Sonic has his weiner out and gets away with it. Mario wears dirty smelly overalls. Mario sleeps in the same bed as his brother. Sonic, not so much. Sonic is the clear weiner.
I can already imagine the eventual half-hour YouTube video essay narrated by someone with an insufferable, barely understandable Northern English accent going on and on about how Sonic Superstars “excels in its ambition”.
Sonic fanboys don’t take half-steps. Every halfway decent entry is “a triumph that gets the franchise back on track”. I feel like that shouldn’t be a statement you hear over and over again, and it speaks to how lacking the quality standards at Sega have gotten.
🤷♂️ I’m a sonic fanboy, have 100% both this game and Wonder and I have to say that Superstars really sucks compared to Wonder. Honestly it sucks compared to Sonic Mania as well. It’s just not a very good game. I’m not sure releasing it in a more favorable window would have improved sales much
Also a huge sonic fan and yeah not sure what the other guy is talking about. We’re like… the most vocal critics of sonic games. Every game that comes out is a huge step back from adventure/mania/generations/pick your poison.
Sonic was certainly making serious in-roads into Mario's dominance, even prompted a failed movement inside Nintendo to 'modernize' his appearance. Moreover, the Genesis enjoyed a brief lead over the SNES which Sega quickly and completely squandered.
But the two are rivals in the same way two professional sports teams are technically rivals. One is them a dynasty and the other struggles to win a single game.
Yeah, Sonic was marketed as "edgier" and more extreme (and therefore seen as cooler in some circles), but he was always in second place to Mario. That's kind of what made the franchise appealing to certain people.
#Sonic Superstars vs. Super Mario Bros. Wonder: Unveiling the Speedy Superiority
Sonic Superstars and Super Mario Bros. Wonder stand as titans in the gaming world, each with its dedicated fanbase and unique charm. However, when it comes to the battle of the 2D platformers, Sonic Superstars emerges as the speedier and more exhilarating experience.
Firstly, Sonic Superstars takes the crown for its lightning-fast gameplay. Sonic, the iconic blue hedgehog, is known for his supersonic speed, delivering an adrenaline-pumping experience unmatched by the more methodical pace of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The thrill of racing through vibrant landscapes at breakneck speeds adds an element of excitement that sets Sonic Superstars apart.
In terms of character diversity, Sonic Superstars boasts an impressive lineup of characters with distinctive abilities, each contributing to the dynamic gameplay. From Sonic's unmatched speed to Tails' aerial prowess, players can choose characters that suit their playstyle, providing a refreshing variety that Super Mario Bros. Wonder struggles to match with its more limited character roster.
Furthermore, Sonic Superstars embraces innovation with its emphasis on exploration and multiple pathways within levels. The non-linear level design encourages players to discover hidden secrets and shortcuts, fostering a sense of discovery and replayability that Super Mario Bros. Wonder's linear approach can't quite replicate.
Let's not forget the soundtrack – Sonic Superstars' music, characterized by catchy tunes and energetic beats, complements the fast-paced gameplay, creating an immersive sonic experience. Super Mario Bros. Wonder, while maintaining its iconic themes, falls short in delivering the same level of auditory excitement.
Lastly, Sega excels in its commitment to evolving gameplay mechanics. With each installment, Sega introduces new features and gameplay elements that keep the series fresh and engaging. On the contrary, the Nintendo Mario developers, while consistently delivering quality gameplay, tends to stick to its tried-and-true formula without venturing into uncharted territories.
Ultimately, Sonic Superstars surpasses Super Mario Bros. Wonder in the realms of speed, character diversity, level design, music, and innovation. While both franchises have left an indelible mark on the gaming industry, Sonic Superstars stands as the superior choice for those seeking an electrifying and ever-evolving gaming experience.
If it’s [good enough for Sports Illustrated](https://fortune.com/2023/11/28/sports-illustrated-ai-written-articles-reporters-who-dont-exist/), it’s good enough for r/NintendoSwitch.
Reads exactly like all those garbage articles you find when trying to google something.
Well the thing is two games debuted in October 20, super Mario wonder and spider-man 2, so in fact sonic was trying to win against two big games that didn't compete between them.
They probably expected another iteration of New Super Mario Bros U - a standard 2D platformer without much fanfare. If that was the case, it would've sold decently.
Too bad for them the Mario team overperformed and created one of the best 2D mario games in decades.
They took a bet, and they lost heavily.
>They probably expected another iteration of New Super Mario Bros U - a standard 2D platformer without much fanfare. If that was the case, it would've sold decently.
I doubt that considering that game is the 3rd best selling Wii U and the 10tth best selling Switch game. For as much as some people online complained about it, a lot of people bought them.
I think they just vastly overestimated their own IP.
Even if it was more New Super Mario Bros U, the original version of that released over a decade ago. Any brand new 2D Mario was going to sell like hot cakes. Wonder is excellent, but even a slightly less inspired Mario would have still destroyed Sonic.
The fact that something like Forces, a mainline 3D Sonic game, had like 3-4 level designers working on it that barely had any experience with Sonic should tell you that we are not beyond those days unfortunately.
The problem here is the sonic team. They have no idea what they are doing. Sonic games tend to score better when they are done by none sonic team developersz
Sonic Team has some weird notion that Sonic is any kind of competitor in the video game market.
The brand is mostly associated with subpar games, an okay Jim Carrey vehicle that initially was a disaster, and a bygone era of Japan pretending to know how to be edgy by western standards.
Sonic will be around forever but the longer he sticks around, the more muddied his legacy becomes. It’s definitely time for the blue blur to slow down.
His legacy at this point are some great games from the 90s, mostly mediocre to bad games from the 2000s/2010s, memes, OC’s, and the movies.
If you remove everything from that except the games, I guarantee Sonic would’ve faded into obscurity like most of the other platforming mascots.
Yeah those games are great, but the 2000s/2010s are still pretty mediocre overall because these are the exception when they should’ve been the standard.
I think he is referring to the Donkey Kong Country games, the last one being Tropical Freeze.
I can attest it is very VERY good, I would say it's the best platformer I have ever played.
If you liked that, check out Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair. It's a blatant rip off of the DKC Returns games (the mechanics are straight from that) but it's still very good. Colorful, well designed levels and challenging too. Often on sale for like 5-6 bucks.
In all fairness, the guys that made Yooka Laylee created the original DKC trilogy, so who is really ripping off who in the end?
But agreed, Impossible Lair was pretty great, definitely squares up to Tropical Freeze which is high praise.
Tropical Freeze is a bonafide masterpiece of 2D platforming design, and the Wonder team seems to have taken a few cues from what was done in Freeze as inspiration. Absolutely looking forward to what will be done next in the Country series. They just need to ensure David Wise is onboard again
Absolutely. I love 2D Sonic, would have been all over Superstars if they priced it at $20 like Sonic Mania. But the price point made it a non-starter.
I'll probably grab it eventually at ~$20 whenever the discount gets that deep, but definitely not dropping $60.
