A CRITICAL Look At The Most DISAPPOINTING Sonic Game- Is Sonic Superstars THAT Bad? Ft. @RidersDX

you are now watching the [Music] [Applause] meech it was a year without a bad Nintendo game no unfinished games this year and no trash it was a year without a battle League the best we've ever seen I got to be real with you guys this year has been the best year Nintendo has ever had Pikman 4 Super Mario Brothers wonder and so many other games have made this year an absolute Buffet to be a Nintendo fan and you know what even f99 ended up pretty dang cool even everybody one two switch had its moments but honestly although I despise bad games it's fun to tear them apart and rip them to shreds like no gaming journalist would ever do so need to say I was quite hungry for a bad game to play I said I wanted a bad game not botulism in a cartridge G Pokemon makes me sick but the thing is outside of Pokemon everything Nintendo wise has been great but I still yearned for that one Fiasco a disaster of a game perfect for a trash or Treasure episode we may have not gotten that fabled unfinished Mario baseball game but Mario's rival on the other hand has supplied us with the goods it's no secret Sonic the Hedgehog games are extremely Hit or Miss for every Sonic Generations you have a Sonic forces and for every Sonic Mania you have a followup being Sonic Superstars when Sonic Superstars was announced fans were Overjoyed my good pal tnd D specifically was super hyped it appeared to be a new 2D Sonic game and in the classic style but with new worlds to explore new abilities and the return of the Beloved rival thing but unfortunately Sonic isn't Mario so it's not Betty's and cream until the game releases because there's always the need to be skeptical of Sonic games what exactly happened Sonic Superstars was given the mightest touch of crap because the developers are none other than R zest R zest is essentially the modern-day equivalent of ljn nowhere near as bad but they are well known to put out games that are consistent consistently mediocre to just plain bad with a romp of delightful masterpieces like Yoshi's New Island and bell and Wonder World forget Bandai Amco forget monolith s forget head Cannon because arest they know what they're doing the fact that arest was announced to be developing Sonic Superstars was instantly a surrender For Me Maybe it could end up being decent but I doubt it would end up amazing but after the game launched there was that sense of curiosity after hearing such mixed opinions on the game it is by very definition a polarizing game and it's a perfect candidate for trash or treasure so I waited for Black Friday got the game for $35 and was very intrigued to see where Sonic Superstars went wrong and after playing it I'm honestly shocked and not in the ways you'd expect this is a journey that can't start alone because joining me today is also a Sonic fan a way bigger Sonic fan than I am that way we'll be looking at Sonic Superstars at so many different angles it'll be like a Genesis special stage ladies and gentlemen give it up for the SpongeBob loving king of Swifty himself ryers DX hey beautiful humans I'm rers DX I want to give a big thanks to Mech for having me on here but um I really don't know what he's talking about but I am super excited to give my rundown on the blue Hedgehog's latest outing today I do consider myself to be a doctorate of Sonic Hedgehog studies so um I am well qualified well then now it's time to answer the question is Sonic Superstars as bad as everyone makes it out to be or is it actually a Hidden Gem or should I say a hidden Chaos [Music] Emerald you see Sonic Superstar showcases the plan of the greatest scientist of all time Dr Eggman Eggman created some of the greatest inventions made some of the most advanced robots but every time he made something he realized other scientists have beat him to it Eggman was depressed until he realized that if he couldn't be the first to invent robots he could be the first to make love to all the fat robots that inhabited the island wait a minute oops that's Sonic fanfic but despite how insane that story would be it's at least concise and clear to follow Because the actual story is incredibly sloppy and you can barely follow it in Sonic 3 and Knuckles the story involves Eggman going after Sonic and Tails but he convinces Knuckles that they're bad guys and you get to see the cut scenes between que zones unfold and in Sonic Mania Sonic and friends stopped Dr Eggman and his cronies from harnessing the energy of the Phantom Ruby these stories are simple and they're great for the kinds of games they are but in Sonic superstars it's hard to even understand what the hell is going on all I can gather is that Dr Eggman teams up with Fang who hasn't appeared in a 2d Sonic game since Sonic triple trouble there's also a new character trip who's also teamed up with Eggman man and Fang it's clear they're causing trouble but there's no clear narrative to follow the good news is that there are some excellently animated cutscenes but considering how sloppy the story itself is you're essentially just watching Pretty animations and that's about it the story in a 2d