Sonic Superstars Has An Identity Crisis (Review)

[@RowdyReider]

There is a bonus effect to the water power up that the game NEVER mentions… when active it completely negates crush damage. You kind of splat then reform - great for Press Factory act 2

[@Gnidel]

You just saved my least favorite act in the game. Thanks.

[@gamejitzu]

Since they went through the effort to make emerald tutorials, they may as well be longer, like Cuphead's

[@itschoripant]

WHAAAT

[@betlergaen5757]

My biggest problem with superstars is the lack of polish. They needed more time and it shows. Still, I still think its a solid game, just not in the level of mania or 3&K

[@HyperStormH]

Just like...pretty much every single Sonic game that has ever come out. Not defending the practice at all by saying that - if anything, I'm pissed off at it. The SEGA execs always, and I mean ALWAYS, rush their devs because they're a bunch of greedy effing pigs. They always have; that has not changed at all. I mean, look at Sonic Xtreme's dev cycle. One of the devs fell deathly ill because of the cramming, AND THE GAME WASN'T EVEN RELEASED. Sonic 2 was incredibly undercooked due to the short development cycle, and Sonic 3 had to be split into 2 games. And a more recent example, Sonic Frontiers was rushed in a lot of ways, which is DEFINITELY where those free content updates came from. SEGA always has, and will always, rush their devs, all for short-term monetary gain.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@HyperStormH I recommend Freedom Planet 2 for a Sonic successor.

[@HyperStormH]

@@orangeslash1667 I’ve heard good things about Freedom Planet. Might give it a try

[@etetgg1364]

Yeah, you're right. To me it's clearly not finished (like Origins).

[@orangeslash1667]

@@etetgg1364 The idea for Sonic Superstars originated with Sonic Mania (2017), a 2D game developed by Christian Whitehead, PagodaWest Games, and Headcannon. The Sonic series' producer, Sonic Team's Takashi Iizuka, was surprised by Mania's success and saw it as confirmation that fans were still interested in the series' "classic" style. Sonic Team and the Mania developers, who formed Evening Star Studio in 2018, began discussing another collaboration following Mania's release. However a Mania sequel would not happen since Iizuka felt casual audiences would dismiss it as a rehash; he wanted to abandon Mania's pixel art style as Mania had been intended for hardcore Sonic fans, and he thought a new 2D game needed to appeal to a broad audience. So Christian Whitehead and Iizuka when their separate ways.

[@JacktheLightningRipper]

I’m 4 minutes in and I just want to say that most of Balan’s faults are more on Yuji Naka’s control on the project while Arzest unfortunately took a fall through little fault of their own. Arzest in of themselves, aren’t responsible for any amazing games (most notable things they got are Yoshi’s New Island and Hey Pikmin) but a lot of them are former Sonic team devs, even before taking Oshima into account.

[@Eberheim22231-p]

YOU KNOW WE DO NEED CLASSIC SONIC VILLAINS IN THE GAME ESPECIALLY WENDY WITCHCART NAUGUS CAUSE WENDY NAUGUS IS THE ARCH-NEMESIS OF TAILS MILES PROWER AM I RIGHT

[@Eberheim22231-p]

THEN WHY DON'T THEY ADD COMIC LORE IN THIS GAME THAT WAY WE CAN PLAY THIS GAME

[@Austinator0630]

Arzest is a successor company to Artoon also founded by Naoto Ohshima.

[@Eberheim22231-p]

AND I THINK THEY SHOULD ADD COMIC SONIC VILLAIN LORE IN SONIC SUPERSTARS GAME AND BY THE WAY MY BEST FRIENDS ARE SAM A ND GELO AND LET ME TELL YOUTHIS WENDY WITCHCART NAUGUS IS THE ARCH-NEMESIS OF TAILS MILES PROWER BACK IN TAILS SKY PATROL JUST LIKE MY ARCH-NEMESIS NAMED.JONES NEMESIS JONES AND ME AND JONES FIGHT.A LOT SO YEAH SAM AND GELO ARE STILL MY BEST FRIENDS AND SAM AND GELO WILL ALWAYS HAVE MY BACK AM I RIGHT

[@bitzgames]

Balan was just a whole mess of a project all around. Naka and Square Enix mismanaged it while Arzest took the fall. I hope that working on more projects with Team Sonic they will be able to regain their reputation after the mess Naka made of it all the way to the slammer.

[@pugman9672]

You know how people love to praise whenever some movie or show has a realistic depiction of a panic attack? well we should praise sonic for having a realistic identity crisis 35 years going strong!!

[@hotchocolate8008]

Great review of Superstars, it's definitely a mix of something lol But while I pretty much agree with everything, I personally disagree with Press Factory being the worst zone. Imo, it's actually my favorite. While the hydrolic press gimmick can be a little weird at first, it gets the player to actively pay attention to the stage and time their jumps. The press always hits after around 3-4 seconds, meaning as long as you're noting that, you can pretty much speed through the level, and I've even used the press to make jumps for me onto higher routes that would require a bit more momentum. It's almost a flip on the traditional high-low route structure with it motivating the player to moreso keep control than follow any particular route. I do admit it is jarring, but I absolutely love the gimmick. The second act... is something lol. I never had much of a problem personally with the instant death since there are buttons everywhere, but the controls on the spheres when launching yourself is pretty weird lol, I totally agree on that part. That's just my two cents on press factory lol. Either way, fantastic review as always!

[@evandoubenmier7914]

I really did enjoy Press Factory Zone. The gimmicks weren't annoying, they forced me to pay attention and calculate my next move, something that I personally enjoy in games.

[@RisTheGreat29]

People get annoyed when they actually have to pay attention to something. That’s why we have games like Frontiers.

[@Max-Rtpmp]

The controls on the spheres are weird cause it's different from the ones from mania. It's been a while but iirc in mania you tilt the stick left or right and sonic goes left or right, but in superstars sonic follows the position of your stick So if you put your stick diagonally up Sonic will slowly go diagonally up, then you can shoot Sonic in this direction I don't know why they changed it, maybe they fellt like it would be easier to understand...doesn't look like it ToT

[@LeopoldLitchenstein]

Press Factory is good yes, even the music isn't bad, Act 1 slaps.

