Sonic Supers is a new entry in the classic Sonic line of games.
To preface this review, I enjoyed the game whole-heartedly however can see the issues as with many others, but my overall enjoyment is what made me give it a 4 out of 5.
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It's a fun Sonic game that suffers from say what Sonic 4 and CD suffered from. What I mean is:
If Sonic Mania is more inline with Sonic 2 and 3&K, then Sonic Superstars is more in like with Sonic CD. Meaning that while Mania with 2 and 3&K were focused on speed, Superstars is focused more on the platforming and collecting other things within the game, not as much as CD but still has a bit of similarity with it in that regard.
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I think something that feels weirdly off is the gameplay doesn't feel as fast as it should be in terms of the characters, and while maybe I can understand that for say multiplayer since the game would have to manage the 4 characters on screen, I feel like when it comes to single player, the characters should be faster. Another criticism I have is certain Zones only having 1 Act, and while these acts are longer than normal I believe that they ALL OF THEM should have had 2 Acts, if they wish to include the extra characters acts or the Fruit acts, then do it, make sure all zones have 2 acts that all players can play on, while the other special acts are character exclusive.
The music is great, apart from the creepy bonus stage clown music that sounds like a clown being killed. But the music and the esthetic and new zones that aren't retreads are a treat to behold. I think another thing that while helpful you might not end up using too much are the chaos emeralds and their powers, but the fact they actually make the emeralds do something is a surprise but a welcomed one.
I find it cool they brought back Knuckles pink Super Form, though it sucks they didn't give Tails his army of Flickies. And even though it's cool they game Amy a super form, they should've made her turn Yellow and have her spikes up like Sonic, Shadow, and Silver since she's a hedgehog too, it really is lame they just made Amy get a pink aura and that's it.
The 5th character has a spectacular unique super form that isn't really focused on speed like the others, but more so on flight and fire which is nice to play around with.
Also in-regards to the games cosmetics for Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy (and the 5th character) they should've included actual obtainable in-game cosmetics in order to be able to customize them however you want, instead of just relegating them to preorder bonuses. Having more costumes and color swaps would've been cool, because it allows for reference colors to other characters, or even iconic cosmetics like Knuckle's Hat. It actually could've been better if the robot shop was a shop to both customize your custom Robot for battle mode, along with it having costumes, alternate skins/colors for the Heroes to swap to. Hopefully future update or a DLC does what I am asking.
I think the boss fights are unique and interesting, however can be a bit tedious or boring when it comes to lack of speed. However it doesn't necessarily mean the bosses aren't good, just mean there should be a faster pace to it all.
I find it cool they have a 5th playable character who's very unique in terms of design, gameplay, and super form. Really they're a great addition to the cast and hopefully they appear more often in future games. It's really cool that this character has a personal story mode, that while retreads the zones, it prioritizes their gameplay and actually makes the stages harder which is cool to see! The characters name is Trip and she is a Sungazer, a lizard who befriends Amy.
However I will say the final boss for Trip is absolutely unfair for both kids and adults. The final boss is FANG THE SNIPER/HUNTER/NAC THE WEASEL who has 2 phases to his fight. The first phase has him in his ship shooting missile and insta-kill 1-hit lasers, which makes you question why the game gave you 16-RINGS at the checkpoint, it takes 6 hits to defeat his first phase.
Phase 2, the final phase, has you fight Fang in his giant mech, he uses badnicks to hurt the player around the battleground, however when he summons them, the player can use the split-second opportunity to throw the bouncing roller badnicks into the bot. He uses a targeting system to trap the player in a spiderweb (pair of 3 every time) which he uses 3 times during the first 6 hits, and 4 times during the last 3 hits.
If you get captured and or escape the spiderwebs by avoiding them or spamming jump on them to escape them, Fang Mech uses a giant popgun that if it hits you INSTANTLY KILLS YOU in 1-HIT, during the first 6 hits he shoots it twice, during the last 3 hits, he shoots it 4 times quickly.
He uses shoulder missiles that when explode release 2 bomb types, 1 smooth ball that you need to bounce into the Fang Mech, and the other you avoid as it does damage.
During the last 3 hits, be careful when you see the mech's nose glow he will take out the outer platforms and then headbutt the middle platform, leaving the middle 2 inner platforms, for a split second attack to the head.
It takes 9 hits total to defeat his second phase to finish Trips story.
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Final story has you fight as Super Sonic against the Dark Dragon that was released by... I don't know, it's never explained, while it is hinted at during the prologue animation from Youtube, it feels like during development the story was forgotten during develop since the final story doesn't seem to tie in too well, while it does have the mural somewhat explaining what Trips connection to the dragon is.