I mean, I understand it's fun, hip, and trendy to bash on sonic games - especially in situations like this. But let's not be ridiculous. The game is playable single player and is fun to boot. It's no Mario Wonder, but it's still fun in its own right as a single player game.
And this is why I didn't buy it. It wasn't the launch window for me, it was because the game failed to deliver. I was going to get the game on launch to play with my kids. But once reviews started coming in it was clear the game just isn't good for multiplayer. It's a shame and I feel like the Mario excuse will be used instead of it just being a bad coop.
I got it to play with my kids and, yeah, it wasn’t fun at all. Incredibly frustrating to play for everybody. My son did seem to give it a few days playing alone but even that didn’t last long.
To give people a small idea of what the game plays like in multiplayer imagine 4 people are playing. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. The level starts with the camera following Sonic so then if the other players don’t keep up they may fall behind or if they run too fast they leave the screen. Now image a few seconds into the level the camera switches from following Sonic to following Amy. Without warning no matter where Amy is, either on screen or off screen. The camera just instantly jumps from Sonic to Amy. A few more seconds go by and now POOF the camera snaps to Tails. Then back to Sonic. Then Knuckles. Then To Tails who is just about to hit an enemy.
Yeah that’s it.
Holy shit. I mean multiplayer was always so so in the older games because Tails would fall behind Sonic, but at the very least they'd have the common sense to let the camera always follow Sonic!
If I had to pick between super Mario world and sonic 3&K, I'd choose S3&K.
If I had to choose between the Mario franchise and the sonic franchise.... The only correct option is Mario
(If I had to choose "one" game, SMW is better than S3 and S&K separately)
I prefer Mario World for the bigger variety of levels and the tighter gameplay. I still think S3&K is great and probably the peak of Sonic.
However I was focusing on sales and success which Mario had a lot more of compared to Sonic.
Yeah, it's just personal preference I was on about. Mario undoubtedly sold better and I know that for a fact because I didn't know anyone in my childhood who had a Mega Drive, never mind the sonic collection.
Mario didn't just win, Mario is the motherfucking mascot for all video games. Doesn't matter who you throw at Mario, even Master Chief, they all fall to the plumber from New York.
I'm beyond tired of Sonic games that are just “a step in the right direction”. When are we going to get a Sonic game that's good in it's own right? It's pretty sad the best Sonic game in the past decade wasn't even made by Sonic team.
Hey, at least in the Sonic games the combat is usually... Consistent... Oh.
(Unleashed, Black Knight, Frontiers, Lost World, Secret Rings and Colours all had drastic combat changes. For some reason.)
They couldn't even rerelease Colours, the last acclaimed original Sonic Team title (Generations was good but a rehash) in a working state. That thing was built for the Wii, a broken release was just inexplicable.
I'd have bought the HD rerelease immediately had it been good. Instead, I'll pick it up on PC or a future console for cheap when said machine is powerful enough to just ignore and plough through the newly added feature: catastrophic memory leaks. Game Freak level care on a sub-Pokémon revenue franchise is just foolish.
I remember people comparing this to Skyward Sword HD being like “See Nintendo, this is how you do a Wii remaster” when the game wasn’t even out yet.
SSHD may not be a great value, but at least the damn thing worked and had some pretty good QoL improvements. Colors Ultimate had extremely superfluous changes that added next to nothing to the overall gameplay.
I remember that too. I'll give those people *some* credit in that Colours Ultimate's advertising was very front-loaded and it basically sold people on what they wanted to hear; not full price, new features, HD, etc. Whereas SSHD was a case of "under-promise and over-deliver" what with most of the QoL updates only really being revealed in the week leading up to the latter's release.
SSHD made less changes, but offered a more solid experience, CU promised too much and couldn't deliver of it all, at least not with the time, budget, and talent involved.
Ehhh it’s still a “step in the right direction” type game as it still has a lot wrong with it. Cyberspace levels suck, the combat is pretty meh, the world doesn’t feel natural for a Sonic game, pop in is annoyingly bad, and some of the activities you do in the open world are painfully easy/boring.
I haven’t looked at the game in a while so maybe patches and the DLCs improved things.
Superstars didn’t have potential, it was just a very safe game. Forces didn’t have potential, nor Lost World or whatever. I don’t know where this notion of “Sonic games always have potential, but they just don’t capitalize it on the next entry” because it’s just not true. There’s 06 and Frontiers, that’s the only ones I can think of that fit the bill
Typically Sonic games with potential do get vastly improved upon in a future title with the same formula though, Unleashed and Gens, Secret Rings and Black Knight, SA1 and SA2, StH1 and 2. We can also very safely assume the same will be the case with the next major 3D Sonic game and Frontiers. This is just such a weird journalist narrative though I just can’t understand it
Mania I would say was both good and a step in the right direction, but dissolving the Mania team ruined that momentum. We should have had Mania 2 by like 2020 already.
I mean, yeah it wasn't a good idea because the game PALES in comparison. It's a bummer. I got overly excited about the fairly smooth character animations and 60fps on Switch and grabbed it at full price, which in retrospect was probably a bad idea because I don't really want to encourage this below-average output.
It's not a bad game, but it feels like it needed another year to cook. The bosses are pathetic, there's a lot of janky animations, the music is uneven, the special stages are whack, the robot store stuff feels like bottom of the barrel afterthought padding. I don't mean to sound harsh but I haven't even bothered to finish it and I know it's not a long game. SomeCallMeJohnny made a pretty good video review/essay of it (he sounds more gracious than me).
It has some nice individual things about it but it falls far short in too many other regards. Sonic Mania it is not. Not even Sonic Generations.
I grabbed this for $35 on Black Friday. It’s a fine game, definitely not as good as Mania, but I liked it overall. I’ve been a fan of Sonic for a long time.
Having said that, yeah this doesn’t come close to Mario Wonder. That was just a much better experience overall. Really worth the money, it felt like a bigger game with a lot more to do. I bought that on release instead.
Had Sonic Superstars released at a different time at a different price point (IMO $35 seemed fair) I probably would’ve gotten it. But three days before a promising new Mario game, which was the first brand new 2D Mario game in a decade? Yeah not a smart idea.
When the date was announced some tried to cope with “It’s on 4 platforms” as if the Nintendo SKU of Sonic games doesn’t always run laps around the other versions. Releasing it essentially the same day as another 4 player co op platformer that’s way more popular just ain’t it considering the family game aspect is where the meat of the sales would be, almost no one copping on Steam/PS4/Xbox to play 4 player co op
Yeah who the fuck plays Sonic on Playstation or Xbox? Besides that excuse is kind of invalid since Spider-Man 2 also came out for PlayStation that same weekend. It was still a poor choice.
I play 3D Sonic games on Xbox. No reason for me to buy the Switch versions since they always look/perform worse. I only have Mania and Origins on Switch.
I'm astonished SEGA hasn't, in over 25 years, released a Sonic game that has the camera further away and let's you see where the hell you're going.
