What did you think of Sonic Superstars? Let me know in the comments below! And now I'm back, let me know if there's anything Sonic or SEGA based that you'd like me to cover in a future video. I have a release schedule planned but I'm always open to suggestions. Cheers!
Completing this game was one of the worst experiences of my gaming life. The stages are excessively long and arduous, the enemy placements are Sonic 4 levels of cheap, the gimmicks are intrusive and halt all rhythm, the screen is too zoomed in so you can't see what's coming, and the bosses are the absolute worst of the entire franchise. All those issue are exasperated in Trip's Story, which I am confident was never play tested. Screw this game, I hate it. I'd rather play Sonic Boom.
Although I liked the game a lot, I can't deny that the final Fang fight may well have been THE worst gaming experience of my life. There wasn't even a sense of accomplishment on beating it, more looking back and thinking "How much of my free time did I just WASTE on that boss?!"
As a guy from New Jersey, I'm sorry about that incident. I can safely say that nothing like that has ever happened to me, so I wouldn't say it is a common occurrence in this state. You either were in a bad neighborhood or in the wrong place at the wrong time. Scary stuff.
Thank you! Yep, I was actually told by an American colleague "That has never happened to me in my 50 years on this Earth, nor has it happened to anyone I have ever met." so it seems pretty rare. Hotel raid aside, I really enjoyed my time in NJ.
As an OG Sonic fan, I will always favour a 2D Sonic game over a 3D. There are of course, people born in the very late 90s and 2000s, who's first exposure to sonic were the 3D games like Adventure or Heroes, and ive seen loads of debates online about suggesting they retire 2D sonic. I find that so weird, but what has me worried, is even Sonic Team have even stated they dont see a future for pixel art. And THAT has me worried. (Which is why I've started to try and learn how to make Sonic rom hacks and Fangames) But here's the thing, I do love my 3d games too, but 2d is where my heart lays. So you would think Superstars I'd rate highly, but....I kinda...dont. When I first tried the game, my hype was high. And it was in slow decline after each zone. The first 2 zones, are bangers. They flow real fast, and you can tell the zones were designed well with momentum in mind. But not so much after that. Progress feels really slow. It feels as if Sonic Team, wanted to rush the product out. Hence why the first 2 zones work great, then the rest were not as well thought out. It would also explain why the zones, and story feels so disjointed and all over the place. It would also explain why there were a million composers for the game, and why the last zone doesnt even have an act 2, it's just reversed, as if they ran out of time designing it and just said let's reverse it to have something ready. However on reflection, that zone must of been designed in such a way that it works in both directions, which is clever. Trips story is a just terrible experience, with cheap trap and enemy placement. I like her character but she is OP as hell in super form, and the permanent super glitch makes the game basically broken. To me the visuals also look too plasticky, and the backgrounds seem somewhat barren and plain. The special stages are just meh, and feel like they sneezed onto paper and that was the layout for the special stages they went with, and man oh man did i hate going for emerald 5. Totally agree with the boss battles, in the old days, it was pure skill if you could batter a boss in seconds, but now it feels drawn out cheaply regardless of skill with physics. As for the music, meh. Tee slopes stuff was great, especially Speed jungle Act 1 had me bopping. The megadrive stuff was not so great, and I'm actually a fan of megadrive music alot. (I spend ALOT of time composing in DAWs using megadrive sound fonts) However Tails Frozen Base act music was good imo. The physics do feel real close, it even comes with the Retro Engine glitches, like dying because you touched a wall in Egg Fortress. Do I hate this game? No, not at all. Do I love it? No. Its it better than sonic 5? Hell yeah. But since completing Superstars, have I felt urged to go back and play it, like mania or sonic 3 etc? Nope. I think what I expected was different to what I got. And that's kinda down to me. Maybe in time i will appreciate it more but, argh i was ultimately let down by it. Great to see you back Hilltop and apologise for the essay lol 😂😂
No need to apologise at all! I really enjoyed reading it and you make some great points. It does seem like a game that was churned out quickly, but still done with some care imo. Definitely not the pure passion project feels of Sonic Mania, but at least it feels like a solid product that they tried to get right. Whilst also having some managers trying to keep the costs down wherever they could haha. I'll drop you a better reply soon... I am typing on the YT creator app and can't see your comment and can't remember all the points you made! Cheers! Nice to speak with you again!