[@jurassicarkjordanisgreat1778]

The second acts gimmick is not fun because its an instant death. Oil oceans gimmick that had this was fun fun because it wasn't an instant death and you had breathing room for mistakes or skillful escapes from the smog. I think all of the BS gimmicks that hinder the gameplay shouldn't have been there, I get the CO-OP stuff has to balance it out. but there are better ways of balance. Mania had none of these and sonic team should have taken note of why flying battery in mania is better than it was in S3K.

[@MarichiChip]

I was coping REALLY hard with the soundtrack, when we got the first gameplay footage with Sonic 4 music I was like "Yeah that's clearly a placeholder", then I heard the boss music and was like "Oh yeah this is just an early version of this theme I'm sure they'll improve the instrumentation before release" and I kept thinking that until the switch version got leaked and still had the same boss theme and I was like "Maybe it will be like Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl where they'll have a day 1 patch that improves the music" and then I bought the game and I did not sleep that night

[@LeopoldLitchenstein]

Genuinely think that if the late game boss music (the actually good non final boss boss music) was used for every Act 2 boss instead of the early game boss music, no one would bat an eye or complain

[@vividcolorandrichaudio6134]

hope you had fun loosing sleep over some drum samples.

[@CastellANM]

Me when I bought Forces /j

[@blorglord]

bruh sonic fans like you are why sega doesnt have any sort of quality standard cuz they know youll just buy it day1 regardless cuz u want to assume the best from them when in reality they want to cut corners in every way possible

[@MarichiChip]

@@blorglord Fun fact I did not prepreorder the game or buy it day 1, I did buy it at a later time but I had a good time with the game, as much as I wish the music was better in certain parts I liked the game overall

[@AleT118]

It's so bizarre how 2 Sonic post-game modes that ramped up the difficulty in a way that felt like they were not built with the core mechanics of the game in mind were released so closely of one another.

[@AtomicoMacaco]

Nah Frontiers clearly took the core mechanics in mind. Well... At least most of it did and is beatable as long as you know what you're doing. It's just the perfect parry system wasn't well implemented since the bosses weren't made with that in mind.

[@roiitzkovich4545]

IDK, The Final Horizon was solid, except for the 5th trial (and they made the perfect parry slightly more generous via a patch so it's fix too). And I personally enjoyed Trip's story too. I agree with SCMJ that there are a lot of spikes, but I didn't find the enemy and obstacle placements as annoying as Metropolis in Sonic 2. With patience and a careful use of the emerald powers, this made is a very fun ride. You can tell they wanted you to have all the emeralds at this point because there are certain obstacles where the emerald powers are mendatory.

[@LeopoldLitchenstein]

12:06 Water lets you avoid crushing damage as well from non spiked platforms, so it's definitely one of the more useful powers. Wish the marketing actually said this because I never would have thought to try it until I heard about it.

[@Beastmd]

You can also use the Water emerald to survive being crushed

[@SamProcrastinates]

I didn’t even know that 😳

[@EdwinM.C18]

Would've loved if the game told me about it

[@tiagomoreira8905]

So, my opinion: - Some of the bosses are indeed slow to beat, but Emerald Powers being used right can really shorten them. As I got better with Emerald Powers, many bosses became trivial or very fast to beat. Also, some of the bosses do have "hidden" hit windows that you can exploit to beat them faster. - The very long boss battles (Fang 1, Final Eggman Boss, Final Fang Boss) should be their own acts. To beat them I went the slow approach: try once, learn, return later for a retry if I get tired. However, having to replay a whole act just to get to the boss was very annoying. - Some of the levels that I initially despised got way better on replays. Really, over time I started to love Press Factory, as strange as it is. - I do think Jun's music feels weird, but not all of it. The second Eggman boss theme (unfortunately very underused) is one of my favorites. I do think Jun should ditch the "retro" instrumentation, thought. - The final boss dragon is hinted at over the entire game. From Eggman presenting a dragon sketch for Fang and Trip to search, to the mural showing Trip's people protecting the dragon gem, I got the gist of what the game wanted to tell. I do think they need to improve the storytelling, which I also felt Mania wasn't that good at either. More interesting zone transitions than the character moving to the right and finding an element of the next level; more in-act events that change levels, more hints of the dragon boss. - I don't like hard mode. It's just replay of the original, but harder and only Trip as playable character. I think it should be new acts for the zones that aknowledge the past campaign. For instance, Egg Fortress was destroyed, so why are we returning to it? It would be cool if the hard mode actually had a new story, new bosses and new acts for the old zones, with all characters playable. - The final dragon boss became easier as I understood it better. Like the regular bosses, there's some "secret" hit windows you can use for extra hits (like attacking the dragon's magic hands). Also, during the downtime between hit windows, you need to focus on getting rings, and you can actually make rings spawn faster by moving constantly. Unfortunately, the random element does exist there, and it's annoying when Sonic's friends appear just before a transition to 2D, which makes the friends despawn. Also, I NEVER got the Trip/Amy event in which they throw monitors. Not once. - As for the physics, beyond Spin dash, I felt horizontal control of jumps were not as smooth as in old games. You jump to the right and try to adjust to left to better control your landing? It doesn't work as expected. Plus, bouncing off enemies and powerups has very limited control and height. Aside from that, the physics were all in the right state. - I wish the developers were a little bolder with character moves. I'd love to have things like Tails being able to curl into a ball directly from flying, or Knuckles having some controllable vertical drop attack, or Sonic combining insta-shield with drop dash like in Origins, or even a Sonic and Tails mode in which you, as a single player, can use Tails to fly. A lot of fan games experiment with there character-specific moves, and I'd love to see an official game do so as well. All that said, I rate this game 8 out of 10. I find it very fun, despite its problems, and I replayed the hell out of it, often learning new stuff and finding replaying some levels way more fun once I was better at the game. I hope future 2D Sonic games improve on this.

[@DiscordedHaru]

All that….and it’s a 8/10 to you? Fucking lmao, how laughable

[@jurassicarkjordanisgreat1778]

classic games are meant to be replayed over and over. So I guess thats why you started to enjoy levels more. I used to hate carnival night and marble garden

[@tiagomoreira8905]

@@jurassicarkjordanisgreat1778 I do understand that Sonic stages are meant to ahave high replayability and feel more fluid the more you know about them and the game. Still, there are some stages that even if you get way better you keep not liking going there (Labyrinth Zone comes to mind). This was not the case in Sonic Superstars, IMO. I thought I'd hate Press Factory for life, but once I returned there I feel times the old challenge just kept adding to the enjoyment. You can move through them really fast once you understand how to circunvent the gimmicks.

