The Sonic Thread

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I think the emerald powers seem like a good idea. But why can't the Sega and Sonic Mania teams still work together?

I hope the Mania's team new 3D platformer does well and I can understand why they didn't want to keep working for Sega. But I'm having Sonic 4 flashbacks with the Superstars art style. I still don't trust Sega with a 2D Sonic game, especially one that includes an entirely new play style (4 player coop).

My wife's eyes will glaze over when she hears a new rant about Sonic.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Superstars looks better than 4, a lot less janky. Hopefully the gameplay is good.

I'd still prefer Mania 2 though.

[melancholy]

I think I’m coming to accept that I just really don’t like 2D Sonic games anymore. I’ve tried to play Mania several times but always quit after 2-3 stages. I wasn’t a fan of the 2D sections of Forces and Generations. And Superstars looks okay, but I’m not excited to pick it up.

Back in the 90’s, I hated Super Mario World and played Sonic 3 non-stop. But 25 years later, my tastes flipped. Now I’m pumped for a new 2D Mario game and roll my eyes at a new 2D Sonic game.

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I think I’m coming to accept that I just really don’t like 2D Sonic games anymore. I’ve tried to play Mania several times but always quit after 2-3 stages. I wasn’t a fan of the 2D sections of Forces and Generations. And Superstars looks okay, but I’m not excited to pick it up.

Back in the 90’s, I hated Super Mario World and played Sonic 3 non-stop. But 25 years later, my tastes flipped. Now I’m pumped for a new 2D Mario game and roll my eyes at a new 2D Sonic game.

I just wish 2D Sonic games were more forgiving. Single-try special stages still frustrate me and make me give up on playing if I miss too many.

It took me many years to discover that I really liked Sonic games as a kid because I usually had a Game Genie softening the difficulty. Now 30 years later, the original Genesis titles are only fun because I have everything memorized.

Sonic games reward precision gameplay built off of rote level memorization. But Mario games let you replay a level repeatedly to try and get all the collectables. And there's more freedom of movement and the games reward player creativity.

For me, it's the aesthetic that brings me back to 2D Sonic games. The music, the art style are just more exciting than Mario (which are great in their own regard). When a 2D Sonic game doesn't have bumping music and good graphics, I'm completely disinterested.

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[melancholy]

But Mario games let you replay a level repeatedly to try and get all the collectables.

Holy shit that’s it! I did not realize it until now, but that’s EXACTLY why I dislike 2D Sonic games! You get massive stages to explore, but exploration means either running out of time or starting the game completely over. And even without a timer, exploration is a chore because there’s sections where you literally cannot return to if you wanted to backtrack. It’s made to rush you along, which is thematically accurate, but far less fun.

[Hawq]

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Check out this extended gameplay demo from Sonic Superstars' Bridge Island Zone segment, including sequences using both Sonic and Tails.

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Join a race against time to stop Dr. Eggman's bizarre dreams from coming true. Sonic Dream Team arrives December 5th exclusively on Apple Arcade!​

Sonic's newest adventure on the Northstar Islands is here! See what critics are saying about the super fast, super fun...Sonic Superstars!

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Sega says Sonic Superstars had a 'weaker start than anticipated'

But it's hopeful it will eventually "sell on the same level as Sonic Frontiers"

Sega has stated that Sonic Superstars didn't sell as well as it had hoped during its release period.

During a financial results briefing presentation held this month, Sega Sammy Holdings president and group CEO Haruki Satomi said the game had a weaker start than Sega had planned, but hoped that things would eventually pick up.

"Sonic Superstars was released in October, which is a slightly weaker start than we had anticipated," Satomi said.

"But in reality, when Sonic IP sells the most is mainly November to December, and more than 90% of this title's marketing cost will be spent in the Thanksgiving and holiday season from November onwards.

"Although in the financial results announced today, we are forecasting this title's sales slightly weaker with the view of the status of start mentioned above, we plan to continue our marketing efforts to sell on the same level as Sonic Frontiers."

In a Q&A session following the presentation, Satomi was asked why he felt Sonic Superstars sales had been lower than expected.

Satomi replied that the game had been released during a busy period, but that he was hopeful it would continue to sell because of the generally positive reception from critics and players.

"We believe that the impact of other companies' major title[s] released at the same time is significant, but we plan to expand the promotion towards the holiday season, especially in the overseas market," Satomi said.

"Both the Metacritic score and user score are higher than Sonic Frontiers, and we would like to continue to sell firmly."

Sonic Superstars has a Metacritic score of 76 on Xbox Series X/S, 73 on PS5 and 71 on Switch, as well as an average user rating of 8.8 out of 10.

Source: VGC

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MAYBE THEY SHOULD'VE DONE SONIC MANIA 2 INSTEAD

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But Mario games let you replay a level repeatedly to try and get all the collectables.

Holy shit that’s it! I did not realize it until now, but that’s EXACTLY why I dislike 2D Sonic games! You get massive stages to explore, but exploration means either running out of time or starting the game completely over. And even without a timer, exploration is a chore because there’s sections where you literally cannot return to if you wanted to backtrack. It’s made to rush you along, which is thematically accurate, but far less fun.

The big Sonic feature I forgot about was debug mode. I thought it was the coolest cheat code. Being able to zoom around the zone and mess around with objects was a lot of fun. I learned a lot about the Genesis games with it.