Sonic game isn't that important and a bad one won't be a deal breaker but it's really weird how something that should have been at least easy to follow is just so sloppy but as with any 2D Sonic game the game play is going to be the most important factor at face value Sonic super stars is what you'd expect from a 2d Sonic game there are four playable characters each with their own abilities Sonic is the fastest and can drop Dash Tails can fly Knuckles can glide and climb walls and Amy can double jump and use her Hammer attack if you played Sonic 3 and Knuckles or sonic Mania you'll know exactly what to expect personally I always go for Sonic or Knuckles whichever character you choose mainly comes down to a matter of preference and none are overpowered either incentivizing using all of them the control itself is also what you'd expect you run at the speed of light and jump 2D Sonic games have some of the most simple controls where it's just moving with the d-pad or analog stick and jumping with the buttons but one aspect that's often talked about are the physics feeling off along the lines of the character's feel feeling too heavy honestly this might be an unpopular opinion though definitely not my last but the physics felt great they're very similar to Sonic Mania and even after going back to Mania I hardly noticed much of a difference with the game like Sonic the Hedgehog 4 the different physics are immediately apparent but in Superstars everything controls and feels great that's one aspect of Sonic Superstars I had no issue with the controls are Rock Solid and the physics are great so far things look pretty good outside the sloppy story but the mechanics and level design will be the ultimate test Sonic Superstars introduces A New Concept by getting a Chaos Emerald you also unlock a new PowerUp to use things such as cloning Sonic to attack enemies with multiple Sonics gaining a fiery jump boost and being able to find hidden objects it's actually a great idea and I did find some of the power ups to be quite useful but the execution is a bit cumbersome you have to use the R button to select between them it would have been nice to map some of them to the face buttons but you have to cycle and select through all of them to use them they last for a limited time and regain energy once you reach a checkpoint cycling through them might not seem like a major issue but it can slow down the pace of the game I primarily use them only in instances where I either had to or greatly would benefit by using them but often times I would just Play Levels without them speaking of levels the level design itself is also quite a huge talking point when it comes to Sonic Superstars many have stated Sonic Superstars has poor level design that's a far cry from Sonic Mania or even the Sonic Advance and Rush games and in a platformer bad level design can ruin an entire game Sonic Superstars has 11 zones in total most of them consist of two ax per Zone Zone but every third Zone it's one longer than average ACT rather than two acts I don't understand why they went for that structure these one act zones often just feel like a longer than average ACT essentially just seemingly to be here so Ares could save some of the development time and use the remaining time to chug some blueberry wine this is especially disappointing with cyber station it's one of the most unique and interesting zones but it only lasts for one level having one a zones is odd and definitely wasn't quality over quantity but there are still eight standard zones so let's see how they hold up the first two zones being Bridge Island and especially speed jungle are great they give you an excellent sense of speed which is exactly what separates Sonic from other Platformers but these zones are where Superstars Peaks and the remaining zones range from just good to sometimes bad when the level design is good it's nothing remarkable and Mania did it better but when it's bad it's not that bad I'm not a fan of underwater Sonic levels and I'm not a fan of Sonic levels that have Sonic bouncing around like a pinball to be honest but the best way to summarize the level design and the core of why it isn't great is because it feels very Sonic 1 in terms of level design the reason it's because nuto oima returned to make levels he made levels for Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and CD and his philosophy is radically different compared to what most expect from Sonic his levels tend to be more exploration focused rather than speed and momentum focused now in Sonic CD you also had the time travel mechanic which made these kinds of levels way more interesting and fun to play and it's Superstars brought back time travel I would be singing a different tune but often times these zones suffer from Marble Zone syndrome decent level design on their own but not fitting for a Sonic game often times I feel the pacing is too slow and that's the last thing you'd want in a Sonic game but outside of a select few AXS I found the overall levels to be fun enough just not as fast-paced as I would have liked we have some interesting ideas in Sonic Superstars but often subpar execution and the overall level