@@HillTopTerebi Ah it's no danger mate, I appreciate your reply regardless :). Well, I dont hate superstars at all, I'd give it around a 7 out of 10 too, there is definitely merit to what they were trying to achieve. I love the character models, they looked great and are very nicely animated. I loved the little nods to older sega games, such as Fantasy Zone, and the fact they brought back unused concepts from older Sonic titles showed respect for its heritage. There was definitely some cool and interesting gimmicks in the zones, though I was kinda 50/50 on the emerald abilities, they were kinda underutilised. Im more of a insta-shield kinda person lol. Overall it does fit in with the "feel" of classic sonic games and I did enjoy my play through. It's just, when it comes to 2D sonic, I can be a harsh critic, but only because the standards are really high with every Pixel art sonic game. But That's partly my old fault for having those expectations lol, I just hope Sonic Team doesnt abandon pixel art like they said cuz, man that would be sad. Good to talk again too and I look forward to seeing what future content you've got planned, followed by the ensuing discussions lol.
New Jersey means your experience was 100% real lmao Don't be scared to come back to the US, I've lived here 24 years and have never had anything like that happen, it just depends on the area. As for the game itself, while I don't think it's as good as Mania, I also think most people who were down on it were over exaggerating. Yes, it's somewhat lazy and definitely a bit rushed, but no more so than most Sonic games. The worst part really is just the bosses, but they are a LOW low. I just really hope now that Frontiers and the movies brought in truckloads of cash and Frontiers' longer dev time and updates showed that a proper-length development cycle is actually a GOOD thing [damn who woulda thunk it definitely not SEGA Sammy], that Sonic Origins and Superstars are the last of the cynical, rushed, nostalgia-baity classic Sonic projects. Lest we forget Origins Plus' "physical release" bruh how cheap and lazy can you get
Cheers dude. Definitely not scared to come back to the US, I had a great time apart from that incident 🙂 Hopefully SEGA have learned from this (although how many years have we all been saying that for? Haha) But yeah - after seeing Superstars underperform (in Sega's words) hopefully more lessons can be learned here re: phoning it in for future classic Sonic releases. Cheers! 🍻
Your review was excelent again. For the final boss battles especially Trips battle against Fang, I fell the same pain. It took me over 3 days straight to beat him. For the points, I normally don´t do it as well, but in my Sonic 2D mainline list, I would put Superstars on the 3rd place together with Sonic CD. Only S3&K and Mania are above. If there would ever be a Superstars Plus update, I would wish for a Fang Story. When I remember it right, Fangs last big appearance was Sonic the Fighter in 96. So if Fang was away in Sonic games for 27 years, in my eyes, he deserves more than a few cutscenes and boss battles.
Thank you very much. A playable Fang would be cool AF, I agree. He's been absent for waaaaay too long. Looking forward to the IDW Fang mini-series. Happy to hear you enjoyed Superstars! Cheers!
Oh wow that's good going - I need to get a move on! Thank you for watching! I will get back on AoStH immediately. Ep. 4 will either be the next video on this channel or the one after... In either scenario not long to wait 🙂 Cheers!
I hate how zoomed in the game is. It makes it very disorientating, which is a pain when trying to find the emeralds. And I absolutely LOATHE the bosses. They’re just so frustrating and annoying. I actually stopped playing the game at the giant mech boss that uses the multiplayer robot and I never picked it back up again. The bosses are too frustrating and in my opinion the game doesn’t earn the effort it asks of me. The rest of it is fine though. Just fine, nothing fantastic.
Compared to any of the 16-bit games on Origins collection, or Sonic Mania, which are all widescreen, Superstars is exactly the same. Not any more zoomed in compared to the others. However! Every now and then I get the exact feeling of the game being more zoomed in. It's a weird sensation. I've actually done side by side comparisions with the Christian Whitehead ports and they are the same. I can't give it any other explanation, than the 3D graphics somehow making it feel zoomed in.
I just do not like enjoy the art style in this game. I'm one of the people who likes when Sonic goes hard, cringe even. Sonic Adventure 2 is the best it ever got art style wise for me. It seems that the fan games are the ones that really scratch my itch for the style I want. I hope one day we get a fangame based on the OVA, that would be killer.
@@HillTopTerebi mostly I just love that Sonic design, the OVA version of Sonic IMO is perfect. But I'm a total slut for 90s anime stuff so I would say that. Also great to hear you love your Steam Deck as much as I do
@@novelezraoh hey, i heard Project Hero is getting a whole revamp on the graphics and is going for a more classic aesthetic going forward, AND it's using Sonic's OVA style! thought that'd interest you
The first couple levels had me smiling. But my smile slolwy turned to a frown the deeper I got into the game. Being "not bad as forces" as the precedent for what makes Sonic game considered good is pretty depressing. I don't think this is a bad game, but I wouldn't call it good either (especially for the price).