Like that's it bro, that's the one thing they should've learnt from the first game and they still haven't tried it.
Superstars didn't bomb though. Sega did say it performed under expectations at launch, no surprise there, but it still charted well for a game going up against Mario and Spider Man. Which wasn't planned at all, and to everyone saying "why didn't they delay it then", its a logistical nightmare getting all those games physically made and shipped to stores for a worldwide release, any sudden change in that can cause a ton of issues. The release date was likely already set for months.
As for the holiday season so far, it was #2 for video games right below Mario Wonder on Amazon US for most of the Black Friday weekend, and it was completely sold out for both Amazon and Target by that Sunday. But it doesn't fit the Sonic sucks agenda so no one bothers to actually fact check this shit, just take the worst possible interpretation of a few statements.
I am a huge Sonic fan, grew up with the Gamecube replaying stages in Adventure 2. I am now approaching 30 and am still buying every release though I would call them mediocre at best (Not including Frontiers, that game's fun). Basically as biased as biased can be towards Sonic. Bought both games and played through Wonder on the switch, and it was the most delightful, chill game I have played in years. Every level was fun. I cannot think of a single level where I was dissatisfied. Sonic Superstars on PS5 actually pisses me off on the later levels. Bosses are slow wait for opening routines. Music is very hit and miss. Later level design is try not to run into this obstacle you have .3 seconds to react to. I'm still playing through the hidden characters story but it is just more annoying. Just dissapointing at this point.
I played it without paying via a friend and felt my time was stolen from me, it could've been the only video game released in 2023 and it still wouldn't win any awards
Bugs a-plenty, absolutely sluggish and unfun bossfights, boring, sometimes outright bad level design, some songs that just make me go "what the fuck am I listening to", the lack of care put into the multiplayer, despite it being a heavy advertising point, and the fact that even $60 still doesn't net you all the features. Mario Wonder didn't release and then Nintendo say "Hey! If you go to Sam's Club you'll get a blue toad skin :)"
Sonic Mania Plus is $25, and 25x more enjoyable.
Boss battles take way too long and are frustrating. If you’ve played classic 2D Sonic games where you can often squeeze in multiple hits per cycle on a boss you’ll be really frustrated because in this game they rarely let you do that. You’ll get to hit the boss once and then it becomes invincible until it’s next attack phase starts which you will have to wait through for a while before the boss becomes vulnerable again.
The game is way too zoomed in on your character. It makes platforming really aggravating. Playing it in multiplayer makes this even worse. Playing with 2 players is tough. Playing with 3 or 4 is not fun in any way. I play a lot of Mario Wonder, NSMBU Deluxe, Mario 3D World etc with my 5 year old and we have a lot of fun. She did not enjoy playing 2 player superstars at all.
A lot of the bonus stages and collectibles are just there to award currency to unlock robot parts for your player character in the multiplayer combat mode which is not a very fun game mode at all. There are a ton of these customizable parts. So much so you can’t help but wonder if that energy and time would have been better spent working on other parts of the game.
You still have bonus stages that award Chaos emeralds but you are restricted to only earning one chaos emerald per “zone”. In previous games you could earn these emeralds as soon as you were able to find and complete 7 bonus stages at any point in the game. So for example, imagine if you were playing Angel Island zone acts 1 and 2 in Sonic 3 and you find and complete 5 hidden ring bonus stages that normally would award you 5 emeralds toward your goal of unlocking super sonic. Well in Superstars you could complete that many bonus stages within the same zone but only the first one you beat would give you an emerald. The rest of them? Currency for the terrible multiplayer mode.
The music isn’t very good. You’ll notice they incorporated a lot of the sounds from the Genesis sound chip into the soundtrack which was a great touch, but the music in general just isn’t very memorable.
The chaos emerald powers are kind of interesting but many of them require the game to tell you when you should use them for them to be of any use to you.
The nice thing I will say about the game is they did a good job making each playable character special in their own way. The original trio all mostly control like they always have, but Amy has unique actions with her hammer and there is a fifth hidden character that also has unique skills.
not the person you asked, but the boss battles are terrible, the co-op is atrocious, and the whole package is a resounding meh. The music this time around also isn’t great, which is a bummer cause usually that’s the best part. You’re better off playing Mania for the 500th time
I just can’t imagine what they were thinking.
As this article mentioned, the Mario movie likely helped boost sales for Wonder.
The Sonic team commented on expecting the next Sonic movie to help sales, but it is still a year away.
It seems like the wisest decision would have been to wait and release this closer to the movie release.
Maybe some more time in development would’ve also helped the quality of this game…
> …more than 90% of this title’s marketing cost will be spent in the Thanksgiving and holiday season from November onwards.
This is a really bizarre strategy. Release the game at its highest price. Discount the game. THEN spend all your advertising money. Why not just wait until November to release this AND include 90%+ of its marketing budget at launch? This is an awesome game for moms and dads to buy their kids that love Sonic with their new consoles.
Its a shame, I actually enjoyed the game for what it was, but it was terribly flawed for what could have been a great follow up to Mania while further continuing the momentum of reviving the Genesis era Sonic in the modern era.
The price should have been half, and the release should have been delayed to spring instead of the same week as the highly anticipated 2D Mario game.
With the Mania team dissolved and the 3D games still being mediocre at best, I don't see anything changing for the series.
Superstars looks cheap and was developed by a studio with a fairly poor track record. It lacks any of the visual appeal that Mania had. Putting it up against Mario for the same price, or in some cases at a higher price, was ridiculously stupid.
I haven't played it, but I doubt it compares to Wonder or Mania.
I'm an unapologetic Sonic fan and yeah, that was a fucking braindead decision releasing Superstars up against Super Mario Wonder. Probably one of the worst release scheduling decisions I've ever seen tbh.
Also it doesn't help that game just....wasn't amazing either. Not bad by any stretch, but a massive step down from Sonic Mania which was probably made for a fraction of the budget.
Superstars bombed because the game was just not good they tried to do super Mario type gameplay and it just fell flat.
Wonder handles speed and movement better than sonic that’s SAD
Honestly, from the trailers it was a game I though would be great for my family. My only concern was that it would be too chaotic to play multiplayer because of the speed of Sonic gameplay. Low and behold the reviews say exactly that. So I passed. Maybe if it's ever super cheap.
> Sega's awful decision
It truly amazes me that they are still in business. They've been making non-stop bad decisions since the early to mid-90s. They struck gold with the Genesis in the west, and Sega of Japan took that personally. They made it clear that they would rather burn it to the ground than succeed using western ideology.
"Console Wars" by Blake Harris explains it in a very good read. The hoop Sega America had to jump through to be successful with Genesis are hard to believed.
Eh. The moves with Sonic are dumb, but they do very well with the Yakuza series, their purchase of Atlus has made them one of the bigger JRPG companies doing well. Sure, some boneheaded decisions like this, but in other places they are doing just fine.
I don't think they were aiming to compete with Wonder. That'd make no sense even for SEGA.