design well not bad doesn't suit Sonic well Sonic Superstar so far has been the very definition of just okay and I'm eagerly awaiting the bad so perhaps it's bosses the bosses of Sonic Superstars are easily the most hated aspect of the game they're known to be tedious and not welld designed but with my experience take a wild guess how the bosses turned out not great but most weren't horrible that is except for the Final Bosses which have an insane difficulty Spike and can last well over 10 minutes even the first of the Final Bosses was absolutely infuriating I'm all for a challenge but these bosses were way more annoying than they were fun I don't include spoilers in retrospectives so I'm only talking about the Final Bosses in general without describing how the fights play out but be warned they are brutal and not in a good way but overall I didn't have strong feelings about the boss fights out of the final ones wouldn't you know it they're just okay so far Sonic Superstars has proven to be incredibly mediocre but that's just based on my experience ryers DX how do you feel about Sonic Superstars well before I basically jump into a fire I'm going just say that 2D games are not really my cup of tea as a long time Sonic fan I've always been a big advocate for the adventure games the Boost games you know anything that involves Sonic moving in a 3D space but when it comes to the 2D planes I like the games but I've never been obsessed or in love with them and that's just a taste thing so that being said I went into superstars with pretty moderate expectations and I will say that I found the gaml to be pretty solid as you said before the physics are really really solid they feel very similar to how Sonic and Co felt in Mania in the classic games so I think from from that standpoint they were very successful in emulating a classic Sonic experience all the characters control really well as well Sonic feels great Tails has a very well balanced flight ability Knuckles is well Knuckles is the king so he's always fantastic and I will say I actually enjoyed playing as Amy as well she's sort of like an easy mode in this game having that double jump is really useful and as someone who's played many games with Amy in them I'm so glad that Amy doesn't control like trash anymore she's become a very fun character to play in recent Sonic games I also just want to shout out to special stages now special stages are very Hit or Miss for me when it comes to 2D Sonic games but I felt it the Special stages in Superstars were actually a lot of fun first of all it was in a 3D playe so you all know I love a 3D plane but second of all I had a fun time like floating through these areas and trying to get to the chaos emeralds and collecting all these items along the way it was a very solid special stage and I don't really have any complaints when it comes to it there's also another special special stage that you don't get the chaos emerald in but you do get like these coins to unlock stuff and it's basically a spiritual successor to the special stages in Sonic 1 now I hated these special stages in Sonic 1 but in this game they control far better and they're way more fun so I was very appreciative of them here in terms of level design so this is where we're going to differ a little bit because I do agree that there actually does seem to be a higher focus on more exploration compared to other Sonic games but I actually really enjoyed this change I think I like the level design in this game better than Mania if I'm being totally honest and the reason for that is because with Sonic games it's a very slippery slope in terms of how much speed you put into the levels because if you put too much speed it can get to the point where the game feels almost automated at that point and I don't like that in Sonic games we've had so many boost games in particular where Sonic was pretty much on an automated path for like half of the levels and I just don't think that's fun that's very boring and just not exciting I personally think that the level design in this game is a far cry from Marble garden zone I mean sure there's definitely places where you slow down but if you're still playing through the game and you're skilled enough at it then you actually can get through these levels pretty quickly now I will say that does take time and I'm a Sonic fan so I've been playing these games forever so I sort of just am able to get a quicker grasp on the levels more than most people can but I felt like the level design was pretty fun and you know just another solid addition to the classic Sonic game Library I will Echo your thoughts in the bosses though so I did it hate the bosses but a lot of times it did feel very cheap but honestly the thing that I really dislike the most about the bosses is the fact that they were stacked on the end of every single act why can't we have a separate act for these really big bosses that are really challenging I don't want to go through like a 10-minute level only to spend 10 more minutes on a boss because I'm trying to figure out what to do with the boss why is this the thing still give the boss a separate act especially if you're going to make