Assuming I have this correct about the story they were trying to tell:
Sonic and Friends are out stopping Eggman from taking over Planet Mobius by robotizing the forest critters. Eggman is joined by Fang the Sniper/Hunter and newcomer trip to help capture and defeat Sonic and friends in order to take over the world. Sonic and Co thwart Eggman along the way with Trip constantly being verbally abused by Fang for messing up, causing her to fall to an unknown area of Lagoon Zone. Amy Rose meets Trip here, and they become instantly friends when Amy shows her kindness, care, and friendliness to her, causing Trip to have a change of heart. During Golden Capital Zone, Sonic and friends defeat Fang, who attempts to pilot his Mech, however Trip uses the Chaos Emeralds originally stolen by Fang to defeat Fang. She becomes a unique Golden Dragon, and later returns to her regular self wearing a black tanktop with metallic gloves and shoes, and has a hair style similar to that of Modern amy rose with Horns, her hair being a light tanish-orange with yellow horns, her eyes being greyish, and having a orange horn nose.
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Trip all go to defeat Eggman who uses an hour glass to reverse time in order to have a final showdown in the DEATH EGG. Sonic and CO defeat Eggman, destroying the DEATH EGG ROBOT and DEATH EGG, but Eggman still survives.
The heroes return to Mobius to celebrate defeating Eggman once again, with Sonic congratulating Trip and happy to have her apart of his friend group.
The story doesn't stop there as Trip knows there's business to take care off as there is an EGGROBO continuing EGGMANS plans, so Trip travels through all the zones again to defeat the evil EGGROBO and find out the true culprit who's continuing Eggman's plan. We find out it's Fang who has a score to settle with the "TRAITOR" and decides to take Trip out with his DEATHFANG MECH. Trip successfully defeats Fang... leaving his fate unknown as it is unknown if Fang escaped the DEATH EGG, however I assume Trip took his unconscious body off the exploding planet sized ship before it was too late.
(This part is full of assumptions but makes sense for the most part.)
Finally we have the unleashing of the Dark Dragon, we can assume during the time that FANG stole the Chaos Emeralds from Knuckles, that he first gave it to Eggman to power the HOUR GLASS and Eggman later returned the CHAOS EMERALDS to Fang in order to power his DEATHFANG MECH. Fang almost gets in his mech during Golden Capital Zone, when he's intercepted by Trip who had a change of heart after meeting Amy.
Assuming what's happened throughout Sonic CD, Sonic 2, the Game Gear Spinoffs, Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and Sonic Mania with Eggman constantly using the CHAOS EMERALDS or attempting to obtain them for evil purposes filled the Chaos Emeralds with negative energy, with enough building up to unleash the DARK DRAGON from it's imprisonment. This causes Sonic to use the positive energy of the Chaos Emeralds to go and defeat the Dark Dragon Once and for all by sealing it away once again.
In the cutscene we see trip holding the giant DRAGON STONE/JEWEL, and uses it to imprison the dragon once again. Based on what Trip's race is and based on the prologue animation with the SUNGAZER MURAL from Golden Capital we learn essentially Trip is a descendant of an ancient race of Sungazers that had the great evil terrorizing them, that being the Dark Dragon. As to where the Dragon came from, we have no clue. It can be assumed that it was probably Dark Energy from the Chaos Emeralds that built up so much it was released with all the havoic Eggman caused throughout Sonic 1-3&K, CD, GameGear canon spinoffs, and Mania. The ancient Sungazers used each of the chaos emeralds and their abilities of:
Blue Emerald - Avatar (Clone Creation)
Red Emerald - Bullet (FIRE DASH)
Cyan Emerald - Water (WATER TRAVERSAL)
Green Emerald - Ivy (PLANT ROOT CREATION)
Purple Emerald - Vision (HIDDEN SIGHT)
Yellow Emerald - Slow Time (CHAOS CONTROL)
White Emerald - Extra (EXTRA ABILITY USAGE)
To seal away the Dragon, afterwards the race of Sungazers, just like the Echidnas died out leaving Trip as the only descendant similar to that of Knuckles. It is assumed that towards the end of the Last Story after the Dark Dragon is sealed away in the Dragon Stone, Trip essentially becomes the protector of the Dragon Stone/Jewel so that no one can ever use it's power for evil ever again, similar to how Knuckles protects the Master Emerald on Angel Island.
Super Sonic with the help of his friends, all band together to defeat the Dragon and seal it away once and for all, with Trip sealing away the Dragon being the last protector and descendant of the Sungazers.