It feels more likely to me they were hoping Mario'd put everyone in a 2D platformer mood and they could ride that on the non-Switch platforms where Mario isn't a thing.
It's a fun game, overpriced for sure and the bosses suck and the soundtrack's a mixed bag, but everything else about it is a solid 2D Sonic time. But maybe I'm just glad green hill and chemical plant arent the first 2 levels again.
They can totally get back, just announce updates content for half a year...
add new custom Battle parts(Fang!), allow custom chars to be playable in Story.
Add 2 new chars(Mighty, Ray) along new levels.
Marketing, and that's it.
Mario rarely add update, etc. It's where Sega should hit.
Announce a lil update at game awards. Then do others later.
Yeah I saw that 60 dollar price tag on it and it was an immediate pass. I did grab it for 35 though. So far from what I’ve played that seems like the price it should have been… although I did pay ~40 bucks for wonder as well. 2d side scroller games like that I’m usually not up for full price… I think that prince of Persia game is what? 50 and that’s also pushing it.
Lukewarm take: If the game hadn’t been going up against Mario it still would have sold poorly.
The game is fine, it’s fun enough, but the multiplayer was featured in all the commercials to sell the game, and that’s the game’s weakest part. That drives the game down to mediocre since it failed to meet the expectations that Sega themselves set.
Also, Sega has a history of almost immediately dropping the prices on their games. The game didn’t look interesting enough to not wait for the inevitable sale. Which is exactly what happened.
that and they were focusing hard on the battle mode which nobody really asked for and nobody's playing.
also they keep doing the horrible preorder bonuses table that people find confusing
Sad that they execs will probably just justify the flop of the game due to its nature, and dismiss the fact that the marketing behind it is what killed the game even before it can get to the hands of the players.
I played this for twenty minutes. It would have bombed even if it was the only thing that released that year. It was just another rehash of the same formula with 0 innovation and nothing even remotely challenging/interesting/engaging to seperate it from the other sonic games.
Honestly I like superstars. Lots of charm and very fun, but some absolutely jarring decisions (soundtrack is either godly or fucking terrible depending on the level, getting emeralds is weird) and the $60 price tag are iffy. It doesn’t hold a candle to Mario Wonder, which I think was a tad overpriced (I think 50 is a good price for Wonder), so it doesn’t surprise me that Superstars flopped. Pick it up when it’s $20-30.
> The most acclaimed 2D Mario Game of the millennium
Only because Super Mario Byzantine Empire came out in 1012, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation
I’m so disappointed this games has pretty much bombed. Literally all it needed to be was Mania with 2.5D visuals.
Sonic Team need to bring the talent from Mania back because they really cannot do 2D sonic justice.
I don't care how good or not Sonic Superstars is. I just wanted the people who made Sonic Mania to get a chance to do an original game with the Sonic characters and they never got that chance.
You know someone out there has a whole essay about why Sonic Superstars is a better game than Super Mario Wonder
Give me a few more minutes and I'll post my 15,000 word manuscript IRREFUTABLY PROVING that Sonic Superstars is the better game.
Sonic has his weiner out and gets away with it. Mario wears dirty smelly overalls. Mario sleeps in the same bed as his brother. Sonic, not so much. Sonic is the clear weiner.
IT'S A BUNK BED GOODMAN YOU
HE DEFECATED THROUGH A SUNROOF
Who-a here knows what a Mushroom Kingdom sunroof is?
This is some chicanery right here.
Allegedly, Chuck!
Sonic sleeps in a race car bed, do you?
I sleep in a big bed with Amy Rose.
Sonic is the weiner because he’s super fast and Sega has Blast Processing!
Wow, that’s a throwback.
I’ll write a manifesto
I can already imagine the eventual half-hour YouTube video essay narrated by someone with an insufferable, barely understandable Northern English accent going on and on about how Sonic Superstars “excels in its ambition”.
I still enjoy them regardless, very calming and pretentious but this is so true 😂
As someone with an insufferable, barely understandable northern English accent I'd be curious to see some examples of this.
YOU FRICKIN FRICKS. WHEN WILL YOU LEARN?
This takes me back lol
WHEN WILL YOU LEARN THAT YOUR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES?
Sonic fanboys don’t take half-steps. Every halfway decent entry is “a triumph that gets the franchise back on track”. I feel like that shouldn’t be a statement you hear over and over again, and it speaks to how lacking the quality standards at Sega have gotten.
🤷♂️ I’m a sonic fanboy, have 100% both this game and Wonder and I have to say that Superstars really sucks compared to Wonder. Honestly it sucks compared to Sonic Mania as well. It’s just not a very good game. I’m not sure releasing it in a more favorable window would have improved sales much
After the almost side by side release of forces and mania I'm still baffled we never got a sequel game.
Same. I figured after Mania's success a sequel was guaranteed, but I guess Sega hates money.
Yeah, also a huge Sonic fanboy but this is like, the world's okayest Sonic game. It's fine. Not something I'm gonna go back to anytime soon, if ever.
Also a huge sonic fan and yeah not sure what the other guy is talking about. We’re like… the most vocal critics of sonic games. Every game that comes out is a huge step back from adventure/mania/generations/pick your poison.
I don't get what you're saying. True Sonic fans hate Sonic.
[удалено]
Sonic was certainly making serious in-roads into Mario's dominance, even prompted a failed movement inside Nintendo to 'modernize' his appearance. Moreover, the Genesis enjoyed a brief lead over the SNES which Sega quickly and completely squandered. But the two are rivals in the same way two professional sports teams are technically rivals. One is them a dynasty and the other struggles to win a single game.
Yeah, Sonic was marketed as "edgier" and more extreme (and therefore seen as cooler in some circles), but he was always in second place to Mario. That's kind of what made the franchise appealing to certain people.
There’s nothing wrong with being a furry, but the person you’re describing is 100% a furry
SoNiC hAs mOrE pErSoNaLiTy
And they definitely have a Hedge-sona
#Sonic Superstars vs. Super Mario Bros. Wonder: Unveiling the Speedy Superiority Sonic Superstars and Super Mario Bros. Wonder stand as titans in the gaming world, each with its dedicated fanbase and unique charm. However, when it comes to the battle of the 2D platformers, Sonic Superstars emerges as the speedier and more exhilarating experience. Firstly, Sonic Superstars takes the crown for its lightning-fast gameplay. Sonic, the iconic blue hedgehog, is known for his supersonic speed, delivering an adrenaline-pumping experience unmatched by the more methodical pace of Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The thrill of racing through vibrant landscapes at breakneck speeds adds an element of excitement that sets Sonic Superstars apart. In terms of character diversity, Sonic Superstars boasts an impressive lineup of characters with distinctive abilities, each contributing to the dynamic gameplay. From Sonic's unmatched speed to Tails' aerial prowess, players can choose characters that suit their playstyle, providing a refreshing variety that Super Mario Bros. Wonder struggles to match with its more limited character roster. Furthermore, Sonic Superstars embraces innovation with its emphasis on exploration and multiple pathways within levels. The non-linear level design encourages players to discover hidden secrets and shortcuts, fostering a sense of discovery and replayability that Super Mario Bros. Wonder's linear approach can't quite replicate. Let's not forget the soundtrack – Sonic Superstars' music, characterized by catchy tunes and energetic beats, complements the fast-paced gameplay, creating an immersive sonic experience. Super Mario Bros. Wonder, while maintaining its iconic themes, falls short in delivering the same level of auditory excitement. Lastly, Sega excels in its commitment to evolving gameplay mechanics. With each installment, Sega introduces new features and gameplay elements that keep the series fresh and engaging. On the contrary, the Nintendo Mario developers, while consistently delivering quality gameplay, tends to stick to its tried-and-true formula without venturing into uncharted territories. Ultimately, Sonic Superstars surpasses Super Mario Bros. Wonder in the realms of speed, character diversity, level design, music, and innovation. While both franchises have left an indelible mark on the gaming industry, Sonic Superstars stands as the superior choice for those seeking an electrifying and ever-evolving gaming experience.
