Gut Check Quickie - Sonic Superstars

[@CaptainSwag]

I'm more excited for Penny's Big Breakaway than Sonic Superstars

[@VertebreakHER]

The bizarre dark shadow below Sonic when discussing where the scene light is placed may be the result of ambient occlusion. And the light shining on the rocks is definitely caused by overtuned rim lighting.

[@shrimbloMale2]

I do kinda agree with the lighting but the character and enviroment models look good and the animations look good as well. Also I get the fear with artzest but it is important to note that artzest is made up of old sonic team staff so maybe theyll know what makes those original games so good. The main thing thats making me a bit skeptical of this game is some of the automation thats present in the gameplay Ive seen but based on what people have said the game is good. Honestly when I see a new sonic game Im expecting it to a least be above average, the last couple of releases have done well and Ive enjoyed them and superstars looks good so theres that

[@BalenaProductions]

Great video as always Blaze! I agree with most of your points. At the end of the day for me personally, I feel Superstars will be good, not great. I think I'll have fun with it but it won't be anywhere near what a sequel to Mania could have been with the original developers. Looking foward to your eventual review!

[@alejandroaguilar2012]

Yeah exactly superstars will be solid or possibly great but it won't be anything special like mania or s3&k but we will see how superstars turns out soon.

[@NKL3085]

Mania was a mediocre fangame that only looked good in comparison to the dogshit sonic team put out the previous 23 years.

[@alejandroaguilar2012]

​@@NKL3085Mania wasn't mediocre.

[@NKL3085]

@alejandroaguilar2012 it would be for the fan games expo, but because sonic team can't be trusted to wipe their own asses, it was a novelty for the series

[@VaporStation1]

@@NoCash19Why does “reusing” things make it bad? Most of the pixel art is totally redone anyway, with whatever “reused” scrapped concepts being totally recreated from the ground up like with Mirage Saloon (What part of that zone shares any assets at all with the original Dust Hill??) So really this is just a stupid point to make

[@drplantboss9281]

I think the sort-of "second impression" reaction is just as good as the first impression gut-check. I think having a little bit more time to collect your thoughts leads to a better quality video and script, but maybe misses a bit of the true initial reaction. Either way, I'm here for it.

[@Hutch2Much]

the lighting is really weird, cuz a lot of the environments actually don’t look very bad, but some (especially darker areas) have that weird rimlight problem

[@sweetpea644]

Can confirm: It's not looking so hot.

[@gammagantle]

Always a good day when grandpa BlazeHedgehog releases a video

[@omarnsouli1555]

i love the production of your videos like with how you compare sonic games with other franchises or media. Also, I really like how you analyze technical stuff within the games, along with the development. All this makes the videos super engaging to watch.

[@killinswagz]

the rimlighting is the way it is to make collision more visible by highlighting areas to make layers of the environment and interactable terrain more distinct. your art correlates with your game design

[@BlazeHedgehog]

Maybe, but I feel like you can look at games like Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze and Super Mario Wonder and see there's ways to make clear visuals without drenching the world in Crisco

[@shadhog0187]

@@BlazeHedgehog as I was watching the video, I didn't really notice the lighting when you showed gameplay footage in action. Maybe it won't look bad in motion given how fast you'll be moving

[@nailotsot]

is it really though? non-solid BG objects like palmtrees and sunflowers also have this effect, why would they make the physical side of the stage more visible while also making it blend with the background?

[@rexthesheep]

It's called Wonderworld because it's a world and not a land. Hope this helps. (For accountability's sake I am kidding.)

[@BlazeHedgehog]

Wonderland is just so nice to say...

[@custardcream2226]

I think Superstars looks gorgeous....however they did the lighting, it works for me :)

[@DarkstalkerZero]

You hit the nail right on the head about the lighting. The Gaming Bolt Review basically repeated what you said about the lighting. I appreciate your honesty and I agree it looks odd.

[@alejandroaguilar2012]

The visuals isn't bad but yeah it's a bit odd a step up from the weird and poor visuals from sonic 4 but still a little weird but I've seen the gameplay is kinda good.