[@dmk_yt]

The thing with the dragon boss's story is that, while it's hinted at, it's never built up. Like, why does it come out of the ocean? What is it doing? What is its purpose? I'd actually say that overall Mania's story was a lot better. It was very simple, but it introduces the McGuffin (the Phantom Ruby), shows what the McGuffin does immediately and builds it up over the course of the game, and ends with us getting the McGuffin out of the hands of the bad guys. The only issue with the story is the Hard Boiled Heavy King betraying Eggman, but it's something you can infer as a result of the King becoming corrupt with power. While you could apply similar inference to at least determine that there is an evil dragon to fight in Superstars, that is all you can infer about it. It's especially hard to infer much about the dragon given the mural (the one Knuckles finds) is so small.

[@TehJellyLord]

I like this game, but when comparing it to Mania, it falls short in just about every way. Some of the stages are really good! A lot are not fun for me, being filled with the kinds of enemy and obstacle placements that we all complained about in Sonic 2 and even the Dimps era games… but they somehow made it even worse here! And for a $60 game, Superstars is absurdly unpolished that I genuinely feel cheated sometimes while playing. And yeah the music is just all over the place. I don’t even mind the Sonic 4 sounding tracks, but I think the melody’s for these tracks and how they use those Sonic 4 instruments is actually somehow worse than Sonic 4. And yeah the Emerald powers are genuinely cool, but it feels like I have to lean on those as a crutch to have fun with the levels and bosses. Speaking of the bosses, they just plain suck I don’t have fun with them at all. All of these issues go even further beyond in Trip’s story.

[@StormyDoesVR]

What have we learned today? 1. Tyson Hesse animations are king 2. Story in Sonic needs to be more transparent, even if simple 3. Tee Lopes music is king, Jun's guitar is key 4. Classic can be 3D if done right!

[@Chillipeffer]

Thank you sir

[@vividcolorandrichaudio6134]

Except for all the times Jun used synths and you all loved it, like in Sonic Heroes (same synth as Sonic 4 by the way)

[@orangeslash1667]

@@Chillipeffer With Mario and Kirby, them being in 2.5d makes sense because 3d graphics are capable of capturing the charm of 8 bit NES graphics. Sonic on the other hand started out as a 16 bit character, so transferring him to 2.5d feels harder.

[@CastellANM]

Tyson Hesse is King and yet they hired another studio for the game lmao The Fang short looks better than the game's animations

[@jurassicarkjordanisgreat1778]

Junio sonic model pls

[@Sonicsaber25]

15:01 Now thats good clip for the SEGA Intro yell.

[@alexkuntmm7201]

Just so you know, every character has their own eggmobile for Frozen Base act 2 even in single player, it's not a co-op exclusive feature

[@chilibagel123]

26:09 Sam was so mad he forgot what a cylinder is

[@SamProcrastinates]

OMFG

[@waypastcoolkid]

You forgot to mention that they patched out Hyper Tails. Now when you get all Chaos emeralds as him, it doesn’t say Now Tails can be Super Tails. It only says that AFTER you get the Super Emeralds, just like the original.

[@apollosigma6403]

From what I've heard Amy and Trip will spawn at the final boss to drop ring boxes when you don't take hit after a certain amount of time, and if that's true that's awful

[@The_Spectre_Gamer]

I’ll say it again, this game is peak mid-game tier, but that shouldn’t be a standard. It’s a good game, but it could be better.

[@gameman5804]

I payed $60.00 for it and I haven’t picked it up past Zone 4…

[@UltimateInkling]

@@gameman5804yea definitely gonna wait till its $20, the people who criticized it being full priced was on point.

[@ninjdraw8305]

@@gameman5804 payed 75 and stopped in the middle of "Trips Story" I want my 75 back

[@shelvypigplayer1539]

They really should've just Splitscreened the co op, that would make it more fun, a cool gimmick I thought is that everyone has their own screens, but you can press one of the bumper buttons if you want to tp to friends, It could make it a bit more open for newer players, they could try to play it on their own or stick with their friend Feels like a cool mod idea

[@chazzthehedgehog5495]

The Purple Dragon is called the Great Dark Dragon. Remember the Purple Egg?

[@SonicStation]

As the person responsible for the 100% Sonic Superstars Save Project for PC I want to inform here that to unlock all items in the shop you need to win 2500 battles online and after that each item will cost 999 coins...you know LOW PRICES 😅

[@runningwithscissors8612]

36:55 Turns out it’s not RNG. The more you dodge Barney’s attacks, the higher likelihood that your friends will spawn.

[@thabreez456]

Am I the only who feels like this game is going be looked at like Sonic 4 is now? When Sonic 4 came out everyone praised it but now it’s seen as anything but a good game. Hopefully that doesn’t happen over time to superstars even though people agree that it’s better than Sonic 4

[@nightwish1453]

hard to say as superstars does have a fair share of criticisms, whilst with sonic 4 and literally anything in that timeframe after 06 opinions on sonic games was kind of all over the place, like unleashed and even chronicles. Sonic 4 objectively sucks when knowing it was never meant to be a console game and was supposed to have been a mobile game under a different name

[@thedead073]

Nah, this game looks like one of those games that will be looked at even more favourably in the future

[@DanielFerreira-ez8qd]

Absolutely nobody liked sonic 4. The mainstream media didn't know what to think but the fans never liked that game and things only got worse.

[@LeopoldLitchenstein]

@@thedead073 This, I feel like once people learn some of the stages and mechanics they'll look on parts of it more fondly

[@KgEclispe252]

​​@@thedead073Yeah definitely not xD

[@CartoonLowStudios]

I like this review as I think it shows honesty and treats the game fairly with an open mind :3 Sonic Superstars is a flawed but solid enough step into the right direction for 2.5D Sonic games. A nice improvement from Sonic 4 while not being as majestic as Mania. But imo Jun Senoue IS capable of delivering good music in both styles, modern or classic. His work for Superstars is actually not bad (I enjoyed his tracks) but I agree that yet again the MIDI instruments just don't mix with the Genesis ones. They're two different beasts. I think Jun really needs to listen to fan feedback on this. I trust and love him enough to do so.