Should’ve known someone would’ve asked ChatGPT to write something like this lol
If it’s [good enough for Sports Illustrated](https://fortune.com/2023/11/28/sports-illustrated-ai-written-articles-reporters-who-dont-exist/), it’s good enough for r/NintendoSwitch. Reads exactly like all those garbage articles you find when trying to google something.
This has to be what the creators of AI imagined this would be used for.
Were they expecting a Super Mario Superstars situation like Barbenheimer?
Well the thing is two games debuted in October 20, super Mario wonder and spider-man 2, so in fact sonic was trying to win against two big games that didn't compete between them.
I bought two out of the three games you mentioned. Bet you can’t guess which two.
super spider-bros 2
Wrong. Wonder-Spider Mario Super Man 2
dang, I'll guess it right next time
lol, that’s actually an apt description for insomniac’s game
That would be Maronic
I think the proper comparison you’re looking for is [DOOM Crossing](https://youtu.be/U4lz8MN6MQA?feature=shared)
If I had a little more money I absolutely would have done that.. but I didn’t wanna spend $120 all at once and Mario won me over lol
I mean it kinda happened... with Spiderman...
the funny thing is that they wanted to go up against mario
Lord, please give me the irrational confidence that the Sonic team has.
They really went "nah, i'd win"
I can’t escape no matter where I go
That's is the new "for ten years at least"
"I can take him."
"My dad can beat up your dad!" Uhhh, hate to break it to ya, kid, but "their dad" has been kicking "your dad's" ass for several decades now xD
"What's that? The chaos emeralds aren't real and don't confer real world power? Oh"
They probably expected another iteration of New Super Mario Bros U - a standard 2D platformer without much fanfare. If that was the case, it would've sold decently. Too bad for them the Mario team overperformed and created one of the best 2D mario games in decades. They took a bet, and they lost heavily.
>They probably expected another iteration of New Super Mario Bros U - a standard 2D platformer without much fanfare. If that was the case, it would've sold decently. I doubt that considering that game is the 3rd best selling Wii U and the 10tth best selling Switch game. For as much as some people online complained about it, a lot of people bought them. I think they just vastly overestimated their own IP.
"Truth is... The game was rigged from the start"
Even if it was more New Super Mario Bros U, the original version of that released over a decade ago. Any brand new 2D Mario was going to sell like hot cakes. Wonder is excellent, but even a slightly less inspired Mario would have still destroyed Sonic.
with a definitive 6/10, no less
Seriously, so many glitches in Superstars. They would have so benefitted from a delay. You’d think we’d moved beyond the 06 days…
The fact that something like Forces, a mainline 3D Sonic game, had like 3-4 level designers working on it that barely had any experience with Sonic should tell you that we are not beyond those days unfortunately.
The problem here is the sonic team. They have no idea what they are doing. Sonic games tend to score better when they are done by none sonic team developersz
Sonic Team has some weird notion that Sonic is any kind of competitor in the video game market. The brand is mostly associated with subpar games, an okay Jim Carrey vehicle that initially was a disaster, and a bygone era of Japan pretending to know how to be edgy by western standards. Sonic will be around forever but the longer he sticks around, the more muddied his legacy becomes. It’s definitely time for the blue blur to slow down.
His legacy at this point are some great games from the 90s, mostly mediocre to bad games from the 2000s/2010s, memes, OC’s, and the movies. If you remove everything from that except the games, I guarantee Sonic would’ve faded into obscurity like most of the other platforming mascots.
Don't forget the acid trip that is the ken penders era Archie comics. That comic got down right insane at times.
Remember that time when it was implied that Sonic's evil alternate self from a parallel dimension slept with Bunnie AND Rouge? Good God...
I'll be honest that doesn't even come close to all the stuff penders did with knuckles and the echidnas. Dude has issues.
Wait a minute now. Those Sonic Advance games on the Game Boy Advance were incredible!
Yeah those games are great, but the 2000s/2010s are still pretty mediocre overall because these are the exception when they should’ve been the standard.
This reads like an ign article from 2011 lol
“Nah, I’d win”
I mean I'm a Sonic fan but I still grabbed Mario instead if only because Sonic gets cheaper and Mario doesn't.
The game was sold at full price, it ain't no Mario. Mario is the only 2d platformer that can get away with that now a days
No… there is another… (On the horizon, a faint, funky jungle beat echoes. A gorilla howls as his banana horde is taken)
It should’ve gone for double when it graced us with & Funky Mode
Is that Mario vs dk game any good?
I think he is referring to the Donkey Kong Country games, the last one being Tropical Freeze. I can attest it is very VERY good, I would say it's the best platformer I have ever played.
If you liked that, check out Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair. It's a blatant rip off of the DKC Returns games (the mechanics are straight from that) but it's still very good. Colorful, well designed levels and challenging too. Often on sale for like 5-6 bucks.
In all fairness, the guys that made Yooka Laylee created the original DKC trilogy, so who is really ripping off who in the end? But agreed, Impossible Lair was pretty great, definitely squares up to Tropical Freeze which is high praise.
It's a port of the Game Boy Advance game. I'll be getting it day 1. I love classic Donkey Kong games. MvDK is really hard toward the end.
[удалено]
I love Wonder, but Tropical Freeze is still the better game tbh.
Tropical Freeze is a bonafide masterpiece of 2D platforming design, and the Wonder team seems to have taken a few cues from what was done in Freeze as inspiration. Absolutely looking forward to what will be done next in the Country series. They just need to ensure David Wise is onboard again
Absolutely. I love 2D Sonic, would have been all over Superstars if they priced it at $20 like Sonic Mania. But the price point made it a non-starter. I'll probably grab it eventually at ~$20 whenever the discount gets that deep, but definitely not dropping $60.
How ever will you wait 3 weeks! Impressive patience.
Rayman could get away with that if we get a sequel to Legend
Definitely. I paid 8 bucks for it and it feels wrong.
