Gameplay Check Out The First Gameplay Videos of Sonic Superstars

[Dreadknux]

The Sonic Stadium is on the ground at Summer Game Fest 2023, and we've been able to capture loads of off-screen clips of the game in action! For anyone curious, we've got some gameplay footage of the windmill/seaside stage presented in the trailer. Let's take a look at some of the gimmicks and interesting things we've seen!

There's a lot to unpack in just a couple of minutes here, so let's dive in and see what we can see:

First off, classic Badniks are back - but it looks like some of them may come with a few modernised tweaks to catch veteran 2D players off-guard. This Buzzbomber comes complete with a full-fat laser that doesn't leave any room for Sonic to dodge from.

We also get to see one of the Chaos Emerald powers at play here - this one allows Sonic and friends to ascend through waterfalls. You'll notice that there's a meter in the bottom right corner there, which likely tells you how long you have left to use this special ability.

This stage is full of unique gimmicks that throw Sonic upwards into the air and even back and forth into the scenery! In this screenshot, you can see one of the curved silver loops that litter the stage - when Sonic runs into one...

...he shoots in the direction of the curve. Players can seemingly use these broken-loop pieces in clever ways to navigate to higher platforms.

Finally, there's this little glimpse of a couple of collectables found within the stage. One is a giant blue ring, which looks similar to a Special Stage ring from Sonic 3 & Knuckles/Sonic Mania. The other is a golden Sonic coin. We wonder what these are for and where they take you...?

We're capturing lots of media from the Summer Game Fest show floor, and we'll be sharing our hands-on impressions of the game in a day or so's time as well! Here are some more videos we captured as well, for your entertainment (be careful, some of them may be spoilery):

Knuckles vs Speed Jungle Boss

Amy Enters a Special Stage

Sonic Fights Eggman Boss on Bridge Island

Tails Gameplay from Speed Jungle

Vine Grinding Action

Amy Fights Speed Jungle Badnik Boss

Bridge Island Zone Act 1 Opening Sequence

Water Emerald Power Tutorial and Game Play

Amy Surfs the Vines in Speed Jungle

 

So stay tuned to the Sonic Stadium and Sonic News for all the latest, and chat about the videos we've captured in the comments section below.

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[JezMM]

I'm not sure about the snapping between animations when changing directions or crouching/jumping etc but I really love that they've rethought the way Classic Sonic moves for this game.  The slight 3/4 view on him looks very appealing, and there's just overall a real fun vibrancy and bounce to the individual animations.

Having said that... the gameplay looks very Sonic Generations/Forces Classic here which is a shame, but still fine by me.  I tolerated Sonic 4, so as long as this is a good little platformer, I'm happy.

[Sonicka]

This looks… really quite impressive from initial glances. 

I’m super intrigued to read your thoughts and impressions when the article is posted, but from the videos it at least appears to be as damn close as they’ve gotten to nailing a proper Next Gen 2D outing (and one that actually looks fun to play, rather than simply be tolerable). 

Saying that, they really need to ensure it is fun - there’s no 3D platforming / boost sections to fall back on this time. 

[PIZZA ALERT]

Looks good so far, the angle of the characters is sorta weird but I'm sure I'll get used to it...kinda like they're running out of the screen a bit but obviously sticking to the 2D plane. Can't say I'm fond of that.

[Sean]

 

lol Sega hasn't learned anything from Sonic 4 and Forces.

[Shiny Gems]

Here is a video of Fang and the unnamed bad guy.

 

[JezMM]

While the White Park music is blatantly placeholder, the boss music is brand new and absolute dogshit.  Genuinely extremely concerned they're going to give us another lukewarm Sonic 4/Sonic Forces Classic styled soundtrack that throws all the hard work done on making beautiful atmospheric looking levels into the bin with the flattest, completely-devoid-of-atmosphere midi-ass soundtrack possible.  After Frontiers' breathtaking soundtrack I just cannot go back to this nonsense, god.  It really will drag the experience down SO much if the game sounds like this.

