Classic Sonic speeds onto modern game consoles with “Sonic Superstars” Photo courtesy of developer Sega.
Classic Sonic has sprinted his way onto current gen game consoles with a brand new 2D adventure, “Sonic Superstars”.
Although we have recently received “Sonic Frontiers” and “Sonic Origins” on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, “Sonic Superstars” is the first fully original classic-styled game for those platforms. “Sonic Frontiers” followed the modern gameplay structure, and Origins was merely a collection of the Sega Genesis Sonic games.
“I’m happy there’s finally a new 2D Sonic game because it’s been so long since Mania came out, and that game was really good,” said junior Myra Salazar.
It’s great to finally have a new 2D Sonic game after the 6 year gap between the previous one, “Sonic Mania.” But does “Sonic Superstars” live up to that incredible game? For the most part, yes.
“I almost finished it and it’s pretty good, but some of the levels in Sonic Mania are more fun than the ones in Superstars because Mania’s feel bigger,” said sophomore Xavier Lara.
“Sonic Superstars” follows the same structure as the original Genesis games. It has 11 different zones to playthrough with two acts each, with a boss battle at the end of each second act.
The location variety is a highlight. Sega made a point of how they wanted to stay away from using level locations from previous games, which is something the Sonic series had done a lot in past entries.
“It was a good thing [to make new locations] because it was getting tiring seeing Green Hill Zone everywhere,” said Lara.
Cyber Station Zone is an obvious example of the newfound ambition. It takes place in cyberspace and has a section where Sonic and his friends transform into pixelated jellyfish and swim around the stage.
Sky Temple Zone is set on a temple suspended in the sky and has all kinds of wind gimmicks that send Sonic flying through the level.
“I like Frozen Base Zone the most because the winter theme is pretty, and It’s a lot of fun to roll through the mountain slopes as fast as possible,” said Salazar.
The level design is overall great, but an issue is that the handling of the characters leaves a bit to be desired. It’s not as terrible as something like “Sonic 4”, where Sonic couldn’t even gain natural speed like any other game.
But it also falls behind “Sonic Mania”, which had the best 2D Sonic handling in the series. “Sonic Superstars” unfortunately falls behind that game, with the controls being a bit more stiff.
Another problem is a difficult one to describe. The level design is great, as stated before, but it does lack a bit of the flow that the Genesis games and “Sonic Mania” were known for.
The levels in “Sonic Superstars” are sometimes too gimmicky, distracting from the core momentum-based platforming that the Sonic series built itself around.
“Sonic Superstars” is far from bad in either category, it’s just that the game would have benefitted from more focused level design, such as the kind we see in Bridge Island Zone with its circular floating platforms.
Overall, “Sonic Superstars” is a very good comeback for 2D Sonic in the modern era, it has a little something for both old and new fans to enjoy, even with the few issues it has.
“Sonic Superstars” is currently available on the PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
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Sources: ign.com, fandom.com