it so challenging otherwise I thought the gameplay was pretty solid very well said perhaps a presentation will give it an edge I loved how the game looked when it was revealed and Sonic games are known to have some Stellar music so let's see how the presentation fares remember how I said the physics feeling great was an unpopular opinion well get ready for perhaps my most unpopular opinion of all time I vastly prefer how Sonic Superstars looks over Mania well I can appreciate what Sonic Mania went for and I'll even admit it looks great I didn't want another Sonic game in the pixel style the pixel art style was cool for shovel night in Sonic Mania but it's been so overused and it's so overdone it's lost all meaning and I'm just so sick of nostalgia pandering I think it's cool to have pixel elements but not having the entire art style be pixelated Sonic Superstars goes for a 2.5d AR style very similar to the 2D levels of Sonic Generations and it looks great everything has a good attention to detail and the environments are colorful and Vivid I'm playing it on the Xbox series X so it won't look as good on the switch but from what I've seen it still looks good on the switch the zones themselves also look great the first zone is yet again similar to Green Hill but it has a beach theme and there's even a sunset which looks gorgeous the standout zones are speed jungle snow Bas sand sanct U AR cyber station and the final Zone the other Zones look quite nice as well but those ones stood out a bit more I also love the character design it goes for the classic Sonic look and honestly I prefer the classic look for the characters though I also do like the modern designs but for a 2d game it's cool they went for the classic designs the performance of the game is also great everything runs at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second which is NE necessary for a Sonic game and it's even at 60 frames per second on the Nintendo switch graphically Sonic Superstars excels more than any other aspect but if there's one critique it's with the theming one of the most Wanted additions to a new 2D Sonic game after Sonic Mania were new zones because Mania had some incredible new zones such as studiopolis and press garden and I wanted to see a whole game with new zones but although the zones are techn techically new they all feel very similar to previous zones it kind of feels like new Super Mario Brothers U where the environments were technically different but retain the same core themes speed jungle is cool but reminds me a bit too much of Angel Island and press factory is press Garden but without the Japanese flare or garden aspect just the industrial aspect kind of fitting considering how this game has turned out Sonic Superstars is a very pretty game to look at but it's not innovating in terms of Zone themes music on the other hand oh boy most have said it's a mixed bag but honestly if it's a mixed bag then it's the most uneven mixed bag I've ever seen only a few tracks are great but the rest are underwhelming it's very similar to Sonic 4 where it goes for a Sega Genesis style but in a game like this it feels cheap and it doesn't sound good it almost sounds like royaltyfree music when am I going to start hearing Carefree in this game what's insane to me is that even the worst Sonic games like Sonic R and Sonic 06 still manage to have Banger soundtracks but guess what it's yet again and you're not going to believe this just okay it doesn't sound awful but it doesn't sound anywhere close to good and with the sound design a lot of sound effects are reused from Mania consistently reminding you of a better game but what did you think of the presentation Riders DX so I am also quite tired of nostalgia pandering a media so I greatly appreciated Superstars for trying to be something brand new because while I thought Mania was a very solid game the fact that over half of its levels or previously used levels was something I was never a fan of like why do we need two more levels in Green Hill Zone that's the most overused and overdone level in son games so I liked how Superstars not only went with a two .5d style which looks great like honestly the game looks gorgeous and still maintains that classic pandering that the people that want this game are going to love but also I think the levels ideas are actually pretty original overall I don't necessarily agree that these locations aren't Innovative enough to me there isn't a single level thing that blends too closely to that of a previous level I mean there's definitely some overlap but it's also a natural result of being a 30o franchise like it's going to be harder and harder to come up with completely original locations and I think that while a lot of these locations are previous level themes that were used in previous games I think they all have a bunch of little twists and differences that make them their own things like cyberstation in particular is a real highlight there are some Sonic games that try to do a similar theme but I really liked how they did it here especially Senor characters Dem moize into these different like forms of themselves it looks really cool I also really lik