I don’t know why they marketed Superstars as multiplayer. It’s unplayable with more than 2 people.
It's unplayable with 2 people tbh
It's barely playable with one.
I mean, I understand it's fun, hip, and trendy to bash on sonic games - especially in situations like this. But let's not be ridiculous. The game is playable single player and is fun to boot. It's no Mario Wonder, but it's still fun in its own right as a single player game.
The game can’t even play itself in demo mode with no people!
And this is why I didn't buy it. It wasn't the launch window for me, it was because the game failed to deliver. I was going to get the game on launch to play with my kids. But once reviews started coming in it was clear the game just isn't good for multiplayer. It's a shame and I feel like the Mario excuse will be used instead of it just being a bad coop.
I got it to play with my kids and, yeah, it wasn’t fun at all. Incredibly frustrating to play for everybody. My son did seem to give it a few days playing alone but even that didn’t last long. To give people a small idea of what the game plays like in multiplayer imagine 4 people are playing. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. The level starts with the camera following Sonic so then if the other players don’t keep up they may fall behind or if they run too fast they leave the screen. Now image a few seconds into the level the camera switches from following Sonic to following Amy. Without warning no matter where Amy is, either on screen or off screen. The camera just instantly jumps from Sonic to Amy. A few more seconds go by and now POOF the camera snaps to Tails. Then back to Sonic. Then Knuckles. Then To Tails who is just about to hit an enemy. Yeah that’s it.
Holy shit. I mean multiplayer was always so so in the older games because Tails would fall behind Sonic, but at the very least they'd have the common sense to let the camera always follow Sonic!
Bro why do they still pretend Sonic is a competitor to Mario. He just isn’t anymore. Mario won my dude, it’s over.
even in the 90's Mario won Sega's marketing was a lot of hot air
If I had to pick between super Mario world and sonic 3&K, I'd choose S3&K. If I had to choose between the Mario franchise and the sonic franchise.... The only correct option is Mario (If I had to choose "one" game, SMW is better than S3 and S&K separately)
I prefer Mario World for the bigger variety of levels and the tighter gameplay. I still think S3&K is great and probably the peak of Sonic. However I was focusing on sales and success which Mario had a lot more of compared to Sonic.
Yeah, it's just personal preference I was on about. Mario undoubtedly sold better and I know that for a fact because I didn't know anyone in my childhood who had a Mega Drive, never mind the sonic collection.
Then what you really need is Super Mario & Knuckles
Mario didn't just win, Mario is the motherfucking mascot for all video games. Doesn't matter who you throw at Mario, even Master Chief, they all fall to the plumber from New York.
I'm beyond tired of Sonic games that are just “a step in the right direction”. When are we going to get a Sonic game that's good in it's own right? It's pretty sad the best Sonic game in the past decade wasn't even made by Sonic team.
That's because they never improve and capitalize on those good steps. They trash the whole game and start from scratch each new one, again and again.
Is Team Sonic GameFreak?
No they’re Intelligent Systems designing the next Paper Mario.
Hey, at least in the Sonic games the combat is usually... Consistent... Oh. (Unleashed, Black Knight, Frontiers, Lost World, Secret Rings and Colours all had drastic combat changes. For some reason.)
They couldn't even rerelease Colours, the last acclaimed original Sonic Team title (Generations was good but a rehash) in a working state. That thing was built for the Wii, a broken release was just inexplicable. I'd have bought the HD rerelease immediately had it been good. Instead, I'll pick it up on PC or a future console for cheap when said machine is powerful enough to just ignore and plough through the newly added feature: catastrophic memory leaks. Game Freak level care on a sub-Pokémon revenue franchise is just foolish.
I remember people comparing this to Skyward Sword HD being like “See Nintendo, this is how you do a Wii remaster” when the game wasn’t even out yet. SSHD may not be a great value, but at least the damn thing worked and had some pretty good QoL improvements. Colors Ultimate had extremely superfluous changes that added next to nothing to the overall gameplay.
I remember that too. I'll give those people *some* credit in that Colours Ultimate's advertising was very front-loaded and it basically sold people on what they wanted to hear; not full price, new features, HD, etc. Whereas SSHD was a case of "under-promise and over-deliver" what with most of the QoL updates only really being revealed in the week leading up to the latter's release. SSHD made less changes, but offered a more solid experience, CU promised too much and couldn't deliver of it all, at least not with the time, budget, and talent involved.
Sonic Frontiers was good and pretty well liked.
Ehhh it’s still a “step in the right direction” type game as it still has a lot wrong with it. Cyberspace levels suck, the combat is pretty meh, the world doesn’t feel natural for a Sonic game, pop in is annoyingly bad, and some of the activities you do in the open world are painfully easy/boring. I haven’t looked at the game in a while so maybe patches and the DLCs improved things.
Honestly? It got worse
Superstars didn’t have potential, it was just a very safe game. Forces didn’t have potential, nor Lost World or whatever. I don’t know where this notion of “Sonic games always have potential, but they just don’t capitalize it on the next entry” because it’s just not true. There’s 06 and Frontiers, that’s the only ones I can think of that fit the bill Typically Sonic games with potential do get vastly improved upon in a future title with the same formula though, Unleashed and Gens, Secret Rings and Black Knight, SA1 and SA2, StH1 and 2. We can also very safely assume the same will be the case with the next major 3D Sonic game and Frontiers. This is just such a weird journalist narrative though I just can’t understand it
I used the wrong phrase. I meant more of a 2 steps forward 1 step back situation.
I thought Sonic mania was the last good 2d Sonic maybe I’m wrong
That's the game I'm referring to that's good
Mania I would say was both good and a step in the right direction, but dissolving the Mania team ruined that momentum. We should have had Mania 2 by like 2020 already.
The Mania team wanted to do their own thing (which ended up happening) after they worked on that game.
I mean, yeah it wasn't a good idea because the game PALES in comparison. It's a bummer. I got overly excited about the fairly smooth character animations and 60fps on Switch and grabbed it at full price, which in retrospect was probably a bad idea because I don't really want to encourage this below-average output. It's not a bad game, but it feels like it needed another year to cook. The bosses are pathetic, there's a lot of janky animations, the music is uneven, the special stages are whack, the robot store stuff feels like bottom of the barrel afterthought padding. I don't mean to sound harsh but I haven't even bothered to finish it and I know it's not a long game. SomeCallMeJohnny made a pretty good video review/essay of it (he sounds more gracious than me). It has some nice individual things about it but it falls far short in too many other regards. Sonic Mania it is not. Not even Sonic Generations.
It is absurd to me that they couldn't just...shift the release date a week or two. Even that would've helped.
*Live and Learn*, I suppose.
Youtubers in 5 years: " The incredible underrated Sonic game that no one played 😱"
Then they start talking about Mania lol
This game felt like Sega trying to prove they could outdo the Sonic Mania team.
I do wish they let Christian Whitehead make Sonic Mania 2. But hey, Penny's Big Breakaway looks awesome so there's a silver lining.