[@ragnarockerbunny]

I'm genuinely not that bothered with a bit of amateur lighting, I think "ugly and cheap" is a bit of an overly harsh judgement. I know what ugly and cheap throwback platformers look like. They look like Ty The Tasmanian Tiger 4. That said, us Sonic fans kinda are always waiting for disappointment. Will Superstars be good? I don't know. I'm excited to play it, I've been begging Sega for a two pillars structure regarding the franchise ala New Super Mario Bros and Mainline 3D Mario. Separation of Classic and Modern Sonic so the two of them don't get in each other's way any more. It's pretty much everything we asked for. And that's reason enough to be suspicious. But I also think it's best not to give into pessimism. Sometimes a good thing is just a good thing. It's not perfect, not expecting it to be, but if it's a fun game where I can run around as a speedy blue hedgehog, maybe with some friends, that's all it needs to be.

[@WaddleDee105]

The level design is my biggest concern with Superstars. It looks pretty barren and overly reliant on gimmicks in a manner similar to many modern Mario games. Classic Sonic zones are supposed to be a bombardment of level-specific gimmicks but Superstar's levels seem to be focusing on only a couple per level.

[@BlazeHedgehog]

Pinball Carnival does look really sparse, yeah. But I dig the vintage clown motif, at least.

[@valmid5069]

Cant wait for more content!

[@jeromemccalla9520]

I think the rim lighting is trying to mimic air brushed classic sonic art style, for example the way the characters looked on the old Japanese boxart sonic 1- 3.

[@inendlesspain4724]

Mostly unrelated, but that "greasy" look to everything is at least part of what made me hate most modern sequels or reimaginations of old franchises from back in 7th gen, that looked much better in 2D/pixel art, and I was genuinely puzzled at how theoretically "inferior" graphics like that of early 90s consoles looked far better and more impactful than 3D graphics for the latest systems. And the simple answer was that 3D graphics are much harder to make on a technical level, so a lot of developers just cut corners; all the fancy work to take full advantage of the available hardware was poured into hyper-realism since that's what the industry was obsessed with at the time, and games with almost any other kind of art style had to conform to mediocrity, but back then nobody explained it like that. Nowadays we have 3D games with art styles other than hyper-realism that use all the fancy lightning and texture and material effects (stuff like Rift Apart and the Splatoon series come to mind), as well as an endless wave of 2D games with incredibly bland pixel art visuals (mostly in the indie scene), which further shows that it's all up to how much effort and (to an extent) budget is put into the visuals of the project, and not necessarily the available technology. Personally, I'm not too bothered by the way Superstars looks. Sure, those effects look as bad as they did back in the day, but this is obviously a budget project made in a short time to basically fill in the gap between Frontiers and whatever will be the next big release. We used to have these more "humble" Sonic games in-between "big" releases back in the 2000s (that often turned out to be better than said big releases, at least within their scale), so if this becomes a common practice again I'm not complaining. The only thing we should watch out for is Sega trying to pull off a Sonic 4 again, that is, pick up a mediocre mobile game and try to promote it as the next big thing, though I don't think they'd be able to successfully pull that off today.

[@bluestar5812]

I can see. It seems Sonic was something born out of sheer luck and at the right time. The talent behind the original Sonic Team is questionable. Sonic CD was considered the black sheep of the classic Sonic games for a long time, until the 2011 Taxman port came in and the fanbase thinks the game is a masterpiece. I see a lot of Sonic 1 and CD's influence in Superstars' level design: more platforming, vertical level design, many branching paths, gaining instant speed from tubes and tunnels (Stardust Speedway), bosses that die in 3 hits. I think regardless of Superstars' quality, critics will be harsher on their review because it is a full price game, it will be compared to Mario Wonder (really stupid of Sega to release this game now, and not in November), and it is not Mania 2/not made by Evening Star. I predict worse metacritic score for Superstars, but I wouldn't be surprised if this game sells more than Mania in the long run. What Iizuka said about 2D being old fashioned is very stupid in a vacuum, but he is not entirely wrong - step outside of the hardcore gaming sphere and there are a lot of people out there that dismiss good games because of 2D sprites or because they are indies. In think Mania even has the "Indie" tag on Steam. I couldn't find more up-to-date data, but it seems Sonic Mania took 8 months to sell 1 million copies, and didn't much more after that. This is terrible for a 20 dollar game that has been available in all platforms, got a physical edition later with extra content, and is considered "the best Sonic game of all time". Also, according to Steam's achievement data, very few people got the "See you next game" achievement. Meaning few players actually finished the game and not any ending. We are entering theory territory, but if Mania wasn't the financial success Sega was hopping for, I wouldn't be surprised if this led to the cancellation of "Mania 2". Superstars might be a test bench to gauge if a "Sonic Mania but 3D" can be more profitable. I also question how many people really care about classic Sonic. Frontiers' climbing to be the best selling Sonic game of all time, surpassing Heroes, shows interest in Modern/3D might be bigger than its Classic counterpart. Honestly, I would love to see another Advance or Rush style game.