[@mechashadow]

Nah, clearly he can't deliver good music in the classic style clearly, much copium. He's a good composer but the buck stops strictly there.

[@DavidBlaiseSGaela]

Genesis syncs doesnt make classic music make at least make sound natural while sound like it came from the genesis games but ye i agree

[@vividcolorandrichaudio6134]

@@mechashadow Sonic 3 and 3D Blast:

[@greatergam2493]

He just limits himself poorly. You honestly don't have to limit the instrumentation, length or amount of instruments/parts of the song to make it sound "classic". Heck, it just has to be of a similar style (and maybe genre) to sound "classic". I don't even need it to do that. To me, almost any genre can sound like Sonic. Just that Sonic 4 style, why hasn't it left?

[@DavidBlaiseSGaela]

@@greatergam2493 im not sure but lets see why his only limited to some instruments geners or whatever later on if we any info on it

[@jakethedog1483]

44:12 Tee Lopes did an awesome job, but lets not forget my new boy, Rintora Soma!!!! He made the music for both Pinball Carnival acts and those slap hard as well

[@SamProcrastinates]

Absolutely!!

[@JadeJovian]

Let's not forget Jun Senoue and Tatsuyuki Maeda, the 2 masterminds behind 3d Blast's OST.

[@futabamajima]

35:19 hearing Sam scream "two hours" is real nostalgic

[@sonicgamer178]

That intro was so relatable I love (hate?) it 😭

[@monthergamerz6786]

The title perfectly describes the series lol.😂

[@AllOfTheAbove777]

0:00 he was definitely referencing the first time Sonic talked and Sonic Adventure

[@joaquindiaz3621]

Water has the passive ability to survive crushing, except spike crushing

[@dmk_yt]

Wait, really? Water allows you to not get crushed?

[@joaquindiaz3621]

@@dmk_yt yup, apparently someone discovered that use for wáter, It doesn't save you from crushing with the spikes

[@okuraorca]

To explain why Trip and Amy spawn... If you go a *full minute* of the boss without getting hit by hazards or attacks, they'll spawn and drop more rings.

[@earlyriser03]

I only ever saw Tails and Knuckles spawn in all my attempts to beat Evil Barney. I figured Amy and Trip just fucked off and went on a spa day.

[@precieux6303]

15:02 should be the Sega startup for the next game

[@kaobunn]

100% agree on the ost imo i think the melodies are great with jun's tracks, but not the instrumentation if he HAS to be signed on to a classic sonic game, just have him shred on the guitar a classic sonic game with jun's guitar would go hard as fuck he even played the guitar when doing a cover of superstars' theme at the symphony so like, i dont understand this????

[@JonyPlayz1]

Interesting review! You’ve got pretty good points. I honestly think this game is quite underrated. I love how engaging the levels can be, all of the small details and I wouid rather have long challenging bosses than playing with it like a toy for 10 seconds lol

[@Chillipeffer]

problem is what's in Superstars isn't challenge It's waiting so that you can bop them

[@Rediscool9]

Nothing about this game is “underrated”. It has many very glaring fundamental flaws yet it still is getting fairly positive reviews.

[@TheSwordsman100]

Hello Sonic lore aficionado here and I can help with the story. (Also the classic games were rather deep in lore and characterization but Sega of America and Europe got rid of all that for some reason but I digress) As seen in the offical canon tie in comic Eggman has hired Fang to help him investigate the island and its ruins but Fang runs afoul of the local giant wildlife and Trip, the last of a order of guardian lizards that used the Chaos Emeralds to keep the Dark Dragon sealed. Unfortunately for Trip, she easily loses to Fang and is forced by him and Eggman into helping them unseal the Dark Dragon after leading Eggman to the ruin mural and later keeping Sonic and friends at bay. Sonic, Tails and Amy are basically here to stop Eggman for obvious reasons, though Amy oversaw Sonic, while Knuckles was commanded by the Master Emerald to help out. However, thanks to Amy, Trip musters up the courage to betray her captors and join the Sonic Heroes. Despite our heroes efforts the dragon is unsealed and Super Sonic puts him back in his gem saving the day. Cue time skip everyone ages up by about 4 years setting the stage for Sonic Adventure.

[@BlueBlur_37]

1 minute in and I can tell its gonna be good lmao

[@jamesfiala4780]

Great review and video Sam! You were less harsh on the game than me 😂 I deleted it the moment I finished Trips story, as I felt the game was bland and the bosses ruined the replay value completely.

[@SpeederLight]

Loved that first whole minute of the video! 🤣 Love the details and description of the past 2d games from the past to and love the video in general! 😁 Great job on the video buddy 😁👊

[@RecordBreakerMuzic]

I agree with a lot of the thing you've said in this video, but I'd like to give my two cents on the soundtrack. I really like it! Even the Jun-only tracks. While I do overall like the Tee and Rintaro songs more than Jun's, he still did a great job on his parts of the soundtrack. Why do I think this? I like Sonic 4's music. That might sound like blasphemy, heresy, pretty much every word under the sun like that, but I can explain myself. As you said, Jun is incredible at making melodies. But he is NOT bad at making Classic Sonic music. Jun composed and programmed many songs for Sonic 3D Blast back in the day, including Green Grove! Who's complaining about Green Grove? He still has that high energy, bouncy Classic Sonic flair and encapsulates the retro feel in the compositions really well. The instrumentation, I feel, is an intentional (and, in my opinion, very well executed) attempt at picking certain patches in Xpand!2 and Vacuum that sound like original Sega Genesis instrument patches. Even his work on Sonic 4 is very good in my opinion. Episode 1 flounders a bit in the instrumentation department, but Episode 2's instrumentation is really good at getting as close to the Genesis sound without actually emulating it. Sylvania Castle Act 2 and Sky Fortress Act 3 are some of my favourite Classic Sonic songs, not only because it sounds like Genesis music, but also because they sound incredible and have me jamming! All in all, I believe Jun's work for Sonic 4 and Superstars are great. But of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I do have my gripes with some of his songs too (Fang boss theme and battle menu music are crap incarnate) but I overall commend his work in both games. If anyone read this, I'd be interested in hearing other people's opinions too!