golden capital in particular it's a nice spin on the typical Casino Trope in Sonic games especially 2D Classic Sonic games it's a bit more of like a Greek SLR town I I know how to describe it but I really dug it here as for the music I can't remember a single track in this game and this is actually kind of heartbreaking coming from a Sonic fan because if there's one thing I can always count on when it comes to Sonic games it's the music the music usually always slaps but I don't know this time nothing was really that memorable to me and I just I didn't care for it I don't really have anything else to say because there's really nothing else to say when it comes to the music I don't know I appreciate how they tried to stick very closely to the Genesis theme of it at all but I almost felt like they stuck a little too close to it because it doesn't sound that different from previous 2D sign games and so I think it just needed its own identity which it doesn't really have here W you were way harsher about the music than I expected and to be fair some of the tracks are memorable I remembered one of the songs it was the first Act of the final Zone from a visual standpoint Sonic Superstars is great but from a music standpoint it's well below average the two together and you get once again [Music] mediocrity in terms of content Sonic Superstars has 11 zones and 26 levels in total each lasting around 5 to 7 minutes I was able to beat the game within just a few days though I wasn't playing it consistently if you're going to 100% it there's a bit more to do without getting into spoilers there's an additional campaign unlocked one once you beat the game and you need to get all the chaos emeralds you're looking at best around 20 hours the thing is Sonic games are known for the replayability usually I'll play through Sonic games multiple times but the game itself is about the length if not shorter than Sonic Mania it's definitely shorter than Mania in one regard I actually wanted to keep replaying Mania and I still go back to it even to this day but Sonic Superstars one playthrough was enough the level design is mediocre the new ideas are mediocre and it's an experience I'm glad I had but I can't see myself going back to it all that much one new aspect that was heavily promoted was Co-op multiplayer it seemed like a cool idea but I had my doubts about it considering Sonic is all about going as fast as possible I was concerned that multiplayer would be a constant game of catchup up and unfortunately my concerns were a reality the multiplayer in Sonic Superstars is not just okay it is bad and not at all fun to play my friend Riley and I tried playing it and we couldn't keep up with each other just because most 2D Platformers nowadays have single Screen Co-op that doesn't mean Sonic should do it too because it just doesn't work just like a twitch moderator an option for split scen screen would have been ideal but overall the multiplayer don't even bother with it Riley and I played it and we quickly stopped playing and played Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe and Super Mario Brothers wonder and we had a much better time with those games so then we get into the elephant in the room Super Mario Brothers wonder is better in every way no the real elephant is that Sonic Superstars is $60 it often goes on sale I got my copy for $35 and at that price I think it might be worth getting definitely more of a $20 game though and if there's one thing I can say with uttermost confidence it is not worth $60 there are a few other additional modes there's a battle mode where players can compete for the most amount of stars where you can use your metallic robots that you can make with the metals you collect but the thing is you can only use robotic characters in the battle mode and the time attack and it's a shame too considering that you can make metal Sonic and even Metal Knuckles from Sonic R it's a real disappointment you can't use them in the main story mode but even with these additional modes there's still not enough content to justify the $60 price tag rers DX did you feel Mr Krabs duped you with Sonic Superstars as well listen listen Mr CS would never dup me because I'm smarter than everyone in the room but in all seriousness this game is definitely not worth 60 bucks it's technically the same retail price as Frontiers and we don't even need to go into why that game is so much bigger and so much more worthwhile than this game is but the fact that you can just look at a game that came out last year within the same franchise to explain why this game is hugely overpriced is not a light statement now as a 2d Sonic game it is very typical in terms of length and content so I had pretty well-managed expectations going to this game and I was not surprised urised by the amount of cting I was in this game at all I was just expecting a solid like 11 or 12 zones that would equate to a game that overall lasted maybe a few hours to a couple days you know that's all I really was expecting and that's exactly what I got and so I'm not surprised by the severe lack of content as some people might put it but honestly the game really should not be priced at 60 bucks and so if it was priced more appropriately then I don't think this would be such a big discussion it's games like Sonic Superstars that give 2D Platformers a a bad rep many think none are worth $60 because of games like this a game like Super Mario Brothers wonder that is built with so much love charm and care that introduced so many new ideas despite being 2D absolutely worth it but Sonic Superstars it feels like a budget game it's clear it was developed on a budget and if that's the case don't charge $60 for it if you're going to treat Sonic Superstars like a AAA game it better be one as a game of self it's not horrible but unlike most gaming journalists I factor price in considering it's very important if this was $30 I might be more lenient but even so guess what game was $20 at launch and was better in nearly every way Sonic Mania it's proof that often times games priced at a fraction of the cost can be a million times more fun I can say with uttermost certainty Sonic IC Superstars is grossly overpriced at $60 but as a game itself is it as bad as everyone claimed it was so far of established Sonic Superstars is the perfect blend of good and bad the ideas are cool but execution is subpar the level design is just okay the story is sloppy the game visually looks great but has underwhelm in music and the amount of content does not justify its $60 price tag but fun still can be had so what's the verdict Sonic Superstars is the very definition of peak mediocrity it is the most okay game I've ever played I've seen Nintendo Fanboys claim a game like Mario Striker battle league is just mediocre but I consider that game flat out bad because there's absolutely nothing to do and it has no content it doesn't matter if fun can be had with it when it's about as deep as a puddle but Sonic Superstars is competent enough it's a full game even if it's overpriced and I did have fun with it although I didn't find it to be anything spectacular but how did you feel Riders DX as a geriatric Sonic fan I've been around the block long enough to know what to expect a 2d Sonic game is never going to be that Sonic game for me I grew up falling in love with games like Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes I fell in love with 3D gameplay and so because I went to 2D gameplay after 3D gameplay 2D gameplay was just never going to be something that was hugely interesting to me afterwards no matter what game it is no matter what circumstance it is it just isn't there for me so I knew going to this game I wasn't going to love it and it wasn't going to be a game I would constantly go back to I don't even go back to Sonic Mania or sonic D Knuckles which are some of the best 2D s games to ever come out but with that being said considering my preconceived mindset going into a game like this I think Superstars is a more than competent 2D toil that should tickle the taste buds of the classic fans it's Sly built I think the level design is pretty good personally and I think the game looks great and I think it's a nice you know 30 to $40 game honestly definitely not 60 bucks it's not broken it's not a terrible game I would stay away from the multiplayer because that's definitely going to change your opinion if you try engage with that but other than that it's a solid game and I think if you are a fan of 2D Sonic games there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't go pick this up it's not a Sonic 4 situation so you're safe I enjoy my time in the game but uh I'm going just go back to Adventure 2 now because that's just who I am very well said I'm definitely more of a casual Sonic fan so it didn't disappoint me as much as it did for others but I realized something Sonic is one of the most iconic game franchises and just okay should not be the standard going from the greatness of Sonic Mania to mediocrity with Sonic Superstars is not a good thing it honestly feels like the new Super Mario Brothers U of the Sonic series some claimed that would be Sonic the Hedgehog 4 but that game is legitimately bad I'd say it's more on par with Super Mario Brothers special using an iconic name while delivering a crappy game I completely understand the disappointment but from my experience it was just such a nothing Burger of a game Sonic Superstars is mediocre it's meh and it's getting the ranking of tarnished bronze and that's what I call a certified arest production big thanks to rers DX for being part of this episode of trash or treasure if you love Nintendo Sonic and SpongeBob Riders DX makes incredible videos about them my favorites being the ones covering SpongeBob games like Battle for Bikini Bottom and Cosmic Shake make sure to sub subscribe to him if you haven't already so what do you guys think about Sonic Superstars let me know in the comments and as always keep calm and da da on and I'll be seeing you next time in 2024 here's to a wonderful new [Music] year [Music] a

Channel: Demeech

Views: 11,798

Keywords: Sonic The Hedgehog, Super Mario, Nintendo Switch 2, Gaming, Pokemon, Rant, New Super Mario Bros, Sonic Mania

Id: 0PCjnn-Dex8

Length: 33min 35sec (2015 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 31 2023