Highlights
- Sonic Superstars successfully captures the physics and platforming elements that made the original Sonic games great, unlike Sonic 4, which fell short in terms of physics and momentum.
- Sonic Superstars offers new stages, obstacles, challenges, and gimmicks, avoiding the trap of relying too heavily on nostalgia and recycled content.
- While Sonic Superstars lacks online co-op and falls short in terms of some musical elements compared to Sonic 4, it still delivers enjoyable gameplay and fun songs.
While the blue blur has had quite a lengthy history at this point, some fans still believe that the era of Classic Sonic was the best that it's ever been. In order to give these fans something to look forward to, Sega has tried to recreate the old school games as new experiences through two different endeavors. One was 2010's episodic Sonic the Hedgehog 4, while the most recent attempt is Sonic Superstars, out now on major platforms.
Naturally, due to how both games wish to give fans a rush of nostalgia while being an entirely new adventure, comparing the two was a given since Sonic Superstars' success would owe itself to Sega learning from Sonic 4's mistakes, as many series loyalists think Sonic 4 ended up being a mediocre experience compared to what it was trying to be. The bar may have been low for Sonic Superstars, but Sonic 4 ultimately isn't hard to top.
It's All in the Physics for Sonic Superstars
As the goal with both games is to capture what made the original Sonic games great, the biggest aspect that fans look at is how they play. While there was always a considerable amount of improvement between titles, the way the original Genesis games handled their platforming has remained difficult to top and even harder to replicate. No title emphasizes how necessary this is more than Sonic 4.
Needless to say, many fans feel like Sonic 4's biggest failing, at least as far as the first episode is concerned, is the physics. The game featured slow, strange acceleration as it fell victim to requiring dash panels to keep the flow going, as Sonic Forces would be criticized for this later, with the momentum physics that the original Classic Sonic games used nowhere to be found.
While it isn't entirely note-for-note, Sonic Superstars does a great job at calling back to and remembering exactly what the classic games were good at. Momentum holds strong throughout, and the level design only requires automation for cinematic moments and stage gimmicks, meaning all the platforming done in Sonic Superstars is completely on the player's own terms and skills. If players keep going and learn the stages, then they'll feel accomplished beating them.
Sonic Superstars Thrives in the New and Not the Old
Nostalgia matters when it comes to how beloved an older title tends to be, which makes it very easy for that feeling to end up trapping newer games, making them too focused on replicating what came before so that there's little room to do anything new. Even Sonic Mania falls into this trap a fair bit, with half if its stages being brought back from previous titles.
It seems that Sega held onto that small criticism that Sonic Mania players had about one of the most best-selling Sonic games of all time, as Sonic Superstars very early on made it clear that everything the game had to offer would be new. With the game now out, players can easily find out for themselves that this is the case all throughout the title as every stage is new with its own obstacles, challenges, and gimmicks.
If there's one thing that Sonic 4 (particularly episode 2) has over Sonic Superstars, it's the inclusion of online co-op, a feature that's sorely missed in Superstars. And if anything is similar to Sonic 4, sadly Sonic Superstars feels rather reminiscent of the episodic title's soundtrack with half of its tracks. It's easy to tell which of its songs were composed by Sonic Mania's composer Tee Lopes, and veteran composer Jun Senoue who worked on Sonic 3, but also on Sonic 4. As the Sonic franchise is mostly known for its incredible music even at its low points, it's sad to have some Superstars players say Sonic 4 has the latest title beat in terms of some musical elements. Still, Superstars delivers on some fun songs despite its shortcomings, and it shines in many other areas.
Sonic Superstars is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