[@HyperSuck771]

I know you’ve been working hard to get this out. I just want you to know you’re appreciated and one of my motivations as an inspiring content creator and video editor. Keep it, Sam. Like sonic always says. Gotta Eat Ass

[@hazelbagels024]

Lmfao what

[@SamProcrastinates]

Thank you so much lmao😭😂

[@MarzOnline92]

The super forms need to be better defined for each character. They each need a form unique to them. I have some ideas for what they can be. For Tails, I think he should grow 7 extra tails confirming that Tails isn't a fox but a Kitsune like what he is based on. I dub it, "NINE Tails". For Amy, she should have flickies at her command like Super Tails. Amy has had more of a connection to animals than Tails ever did so she should be more of an animal tamer, of sorts. I dub it, "FAUNA Amy". Knuckles should glow crimson and have fiery aura surrounding him, increasing his strength and maybe shooting flaming projectile knuckles at enemies. I dub it, "BRASS Knuckles". PS: Sonic 4 should be remade & new Badniks need to be made.

[@underplanet4911]

Love the review that Sam put out! The game has its ups and downs but I love the moments where he just talks about the things he didn't like in frustration 😂

[@mchan6215]

To Sam & other sonic fans: Please stop spreading misinformation about Jun Senoue and his ability in arranging genesis music. Do your research next time, guys. Jun Senoue *is* capable of arranging classic sonic music. The man's done it before (look at the sonic retro page for sonic 3d blast/flickies' island and go into the music and sound section) and he can still do it now, even if the instrumentation these days aren't all that good for a classic sonic OST. He ain't here just to shred (amazingly) on his guitar lol.

[@SamProcrastinates]

With all due respect, 3D blast came out in 1996. 27 years ago. While I agree the music in the game is great, it’s been a long time. Point is, the music he’s been making in recent history does not compare.

[@mchan6215]

You still presented great criticism for this game though such as the boss fights being a drag and the editing really makes this video stand out. Quality video as usual, I just think you accidentally spread misinformation about Mr. Senoue. I do agree however that some of the songs he made do sound like what he did for Sonic 4 though, including that cursed drum lol, especially the main Eggman Boss theme (I honestly though Press Factory in general was fine, even if the intro for Act 1 was unpleasant sounding, I thought Golden Capital Act 1 really sounded like Sonic 4 the most but I heard what it was going for).

[@mchan6215]

@@SamProcrastinates I understand that. TBH, I'm not sure why the instrumentation he's using sounds so, how do I put it, fake. Mr. Senoue may not have the best sounding tracks in the game but to say that he's incapable of making classic sonic music sound good at all is kinda overexaggerating. I'm sure he can still make good sounding classic sonic music since he already has great compositions.

[@JadeJovian]

@@SamProcrastinates But *WHY* does it not compare? You still haven't done anything to actually explain so. Composition-wise, the music is on-par with what he'd make for 3D Blast, and it's great that people like Senoue, Nagata, and Maeda are willing to keep 16-bit era composition alive. Take Casino Street for example. All 3 acts serve as a reworking of Spring Stadium, and even the instrumentation is almost identical to it. There are plenty of other examples of this, especially Splash Hill. Superstars does this even better. Jun Senoue appears to have studied other Sonic 3&K composers for this game, making the music theory even more authentic. Especially for Press Factory and Golden Capitol. Golden Capitol Act 1 & Knuckles especially are completely on-par with Sonic 3's OST, at least in my opinion. As for the instrumentation, as Jun has stated himself, he'd much rather use a Genesis dev kit to produce completely authentic 16-bit music. If this were to come to fruition, I think it would sound phenomenal.

[@JadeJovian]

THANK YOU! You can't say someone can't do something when you haven't even seen the full potential of what it can be.

[@edmpunkfire7793]

the dragon was shown in the mural Eggman was copying. You just didn’t notice. It said that a dragon would appear. Also, it’s RNG when Trip comes to help with rings

[@lamarfll]

The final boss if you're playing the game on its own, does come absolutely out of nowhere, however, not a defense for it, but during the animation Sonic Team released, you can actually see it on the wall that Eggman is researching. The wall implies Trip's people used the the powers introduced in this game for the chaos emeralds to combat and seal it away, seemingly in the egg we see in the hub of the game. Also the final boss's design shares a lot of details with Trip's super form, implying the final boss is among Trip's race, this is more obvious with some concept designs we have where it looks flat out like an evil version of Super Trip in some. Not defending the game, its bad that they handled it like this, but just explaining that. But even with this, we really don't know much of what's going on because of how little plot the game has. Fang meets Trip for the first time at the end of the webcomic they released, and she's working with him and Eggman in the animation, and then all the vague stuff from Superstars itself happens.

[@TheComicNerd97]

12:04 not entirely true, cuz a cool feature is it also prevents you from getting crushed which has actually saved me a few times

[@UltraSonicHero]

Seeing as I've played Sonic Superstars and listened to their soundtrack numerous times, there are definitely flaws to point out that brings back horrible flashbacks of Sonic 4 Episodes 1 & 2. The online Co-op, yep that was a nightmare to endure. The main story wasn't too difficult to play but Trip's Story was the most stressful story style I've played in my entire life as a Sonic fan. (lol) Lastly the soundtrack isn't all perfect but most of them were real bangers. No disrespect to Jun Senoue I know he's an absolute legend and has blown us away as a guitarist and video game composer. The songs that sound more or Genesis in a modern games, I just don't think they go well just my valid opinion. I don't know when SEGA is gonna get a good wake-up call but despite the flaws and some technicalities, Sonic Superstars really impressed me.

[@rhapsody2612]

I almost broke my joy-cons at the Fang boss on the Sonic run (Golden Capital boss)

[@millabasset1710]

Sonic for a few years has been experiencing New Super Mario Bros syndrome.

[@hyperob]

OST - I really would be taken back *if* they admit the music needs fixing and have Tee Lopes to correct everything. Ironically, Tee was part of Origins and yet they didn't let him touch any arrangements Jun pushed through. To me, it made literally no sense why you wouldn't use "Aces in Places" after countless backlash since Sonic4. I don't know why this continues to be a topic, but what is it going to take for someone at SEGA to let Tee Lopes control the arrangements of what Jun creates for the classics.

[@GanonAutumn777]

My only wish for sonic osts going forward is that the Genesis drums get banished to the 9th circle of hell and never return

[@terios3andK]

14:41 actually, for the plus update they fixed it and now Tails superform behaves like Amy's

[@ДенисПечёнкин-х7д]

Can we appreciate how kissable Sam Procrastinates are?

