Sonic Superstars preview: Captures the magic of retro Sonic games

Sonic may be one of gaming's most iconic characters, but his games have been roller coasters of quality. As a character, Sonic has always struggled to adapt to 3D environments, where his blazing speed always seemed to fit more appropriately in 2D settings – Sonic Frontiers utilized an open world structure, and critical reception was mixed to say the least. 

Now, Sonic is returning with Sonic Superstars, a brand new 2D adventure co-developed by Arzest. The studio is perhaps best known for working on the fantastic Apple Arcade exclusive Fantasian, as well as the divisive Balan Wonderworld. And after spending 30 minutes getting my hands on a Sonic Superstars preview build at Summer Game Fest, it looks like a good attempt is being made to not only recapture the old magic of the best Sonic games but generate the forward momentum that this franchise so desperately needs. 

Embracing the past

In my Sonic Superstars demo there were four playable characters: Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy Rose. It invoked feelings of older Super Mario games when players could choose between Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad. Each character has their own feel, and a set of special traversal abilities. For example, Tails can use his classic tail propeller to fly up while Knuckles can glide short distances in the air. Sonic Superstars is also the first 2D Sonic game to feature four-person multiplayer, but I played solo during my time with the game.

There were two stages to pick from: Bridge Island Zone and Speed Jungle Zone. The former was reminiscent of classic Sonic stage Green Hill Zone, while Speed Jungle was exactly as the name implies: a lush green jungle area which you're supposed to speed through really fast. The environments are bright and colorful, matching the lively art style of the characters.

The stages are classic Sonic, full of the bounce pads and soaring loops for characters to jump on and run through. In the Speed Jungle Zone, you're able to grind on vines like a skateboard, shifting between the foreground and background layers of the stage. While in the background, the character is noticeably smaller in stature – a fun perspective shift which added additional variety on the road to the end of the stage. 

There were some big additions too. Portals are scattered throughout levels that transport me to a separate dimension in order to play mini games. Sometimes, these would simply require me to fall downwards and maneuver around collecting as many rings as possible before reaching the ground. In other mini games, I could swing from objects to reach a treasure at the end, which most of the time were big Sonic coins.

However, some portals have crystals at the end, which gave me new elemental powers called Emerald Powers. The only one I found was in the middle of Bridge Island, and the crystal granted my character a water elemental ability where I could swim up waterfalls. It's a neat mechanic that changes up the gameplay from being a constant platformer journey going from left to right.

Although my biggest issue with the Emerald Powers is how I was asked to swap between them. To do so, I had to pull up a weapon/ability wheel, similar to how games like Horizon Forbidden West have. But unlike in Sony's post-apocalyptic action-adventure game, pulling up the ability wheel in Sonic Superstars doesn't stop or even slow time.

Such a system would've been incredibly helpful, because halting a character in order to select an ability completely kills the game's forward momentum – it's entirely too difficult to concentrate on picking the proper ability while also trying to focus on what's ahead right in front of you. With Sonic Superstars targeting a late 2023 release, here's hoping some revisions are made to the way this Emerald Powers system functions.

What was once old is new again

At the end of every act in a stage, there's a boss fight. One had me fighting a robot that would shoot chains at me with a reticle. In order to damage it, I had to jump in front of the boss at the right time to lock in its own reticle against itself, thus shooting the chain at itself instead of at me.

Another boss I came across was a robot Eggman, where I would have to jump between flying rocket fists to send them hurtling back in the opposite direction. It takes a bit of trial and error to figure out how these bosses work and you're most likely not going to succeed the first time around, but their designs and mechanics harken back to the retro days of 2D Sonic games – a good blend of challenge and fun.

Sonic Superstars is shaping up to be a delightful experience so far. In particular, I'm interested to see what other creative Emerald Powers that Sonic and his crew can find later in the game. The modern 2D side-scrolling Sonic games are usually the ones that instill new hope into the rabid fanbase after a few years of less-than-stellar 3D entries, similar to how 2017's excellent Sonic Mania did; Sonic Superstars seems to be on the right track to repeat history once again.

Sonic Superstars is one of the new games of 2023 although it is without a firm release date. It'll launch before the end of the year for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch