This review contains spoilers
This'll be a long review, tl;dr is at the bottom.
Sonic Superstars is a game that has the foundation of what would've been a great game, but in execution it ends up being okay with a chunk of problems.
The controls are near perfect, despite my Sonic brain noticing the air control being a twinge off and badnik bouncing not really being there which is strange, Superstars controls well, super well. The emerald powers are neat in concept, but in execution, they're situational at best. I've mostly used them for the bosses and I'll get into why.
The lowest point of Superstars are the bosses. I don't know what they were thinking when designing them. They range from being too tedious to fight where their windows of vulnerability are stretched thin between background/cutscene tomfoolery making fights last minutes, or they have what looks to be normal vulnerability windows only to take a bit longer to actually hit them again and again. The only boss that doesn't seem to do that is Press Factory Act 2's boss. These problems are inflated when you do Trip's Story where they decided to give the bosses more health to make them "harder".
And lets get into Trip, I really enjoy how she played and she's an adorable character! While I really appreciate SEGA trying to add in modes that make Sonic harder, I don't appreciate laziness, and that's what Trip's Story basically amounts to. You go through all the Zones and all their acts (character exclusive ones too) but with more enemies and spikes placed in spots that are more inconvenient and not really challenging. Combine that with the bosses taking longer to kill because they have more health, they waste a ton of time with the best way to cut down on that is to either use the emerald powers, or super form. "So wait, do the emerald powers make the fights easier?" In a way, yes, but it also mitigates any challenge that you'd otherwise deal with, which the bosses do provide, but they lack the fairness in providing vulnerability windows to the player.
Trip's Final Boss is Fang and I've heard many say how unfair and bs it is. Despite the fight taking me two hours, I wasn't angry, I was moreso "alright, back to square one." Its a fight I enjoyed alongside the Press Factory Act 2's boss. I loved picking apart Fang's moves and counterattacking him. But the issues boil down to Fang's kit being cheap as hell. He has instant kill lasers as normal attacks on his first and second phase, and they're pretty avoidable when you anticipate them, but this also ropes into being artificially difficult. Instant Kill moves should be reserved as a final desperation attack, and not something a boss can just throw out willy nilly. The fight also becomes more of a slog if you die on the 2nd phase because there's no checkpoints in between, you start all the way back on phase 1 if you die. Fang takes 15-16 hits overall and that's just overkill dude. I can see why my friends and others lost their marbles on this boss because its so cheaply scaled. If they had a checkpoint in between and dialed back on instant kill moves, then Fang would be fine. I don't know what SEGA was thinking here. Despite reacting a bit more positively to the fight, I really wanted it to wrap up too, it had no business having that cheapness or length, its a Sonic game.
The true final boss is probably one of the weakest Super Sonic fights in the series. Its a fine fight, but its really stingy with rings, and the music, while good, is also unfit for the setting. This isn't even getting into the game having no hint or buildup to the final boss being this mythical dragon creature. You'll probably recognize it from that animation they put out awhile ago to promote the game! But nothing of the sort clues you in when you play it so you're just confused.
Visuals are subpar. I like the character and badnik models, but the environments are just...bland? They lack that sonic flair and I feel that most with Frozen Base & Press Factory (these Zone names aren't great either but that's a nitpick). As for the Zones themselves they're solid, I really liked the branching paths and the layouts are fun to breeze through for some levels, but for others things were just kinda...odd? Sky Temple having this arkanoid section was bizarre from an artistic standpoint because that could've better suited Cyber Station or Pinball Carnival visually and mechanically.
The elephant in the room is the music. There are standouts and highlights, but hoo boy Jun Senoue's work on the game stinks I'm sorry. I have respect for the guy, especially with his work on the series in the past, but his tracks in Superstars range from having bad instrumentation & good composition, or being too damn short of a loop landing into straight up bad. The mini boss, Eggman boss, and Fang boss themes are the most egregious examples of the latter, while Press Factory (both acts) are an example of the former. Jun can use actual guitars and instruments so it baffles me that he just didn't do any of that here. Why did he opt for faux-Genesis style music again? It clashes with the game's soundtrack and genuinely weighs the presentation down. One minute you're hearing the beauty of Speed Jungle, and the next Jun Senoue's boss theme kicks in and slams the breaks on your mood.
Battle Mode I didn't really care to touch especially after learning how grindy Coin Collecting is. You'd think after a playthrough of the main story and Trip's you'd have enough for a couple of robot parts...Nah. I legit only had enough for two, and hell you need to buy multiple paint cans to spray paint parts on the robot, its not just a one and done pick and choose part with the can you have. Co-op play I'm certain my opinion wouldn't really change either.
Overall, Sonic Superstars is an okay game that seems to understand what makes the 2D titles tick while also not really landing on its feet on other avenues. I never expected it to surpass Mania, but I at least wanted it to be "great" but its just "aight". It's a shame. Hopefully SEGA can update the game to tweak things or the modding community pops off to make Superstars realize it's greatness. If you wanna get the game, I recommend buying it whenever it knocks down in price to $15-$20. Anything higher than that is asking too much and I'd prefer you to buy Sonic Mania instead.
