I remember a good friend of mine getting a Sega Mega Drive with Sonic the Hedgehog for Christmas back in 1991. Since then I have been a big fan of Sonic and he is my son’s favorite video game character. Despite what people say, there are far more great Sonic games than bad ones and I would certainly say that those who say there have been no good Sonic games since the days of the Mega Drive/Genesis are flat out wrong and that Sonic Superstars is a prime example of a great Sonic game.
To start with the presentation of Sonic Superstars is awesome. It has a cute style with the characters looking like the current Sonic action figures that Jakks Pacific makes. The stages are bright and colorful in some places and dark and moody in others. It makes for a very vibrant and varied kind of game world that is not just trying to reuse or reimagine past zones from Sonic’s history. Granted, we still have some nostalgia and fun throwbacks, but it is not overused.
The gameplay here is cool as in addition to Sonic you can also play as Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and a new character, Trip. Each character has their own special move that they can use, but Sonic and his pals now have a series of power-ups that you can get as you progress through the game. These new abilities are tied to the Chaos Emeralds and allow you to do things like slow down time, easily swim through water, and make lots of copies of yourself. These can be used for fun and to make levels easier, but there are also some great moments where you can use them in boss battles or to get to a specific area in a stage. They are kind of like the Wisps that we had in Sonic Colors, but utilized much better.
One thing that has been talked about with Sonic Superstars is the difficulty. This is one very challenging game, but it is not unfair. It has a bit of an old school soul about it, forcing you to “get good” so that you can learn the stages and most importantly of all, learn the patterns of the boss. The final Eggman fight took me ages to finally beat! It was challenging, but despite taking me ages, it was still fun and I had a real sense of accomplishment once I did it. Now, this difficulty I am sure will put some people off.
I will admit that there were times when a boss’s one hit kill attack would frustrate the hell out of me, but the only thing I think would have been a welcomed addition would have been checkpoints during the boss, especially that final Eggman one! I was an expert at that first stage, I could do it with my eyes closed I did it so many times, but having to always do that before the second phase did get a tad annoying.
I loved Sonic Superstars and for me, the difference between this and Super Mario Bros Wonder in regards to which game I thought was better is very small! I think that Wonder was a tad too easy and this may be seen as a tad too hard so the perfect difficulty is probably somewhere in the middle. If you have still not played Sonic Superstars, I highly recommend that you do, I am pretty sure this will be on my games of the year list!