Sadly I didn't like it as much as you seem to have done. I wish I waited for a price drop or bought it at book off than paying full price. I agree that there are some awesome songs and I did like you occasionally could choose which path you could go. Continue Act 2 or go to a special level with a certain character. Visually it"s nice but I do prefer Mania and the classic look, but this could potentially be the new way forward. I only completed it with Sonic as you don"t need to play with the other characters to get the chaos emeralds...again which great, but I guess some people do want that re-play value with other characters just like in classic games. I have gone half way with Trip story and yea I then moved on to Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Mario RPG. One side note, I really thought the credits on this game which when you are controlling your character hitting the staff names was hilarious as it's exactly the same in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, coincidence?
Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it as much. It would be very difficult for me to recommend finishing Trip's story hahaha. Fang is a MISERABLE experience. I hear you on the price... Still need to pick up Mario Wonder - it looks superb! Hope Japan life is treating you well!
most of the enjoyment I get from sonic games comes from time attacking the levels, figuring out which paths are the fastest and getting lower and lower times, so to me the mediocre bosses weren't a problem at all, 9/10 game for me also the shooter story sounds scary af
Oh yeah I am sure it's a great game for time attack. I really liked the level design in this game. Happy to hear you're enjoying it! Thank you for watching!
What did you think of Sonic Superstars? Let me know in the comments below!
And now I'm back, let me know if there's anything Sonic or SEGA based that you'd like me to cover in a future video. I have a release schedule planned but I'm always open to suggestions. Cheers!
Completing this game was one of the worst experiences of my gaming life.
The stages are excessively long and arduous, the enemy placements are Sonic 4 levels of cheap, the gimmicks are intrusive and halt all rhythm, the screen is too zoomed in so you can't see what's coming, and the bosses are the absolute worst of the entire franchise.
All those issue are exasperated in Trip's Story, which I am confident was never play tested.
Screw this game, I hate it. I'd rather play Sonic Boom.
Although I liked the game a lot, I can't deny that the final Fang fight may well have been THE worst gaming experience of my life. There wasn't even a sense of accomplishment on beating it, more looking back and thinking "How much of my free time did I just WASTE on that boss?!"
As a guy from New Jersey, I'm sorry about that incident. I can safely say that nothing like that has ever happened to me, so I wouldn't say it is a common occurrence in this state. You either were in a bad neighborhood or in the wrong place at the wrong time. Scary stuff.
Thank you! Yep, I was actually told by an American colleague "That has never happened to me in my 50 years on this Earth, nor has it happened to anyone I have ever met." so it seems pretty rare. Hotel raid aside, I really enjoyed my time in NJ.
Boils my piss that Sega couldn't just work it out with Evening Star. Sonic Mania 2 or whatever would of been amazing
As an OG Sonic fan, I will always favour a 2D Sonic game over a 3D. There are of course, people born in the very late 90s and 2000s, who's first exposure to sonic were the 3D games like Adventure or Heroes, and ive seen loads of debates online about suggesting they retire 2D sonic. I find that so weird, but what has me worried, is even Sonic Team have even stated they dont see a future for pixel art. And THAT has me worried. (Which is why I've started to try and learn how to make Sonic rom hacks and Fangames)
But here's the thing, I do love my 3d games too, but 2d is where my heart lays. So you would think Superstars I'd rate highly, but....I kinda...dont.
When I first tried the game, my hype was high. And it was in slow decline after each zone. The first 2 zones, are bangers. They flow real fast, and you can tell the zones were designed well with momentum in mind. But not so much after that. Progress feels really slow.
It feels as if Sonic Team, wanted to rush the product out. Hence why the first 2 zones work great, then the rest were not as well thought out. It would also explain why the zones, and story feels so disjointed and all over the place. It would also explain why there were a million composers for the game, and why the last zone doesnt even have an act 2, it's just reversed, as if they ran out of time designing it and just said let's reverse it to have something ready. However on reflection, that zone must of been designed in such a way that it works in both directions, which is clever. Trips story is a just terrible experience, with cheap trap and enemy placement. I like her character but she is OP as hell in super form, and the permanent super glitch makes the game basically broken. To me the visuals also look too plasticky, and the backgrounds seem somewhat barren and plain. The special stages are just meh, and feel like they sneezed onto paper and that was the layout for the special stages they went with, and man oh man did i hate going for emerald 5. Totally agree with the boss battles, in the old days, it was pure skill if you could batter a boss in seconds, but now it feels drawn out cheaply regardless of skill with physics. As for the music, meh. Tee slopes stuff was great, especially Speed jungle Act 1 had me bopping. The megadrive stuff was not so great, and I'm actually a fan of megadrive music alot. (I spend ALOT of time composing in DAWs using megadrive sound fonts) However Tails Frozen Base act music was good imo. The physics do feel real close, it even comes with the Retro Engine glitches, like dying because you touched a wall in Egg Fortress.