Sonic Superstars is a game that has the foundation of what would've been a great game, but in execution it ends up being okay with a chunk of problems.
The controls are near perfect, despite my Sonic brain noticing the air control being a twinge off and badnik bouncing not really being there which is strange, Superstars controls well, super well. The emerald powers are neat in concept, but in execution, they're situational at best. I've mostly used them for the bosses and I'll get into why.
The lowest point of Superstars are the bosses. I don't know what they were thinking when designing them. They range from being too tedious to fight where their windows of vulnerability are stretched thin between background/cutscene tomfoolery making fights last minutes, or they have what looks to be normal vulnerability windows only to take a bit longer to actually hit them again and again. The only boss that doesn't seem to do that is Press Factory Act 2's boss. These problems are inflated when you do Trip's Story where they decided to give the bosses more health to make them "harder".
And lets get into Trip, I really enjoy how she played and she's an adorable character! While I really appreciate SEGA trying to add in modes that make Sonic harder, I don't appreciate laziness, and that's what Trip's Story basically amounts to. You go through all the Zones and all their acts (character exclusive ones too) but with more enemies and spikes placed in spots that are more inconvenient and not really challenging. Combine that with the bosses taking longer to kill because they have more health, they waste a ton of time with the best way to cut down on that is to either use the emerald powers, or super form. "So wait, do the emerald powers make the fights easier?" In a way, yes, but it also mitigates any challenge that you'd otherwise deal with, which the bosses do provide, but they lack the fairness in providing vulnerability windows to the player.
Trip's Final Boss is Fang and I've heard many say how unfair and bs it is. Despite the fight taking me two hours, I wasn't angry, I was moreso "alright, back to square one." Its a fight I enjoyed alongside the Press Factory Act 2's boss. I loved picking apart Fang's moves and counterattacking him. But the issues boil down to Fang's kit being cheap as hell. He has instant kill lasers as normal attacks on his first and second phase, and they're pretty avoidable when you anticipate them, but this also ropes into being artificially difficult. Instant Kill moves should be reserved as a final desperation attack, and not something a boss can just throw out willy nilly. The fight also becomes more of a slog if you die on the 2nd phase because there's no checkpoints in between, you start all the way back on phase 1 if you die. Fang takes 15-16 hits overall and that's just overkill dude. I can see why my friends and others lost their marbles on this boss because its so cheaply scaled. If they had a checkpoint in between and dialed back on instant kill moves, then Fang would be fine. I don't know what SEGA was thinking here. Despite reacting a bit more positively to the fight, I really wanted it to wrap up too, it had no business having that cheapness or length, its a Sonic game.
The true final boss is probably one of the weakest Super Sonic fights in the series. Its a fine fight, but its really stingy with rings, and the music, while good, is also unfit for the setting. This isn't even getting into the game having no hint or buildup to the final boss being this mythical dragon creature. You'll probably recognize it from that animation they put out awhile ago to promote the game! But nothing of the sort clues you in when you play it so you're just confused.
Visuals are subpar. I like the character and badnik models, but the environments are just...bland? They lack that sonic flair and I feel that most with Frozen Base & Press Factory (these Zone names aren't great either but that's a nitpick). As for the Zones themselves they're solid, I really liked the branching paths and the layouts are fun to breeze through for some levels, but for others things were just kinda...odd? Sky Temple having this arkanoid section was bizarre from an artistic standpoint because that could've better suited Cyber Station or Pinball Carnival visually and mechanically.
The elephant in the room is the music. There are standouts and highlights, but hoo boy Jun Senoue's work on the game stinks I'm sorry. I have respect for the guy, especially with his work on the series in the past, but his tracks in Superstars range from having bad instrumentation & good composition, or being too damn short of a loop landing into straight up bad. The mini boss, Eggman boss, and Fang boss themes are the most egregious examples of the latter, while Press Factory (both acts) are an example of the former. Jun can use actual guitars and instruments so it baffles me that he just didn't do any of that here. Why did he opt for faux-Genesis style music again? It clashes with the game's soundtrack and genuinely weighs the presentation down. One minute you're hearing the beauty of Speed Jungle, and the next Jun Senoue's boss theme kicks in and slams the breaks on your mood.
Battle Mode I didn't really care to touch especially after learning how grindy Coin Collecting is. You'd think after a playthrough of the main story and Trip's you'd have enough for a couple of robot parts...Nah. I legit only had enough for two, and hell you need to buy multiple paint cans to spray paint parts on the robot, its not just a one and done pick and choose part with the can you have. Co-op play I'm certain my opinion wouldn't really change either.
Overall, Sonic Superstars is an okay game that seems to understand what makes the 2D titles tick while also not really landing on its feet on other avenues. I never expected it to surpass Mania, but I at least wanted it to be "great" but its just "aight". It's a shame. Hopefully SEGA can update the game to tweak things or the modding community pops off to make Superstars realize it's greatness. If you wanna get the game, I recommend buying it whenever it knocks down in price to $15-$20. Anything higher than that is asking too much and I'd prefer you to buy Sonic Mania instead.