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy are all happy trip is their friend and a new Sonic hero, protector of the DARK DRAGON STONE/JEWEL.
And thats Sonic Superstars.
I believe that is the story that Sonic Superstars was trying to tell. Maybe I'm missing somethings and maybe there are plotholes but I think thats the story that was attempted by left out or inserted too vaguely. Let me know your guy's thoughts on my assumptions of the story. :)
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Battle mode from what I played is very fun, and being able to customize your own robot is really cool with all the parts you can mix and match the parts or creating Iconic robots like Metal Sonic, Metal Knuckles, and new comers Metal Tails and METAL AMY! (Tails had an evil robot counterpart thing called Tails Doll that makes a cameo appearance in this game, this is the first time however an Official Metal Tails and Metal Amy have been made official characters). It also has a special Metal NIGHTS parts to customize your Robot, which is awesome. However I fully understand and can see people not being interested in playing battle mode online per say since people mainly will want to play the main game together in terms of racing, or something along those lines, but still battle mode is there to be enjoyed or played if one wishes to.
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Overall it's a fine enough Classic Sonic game, I want to see more of Classic Sonic Games like this in a 3D style that doesn't depend on the RETRO 16-BIT style, and instead continues to use these classic characters in a 3D style but with the 2D gameplay and world.
I believe with updates that change the speed of the game, it'll be perfect. I hope DLC is added as well, and they don't just leave this as a 1 and done. With updates or a DLC expansion similar to SONIC MANIA PLUS they can add more characters like:
- Espio the Chameleon
- Vector the Crocodile
- Charmy Bee
- Ray the Flying Squirrel
- Mighty the Armadillo
- Bean the Dynamite Duck
- Bark the Bear
- Honey the Cat (this character is a bit in a limbo since she's actually a anthropomorphic version of her Fighting Viper version. However Honey the Cat has made recent appearances in the SONIC IDW comics which means she must be an official Sonic character now to some capacity).
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But regardless of that, I enjoyed my time with this game, I hope for updates as I think with what I mentioned in terms of the speed could make people more happy with it. I do hope for DLC with new characters so that they don't just leave this one to hang out and dry. I loved Sonic Superstars and I hope for a sequel, it has issues, but I enjoyed my time with it.
Thanks for reading.
To preface this review, I enjoyed the game whole-heartedly however can see the issues as with many others, but my overall enjoyment is what made me give it a 4 out of 5.
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It's a fun Sonic game that suffers from say what Sonic 4 and CD suffered from. What I mean is:
If Sonic Mania is more inline with Sonic 2 and 3&K, then Sonic Superstars is more in like with Sonic CD. Meaning that while Mania with 2 and 3&K were focused on speed, Superstars is focused more on the platforming and collecting other things within the game, not as much as CD but still has a bit of similarity with it in that regard.
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I think something that feels weirdly off is the gameplay doesn't feel as fast as it should be in terms of the characters, and while maybe I can understand that for say multiplayer since the game would have to manage the 4 characters on screen, I feel like when it comes to single player, the characters should be faster. Another criticism I have is certain Zones only having 1 Act, and while these acts are longer than normal I believe that they ALL OF THEM should have had 2 Acts, if they wish to include the extra characters acts or the Fruit acts, then do it, make sure all zones have 2 acts that all players can play on, while the other special acts are character exclusive.
The music is great, apart from the creepy bonus stage clown music that sounds like a clown being killed. But the music and the esthetic and new zones that aren't retreads are a treat to behold. I think another thing that while helpful you might not end up using too much are the chaos emeralds and their powers, but the fact they actually make the emeralds do something is a surprise but a welcomed one.
I find it cool they brought back Knuckles pink Super Form, though it sucks they didn't give Tails his army of Flickies. And even though it's cool they game Amy a super form, they should've made her turn Yellow and have her spikes up like Sonic, Shadow, and Silver since she's a hedgehog too, it really is lame they just made Amy get a pink aura and that's it.
The 5th character has a spectacular unique super form that isn't really focused on speed like the others, but more so on flight and fire which is nice to play around with.
Also in-regards to the games cosmetics for Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy (and the 5th character) they should've included actual obtainable in-game cosmetics in order to be able to customize them however you want, instead of just relegating them to preorder bonuses. Having more costumes and color swaps would've been cool, because it allows for reference colors to other characters, or even iconic cosmetics like Knuckle's Hat. It actually could've been better if the robot shop was a shop to both customize your custom Robot for battle mode, along with it having costumes, alternate skins/colors for the Heroes to swap to. Hopefully future update or a DLC does what I am asking.