Do I hate this game? No, not at all. Do I love it? No. Its it better than sonic 5? Hell yeah. But since completing Superstars, have I felt urged to go back and play it, like mania or sonic 3 etc? Nope. I think what I expected was different to what I got. And that's kinda down to me. Maybe in time i will appreciate it more but, argh i was ultimately let down by it.
Great to see you back Hilltop and apologise for the essay lol 😂😂
No need to apologise at all! I really enjoyed reading it and you make some great points. It does seem like a game that was churned out quickly, but still done with some care imo. Definitely not the pure passion project feels of Sonic Mania, but at least it feels like a solid product that they tried to get right. Whilst also having some managers trying to keep the costs down wherever they could haha.
I'll drop you a better reply soon... I am typing on the YT creator app and can't see your comment and can't remember all the points you made! Cheers! Nice to speak with you again!
@@HillTopTerebi Ah it's no danger mate, I appreciate your reply regardless :). Well, I dont hate superstars at all, I'd give it around a 7 out of 10 too, there is definitely merit to what they were trying to achieve. I love the character models, they looked great and are very nicely animated. I loved the little nods to older sega games, such as Fantasy Zone, and the fact they brought back unused concepts from older Sonic titles showed respect for its heritage. There was definitely some cool and interesting gimmicks in the zones, though I was kinda 50/50 on the emerald abilities, they were kinda underutilised. Im more of a insta-shield kinda person lol. Overall it does fit in with the "feel" of classic sonic games and I did enjoy my play through. It's just, when it comes to 2D sonic, I can be a harsh critic, but only because the standards are really high with every Pixel art sonic game. But That's partly my old fault for having those expectations lol, I just hope Sonic Team doesnt abandon pixel art like they said cuz, man that would be sad. Good to talk again too and I look forward to seeing what future content you've got planned, followed by the ensuing discussions lol.
New Jersey means your experience was 100% real lmao
Don't be scared to come back to the US, I've lived here 24 years and have never had anything like that happen, it just depends on the area.
As for the game itself, while I don't think it's as good as Mania, I also think most people who were down on it were over exaggerating. Yes, it's somewhat lazy and definitely a bit rushed, but no more so than most Sonic games. The worst part really is just the bosses, but they are a LOW low.
I just really hope now that Frontiers and the movies brought in truckloads of cash and Frontiers' longer dev time and updates showed that a proper-length development cycle is actually a GOOD thing [damn who woulda thunk it definitely not SEGA Sammy], that Sonic Origins and Superstars are the last of the cynical, rushed, nostalgia-baity classic Sonic projects. Lest we forget Origins Plus' "physical release" bruh how cheap and lazy can you get
Cheers dude. Definitely not scared to come back to the US, I had a great time apart from that incident 🙂
Hopefully SEGA have learned from this (although how many years have we all been saying that for? Haha)
But yeah - after seeing Superstars underperform (in Sega's words) hopefully more lessons can be learned here re: phoning it in for future classic Sonic releases.
Cheers! 🍻
Ah yes. Regarding the shooter story, welcome to an average day in America. Freaking terrifying, huh?
Yes!!! It was ridiculous!! (I know I am being lighthearted about it in the video but obviously it was pretty terrifying! Absolutely wild!)
Your review was excelent again. For the final boss battles especially Trips battle against Fang, I fell the same pain. It took me over 3 days straight to beat him. For the points, I normally don´t do it as well, but in my Sonic 2D mainline list, I would put Superstars on the 3rd place together with Sonic CD. Only S3&K and Mania are above. If there would ever be a Superstars Plus update, I would wish for a Fang Story. When I remember it right, Fangs last big appearance was Sonic the Fighter in 96. So if Fang was away in Sonic games for 27 years, in my eyes, he deserves more than a few cutscenes and boss battles.