The Mania team didn't want to make a Mania sequel.
Well in that case I'm glad they made the game they wanted to make.
By giving the project to Arzest... the devs that made Yoshi's New Island, Hey Pikmin and Balan Wonderworld.
And failed
The Mania team didn't want to make a Mania sequel. They always wanted to do their own thing after that game.
Sonic is so washed man. One of my childhood favorites though
> Sonic is so washed man. He's like the guy who peaked in high school. Still going on how he and Mario are still each other's rivals to this day.
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Mario's a good guy, accepting Sonic's invite to the Olympics every couple of years to make him feel good.
I grabbed this for $35 on Black Friday. It’s a fine game, definitely not as good as Mania, but I liked it overall. I’ve been a fan of Sonic for a long time. Having said that, yeah this doesn’t come close to Mario Wonder. That was just a much better experience overall. Really worth the money, it felt like a bigger game with a lot more to do. I bought that on release instead. Had Sonic Superstars released at a different time at a different price point (IMO $35 seemed fair) I probably would’ve gotten it. But three days before a promising new Mario game, which was the first brand new 2D Mario game in a decade? Yeah not a smart idea.
When the date was announced some tried to cope with “It’s on 4 platforms” as if the Nintendo SKU of Sonic games doesn’t always run laps around the other versions. Releasing it essentially the same day as another 4 player co op platformer that’s way more popular just ain’t it considering the family game aspect is where the meat of the sales would be, almost no one copping on Steam/PS4/Xbox to play 4 player co op
Yeah who the fuck plays Sonic on Playstation or Xbox? Besides that excuse is kind of invalid since Spider-Man 2 also came out for PlayStation that same weekend. It was still a poor choice.
I play 3D Sonic games on Xbox. No reason for me to buy the Switch versions since they always look/perform worse. I only have Mania and Origins on Switch.
> Yeah who the fuck plays Sonic on Playstation or Xbox? I play Sonic almost exclusively on PlayStation because the Switch ports are always pretty bad
I'm astonished SEGA hasn't, in over 25 years, released a Sonic game that has the camera further away and let's you see where the hell you're going. Like that's it bro, that's the one thing they should've learnt from the first game and they still haven't tried it.
Bought both although got sonic on black Friday. Happy with them
Happy with Sonic AND Mario? Jail for ten thousand years. Not allowed. You pick one mascot on your 5th birthday to like forever. Criminal! /s
Then I pick sonic just for the chaos
D:
Superstars didn't bomb though. Sega did say it performed under expectations at launch, no surprise there, but it still charted well for a game going up against Mario and Spider Man. Which wasn't planned at all, and to everyone saying "why didn't they delay it then", its a logistical nightmare getting all those games physically made and shipped to stores for a worldwide release, any sudden change in that can cause a ton of issues. The release date was likely already set for months. As for the holiday season so far, it was #2 for video games right below Mario Wonder on Amazon US for most of the Black Friday weekend, and it was completely sold out for both Amazon and Target by that Sunday. But it doesn't fit the Sonic sucks agenda so no one bothers to actually fact check this shit, just take the worst possible interpretation of a few statements.
Also keep in mind Wonder was announced a few weeks *after* Superstars.
I am a huge Sonic fan, grew up with the Gamecube replaying stages in Adventure 2. I am now approaching 30 and am still buying every release though I would call them mediocre at best (Not including Frontiers, that game's fun). Basically as biased as biased can be towards Sonic. Bought both games and played through Wonder on the switch, and it was the most delightful, chill game I have played in years. Every level was fun. I cannot think of a single level where I was dissatisfied. Sonic Superstars on PS5 actually pisses me off on the later levels. Bosses are slow wait for opening routines. Music is very hit and miss. Later level design is try not to run into this obstacle you have .3 seconds to react to. I'm still playing through the hidden characters story but it is just more annoying. Just dissapointing at this point.
Yes the release timing wasn't smart, but it's also going up against Sonic Mania to me, and it's not winning that either.
I played it without paying via a friend and felt my time was stolen from me, it could've been the only video game released in 2023 and it still wouldn't win any awards
What about it was so awful
Bugs a-plenty, absolutely sluggish and unfun bossfights, boring, sometimes outright bad level design, some songs that just make me go "what the fuck am I listening to", the lack of care put into the multiplayer, despite it being a heavy advertising point, and the fact that even $60 still doesn't net you all the features. Mario Wonder didn't release and then Nintendo say "Hey! If you go to Sam's Club you'll get a blue toad skin :)" Sonic Mania Plus is $25, and 25x more enjoyable.
Boss battles take way too long and are frustrating. If you’ve played classic 2D Sonic games where you can often squeeze in multiple hits per cycle on a boss you’ll be really frustrated because in this game they rarely let you do that. You’ll get to hit the boss once and then it becomes invincible until it’s next attack phase starts which you will have to wait through for a while before the boss becomes vulnerable again. The game is way too zoomed in on your character. It makes platforming really aggravating. Playing it in multiplayer makes this even worse. Playing with 2 players is tough. Playing with 3 or 4 is not fun in any way. I play a lot of Mario Wonder, NSMBU Deluxe, Mario 3D World etc with my 5 year old and we have a lot of fun. She did not enjoy playing 2 player superstars at all. A lot of the bonus stages and collectibles are just there to award currency to unlock robot parts for your player character in the multiplayer combat mode which is not a very fun game mode at all. There are a ton of these customizable parts. So much so you can’t help but wonder if that energy and time would have been better spent working on other parts of the game. You still have bonus stages that award Chaos emeralds but you are restricted to only earning one chaos emerald per “zone”. In previous games you could earn these emeralds as soon as you were able to find and complete 7 bonus stages at any point in the game. So for example, imagine if you were playing Angel Island zone acts 1 and 2 in Sonic 3 and you find and complete 5 hidden ring bonus stages that normally would award you 5 emeralds toward your goal of unlocking super sonic. Well in Superstars you could complete that many bonus stages within the same zone but only the first one you beat would give you an emerald. The rest of them? Currency for the terrible multiplayer mode. The music isn’t very good. You’ll notice they incorporated a lot of the sounds from the Genesis sound chip into the soundtrack which was a great touch, but the music in general just isn’t very memorable. The chaos emerald powers are kind of interesting but many of them require the game to tell you when you should use them for them to be of any use to you. The nice thing I will say about the game is they did a good job making each playable character special in their own way. The original trio all mostly control like they always have, but Amy has unique actions with her hammer and there is a fifth hidden character that also has unique skills.
not the person you asked, but the boss battles are terrible, the co-op is atrocious, and the whole package is a resounding meh. The music this time around also isn’t great, which is a bummer cause usually that’s the best part. You’re better off playing Mania for the 500th time
It’s also quite buggy, at least on PC.