I think the boss fights are unique and interesting, however can be a bit tedious or boring when it comes to lack of speed. However it doesn't necessarily mean the bosses aren't good, just mean there should be a faster pace to it all.
I find it cool they have a 5th playable character who's very unique in terms of design, gameplay, and super form. Really they're a great addition to the cast and hopefully they appear more often in future games. It's really cool that this character has a personal story mode, that while retreads the zones, it prioritizes their gameplay and actually makes the stages harder which is cool to see! The characters name is Trip and she is a Sungazer, a lizard who befriends Amy.
However I will say the final boss for Trip is absolutely unfair for both kids and adults. The final boss is FANG THE SNIPER/HUNTER/NAC THE WEASEL who has 2 phases to his fight. The first phase has him in his ship shooting missile and insta-kill 1-hit lasers, which makes you question why the game gave you 16-RINGS at the checkpoint, it takes 6 hits to defeat his first phase.
Phase 2, the final phase, has you fight Fang in his giant mech, he uses badnicks to hurt the player around the battleground, however when he summons them, the player can use the split-second opportunity to throw the bouncing roller badnicks into the bot. He uses a targeting system to trap the player in a spiderweb (pair of 3 every time) which he uses 3 times during the first 6 hits, and 4 times during the last 3 hits.
If you get captured and or escape the spiderwebs by avoiding them or spamming jump on them to escape them, Fang Mech uses a giant popgun that if it hits you INSTANTLY KILLS YOU in 1-HIT, during the first 6 hits he shoots it twice, during the last 3 hits, he shoots it 4 times quickly.
He uses shoulder missiles that when explode release 2 bomb types, 1 smooth ball that you need to bounce into the Fang Mech, and the other you avoid as it does damage.
During the last 3 hits, be careful when you see the mech's nose glow he will take out the outer platforms and then headbutt the middle platform, leaving the middle 2 inner platforms, for a split second attack to the head.
It takes 9 hits total to defeat his second phase to finish Trips story.
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Final story has you fight as Super Sonic against the Dark Dragon that was released by... I don't know, it's never explained, while it is hinted at during the prologue animation from Youtube, it feels like during development the story was forgotten during develop since the final story doesn't seem to tie in too well, while it does have the mural somewhat explaining what Trips connection to the dragon is.
Assuming I have this correct about the story they were trying to tell:
Sonic and Friends are out stopping Eggman from taking over Planet Mobius by robotizing the forest critters. Eggman is joined by Fang the Sniper/Hunter and newcomer trip to help capture and defeat Sonic and friends in order to take over the world. Sonic and Co thwart Eggman along the way with Trip constantly being verbally abused by Fang for messing up, causing her to fall to an unknown area of Lagoon Zone. Amy Rose meets Trip here, and they become instantly friends when Amy shows her kindness, care, and friendliness to her, causing Trip to have a change of heart. During Golden Capital Zone, Sonic and friends defeat Fang, who attempts to pilot his Mech, however Trip uses the Chaos Emeralds originally stolen by Fang to defeat Fang. She becomes a unique Golden Dragon, and later returns to her regular self wearing a black tanktop with metallic gloves and shoes, and has a hair style similar to that of Modern amy rose with Horns, her hair being a light tanish-orange with yellow horns, her eyes being greyish, and having a orange horn nose.
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Trip all go to defeat Eggman who uses an hour glass to reverse time in order to have a final showdown in the DEATH EGG. Sonic and CO defeat Eggman, destroying the DEATH EGG ROBOT and DEATH EGG, but Eggman still survives.
The heroes return to Mobius to celebrate defeating Eggman once again, with Sonic congratulating Trip and happy to have her apart of his friend group.
The story doesn't stop there as Trip knows there's business to take care off as there is an EGGROBO continuing EGGMANS plans, so Trip travels through all the zones again to defeat the evil EGGROBO and find out the true culprit who's continuing Eggman's plan. We find out it's Fang who has a score to settle with the "TRAITOR" and decides to take Trip out with his DEATHFANG MECH. Trip successfully defeats Fang... leaving his fate unknown as it is unknown if Fang escaped the DEATH EGG, however I assume Trip took his unconscious body off the exploding planet sized ship before it was too late.
(This part is full of assumptions but makes sense for the most part.)
Finally we have the unleashing of the Dark Dragon, we can assume during the time that FANG stole the Chaos Emeralds from Knuckles, that he first gave it to Eggman to power the HOUR GLASS and Eggman later returned the CHAOS EMERALDS to Fang in order to power his DEATHFANG MECH. Fang almost gets in his mech during Golden Capital Zone, when he's intercepted by Trip who had a change of heart after meeting Amy.