[Sonicka]

 

3 hours ago, Sean said:

lol Sega hasn't learned anything from Sonic 4 and Forces.

Loving the gameplay on display... but the music? Yeah, that's pretty terrible.

BUT, I'm going to play devils advocate and assume placeholder (as mentioned above) for now. Apart from the Boss music (which at this stage I'm going to be hopeful and presume its some unused beta track from somewhere) we actually seem to have multiple scores from various Sonic titles going on in this video. 

After all the feedback over the years surely they must have got the memo about how unfavourable the music in Sonic 4 / Classic in Forces and so on was? This vibrant new game is not the place for those tunes. They can do better. 

[ZinogreVolt]

5 minutes ago, Sonicka said:

Loving the gameplay on display... but the music? Yeah, that's pretty terrible.

BUT, I'm going to play devils advocate and assume placeholder (as mentioned above) for now. Apart from the Boss music (which at this stage I'm going to be hopeful and presume its some unused beta track from somewhere) we actually seem to have multiple scores from various Sonic titles going on in this video. 

After all the feedback over the years surely they must have got the memo about how unfavourable the music in Sonic 4 / Classic in Forces and so on was? This vibrant new game is not the place for those tunes. They can do better. 

The music is embargoed and so there's placeholder music being used here, so you're correct. From the people who've played it on SGF show floors, it's been described as being "Tee Lopes-y". 

And yeah, the music is just from Sonic 4.

[Iko]

It's White Park Act 2, it's from Sonic 4 ep II and it's 100% a placeholder.

 

[Blue Blood]

5 hours ago, JezMM said:

While the White Park music is blatantly placeholder, the boss music is brand new and absolute dogshit.  Genuinely extremely concerned they're going to give us another lukewarm Sonic 4/Sonic Forces Classic styled soundtrack that throws all the hard work done on making beautiful atmospheric looking levels into the bin with the flattest, completely-devoid-of-atmosphere midi-ass soundtrack possible.  After Frontiers' breathtaking soundtrack I just cannot go back to this nonsense, god.  It really will drag the experience down SO much if the game sounds like this.

Complete agreement. What extra concerning to me is that the Act 2 boss music actually sounds like an arrangement of the S4 boss pinch mode music. 

[sonicclaasic]

Just watched the gameplay of Sonic Superstars It looks amazing I'm getting that 90s vibes feelings from the old Sonic games that's In the mixed here of Sonic Superstars.

And It's a bit of Sonic 4 the graphics that reminds me of that game. So far the game ls looking great I really hoped that there's a collector's edition for the game coming up this year.

[Indigo Rush]

Optimistic take on the music is that it's all placeholder and the tracks that are "new" are early demos that were rotting in Jun Senoues project folder somewhere. I would be shocked if this was the actual music, because Tee Lopesey this ain't. 

[Red Hot Jack]

https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2023/06/09/speeding-around-the-new-2d-adventure

A positive preview. Says it captures a classic feel better than NSMB because it's bolder and feels more like a continuation or progression.

Also confirms Amy has a double jump

Mentions only 2 acts per zone which I hope is not true. I'm okay with 2 main acts in the story but since the game should be worth 60, I hope there are more stages... as side ones maybe.

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

12 minutes ago, Red Hot Jack said:

https://www.gameinformer.com/preview/2023/06/09/speeding-around-the-new-2d-adventure

A positive preview. Says it captures a classic feel better than NSMB because it's bolder and feels more like a continuation or progression.

Also confirms Amy has a double jump

Mentions only 2 acts per zone which I hope is not true. I'm okay with 2 main acts in the story but since the game should be worth 60, I hope there are more stages... as side ones maybe.

I'm gonna guess there's mission mode Ala origins.