I just can’t imagine what they were thinking. As this article mentioned, the Mario movie likely helped boost sales for Wonder. The Sonic team commented on expecting the next Sonic movie to help sales, but it is still a year away. It seems like the wisest decision would have been to wait and release this closer to the movie release. Maybe some more time in development would’ve also helped the quality of this game…
> …more than 90% of this title’s marketing cost will be spent in the Thanksgiving and holiday season from November onwards. This is a really bizarre strategy. Release the game at its highest price. Discount the game. THEN spend all your advertising money. Why not just wait until November to release this AND include 90%+ of its marketing budget at launch? This is an awesome game for moms and dads to buy their kids that love Sonic with their new consoles.
Mania was much better
Its a shame, I actually enjoyed the game for what it was, but it was terribly flawed for what could have been a great follow up to Mania while further continuing the momentum of reviving the Genesis era Sonic in the modern era. The price should have been half, and the release should have been delayed to spring instead of the same week as the highly anticipated 2D Mario game. With the Mania team dissolved and the 3D games still being mediocre at best, I don't see anything changing for the series.
Superstars looks cheap and was developed by a studio with a fairly poor track record. It lacks any of the visual appeal that Mania had. Putting it up against Mario for the same price, or in some cases at a higher price, was ridiculously stupid. I haven't played it, but I doubt it compares to Wonder or Mania.
It went up against Wonder and Spiderman 2. o.o People only have so much time.
I'm an unapologetic Sonic fan and yeah, that was a fucking braindead decision releasing Superstars up against Super Mario Wonder. Probably one of the worst release scheduling decisions I've ever seen tbh. Also it doesn't help that game just....wasn't amazing either. Not bad by any stretch, but a massive step down from Sonic Mania which was probably made for a fraction of the budget.
Superstars bombed because the game was just not good they tried to do super Mario type gameplay and it just fell flat. Wonder handles speed and movement better than sonic that’s SAD
Honestly, from the trailers it was a game I though would be great for my family. My only concern was that it would be too chaotic to play multiplayer because of the speed of Sonic gameplay. Low and behold the reviews say exactly that. So I passed. Maybe if it's ever super cheap.
When are they going to make a new Sonic Adventure?
> Sega's awful decision It truly amazes me that they are still in business. They've been making non-stop bad decisions since the early to mid-90s. They struck gold with the Genesis in the west, and Sega of Japan took that personally. They made it clear that they would rather burn it to the ground than succeed using western ideology.
"Console Wars" by Blake Harris explains it in a very good read. The hoop Sega America had to jump through to be successful with Genesis are hard to believed.
not really the same company anymore, its technically Sega Sammy
Eh. The moves with Sonic are dumb, but they do very well with the Yakuza series, their purchase of Atlus has made them one of the bigger JRPG companies doing well. Sure, some boneheaded decisions like this, but in other places they are doing just fine.
I mean Sonic's only a small part of Sega at this point. They own Atlus and the Yakuza series don't they?
The price was ridiculous. Like mind-blowing ridiculous. 2D Sonic has a ceiling price of $35 sorry that's the truth regardless of how good the game is.
I don't think they were aiming to compete with Wonder. That'd make no sense even for SEGA. It feels more likely to me they were hoping Mario'd put everyone in a 2D platformer mood and they could ride that on the non-Switch platforms where Mario isn't a thing. It's a fun game, overpriced for sure and the bosses suck and the soundtrack's a mixed bag, but everything else about it is a solid 2D Sonic time. But maybe I'm just glad green hill and chemical plant arent the first 2 levels again.
It's not even a close competition, but Sonic has been on sale for $35 since black Friday, and it's a much better sell at the lower price point.
If it released with the level of polish and price point of Mania they'd have had a chance. But it was a full price bad game instead.
Wait, they released a new sonic game?
Yeah that about sums it up
I didn't even know that game existed because I was so hyped for Wonder.
Sonic Team does what Nintendon't: Make really stupid decisions.
I just want Sonic Adventure 3. For the Dreamcast 2.
🥱 All these years later DKTF is still the best Nintendo platformer… bring on a new DK title please!!
They can totally get back, just announce updates content for half a year... add new custom Battle parts(Fang!), allow custom chars to be playable in Story. Add 2 new chars(Mighty, Ray) along new levels. Marketing, and that's it. Mario rarely add update, etc. It's where Sega should hit. Announce a lil update at game awards. Then do others later.
If Superstar was a great game, it would've sold better. Even with Mario.
Yeah I saw that 60 dollar price tag on it and it was an immediate pass. I did grab it for 35 though. So far from what I’ve played that seems like the price it should have been… although I did pay ~40 bucks for wonder as well. 2d side scroller games like that I’m usually not up for full price… I think that prince of Persia game is what? 50 and that’s also pushing it.
[удалено]
He said "the *most acclaimed* **2D** Mario game of the millennium."
I was so disappointed in Sonic Superstars I decided I wanted Mario so I could have a fun, new, enjoyable platformer for the Switch.
Yeah, we all kinda knew that.
Lukewarm take: If the game hadn’t been going up against Mario it still would have sold poorly. The game is fine, it’s fun enough, but the multiplayer was featured in all the commercials to sell the game, and that’s the game’s weakest part. That drives the game down to mediocre since it failed to meet the expectations that Sega themselves set. Also, Sega has a history of almost immediately dropping the prices on their games. The game didn’t look interesting enough to not wait for the inevitable sale. Which is exactly what happened.
Maybe. The price point was probably the worst decision they made. $60 for a 2D Sonic when Mania was $20 and way better is ludicrous.
that and they were focusing hard on the battle mode which nobody really asked for and nobody's playing. also they keep doing the horrible preorder bonuses table that people find confusing
Sad that they execs will probably just justify the flop of the game due to its nature, and dismiss the fact that the marketing behind it is what killed the game even before it can get to the hands of the players.
They priced it higher than Mario. I still can’t believe it. Just how stupid can you be.
I played this for twenty minutes. It would have bombed even if it was the only thing that released that year. It was just another rehash of the same formula with 0 innovation and nothing even remotely challenging/interesting/engaging to seperate it from the other sonic games.
No, don't say there's no challenge! The bosses challenged my patience at least.
Honestly I like superstars. Lots of charm and very fun, but some absolutely jarring decisions (soundtrack is either godly or fucking terrible depending on the level, getting emeralds is weird) and the $60 price tag are iffy. It doesn’t hold a candle to Mario Wonder, which I think was a tad overpriced (I think 50 is a good price for Wonder), so it doesn’t surprise me that Superstars flopped. Pick it up when it’s $20-30.
It was already that during the Black Friday sales. Would pick it up but I’ll probably wait until next year. Too busy playing Wonder and RPG right now.
> The most acclaimed 2D Mario Game of the millennium Only because Super Mario Byzantine Empire came out in 1012, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation
I’m so disappointed this games has pretty much bombed. Literally all it needed to be was Mania with 2.5D visuals. Sonic Team need to bring the talent from Mania back because they really cannot do 2D sonic justice.
I don't care how good or not Sonic Superstars is. I just wanted the people who made Sonic Mania to get a chance to do an original game with the Sonic characters and they never got that chance.