[@Terminal_Apotos]

Damn Bro can you write my Article Analysis for me.

[@najadamu2724]

I like this video format for a change. As for Sonic Superstars, I guess I could say I'm... cautiously optimistic.

[@zakkuth7447]

Hey there, BlazeHedgehog! Sorry for asking a question unrelated to the video, but I'm just really curious. Where did The Fated Hour go? Is it over or do you have plans to revisit it?

[@BlazeHedgehog]

I wrote a very long blog about it a few years ago on Tumblr. blazehedgehog.tumblr.com/post/55095922359/whatever-happened-to-sonic-the-fated-hour

[@Scerttle]

The lighting bothered me already... now it bothers me even more that I understand why lmfao

[@PaperADRiAN]

You summed perfectly up how I feel, thx^^

[@justrobYT]

Thank you for reminding me of pinobee. Loved that game!

[@BlazeHedgehog]

It's definitely unique. I've never been sure if I've liked it, but it's memorable, bare minimum.

[@onthedre]

Can't wait for your review I like your reviews a lot

[@chrisTHEcunning]

More thoughtful guy checks please

[@Austinator0630]

Yoshi's Island DS received some minor acknowledgement by Nintendo when they added Baby Wario to Dr. Mario World back in 2020.

[@joeser6666]

huh

[@Austinator0630]

@@joeser6666 Back in 2020 when Dr. Mario World was on the app store, Baby Wario from Yoshi's Island DS was added to the game.

[@joeser6666]

@@Austinator0630 dude you said that already

[@saturn_wolf]

I don't know if you plan on doing a dedicated BLTN on the game or not, or if you've shared your thoughts somewhere before, but what are your thoughts on the game overall?

[@ketrub]

i have no good thoughts about this video, just need to point out rayman 2 music let's gooooooooooo

[@Astro_Crunch]

I honestly thought it was a mobile game at first when it was revealed, and you did a great job explaining why the game's visuals are sorta _off._ I hate to say this because I love Naoto Ohshima, but considering this game involves the guy who spearheaded games like Sonic CD and NiGHTs into Dreams, the art direction is kinda underwhelming. Stylistically, it leans more towards what I prefer from Sonic, but the level theming seems so by-the-numbers, especially compared to how Mania's original environments were bursting with creativity. Of course, I'm glad they're not recycling old levels again, but this feels like too much of a baby step for me. However, I do wonder if it's the level themes that are the problem or if it's just the lighting that's throwing off what could otherwise be nice-looking environments.

[@alejandroaguilar2012]

This still looks way better than sonic 4 but not quite the level of sonic mania with the visuals which is a bit unfortunate but I think they are starting to learn what we want from a 2d sonic game.

[@Astro_Crunch]

@@alejandroaguilar2012 oh yeah for sure. I think I'm just getting tired of every new Sonic game being a baby step forward, and everyone saying, "Well... maybe the next will be better!" I want to see a Sonic game that truly impresses me right out the gate. Mania was the first game in a while where I felt confident it would be a fun time all the way from reveal to release. I was surprised to be so underwhelmed for the reveal of what was essentially a followup to that game. I'm sure it'll be a decent game, but I don't think "decent" will make me want to shell out $60.

[@alejandroaguilar2012]

@Astro_Crunch so far the reviews of superstars is pretty solid but definitely not a manias level so far there's a lot of 6s 7s and 8s for superstars.

