To preface this, I picked this up a few years ago since I found it at my local game store for a good price and since I was gifted the first game on Steam I figured I would get around to that at some point, but since it took me a while to get around to playing the first game, by extension it also took me a while to get around to this lol.

Overall though, I think the bulk of what I can say about Bayonetta 2 is that it does what any sequel oughta do - take everything good from the first game, and further expand upon it while fixing any of the issues of the first game.

In terms of story, while I don't think Bayonetta 2 is quite as "quotable" as the first game, the overall narrative feels better structured and more straight-forward while building upon the lore and worldbuilding set forth by it's predecessor. While I still think Bayonetta 1's story was really good on it's own merits, I feel like Bayonetta 2 does a better job of raising the stakes and establishing your "goal" so to speak. In addition to the cast from the first game, there's also the character of Loki and his doppelganger representing "Good" and "Evil", and on that note, there's even more fun banter between Bayonetta and Loki throughout the game which is always good to see and listen to.

In terms of gameplay, the satisfying, fast-paced and in-depth combat from the first game remains here, but this game does build upon that with new enemies and boss fights (presenting new challenges) and also a few new gameplay mechanics/features. The 'Infernal Demons' basically add a new category of enemies that you fight with their own attack patterns and whatnot to spice up the game and challenge, on top of angel enemies returning from the first game. There's also the "Umbran Climax" mechanic added in this game which can be activated when your magic gauge is full, once again adding more to the gameplay as you can try to achieve a greater attack by building up the magic gauge through well-timed dodges and Witch Time. In addition to the already satisfying gameplay of the first game, it's even more satisfying when you manage to build up your gauge and can just go haywire on the enemies with the greater Umbran attacks lol.

Going back to my review of the first game, I mentioned that the only two "major" problems I had with it of any sort were that the other gameplay styles (like the motorcycle and Space Harrier sections) kinda overstayed their welcome and weren't really that fun to play, and that the ranking system did feel a bit 'harsh' for lack of a better word. I bring this up because... well, Bayonetta 2 definitely improves upon both these issues. There's still a few sections that deviate from the regular gameplay - mech sections, flight sections, and the horse(?) sections - and while I still wouldn't consider them to be particularly in-depth or anything, these sections are shorter than what it's predecessor had and even then have a bit more going on to where I didn't really feel like they dragged on or overstayed their welcome like the sections in the first game.

The ranking system too is more lenient compared to the first game while still being balanced in a way that rewards good gameplay and combos. In general I feel like the learning curve isn't quite as 'steep' as the first game was while still having a high skill ceiling that encourages the player to experiment with different techniques and combos. I still did get a few Stone Enzo statues as I played through this the first time, but as I further utilized the combos and techniques to a greater degree I actually got a few silver and bronze statues (even a gold one) on my first try at least. It does help that using items (particularly healing ones) don't give you a direct penalty that take away from your score and the only real thing close to that is having a lower damage award if you take too much of it regardless of whether you use an item or not which I think is a bit more fair.

The only real issue I can think of with Bayonetta 2 compared to the first game isn't even really so much an issue with the game itself but rather the Nintendo exclusivity. Whereas the first game has versions on PC, Xbox and PS3 in addition to the Wii U and Switch, this game's exclusive to the latter two platforms due to the development being funded by Nintendo. And while it is a good thing that Nintendo helped fund the game to prevent it from being cancelled, it does mean it's stuck to Nintendo platforms and as a result you're kinda stuck with the visual settings and whatnot of what's on the Nintendo platforms. I do think this game generally does look better and cleaner than the first game despite that, but the framerate is a bit more inconsistent at least on the Wii U version (which is what I played and can't really speak for the Switch, though I imagine it being better over there) while on PC the first game did manage to run at a consistent 60 in my experience (plus you had control over the resolution and whatnot). That is of course partially a result of the first game being made for less powerful hardware before being ported over but... still, when the framerate clearly dropped I couldn't help but kinda wish there was an official PC port of the game lol. Also it did kinda throw me off at first going from the Steam controller ABXY layout (which is the same as the Xbox's in case you're wondering) to Nintendo's.