[Indigo Rush]

 

Heh, one thing I like about this is you'll occasionally see other characters pass through in the background, showing that you're all on the same adventure together. Little details like that are always welcome. 

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

1 hour ago, Indigo Rush said:

Heh, one thing I like about this is you'll occasionally see other characters pass through in the background, showing that you're all on the same adventure together. Little details like that are always welcome. 

It reminds me of these panels in the sonic megadrive comic:

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

1 hour ago, Indigo Rush said:

Heh, one thing I like about this is you'll occasionally see other characters pass through in the background, showing that you're all on the same adventure together. Little details like that are always welcome. 

Can confirm:

At around 1:17, Sonic can be seen platforming in the background.

Really sells the idea of this being a team venture.

[___-_]

Which has me wondering. If all 4 run past that segment at the same time, who’s going to be the one going through that background obstacle then?

[KHCast]

I’m on and off about the physics/gameplay going off all the footage. Whitehead giving the thumbs up the other day gave me the impression this was mania kinda level with that stuff, but looking at it, it looks moreso like Gens classic, which I liked mind you, but…still kinda disappointing, especially when they’re really marketing it as a “classic feeling experience”

[Blue Blood]

2 hours ago, KHCast said:

I’m on and off about the physics/gameplay going off all the footage. Whitehead giving the thumbs up the other day gave me the impression this was mania kinda level with that stuff, but looking at it, it looks moreso like Gens classic, which I liked mind you, but…still kinda disappointing, especially when they’re really marketing it as a “classic feeling experience”

Only two things are really sticking out to me as Generations-like right now.

One, it looks like the acceleration curve is slower when you first start walking, which then makes it feel like you're being weighed down. Movement speed in general seems a little slower in this game than others. That could be because it actually is slower to accommodate multiplayer, or it could just be a trick of the 3D camera. Slower speeds aren't an issue though. It's just the acceleration that could be annoying sluggish. 

And two: I can't say for sure but the "badnik bounce" looks to be the same as 4/Colours/Generations/Forces. That means that after jumping on an enemy you'll always rebound the same amount. In the Classics and Mania, it functioned differently. If you just jumped on an enemy, you'd barely rebound at all. But if you kept ahold of the jump button (or rolled off a ledge to land on top of the enemy) you'd rebound to the maximum altitude since you were last grounded. 

It's far from a deal breaker if the Badnik bounce hasn't been properly implemented, but it's disappointing all the same. You could use it for showing off like in that video, high level speed running or just for goofing around. It also paired nicely with Tails' flight and a Knuckles glide, allowing them to get crazy height of they timed the moves to the moment they hit the target. 

Otherwise, I'm not seeing anything else that looks particularly "Generations-y". There was one moment with Sonic running up a quarter pipe and braking suddenly on the incline, but such feats are possible in the Classics. What else is standing out to you?

[Indigo Rush]

It may help to go back to Generations, 4 and the like and actually feel how those controls work and then go back to what we're seeing with Superstars. They do not look at all the same, although I play Sonic all the time on my phone so I may have a more trained eye for it. I wouldn't worry too much here. It looks legit. Maybe not exactly the same, but on a sliding scale from 4epI to Mania, it's in the Mania spectrum without a doubt.

[ZinogreVolt]

I'm positive that any disconnect in saying this game looks Generations-esque at all is pretty much the artstyle filling in the blanks for how people think it's going to play. Generations Classic gameplay was nothing close to this.

[sonicclaasic]

4 hours ago, Indigo Rush said:

Heh, one thing I like about this is you'll occasionally see other characters pass through in the background, showing that you're all on the same adventure together. Little details like that are always welcome. 

I've just noticed this to after watching the video you can see the background of your companions on the same level which Is very welcomeing Indeed as well you mentioned

[Sega DogTagz]

Generations was so consumed by the Hot-Button spindash that it really has no identity beyond that.

 

Granted, I thought it was a fun distraction for one game, but its hard to compare that to anything. It was stupendously overpowered.