Thank you very much. A playable Fang would be cool AF, I agree. He's been absent for waaaaay too long. Looking forward to the IDW Fang mini-series.
Happy to hear you enjoyed Superstars! Cheers!
Welcome back!
Thank you!
Great to see you back 👍Since you've left I actually sat down and watched all of AoStH so I can't wait to see the rest of your reviews 🙌
Oh wow that's good going - I need to get a move on! Thank you for watching! I will get back on AoStH immediately. Ep. 4 will either be the next video on this channel or the one after... In either scenario not long to wait 🙂 Cheers!
@@HillTopTerebi no problem 👍
I hate how zoomed in the game is. It makes it very disorientating, which is a pain when trying to find the emeralds. And I absolutely LOATHE the bosses. They’re just so frustrating and annoying. I actually stopped playing the game at the giant mech boss that uses the multiplayer robot and I never picked it back up again. The bosses are too frustrating and in my opinion the game doesn’t earn the effort it asks of me.
The rest of it is fine though. Just fine, nothing fantastic.
Compared to any of the 16-bit games on Origins collection, or Sonic Mania, which are all widescreen, Superstars is exactly the same. Not any more zoomed in compared to the others. However! Every now and then I get the exact feeling of the game being more zoomed in. It's a weird sensation. I've actually done side by side comparisions with the Christian Whitehead ports and they are the same. I can't give it any other explanation, than the 3D graphics somehow making it feel zoomed in.
Glad you’re back! Look forward to you hopefully resuming your AOSTH reviews!
Thank you! I absolutely AM resuming AoStH! It'll either be the next upload or the one after. Either way, episode 4 is imminent 🙂
i'm so happy that you almost didn't even use that profile avatar... he's drags the soul out of your words when on screen
Haha yeah I've seen a few comments to that effect. I'll be keeping it to an absolute minimum going forward! 😅
I just do not like enjoy the art style in this game. I'm one of the people who likes when Sonic goes hard, cringe even. Sonic Adventure 2 is the best it ever got art style wise for me. It seems that the fan games are the ones that really scratch my itch for the style I want.
I hope one day we get a fangame based on the OVA, that would be killer.
That's fair. Hard agree on an OVA game. That art style would be cool AF if it was hand drawn (if that's what you mean). Cheers!
@@HillTopTerebi mostly I just love that Sonic design, the OVA version of Sonic IMO is perfect. But I'm a total slut for 90s anime stuff so I would say that.
Also great to hear you love your Steam Deck as much as I do
@@novelezraoh hey, i heard Project Hero is getting a whole revamp on the graphics and is going for a more classic aesthetic going forward, AND it's using Sonic's OVA style!
thought that'd interest you
@@AltKaxREAL Absolutely! Gonna check it! Thanks :3
The first couple levels had me smiling. But my smile slolwy turned to a frown the deeper I got into the game. Being "not bad as forces" as the precedent for what makes Sonic game considered good is pretty depressing. I don't think this is a bad game, but I wouldn't call it good either (especially for the price).
How I’ve missed the sound of your voice! 😌
Sadly I didn't like it as much as you seem to have done. I wish I waited for a price drop or bought it at book off than paying full price. I agree that there are some awesome songs and I did like you occasionally could choose which path you could go. Continue Act 2 or go to a special level with a certain character. Visually it"s nice but I do prefer Mania and the classic look, but this could potentially be the new way forward. I only completed it with Sonic as you don"t need to play with the other characters to get the chaos emeralds...again which great, but I guess some people do want that re-play value with other characters just like in classic games. I have gone half way with Trip story and yea I then moved on to Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Mario RPG.
One side note, I really thought the credits on this game which when you are controlling your character hitting the staff names was hilarious as it's exactly the same in Super Mario Bros. Wonder, coincidence?
Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it as much. It would be very difficult for me to recommend finishing Trip's story hahaha. Fang is a MISERABLE experience. I hear you on the price... Still need to pick up Mario Wonder - it looks superb! Hope Japan life is treating you well!
I Give It 10.5/10 In My Opinion
That's a hell of a score! Glad you enjoyed it. Cheers!
@@HillTopTerebi 🍻 Cheers
i honesty really like superstars
most of the enjoyment I get from sonic games comes from time attacking the levels, figuring out which paths are the fastest and getting lower and lower times, so to me the mediocre bosses weren't a problem at all, 9/10 game for me
also the shooter story sounds scary af
Oh yeah I am sure it's a great game for time attack. I really liked the level design in this game. Happy to hear you're enjoying it! Thank you for watching!