[@TioNarukami]

It's good to finally see a review that analyzed the game part by part and gave a sincere and honest criticism without being carried away by nostalgia. A lot of people I follow fell into nostalgia saying that the game has no flaws because it's classic and that everyone should like it without the right to criticize because it's been years since Sonic Classico came out. It was relieving to find someone who doesn't think that way.

[@j19aiden91]

Excellent review Sam! This is your best review yet and the rage humor in this is also on point. And thank you for clearly and respectfully addressing the issues with the soundtrack. Hopefully Dream Team fares better as a game

[@DonutSwordsman]

I'm trying to listen to your chill commentary not be screamed at in my headphones by your letsplay. You coulda just shown the glitch

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

Volume warnings would've been nice at least

[@simplyhere9887]

I can explain how trip spawn in the final boss. You need avoid getting hit for about a minute and unfortunately means you cant attack but trip and will be the only giving rings until you take a hit

[@edmpunkfire7793]

26:10 they’re spheres, Sam. Spheres

[@szszabolcs9582]

I am absolutly sure we will get a Sonic Supertars Plus And i am 80% sure that the other composers will come in and FIX the OST And i think the spin dash bug will be fixed...at least i hope And MAYBE they will reduce the wait time on the boss fights and make more cuscenes to explain WHAT'S GOING ON

[@viruschris3160]

About the whole "Super Form" debacle I've recall an interview a lot time ago from Iizuka that he mentioned that ONLY MALE HEDGEHOGS get Super Forms from the Chaos Emerald which is why Knuckles and Tails's Super Form from Sonic Heroes was like that and it was mentioned after that and several games. Even though Knuckles and Tails got Super Forms and it seems like they're "sticking" to that weird rule they made until Trip came along though it could be for a special reason as she goes Dragon rather than Super, but still... It's very frustrating when they do this to themselves. Whether SEGA's Sonic Bible (not Sonic Team) with certain rules or them being stick in their old views, I wish they expand on these ideas. Even Dragon Ball expanded on their idea and got female Super Saiyans finally when Akira Toriyama mentioned why Pan didn't have a Super Saiyan form at the time because he didn't know what a female SSJ would look like and just went with the default later. So the making them have Super Powers is irritating, though I didn't know until reviewers pointing this out as I played the main story as Sonic. However, Superstars isn't my favorite Sonic and closer to my most least liked Sonic game in the series and that is mainly due to the long time boss fights. Sure, Sonic Rush had those but the bosses don't take that long and have roughly like 6 hits before they go down. Here, the bosses seem to have like 8 or so hits and wait time is SO long! And some of the stages... hmm. Even the music was kinda forgettable for me and the Final Boss... I hated the dash consumes ring mechanic and hate it here as well. Which is why I didn't like Mania's final boss fight as well, but it wasn't so bad. But, I don't see myself coming back to this game like I do with other Sonic games. Even Trip's Story and the Main and Trip Final Boss fights soured my experience with this game.

[@thecoolestrb]

Ain't reading all that srry

[@viruschris3160]

@@thecoolestrb That's fine. I did go a little overboard.

[@sofioboros9565]

No one and I repeat NO ONE has accurately reviewed the soundtrack as well as you. It's like you were reading my mind with every word you said, I could not have said it better. It was the biggest disappointment for me because now I'm left imagining what zones like Golden Capital would've sounded like if Tee or someone else composed it. I hope to god the finally DITCH the genesis sound and to be honest I would love to see them go the route of the advance series in terms of music styles and melodies, those soundtracks dont get enough credit AT ALL. Those composers are outstanding and they haven't done 2d sonic stuff since then. I won't be mad if they stick with Tee Lopes though because that man GETS IT. The need to stick with composers who GET IT. Jun clearly does not, listening to this soundtrack its like none of the composers listened to each other, there's no cohesiveness..again like you I could go on but you said everything haha Here's hoping I never have to write about a sonic soundtrack like this ever again

[@starsmashmations4969]

My theory is that eggman’s time travel thing only applies to his ship which had like some file back up thing that could restore itself

[@chazzthehedgehog5495]

Look it up on the book called: Sonic Superstars : Fang's Big Break! It gives you answers and reasons on what the story is, why fang is working with eggman, why fang's name went from nack the weasel to jet the jerboa to fang the sniper to fang the hunter, & of course the biggest question; Who is Trip?!

[@dmk_yt]

I had issues with Superstars, but I'd still give it a 7.5 outta 10, I liked it (haven't beaten the true final boss though)

[@ShadowstarXIII]

I feel like coop would be a lot better for 3D games like Frontiers style

[@mart5610]

Sonic has always had an identy crisis. Things were getting back on track and consistent with games like Uneashed, Colors, and Generations. But ever since Lost World, Forces and Frontiers. Art style changes and Sonic's in game model from Forces. its clear Sonic has an identity crisis.

[@thedead073]

I'll be honest with you, the identitiy crisis started with Generations

[@mart5610]

@@thedead073 Why? I think it all started with Lost World with the Mario inspired graphics. and it got worse with Forces and Frontiers. gameplay too they ruined how the boost gameplay was in Forces and frontiers and ever since Hedeghog Engine 2 the games look inferior to the previous ones on Xbox 360 and PS3 hardware

[@thedead073]

@@mart5610All of the things you mentioned started in Colors and Gens but while colours started moving the series in a new direction. Gens started with the horrible story, the nostalgia pandering, classic sonic and short game length

[@JackCampbell-t4k]

Yeah. Looking back on it, the co-op mode for the main story could have been a lot better. The camera does not work well with multiple people. Strangely, coop works better in sonic 2 and 3 than in this game. They really couldn't have added split screen? But you wanna know what makes this even worse? THEY GAVE SPLIT SCREEN TO THE BATTLE MODE!! Why couldn't they have done the same thing to the main story?

[@JackCampbell-t4k]

And I hope that they release an update, that gives us some kind of reward for getting all the character specific endings in the main story. For those that do not know, Minor Spoiler Alert by the way: When you beat the final boss of the main story, you get a small cutscene that is different depending on who you played as. I hope they give us a reward for that, like maybe additional skins for the characters, especially Trip, since she doesn't have any extra styles (as far as I know)

[@RedTygon]

Basically this is better than Sonic 4 (which isn't saying a lot,) but my personal opinion is I'm pretty done with Sega and Sonic any more, but honestly this left me feeling a bit wanting after I finished it, it felt empty and also finding out that Sega now say only male hedgehogs can have super forms...yeah, no. That really upset me as no chance of the super emeralds or a proper super form for Knuckles, Tails or Amy. That and the nonsense with the Apple game, case of they need to win me back.