[@ThePlayerInBed]

Lol yeah, I thought it was a game where you had no free control of the character and the only thing you could do was jump

[@auralunaprettycure]

Woah what on earth is that guy on the left? :o

[@auralunaprettycure]

I do know the guy on the right of course. Blinx ^^

[@ABlob]

It's Yoshi. jk, I don't know the guy on the top-left either.

[@pausebreakreviews]

It's Pinobee, from the Gameboy Advance and PS1 game "Pinobee: Wings of Adventure." It's NOT good.

[@ChaosAngelZero]

​@@pausebreakreviewsSonic says: "Pinobee... THAT'S NO GOOD."

[@sonicmastersword8080]

I still think they should have named it something else.

[@Tman64DD]

they should have called it sonic 2, i love that game

[@ABlob]

They were going to name it Sonic Orion instead, it was briefly seen on the website for the game.

[@sonicmastersword8080]

@@ABlobI like that name better. More unique. Superstars is too generic and sounds like something from the Mario series.

[@Kneevirus]

I still think classic sonic in generations looks visually better than superstars so far

[@ChibiSteak]

11:01 fin.

[@ChipChapChop]

I'm hoping the game will just be an inoffensive way to enjoy the original Sonic. I hate the gross looking lighting. But, someone will fix it with a mod in 24 hours anyway.

[@PaoFrances01]

What happened with sonic the fated hour?

[@telekinesticman]

Hard agree about that overdone fresnel rim lighting, it does not look very good. My primary concern is still the level design, it just looks so empty.

[@BlazeHedgehog]

I'm willing to give it a chance because I think if it's paced well, it could work. I'm not a fan of Sonic CD and how much it tries forcing you into slowing down. I also recognize there needs to be a balance, but I dunno. There's a lot of this game they haven't shown, especially in motion, and we already know that there are going to be character-specific levels from the Easy Allies level select leak. They might just be focusing on the faster levels as a marketing thing.

[@telekinesticman]

@@BlazeHedgehog I try not to follow this line of thought after games like Forces and Frontiers, *but* you do have a point. I really hope the final game is better than it looks right now, but I don't have reason to believe it, unfortunately.

[@BlazeHedgehog]

Which is fair, I think. It's easy to get into trouble giving Sonic games a benefit of the doubt.

[@DrasticElevation]

there's no way a game from 2023 does WORSE rim lighting than a game released in 2007(Team Fortress 2)

[@threemonic]

a lot of abuse thrown at jett rocket i see !

[@BlazeHedgehog]

Eh, not that much abuse. It just looks like a game of it's era. Plays pretty well, though.

[@ThellVallock]

Commented on the P@tre0n cut already, just want to engage with the main upload. Is KZbin still doing that? I've not heard anything to the contrary. Good vid as always, though!

[@ThePlayerInBed]

I think the rimlighting looks very deepfried and some things look very dark, definitely looks hella off . I think the level design is gonna be “fine”. I think I might like Superstars but I don’t think it will be worth 50 dollars.

[@dr_rng]

*Sees Blinx in the thumbnail* *Needs to watch the video* Also, I'm surprised that Sonic 4 came out as bad as it did considering how it reuses a large part of the engine that was used for Sonic Rush/Rush Adventure/Colors DS. Those games already had somewhat decent physics...

[@nailotsot]

Nah the rush physics were pretty bad IMO, you roll and loose all your speed, a mild jog can get you up any hill, the acceleration is a little rough, but it doesn't matter because you're meant to be boosting through the levels, now take that boost away and you got a pretty pathetic physics system.

[@robertlauncher]

I personally liked Superstars, but Frontiers and Origins have gotten me to a point where I’m tired of “Steps” in the right direction. If the next game has caveats and it feels like the acclaim is just a case of “It’s playable and entertaining when it works,” I’m gonna skip it. I will always enjoy the series’ characters, but I can’t keep shelling out money for things that lack polish and/or content, especially if it’s all going full price starting with Superstars. There are far better investments of $60.