Assuming what's happened throughout Sonic CD, Sonic 2, the Game Gear Spinoffs, Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and Sonic Mania with Eggman constantly using the CHAOS EMERALDS or attempting to obtain them for evil purposes filled the Chaos Emeralds with negative energy, with enough building up to unleash the DARK DRAGON from it's imprisonment. This causes Sonic to use the positive energy of the Chaos Emeralds to go and defeat the Dark Dragon Once and for all by sealing it away once again.
In the cutscene we see trip holding the giant DRAGON STONE/JEWEL, and uses it to imprison the dragon once again. Based on what Trip's race is and based on the prologue animation with the SUNGAZER MURAL from Golden Capital we learn essentially Trip is a descendant of an ancient race of Sungazers that had the great evil terrorizing them, that being the Dark Dragon. As to where the Dragon came from, we have no clue. It can be assumed that it was probably Dark Energy from the Chaos Emeralds that built up so much it was released with all the havoic Eggman caused throughout Sonic 1-3&K, CD, GameGear canon spinoffs, and Mania. The ancient Sungazers used each of the chaos emeralds and their abilities of:
Blue Emerald - Avatar (Clone Creation)
Red Emerald - Bullet (FIRE DASH)
Cyan Emerald - Water (WATER TRAVERSAL)
Green Emerald - Ivy (PLANT ROOT CREATION)
Purple Emerald - Vision (HIDDEN SIGHT)
Yellow Emerald - Slow Time (CHAOS CONTROL)
White Emerald - Extra (EXTRA ABILITY USAGE)
To seal away the Dragon, afterwards the race of Sungazers, just like the Echidnas died out leaving Trip as the only descendant similar to that of Knuckles. It is assumed that towards the end of the Last Story after the Dark Dragon is sealed away in the Dragon Stone, Trip essentially becomes the protector of the Dragon Stone/Jewel so that no one can ever use it's power for evil ever again, similar to how Knuckles protects the Master Emerald on Angel Island.
Super Sonic with the help of his friends, all band together to defeat the Dragon and seal it away once and for all, with Trip sealing away the Dragon being the last protector and descendant of the Sungazers.
Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy are all happy trip is their friend and a new Sonic hero, protector of the DARK DRAGON STONE/JEWEL.
And thats Sonic Superstars.
I believe that is the story that Sonic Superstars was trying to tell. Maybe I'm missing somethings and maybe there are plotholes but I think thats the story that was attempted by left out or inserted too vaguely. Let me know your guy's thoughts on my assumptions of the story. :)
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Battle mode from what I played is very fun, and being able to customize your own robot is really cool with all the parts you can mix and match the parts or creating Iconic robots like Metal Sonic, Metal Knuckles, and new comers Metal Tails and METAL AMY! (Tails had an evil robot counterpart thing called Tails Doll that makes a cameo appearance in this game, this is the first time however an Official Metal Tails and Metal Amy have been made official characters). It also has a special Metal NIGHTS parts to customize your Robot, which is awesome. However I fully understand and can see people not being interested in playing battle mode online per say since people mainly will want to play the main game together in terms of racing, or something along those lines, but still battle mode is there to be enjoyed or played if one wishes to.
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Overall it's a fine enough Classic Sonic game, I want to see more of Classic Sonic Games like this in a 3D style that doesn't depend on the RETRO 16-BIT style, and instead continues to use these classic characters in a 3D style but with the 2D gameplay and world.
I believe with updates that change the speed of the game, it'll be perfect. I hope DLC is added as well, and they don't just leave this as a 1 and done. With updates or a DLC expansion similar to SONIC MANIA PLUS they can add more characters like:
- Espio the Chameleon
- Vector the Crocodile
- Charmy Bee
- Ray the Flying Squirrel
- Mighty the Armadillo
- Bean the Dynamite Duck
- Bark the Bear
- Honey the Cat (this character is a bit in a limbo since she's actually a anthropomorphic version of her Fighting Viper version. However Honey the Cat has made recent appearances in the SONIC IDW comics which means she must be an official Sonic character now to some capacity).
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But regardless of that, I enjoyed my time with this game, I hope for updates as I think with what I mentioned in terms of the speed could make people more happy with it. I do hope for DLC with new characters so that they don't just leave this one to hang out and dry. I loved Sonic Superstars and I hope for a sequel, it has issues, but I enjoyed my time with it.
Thanks for reading.