[@davecross4493]

Just some feedback for your next video... I skipped to the end when you started shouting down the mic because the volume change was so dramatic it woke my partner up. If you want to use footage of you shouting in frustration you might want to get a volume normalisation plugin.

[@liquidthefox]

26:10 cylinders you say

[@TheSpartanDragon]

Opening of the video perfectly sums up my thoughts on the soundtrack, I agreed with a lot of your review points For me Superstars is About Middle of the Road-Good, not great.

[@sweetlitlbumblb]

Congrats Sonic Superstars, you made the first bad Sonic OST.

[@CyberusSuper]

That honor goes to Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood.

[@jimmybob5541]

This game does not have a bad ost lol, it’s mid at worst

[@mehiloll]

Hot take: Press Factory AINT that bad. Same for the themes in it. It fits with the aesthetic of the stage. I am a proud Press Factory fan.

[@dannyfenton1688]

Imma be real, I don’t get the hate for jun’s genesis sounding songs. I’d definitely take Tee lopes tracks over those but I never hated them like everyone else does

[@justsans.]

I mean, I agree with just about everything you’ve stated. Honestly, with mania being cheaper though, I’m disappointed. They hyped it up, made it expensive, only for it to be kinda... mediocre. Like, I’d buy Mania for the price they had for Superstar’s deluxe edition, so I don’t know why they made it be more expensive than Mania when it’s visibly lower quality.

[@gengargamer5657]

Yet it's doing better than Mania initially did

[@jvsonic2468]

@@gengargamer5657 because modern pixel 2D graphics are severely under-represented, under-supported, and disrespected at times especially by younger audiences when it shouldn't be the case.

[@jvsonic2468]

ikr, Mania deserves to be 60 to 80 bucks. 100 would be stretching it, but for super retro pixel graphic fans, they wouldn't question it one bit

[@gengargamer5657]

@@jvsonic2468 Nah, Mania is good, but it is not THAT good

[@gengargamer5657]

@@jvsonic2468 I mean, you're not entirely wrong, but keep in mind that Superstars outsold Spider-Man 2, the Mario RPG remake, and Zelda TOTK on Amazon, and it has a higher user score than both Mania and Mania Plus

[@darkkazoka122]

To answer your question, if you last around 1 minute without getting hit by Barney; you get Trip/Amy. The bosses attacks are to stop you from hitting the "ring jackpot" which instead gets you knuckles/tails.

[@ArcherXYZ]

I JUST completed Fang's boss fight for Trip's story by the time I'm writing this comment. But anyways, Sonic Superstars is not as good as people say it is. But it is FAR from the most terrible thing imaginable. I actually love the gameplay and emerald powers really much and I hope they expand more on the emerald powers. Trip is my favorite character in this entire game and her gameplay is really fun. And in most cases, the harder level design is actually fun to play in. But other times, it gives me an aneurysm. Arzest cooked something special here, and they should come back for another game, hopefully a Superstars sequel to really polish and establish more of what they did here. Also the soundtrack is very disappointing thanks to Jun Senoue, but Tee Lopes really cooked a lot of bangers. I just kinda wish he took over the entire soundtrack like Mania.

[@iceheart_115]

Weirdly, with all the complaints I hear about Press Factory Act 1 in terms of music, I can't help but like it for some reason. Feels kinda appropriate to be a rough sounding track for a stage that looks (to me anyways) like a mix of a factory and a scrap yard.

[@vividcolorandrichaudio6134]

It's almost like the guys who have been composing Sonic for 30 years know what they're doing.

[@beyondhaircraze4418]

⁠@@vividcolorandrichaudio6134 This gotta be a a sega employee in disguise bros been just meatriding the tomfoolerics outta sega, was the early boss sound track also a result of 30 years in composing? 😭

[@vividcolorandrichaudio6134]

@@beyondhaircraze4418 It's not "meatriding" it's called enjoying something that you didn't. People do that sometimes, grow up. You can't actually provide any evidence that the early boss music is objectively bad, so don't even bother. The melody is the same length as Sonic 2's and about the same as Sonic 1.

[@beyondhaircraze4418]

@@vividcolorandrichaudio6134 I’m calling you meatriding because your here replying to everyone desperately defending superstars music, it’s not even about if the music is objectively bad or not (and comparing it to games 30 years ago is crazy) it’s about the fact ur here everywhere fighting for this game, out of all games for it to be one as forgettable as this is crazy

[@vividcolorandrichaudio6134]

@@beyondhaircraze4418 Because everyone else has been everywhere spreading blatant misinformation, and nonsensical rhetoric. I'm simply trying to get people to use real, constructive criticism and critical thinking, to which I have been unsuccessful as it is the Sonic fanbase. Also I believe Classic Sonic should continue to be Classic Sonic.

[@CurtindoAqueleDrama]

In the last Sonic Origins update they removed Hyper Tails from Sonic 3K. Only appears "Super" when you get Super Emeralds

[@mrcwillis6970]

Yeah… I think overall it’s a good and fun time but yeah it definitely has its issues and things that could have been better. Plus seen a few bugs and glitches which suck. It would have been nice to see more detail about the story and that animation on KZbin should have been in the game. I also would have like for the zones to be more original. Some of the music was pretty bad. I feel like the price for the game was too high too. I also personally would have prefer the pixel style of mania. Loved those animated cutscenes, very beautiful and the the new character is so cute.

[@JakeNazzaro]

Sonic Superstars is very inconsistent with the level astatic and music but the physics are amazing. The chaos emerald powers are by far the best part of the game. I generally like 3D sonic more than 2D sonic and Sonic Mania is a better game but regardless Sonic Superstars is a lot of fun to play.

[@evandoubenmier7914]

I really did enjoy Sonic Superstars. I can overlook bugs and glitches, and the soundtrack did make me smile. I do know that they could have done a lot better though; it should not be this difficult for Sega to replicate the Classic Sonic experience, especially considering that it's an experience that's over 30 years old.

