Besides, I hope they will go modern for the next game... they don't even need to change the gameplay or the artstyle, just set it in the present and take advance of all the character cast and lore elements up to the last game released. The game offers a good framework for multiple playable characters, and it's kind of a shame if it is going to be only for classic characters: I want to lift stuff with psychokinesis, boost as a fireball through the stage, smash a chao into the badnik's faces, or bend reality through chaos control, into a 2D game again (or for the first time, for some characters).

(Unmasked) Trip is kinda cute, but it bugs me that her design is a mix of other characters and doesn't stand out too much as unique. Design-wise she takes elements from many other female characters of the series, especially Tikal, Cream and Sticks, and blends them together at expense of creativity. I think she has more visual uniqueness with the armor and the mask on honestly. I don't know, this is the third attempt at a 5th "main" character that's a cutesy girl with an orange/brown-ish color scheme, seems like Sega really wants that to be a thing, and they can't use the existing characters because they themselves put story-role limitations on them. Just retool Cream and improve her instead of creating new one-off characters every time (make her less obsessively pacifist and cut it with all the "too young, can't do stuff because dangerous" nonsense, Tails is 8yo and nobody cares, Charmy is 6 like her). Amy was changed countless times before she became what she is now in Frontiers and Superstars.

[Red Hot Jack]

I'm playing it, I found it at a smaller local shop.

I'm only doing story mode for now, on the one hand I'm glad you can switch characters in the hubworld (which is very Gens like), and I don't have to do 4 exact same walkthroughs of the game, but at the same time this kinda makes the game even shorter. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of content, 12 all new zones with a boss at the end of each act, extra acts like the character specific acts, the bonus fruit act, but it still gives the "short Sonic game" vibe, I know people prefer a short good experience, but personally it's not worth 60.

The game itself is good, yeah battle mode haven't tried yet but it sounds quite cheap, if it's gonna be fun it's gonna be some madness fun. Plus, I get a glitch. when I get the notification I unlocked new parts on the shop, then it says "go to the shop" and it doesn't show new parts, I go back to the story hub, and I get the same notification again.

Anyway the game itself is quite nice, as I was saying it's still the most polished Sonic game to date, it's not Mania level of attention and passion, but it's still a good effort, it's more like Generations, I'm not sure if it's because of the graphics, but it's not the physics, they nailed those as well as the level design, some stages are better designed than others though, but there is quality in all of them so far, I'm on zone 6 at the moment.

The emerald powers don't add much but it's an extra move, I can't complain, plus there is a prompt that selects 1 power when the stage calls for it, and you can choose to activate it immediately instead of selecting it from the powers wheel. It's useful for example with the vision power, I don't know when to use it but the promt tells me when it's useful without activating it for me. They are all optional, basically they listened to the opinion that the wisps were too much of a focus, I feel.

The characters all play well as expected, and beginners can select the tutorial stages anytime, for all the characters and the powers after you unlock them.

[Sonicka]

@DaBigJ I suppose as the lead composer it makes sense that Jun composed the majority of the soundtrack. TBH, I always thought Act 1 of Bridge Island was his work anyway (it has his signature treads all over it, even as one of the 'better' tracks in the game). Tee lopes has already come out and said the arrangement of Act 2 was his work though... the shift in quality makes that pretty apparent (to my ears anyway).

There's been quite a lot of uploads elsewhere (of leaked zone themes and tracks), and from what I have heard so far anything that Jun specifically crafted is not exactly great IMHO. This is more down to the fact that he rather disappointingly leans heavily into the Sonic 4 Episode 1 dynamic, so all the menus, hub worlds, and a number of zones or acts are either incredibly safe or just plain and forgettable.

I hope some of the other arrangements from other composers save this game somewhat, it's already a shame that all the mini / main boss tracks are naff (especially when you compare it to Sonic Mania's offerings).