[@GBlastMan]

Blaze i get your concerns about superstars, but seriously being concerned just because of the rimlighting technique giving you the idea that this is a "cheap game"? dunno man i think that's being kinda overly pessimistic and i get where you are coming from, but i dunno man even if its cheap looking, even if feels more like a cheap Xbox Live Arcade/Wiiware game if it plays and works way better than Sonic 4 or anything similar i think its all that matters really. Like sure i get that it looks cheap, yes it is a cheap game because i dont think the budget for this game is on the same level as Frontiers and that game also didnt had a huge budget either, and i get that this could give a red flag that the game is a but undercooked or just not being as good as it should be, but if it plays well enough and works correctly i think that's enough. Sure you can toss my opinion here as "copium" or any trendy word of the week, also you can disregard my opinion and say that im wrong if you want im not trying to persuade you into thinking otherwise, and sure "if it plays good and works, its enough" is a weak excuse as well, i get it, but just nitpicking a game for its lighting? like sure you are a passionate guy that knows how games works in and out and its a legit thing to say, but still that's a bit stretching it i think.

[@Terminal_Apotos]

Agreed, this game should not cost $60.

[@321cheeseman]

What are you even arguing with? Your rebuttals were said by Blaze just above in the video you're responding to... The cheap visuals are a red flag, but if it plays well, like it looks like it does, it's fine. That is essentially what the video has to say on the matter. Rewatch 07:12 it's right there.

[@jeromemccalla9520]

Graphics it doesn’t look great, hopefully it looks between natively in person.

[@gracekim1998]

Ooo fun

[@shadowopsairman1583]

Side Scroll Sonic should use Sprites, not 3d models... I feel the same as BlazeHedgehog

[@NKL3085]

It'd die like Megaman

[@shadowopsairman1583]

​@@NKL3085 this game went bust

[@CamuiKushi]

"just under 3 weeks" 😂

[@CallumsArmy]

i found this channel from a 17 year-old smosh comment lmao

[@BlazeHedgehog]

Do you remember who wrote the comment? If it was Ashuku, that dude's my cousin. I know he used to run in Smosh circles and was even a moderator on their forums for a bit.

[@CallumsArmy]

@@BlazeHedgehog not sure, just your account, on the christmas boxman video

[@python_l5367]

The visuals and level design always bothered me from what we saw in trailers and screenshots. It just looks so ugly in so many parts and the level design just looks boring for many parts. Then go to youtube comments or the steam forum and people believe this game has next-gen graphics worth the 70€. Recently all sonic games looked pretty cheap. Forces looked bland but polished, Team Sonic Racing looks worse than SART, Sonic Origins has those hub worlds, Frontiers just looks janky and Colors Ultimate just looks bad.

[@genyakozlov1316]

I really hope the other shoe does drop, because people not enjoying Forces and the last Frontiers DLC really made me happy. I was like "the Sonic I love is back baby"! The only good classic Sonic games are 1, CD, and the 8-bit ones. Sonic & Knuckles has good storytelling, but the level design is too long and boring, 3 had the good first two and last level but nothing else, and there is nothing good about 2. Considering I also disliked Mania, although it was better than 2 and 3, if the game was more like Sonic 4 I would have liked it more. I want Episode 3, not whatever Superstars is. Although like the original final boss of Frontiers, maybe if people dislike it it means it actually holds some value to me. We'll see. The only thing I'm sure about is that me and the rest of the fanbase being happy is almost certainly mutually exclusive.

[@chernobylsvideoarchive3418]

its kinda mediocre

[@aortaplatinum]

Arzest scares me, but seeing the dogshit cheapo incompetently animated opening basically confirms for me that Superstars will be a mediocre cash grab. I don't think it'll be terrible, but it won't do as much cool stuff as Mania and will probably rank below Sonic 3K and around Sonic 2. It'll be fun to play, but just bland. Safe. Corporate.

[@alejandroaguilar2012]

I feel like superstars will be solid or great but nothing special and yeah sure Arzest is working on the game but this time it looks kind of good.

[@rexthesheep]

They worked on Fantasian, which isn't amazing but people do generally like it. Arzest is a work for hire studio with extremely mixed output as these studios tend to have. Until it's in our hands it's hard to say if Superstars will or won't break Arzest's trend of stinkers just based on the studio's involvement alone.