But that's really about it as far as issues that particularly stood out to me go. Otherwise, Bayonetta 2 is really damn good, and if you liked the first game, you'll almost certainly like it's sequel.

I kinda put off playing this game because 1. I had other games in my backlog and 2. I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy it, but after playing it, it looks like I didn't need to worry about that after all.

Yeah I really liked this game. I admittedly haven't played a whole lot of beat 'em up/hack and slash games outside of the night/Werehog stages in Sonic Unleashed (which honestly kinda gave me a bad first impression of the genre lol) and Hi-Fi Rush (which I really enjoyed) but I can certainly say that Bayonetta really kept me invested in the gameplay pretty much the whole time (aside for a couple sections which I'll get to). There's a lot of depth here with the different techniques and combos you can pull off, even just at the start with even more you can unlock as you progress plus different weapons you can unlock and choose from. The game does have a bit of that traditional 'Sega learning curve' and can be hard at some points, but I didn't really ever feel 'frustrated' with the game and when you do learn to pull off techniques and combos well, it becomes extremely satisfying in just how 'powerful' you feel. The enemies, bosses and stages are all generally well designed in challenging the player, timing your dodge moves for Dodge Offset and Witch Time, with a few puzzle elements here and there, and the ranking system also adds further replay value with everything else I just talked about.

That of course isn't to mention the story and characters which, well, I also really liked. There's a lot of worldbuilding and lore here that I liked, and I was genuinely interested in just seeing whatever happened as I played through the game and uncovering the backstory of the different characters. Bayonetta herself is just a complete girlboss which I can always appreciate and her interactions with the other characters (both the supporting cast and antagonists/enemies) did get some laughs out of me. I really gotta appreciate how the game couples the overall serious tone of the story with a lot of humor in how the characters interact leaving the game to be pretty damn quotable. (the "You're much too ugly to not put out of your misery" is such a good roast lmao).

The only real things I took issue with was the "Space Harrier" section in Chapter XIV (and to a lesser extent the motorcycle sections in a couple other chapters) which was a neat novelty at first in reference to Sega's past but did... kinda go on for too long and didn't really offer much in terms of depth. The rank system is also a bit harsh here which wasn't too much of an issue for me since at least in my first playthrough was just playing through the main game and story but admittedly it did feel somewhat defeating (for lack of a better word) when I kept getting Stone Enzo statues in every chapter except for the prologue. Yeah I know it's a skill issue on my part but I have heard that the game is pretty tight with it's requirements in general (from what I looked up supposedly deaths will automatically take away a single rank and there's also penalties for using items) so, word of advice to anyone playing the game for the first time, don't feel too defeated if you keep getting those stone enzo statues lol.

Overall though, yeah this is definitely a game worth playing and one I liked even more than I was expecting.

bayonetta and jeanne didn't kiss though so 0/10.

Growing up, I had the original SNES version of this game on the Wii Virtual Console but because I was pretty bad at RPGs I didn't really get very far, so for pretty much everything past the first 'chapter' of this game this was my first time playing Super Mario RPG and... well, what can I say, I really liked it!

I'm generally not the biggest RPG person (which I guess is a little ironic since my favorite game is technically an RPG) but I certainly had a really good time with this game pretty much all the way through. The story isn't necessarily anything particularly amazing but I definitely found myself intrigued by what was going on, and the characters definitely feel full of life, each of them with their own personalities and backstories that unfold throughout the game whether they be the main characters, NPCs or the antagonists. There's a lot of fun humor here, with moments like the characters, even on Mario's end where it's mostly told through visual gags despite him being a mute antagonist throughout the game (especially with him just... changing into other characters randomly at times lol).

The gameplay is also just a lot of fun. As the title suggests, taking the RPG forumla and adding a Mario spin which the game does in some clever ways, such as adding some platforming sections here and there with Mario still being able to jump of course. The options you get for weapons too often provide some variety for visual gags in battle (Mallow can equip Cymbals and a Golf Club as a weapon which is amazing), and with the game offering a few different playable characters that you can unlock you do get some nice variety in options for things like Weapon and Armor. I also really like the whole system involving timed button presses in order to either defend yourself and reduce the damage you receive when an enemy attacks, or elevating your attack when it's your turn.

The Switch version also adds some accessibility/difficulty features on this note - giving an indicator on timing to help ease the player into this mechanic, and I do gotta say this certainly helped me understand the timing of my defense and attacks which I probably wouldn't have pulled up as well if I were just playing the SNES version. Plus I like the addition of the "Triple Move" feature - where once you fill up your 'Action Gauge' you can pull out a move that changes based off of your team combination - which gives some nice variety and incentive to experimenting with different characters and whatnot.

I think my only real gripes with this game were that it did get a bit... weirdly cryptic at times. Nothing too major, but a few times I did run into stuff like the Dry Bones enemies in which they're immune to normal attacks but the game doesn't indicate this (at least in battle) so until I figured that that out (by searching online) I was left confused as to why these random Dry Bones enemies seem to have a lot of health that I couldn't chip away from until I filled up my gauge for the Triple Move. Also the vine jump in Bean Valley that's extremely tough until you realize there's an invisible platform on one of the beanstalks that only shows up when you hit it.

Admittedly, up to this point, the only other Mario RPGs I've played all the way through were Bowser's Inside Story and Dream Team (even though I made decent progress in the other M&L games), but playing this may have inspired to finally beat some of the others that I haven't before. Definitely interested in the Thousand Year Door remake whenever that comes out.

I mean, what can I really say that everyone hasn't already? Undertale Yellow is frankly just a really damn good fangame - one that honestly, if I didn't know any better, I would think was created by Toby Fox himself.

The core gameplay here is pretty much the same as Undertale itself, but there's a decent amount of extra creativity with the new enemies and bosses (including one that turns out to be a dance off against a miniboss which is amazing), and the morality system with the Pacifist and Genocide runs remain here too, although for the time being I decided to just complete the Pacifist playthrough. I will say that in some aspects I don't feel like the gameplay is quite as fleshed out as it could be - especially in the first 'act'(?) of the game through Snowdin, it does feel like it's on autopilot somewhat compared to Undertale itself, with even the bosses feeling a bit on the easy side, but the game still manages to ramp up the challenge after those first parts, particularly with the fight against Star and especially the final boss - arguably being more challenging than even the official game's Pacifist run.

Without spoiling anything the story itself is just really good too. The major characters were generally enjoyable and well fleshed out (Martlet is adorable :)) and the way the story unfolded was something I... really wasn't expecting, with a particular plot twist that those who have played the game know about. Although this isn't technically official, the writers definitely made this really feel like a prequel to Undertale that hits upon it's own lore beats with ties to what we know of Undertale's backstory from the game.

I guess my only criticism with the story is that I did find Dalv's character to be kind of... out of place with everything else. His character itself is once again enjoyable, but (at least in the Pacifist route, no comment on the Geno route) as a 'main' he feels like he doesn't have that much bearing on the plot - basically disappearing entirely until making a minor reappearance in the post-credits scene, and I can't help but wonder if the writers were originally intending to go a certain direction with the story but that changed by the time the game was finished. Otherwise, the story and characters were really good, and I definitely enjoyed seeing how the story played out and even tied into the official Undertale lore.

Presentation-wise it's also really good. It does keep mostly to the Undertale art style but the character animations are surprisingly well-done (I especially liked in the Feisty Five mini-boss how each character has it's own entrance animation, including Mooch just kinda... running in and falling over), and the soundtrack is also pretty catchy as well.

If you enjoyed Undertale to any extent, I would definitely recommend playing this.

I do gotta say, this is definitely an enjoyable experience especially for being a mobile game. It's a pretty unique take on a Sonic game that sort of feels like it blends elements of the Adventure and Boost formulas, even a few from the Lost World style. Level design and controls are generally pretty solid here - having a lot of freedom to move around and explore the levels with the different paths and whatnot (including some that take advantage of character specific abilities).

Which, on that note, worth mentioning that this game also offers 6 playable characters that are essentially grouped into 1 of 3 categories based off of their abilities - Sonic and Amy being the "speed" types with the Air Dash and Light Speed Dash, Tails and Cream having "flight" abilities, and Knuckles and Rouge being able to glide and climb certain walls. It isn't quite as varied as the different playable characters offered in the Frontiers: Final Horizon update (especially with Sonic and Amy playing the exact same here), but it is nice to see this feature present in more recent Sonic titles while doing so in a way that doesn't feel too intrusive. Plus it's especially interesting since this is the first time that Rouge and Cream have been playable in a Sonic game (at least as far as platformers go anyway) since 06 and Advance 3 respectively. The visuals also look really good here - very colorful on top of having some surprisingly good animation with it's character models.

That being said I do kind of feel like this is a game that's held back by the fact that it is a mobile game. What's there is definitely solid, but with how short the game is there's inevitably a bit of padding in the form of the missions that you have to do to obtain 'Dream Orbs' in which you need to progress, with that count of course getting higher even just between stages as you progress. I will give them that you can at least choose the missions you do to unlock the orbs and as such you are able to just go at your own pace, but I can't really deny that I did start to feel pretty burned out especially towards the end when I was just kinda playing the same levels over and over again in order to collect enough orbs. It's understandable as to why the game is structured as such as yeah, it's... kinda sparse on content and even with that requirement it only really takes a few hours to beat, but given the groundwork laid here, it really feels like there's potential to expand upon this formula but it does feel held back by being an Apple exclusive, and even while you can play it on a Mac computer if you have one, it definitely feels designed more around the limitations of mobile gaming with the intention of being played on an iOS device.

Kinda doesn't help that the only (actively supported) Apple device I have is a 6th gen iPad in which the performance in this game was rather... mixed. It wasn't completely unplayable or anything, but the game would often drop frames, sometimes to the point of feeling like a complete slideshow. In all fairness I should probably be thankful I had an Apple device at all to play this game because I'm sure there are a lot of Sonic fans who don't, but it all just serves to make me wish that this was more accessible on other platforms rather than just being locked to an Apple subscription service. And unfortunately since (from what I've gathered) Apple did help produce this game, those odds... aren't looking too great right now.

Overall, if you do have a supported Apple device, I'd definitely recommend trying this with the free trial of Apple Arcade, although I do hope some day that this game gets ported to other platforms. Even if it doesn't... well, I can at least hope Sega/Sonic Team builds upon and fleshes out this style of gameplay perhaps in a mainline title.

I've been meaning to play through this game since it released on Xbox in September but on top of school and work I was kinda occupied with a bunch of other game releases that came out in the past few months (as well as some games I replayed after getting the Collector's Editions of) but now that I've finally gotten around to completing Stray for the first time, yeah I really liked it lol.

Admittedly I wouldn't call this the most exciting game experiences out there, but on top of being able to play as a cat (which alone was already a great selling point for this game for me), there's a surprisingly good amount of worldbuilding that you uncover as you play through the game. I definitely felt pretty intrigued and learning the whole backstory behind this game's setting and especially with the character of B-12, plus the dialogue with the NPCs and each having sort of their own personality and point of view (plus gotta appreciate the anti-capitalist/anti-authoritarian theming this game has).

Plus the game offers a good amount of puzzle solving that goes rather well with the idea of, well, playing as a cat, between using small objects, pipes and whatnot as platforming that you jump between and occasionally scratching at stuff to progress through the story. It isn't too deep or anything but it fits well with what this game's going for, and you can even use some of the cat mannerisms on the NPCs if you'd like to various reactions (i.e., if you run in front of them they trip over you, or you can rub against your legs for their affection)

Don't really have too much else to say, but I think it's worth playing at the very least. Especially if you are a fellow cat enjoyer.

Like with Super Mario World I kinda wanted to give this an updated review just to go a little bit more detail on my thoughts on the game after getting the Collecter's Edition of it for Xbox One/Series (which took forever to come out lmao).

To be straightforward, Undertale is what I would consider to be my favorite game of all time and to be a bit sappy is one that means quite a lot to me - not just in terms of having an influence on my worldview and art/writing style but it was ultimately a game that came at the 'right' time in my life that it could have such an impact on me. Admittedly it does create a layer of bias on my part, but even playing it now, I really can't deny it still hits hard with me for a number of reasons.

I think most can agree that the story and characters are definitely the game's strongest suit. In a nutshell (in case you haven't already played it) the game has an overarching meta-narrative with themes about morality based off of how one interacts with the environment around them and does so in a way that has a pretty clear influence on many of the game's design elements. This is of course where the game is structured between it's three major routes - those being labeled as Pacifist, Neutral, and Genocide (with Neutral encompassing a bunch of different endings in which the character dialogue changes depending on what bosses or enemies you kill) which is the game's main gimmick/selling point. The 'core' of the story itself is pretty simple on a surface level - basically just seeming like a game about a kid who fell into an unknown place and is trying to get in an area - but in addition to the course of events that unfold based off of your actions, the game has a lot going for it in terms of worldbuilding, lore and characters, with a huge aura of mystery surrounding all of that as well. And the way the game is structured into it's main 'routes' give multiple angles of this overall plot in a way that actually does manage to get me to think about what I am doing in the game and get a response from me when seeing how the characters are reacting to the whole situation.

The characters are definitely what stand out to me the most here - with all the 'major' ones having their own character arcs that unfold in different ways, again, based off of your own actions. All of them are interesting and unique in their own way, and even in the case of many of the minor characters there's definitely some 'connection' I feel with the player and the characters themselves. Admittedly Undertale is far from the first game to have themes around morality but I really feel like both with how the game's designed, how it plays and how the characters are written... honestly make it a bit more of a 'genuine' experience in my opinion. Also Alphys is the best character, screw the haters you can't change my mind.

The gameplay is the element that tends to draw some criticism, and while I do understand that it's certainly not for everyone (and will even concede that Deltarune is stronger in this department)... personally, I feel like what the gameplay does a good job of just setting out what it needs to do at the very least. Obviously if you are expecting a more traditional RPG with deep mechanics or something, yeah Undertale isn't going to be for you, but stuff like the puzzle aspects with the 'Spare' system are just fun to play with, sometimes making you think especially if you are just playing for the first time (I straight up didn't even know I was supposed to 'flee' from Undyne in the Pacifist Run until a friend told me lol), and the Bullet Hell combat does have a lot of variety based off of the enemies and bosses. The Mettaton EX boss especially still just really stands out to me particularly with how it's structured as an episode of a TV show and how that's influenced in the attacks and just minor things like how there's a 'break' period and a moment where you're given to chance to write about Mettaton (which, I won't lie, I basically just use to write out copypastas lmao). This isn't even to mention that there's still a ton of replay value, not only in the different routes/endings and character dialogue, but also with the secrets that are sprinkled into the game. Even after playing this game enough times to rack over 100 hours between the PC, Switch and Xbox I still feel like I occasionally run into things that I hadn't seen before just by exploring around parts of the world I hadn't really thought about before.

At the very least, I do get the impression that most if not all of the game design choices are structured around the game's whole concept of morality in both obvious and subtle ways (for example, the Genocide Run is pretty... unfun to play outside of the two bosses but obviously that's kinda the point).

Ultimately while I do get why this game wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, especially from a gameplay perspective, it still just does a really good job for me. The story, characters, and the whole concept of morality that the game is structured around really make it a unique experience in my opinion and one I still really enjoy going back to (and ngl still one that manages to elicit emotions out of me). If you haven't played it yet... well, what are you doing it's literally $3 in the Steam Autumn Sale going on as I'm posting this.

To preface this, I want to start by saying that Super Mario World was always my favorite platformer hands down - due to a factors partially played by nostalgia, but also the good controls, level design and replay value, although of course that's what my actual review of it is for.

I mainly bring this up though because I kinda feel like part of what made Super Mario World stand out to me (in addition to just being a really great game) was that in recent years I've sort of come to the conclusion that 2D Mario never really felt like it 'evolved' further upon what I liked about Super Mario World. While the first New Super Mario Bros game on DS was a good return to form for 2D Mario, it was... kind of just that, a return to form rather than what I would consider as a true 'evolution' of SMW, and that only really became more apparent when that style was used in another three games following it without much really being added to separate them from each other beyond just new level designs and a new power-up (and even in the case of DS, it isn't really a game I find much desire to replay compared to the SMB1-3 and World).

So when a new 2D Mario game was announced with more of it's own unique style, I pretty much instantly became interested in the new title, and now that it's released and I've played through it... Super Mario Bros Wonder did not disappoint me at all. This game was just an absolute blast to play in general - honestly outright giving me a similar 'vibe' playing it for the first time as I did playing Super Mario World as a kid. While I don't know if it necessarily surpasses World for me (whether that's just nostalgia speaking is up to you), it really feels like the true 'evolution' of the series that I have been looking for.

This game is practically oozing with complete creative charm pretty much throughout the entire game. The art style, while similar to the 2.5D look of the NSMB games, is generally more 'defined' with a sort of 'dreamy' art style that fits well with the game's direction, on top of the character models feeling very 'animated' and full of life. The model for Mario pretty much instantly reminded me of the 2D cover art style of the NES/SNES games (and even has an animated that plays when he enters and exits pipes, providing some nice attention to detail), and the environments look very colorful and lively - especially with the little flowers sprinkled throughout that "talk" to the player as they pass them.

But this creative charm is especially prevalent in the levels themselves. Supposedly, the crew behind this game was given a lot more creative freedom than in previous Mario games and to say that it shows would be quite the understatement. The level design is very dynamic, and many of them have their own unique mechanics and "gimmicks" that add a good amount of variety while still fitting in well with the traditional Mario-style design. This is especially apparent with the "Wonder" flowers you can find while playing through each level which completely turns the levels on their head with a variety of different effects - including pipes and ground coming to life, more enemies spawning, perspective changes where the game temporarily becomes top-down... and hell, the second level alone turns into a parade of singing/humming Pirahna Plants, which alone should tell you quite a lot of what I mean by this game's creative charm.

And in terms of replay value... man this game is just chock full of it. There's a good amount of secret exits and alternate paths you can traverse throughout the game, different collectibles including both the aforementioned Wonder Flowers as well as the 10-Flower Coins, the 'Badge' system where you can experiment with different abilities (including higher jumps, a grapple, coin magnets, just to name a few), and even a 'Special' World you can unlock. Admittedly for this playthrough I just focused on beating the 'main' game, but this is certainly a game I'm looking to go back to and even potentially 'complete'.

There is also multiple playable characters here which is always nice, albeit they largely play the same as opposed to having different inherent abilities like in SMB2 or Super Mario 3D World. Not necessarily something I'm losing sleep over, but it is worth mentioning at least. The only characters that have notable differences from the rest are the Nabbits and Yoshis - which basically serve as the 'Easy' mode of the game, where the characters don't take damage but with the drawback of not being able to use any power-ups. It is slightly disappointing as a certified Yoshi fan as I would have liked to play as the character but with the Normal difficulty and power-ups, but again, not really something I'm losing any sleep over. It is at least pretty neat that other players can ride the Yoshis when playing in local multiplayer... including other Yoshis, which, I mean, amazing.

And I haven't even talked about the new power-ups yet. Obviously the basics return here - the Super Mushroom, Fire Flower, and Star - but there are a few new ones that are all pretty unique. Most notable was definitely the Elephant power up which literally turns the characters into Elephants, which was definitely really fun as a concept and in gameplay albeit a bit situational, as well as the Drill Power-up that allows you to evade enemies and hazards by burying either underground or in the ceiling. My favorite from a gameplay perspective was oddly enough the Bubble flower though - it is a bit similar to the fire flower (just instead of burning enemies you're turning them into bubbles) but it also comes with the addition where you can create 'platforms' that you can jump off of which is really nice for making certain jumps and going for collectibles.

In conclusion, I mean, what else is there to say. This game's absolutely phenomenal with so much creative energy just throughout the entire package, and honestly a game I would consider to be a must buy if you own a Switch, especially if you enjoy the Super Mario series and/or 2D platformers in general to any degree.

I was definitely interested in this game when it got announced - especially with how much I loved Mania, I was curious to see a new 2D Sonic game with more original stages on top of a new art style, and now that Sonic Superstars has released and I've played through it... well, what can I say, it's really fun!

I know some were definitely weary of Arzest developing this title, and frankly I can't exactly blame you considering their previous track record, but I would definitely say this is their best title. Which, granted, in any other context wouldn't be saying much, but I feel like Sonic Superstars certainly has a good amount going for it.

The controls and physics feel pretty good - definitely feeling pretty accurate to the classic games, and the level design is mostly solid. There's a really good sense of speed/flow, exploration and platforming throughout most of the stages - with of course multiple paths, secrets and whatnot to incentivize replaying the stages (on top of the playable characters). On top of that though, there's a good amount of experimentation and variety within the stages as well - such as the little "mouse" puzzles in Cyber Station, the horizontal space shooter-style gameplay in Frozen Base Act 2, the vines in Speed Jungle. While experimentation in Sonic games is, well, always a mixed bag, I kind of liked the unique "gimmicky" elements here. For the most part I actually kind of feel like the fit well into the core gameplay loop of classic Sonic, albeit with some slight gripes (the aforementioned in particular mouse puzzle is a bit trial and error heavy), but overall nothing that I felt brought the experience down for me. The only stage I didn't really enjoy that much was Golden Capital - kinda just had a lot of that 'Wacky Workbench' or 'Collision Chaos' energy where I felt like a lot of time I was just being bounced around out of my control, but otherwise I think the stages were largely solid at the very least, offering a good amount of replay value.

Plus of course, like Sonic 3&K and Mania, this carries over the feature of having different playable characters which is always really good. The main trio - Sonic, Tails and Knuckles - are all playable, as well as Amy Rose which, as an Amy Rose enjoyer, is always a nice treat, especially as she hasn't really been playable in a new 2D game since Advance 3 (not counting Origins Plus). All of which have their own abilities that make them unique, and one thing I like is that a few zones have specialized "acts" for all the different playable characters, of course designed around their abilities. These are optional, but I like that it gives incentive for the player to try out the different characters even if they stay with one throughout the rest of the game for the most part. Plus there's the character of Trip that can be unlocked by beating the game, which is a pretty neat touch.

I do have some gripes though. Probably my biggest is that the bosses in this game are kinda... mid. I know that's the case with most Sonic games in general, but I feel like this game has a similar issue with Sonic Rush in that the bosses mostly follow a formula of "waiting around for a moment of spectacle for a chance to beat the boss" and in general none of them really stood out to me, aside for the final boss and Cyber Station's boss. But in the latter's case, it's not really because it's good, moreso because it's basically just the Metal Sonic boss from Sonic Mania except way less fun or interesting. Kinda neat that you fight against the customizable bot though.

Another lesser issue is that the soundtrack also isn't too great. Again, just nothing really stood out to me here, on top of the stage music using a lot of the Sonic 4 instrumentation which, well, isn't great, especially in cases like Press Factory where it's ESPECIALLY prevalent and grating. Jun Senoue my man, you can make some banger compositions but please lay off the bootleg "retro" instruments.

Overall though, I definitely had a good time with Superstars. Level design and controls are solid, the different characters are fun to experiment with, and I also really like the art style here too - I know some people aren't fond of the "cutesy" style for classic Sonic but I can't help but enjoy it here, especially with the colorful characters and environments (Tails and Amy are absolutely adorable in this game and I want to hug them). And ultimately, it's certainly a game I could see myself returning to in the future.

I would certainly recommend it... though at a discount. Granted, I don't really feel like any game is "worth" $60 (though that's a discussion for another time), but especially in this game's case... well, even for as enjoyable as it is, I would still say Mania comes out on top overall, and that game's $20 versus this game being $60, and that's not to mention this came out the same week as Super Mario Bros Wonder which, gotta be honest, just has a lot more to offer than Sonic Superstars does (and I haven't even come close to beating it). Even in an economy where $60 is the standard for games (with $70 games now coming into the fray), this still really feels like a $40 game at the max, and while it's still a good time regardless, I'd probably recommend most people to wait for a discount or sale.

(EDIT: oh yeah and there's co-op in this game too but can't really talk about that since i don't have friends to play this with)