During our trip to Tokyo Game Show 2023, Dakota and I were able to check out the SEGA & ATLUS booth to try out Sonic Superstars where there were multiple stations available for the game at the event including cool swag giving out to people who played the demo. We only had 15 minutes to play the Sonic Superstars demo and are here to share our thoughts on the game. Hit the jump to read more on our hands on preview with Sonic Superstars.
Kori-Maru Thoughts
The demo featured four zones to play (Bridge Island, Speed Jungle, Pinball Carnival, and Cyber Station) along with Battle Mode. With only 15 minutes for me to play Sonic Superstars, I was only able to try out two full zones (Bridge Island and Speed Jungle) as Sonic and Knuckles. As I began the game as Sonic, a cutscene reminiscent of the classic Genesis/Mega Drive days showcased Sonic and Tails on the Tornado chasing Fang, who had captured the animals in one of Eggman’s capsules. I thought the interactions were pretty cool to witness and was satisfied to see Fang having a major role as a villain again since his appearance in the Game Gear games.
The first zone I tried out was Bridge Island Zone, and when it comes to the physics, I would have to say that this game nailed it as closely as possible to the original games and Sonic Mania. I was able to pull off some intense speed strats by building momentum with Sonic’s iconic spin dash and drop dash through loops to make him go as fast as possible, which was super fun to pull off. There are warp portals that appear in certain spots, and once you enter it, you will be transported to a dimension filled with rings you can gather.
In each zone, there are golden rings floating around that allow you to enter the special stage. Once you enter the special stage, you will be given a small tutorial on how to control your character by swinging onto blue spheres to chase down the Chaos Emerald and obtain its Emerald Power. In the special stage, the ring counter acts as a timer that you have left in the special stage, and you can add more time by swinging onto ring-like orbs. The flow of the special stages is really enjoyable as I swung onto each blue sphere like Spider-Man, and the music is a banger to listen to.
Once you obtain a Chaos Emerald, you will be given a tutorial on how to use Emerald Power, which can be useful to help you find hidden routes and items across the zones. The Emerald Power can be used at any point for a limited amount of time and sometimes will appear on the lower right of the screen at certain locations in each zone. However, the use of the Emerald Power is completely optional. During my playthrough, I rarely used the Emerald Power until I got to the boss, in which the Blue Emerald Power (Avatar) can be very helpful in the fight if you’re having trouble beating the boss in a particular act.
In terms of graphics and animations, the aesthetic of the zones is absolutely beautiful and colorful to look at. If I could compare the level designs for Bridge Island and Speed Jungle Zone to the classic games, they would be up to par with Sonic CD and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, as both games allow you to speed through and explore around the zones in the game. A neat thing about exploring the zone is seeing other characters interacting in the scenery, like witnessing Amy hanging with the animals in Bridge Island Zone Act 2. The character animations in Superstars faithfully adapt their 2D sprite counterparts to full 3D and are more lively. One of the cool animations I saw during my playthrough of Bridge Island Zone Act 1 Boss fight involved Sonic hopping over a rock with his hand while being chased by the red shark badnik.
My only gripe with the game is that some boss fights can drag on for a bit, particularly Speed Jungle Zone Act 2’s boss, which involves Eggman controlling a Death Egg-like mech with tentacle arms. It has at least four phases from what I recall, with some unique opportunities to attack the boss by dodging the tentacle arms that target you, allowing you to climb it and use it to do damage. Though, it kills the pacing if you want to get through the zone quickly. For example, if you miss an opportunity to attack the boss like reflecting the missile back to the boss, the fight will drag on with the boss repeating the same animation over and over again. It will require some trial and error to beat these bosses for the first time.
Overall, I enjoyed the demo, and it was loads of fun for me as I love the classic Sonic games growing up. I just wish we had enough time to play the newly shown zones, co-op, and multiplayer battle mode to share our thoughts with you all. I think Sonic fans and gamers will enjoy Sonic Superstars when it comes out on all major platforms on October 17th.
Dakota Thoughts
I played a 15-minute demo, showcasing four levels in the game. I only got to play Speed Jungle Act 1 & 2 and finished right as time ended. The levels consisted of an Amazon-like jungle in Act 1 and a deeper, darker part of the jungle in Act 2 (similar to Sandopolis in S&K & Labyrinth Zone in Sonic 4). There were multiple branching pathways that didn’t feel out of place or random. Each area felt like it belonged in the stage and had great platforming challenges in line with the difficulty. I really enjoyed Act 1’s music (Tee Lopes hit another banger!), and Act 2 offered a more subtle and mellow track that made you feel lost in the jungle. The controls are almost one-to-one with the classic and Mania. There is no slowdown or frame drops from the demo I played, and it ran very smoothly at both standing and high speeds.
I also got to play both special stages: the checkpoint special stage was a medal collection similar to Sonic 1’s special stage (although the controls were a bit different). The Chaos Emerald special stage was a swing-based mini-game where you homing attack stars to be locked into a swinging circle. You must use the momentum to fling the character towards the fleeing Chaos Emerald. You can also use red squares to help boost you closer, and I was able to get the emerald in about 12 seconds. You can also use the emerald’s ability once you collect it (mine was the blue one where multiple Sonics ran across the screen like in one of the trailers). Overall, I was very relieved that the game played very well, and this is a must-buy day one for any Sonic fan. I would love to see how it would look in full 4-player multiplayer in performance (especially on the Switch), but there is definite fun to be had with this superstar of a game!
Unfortunately we could not played the Yakuza/Like a Dragon or Persona games as the lines were closed immediately, even when we were there an hour early both days. It was disappointing to see but almost all of the staff was very helpful and respectful. The booth was very beautiful and even had the famous Sonic World statue that just got restored. There was a bunch of great cosplayers and even a few industry folks that were walking around and said hi to fans. Overall I had a great time at TGS 2023 and am looking forward to the games being released this October!
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Happy to hear the game is up to both of your liking. What system were you guys playing the Sonic demo on? These days I’m all about the Switch and physical games. So tired of all the digital garbage that can’t even collect dust…cause it’s digital!