[@Brindlebrother]

Fang: "ima headbutt this guy cheaply"

[@Whispernyan]

It would make so much more sense if Trip's super form had 2 states. A more subdued Dragon form that's actually usable as a normal character, and than her all out dragon form that you would use against the Final Boss instead of Super Sonic.

[@Terminal_Apotos]

Ironically the game that brings back Proper Momentum Physics, has its Momentum Constantly halted with how often there are such baffling missteps. Horrible Bosses, Inconsistent Music, and straight up frustrating game design.

[@thefastcommenter7774]

I don’t believe the music is that bad Terminal

[@Terminal_Apotos]

@@thefastcommenter7774 I said inconsistent.

[@thefastcommenter7774]

@@Terminal_Apotos I mean none of the tracks feel inconsistent to me. Sure, some are better but I would use the word inconsistent in this case

[@thefastcommenter7774]

wouldn’t*

[@AnthonyVCL]

26:07 my guy, not trying to hate but have you played sonic 3 & knuckles?? i keep hearing you comparing elements from mania which are lifted from sonic 3 and i just wonder if it's you comparing directly to the previous game or you just not knowing, for example, the mechanic in that time stamp is from the bonus games in sonic & knuckles and 25:43 this mechanic is from sandopolis in sonic 3k

[@YourFavoriteBlueHedgehog]

Me who didn’t even know trip spawns in with flickies:

[@gengargamer5657]

This easily my favorite 2D Sonic game alongside 3&K

[@GumRobber]

Superstars is what I consider Sonic the hedgehog 6, the level design is sold especially with original zones. The special stage are cool they don’t beat mania’s but it kind looks similar to the void from sonic prime. Boss fights are on the weaker side there not all bad, but the final bosses of the main game and trip’s story are the worst bosses I’ve played I’ve spent over 3 hours on the fang fight if they just had a checkpoint after the first phases then that’ll make a difference. The super sonic boss fight against the dragon is not horrible just last hit with the mentors needs to be more clear. But overall I enjoyed superstars.

[@xamp_exclammark]

I prefer this game to mania NGL

[@gengargamer5657]

Same

[@burritobison7700]

Why

[@brestbzh30]

20:30 No they just brought it back from Sonic 1 (8 bit)

[@KenMantheUltimate]

The level layouts and bosses really made me think of Sonic CD, which is my least favorite of the classic games. That said I'd still say this game is about a 6/10 or 7/10.

[@somecitrus7561]

I like to think Sonic’s constantly going like >:o because he’s breathing like an athletic runner taking a breather

[@JadeJovian]

Hi, I'd like to address your comments regarding Sonic Superstars' soundtrack, because there is a MASSIVE amount of fallacies, misinformation, mistruths, etc. that I want to cover in the best way that I can. You start by prefacing that you have a lot of respect for Jun Senoue... You make the claim that Jun Senoue "isn't good at Genesis music". This is a direct refusal to accept Jun Senoue's MANY contributions to Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic 3d Blast. This includes S&K's title theme, Act Clear, Continue, Balloon Park, Green Grove, Spring Stadium, Panic Puppet, and many others. Your claim is even more absurd due to the fact that Senoue programmed his own music in 3d Blast. So if you're saying "Jun Senoue can't arrange Genesis music properly", you'd be downright wrong. You claim to have respect for Jun Senoue, but I wouldn't consider it "respectful" to just ignore a large amount of his work as a means of insulting him. The next claim is that "nothing has changed after Sonic 4" This claim is even more untruthful than the last. Sonic 4 Episode I's music was made using KORG Triton. (The same exact synth used in Sonic Heroes. So if you think it's a bad synth then uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......) While Sonic 4 Episode II and Superstars use Vacuum and Xpand!2 by AIR Music Technology. 3 COMPLETELY DIFFERENT synthesizers from COMPLETELY DIFFERENT companies. And on top of that, all 3 instances here still use different design philosophies. Episode I used a combination of synths and real instrument samples. Episode II relied heavily on Vacuum's analog-era feel, while Sonic Superstars uses mostly Xpand!2. I could explain this even further. Stating that it's all the exact same style and that nothing has changed is simply disingenuous. You claim to have respect for Jun Senoue, but I wouldn't consider saying that he hasn't learned or changed when he clearly has to be "respectful". I also fail to see the point in you saying "why hasn't Jun Senoue learned from the fans?" The Sonic fanbase has absolutely failed to actually explain WHY the music is bad. Is it the instruments? If so, which ones, and why? What would be a proper substitute that maintains the identity of Classic Sonic? The fans™ haven't been able to do anything other than spam hate comments with random, vague buzzwords. "Why hasn't Jun Senoue learned?" I must ask, what does he have to learn? Even you are guilty of this. You call the music bad, lazy, a trainwreck, etc. But you never elaborate, or even try to produce any legitimate criticisms that one can learn from. I'd call YOU the lazy one here. The last claim I'd like to address is what I'd consider the worst. You claim that Jun Senoue is ONLY GOOD while playing electric guitar. That is not a statement of respect. You are simply referring to him as a one-trick-pony. "You are only good under one instrument" is by far one of the most disrespectful things you could ever say to a musician. I don't know if you understand just how patronizing that statement is. You seem to think of him only as a lap-dog who can only appease YOUR personal tastes and nobody else's. God forbid he goes back to his Genesis roots every once in a while. No, you'd rather project your 100% subjective musical tastes onto everyone else. For someone who claims to hold immense respect for the guy, you have demonstrated an absolute failure to do so. Very disappointing. So those are my thoughts. I probably could've worded some of this better but I just wanted to get the words out.

[@JadeJovian]

I'd also like to add that Nagata helped Jun Senoue with a lot of his tracks for this game, including Press Factory. The Genesis voices are actually his, so any complaints there are really just directed towards Nagata.

[@AkameGaKillfan777]

​@@JadeJovian I wish I could donate to random commenters on videos, because you made the best one here.

[@teenageapple3788]

10:39 They actually did. One of the Speed Strats videos SEGA posted says that you can cut the emerald off by going the opposite direction it’s going

[@Joshua-td4cd]

Well done Sega u made another glitchy game FOR THE YEAR OF 2023

[@Stray007_]

Amy/trip only spawn in the final boss after you go about a minute without getting hit. No getting knocked back by the red spikes, and no getting grabbed by the black holes

[@son211]

Top 3 Classic Sonic game for me

[@alphetti4348]

Why does the soundtrack try so hard to replicate the genesis font I never got that