Sonic Superstars Has Launched On Steam – But There’s A Problem

By Ash Parrish, a reporter who has covered the business, culture, and communities of video games for seven years. Previously, she worked at Kotaku.

I can’t remember the last time I was as upset with a game as I am with Sonic Superstars.

is the latest release from developers Arzest & Sonic Team, and publisher SEGA. Taking a step back from the open world of, aims to bring players back to traditional 2D side-scrollers with a few new features and enhancements along the way.

Along with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Super Mario Bros. Wonder debuted strong in the UK last week. According to the latest Gfk charts (per Games Industry), it’s the biggest 2D Mario launch in the region’s history and only “narrowly” behind Super Mario Odyssey and Super Mario 3D All-Stars.

Newly launched game Sonic Superstars, Sega's latest platformer in the retro 2D side-scrolling mould, hits all the nostalgia points that you may associate with the blue blur, from ingenious ideas to absolute controller-throwing rage.

Sonic is a franchise that holds a special place in my personal gaming history. The original Sonic The Hedgehog was the very first video game I played when I got a Mega Drive as a kid, swiftly followed by the rest of the Sonic games including Sonic & Knuckles. Sonic Superstars is a return to that classic 2D Sonic style, with a sprinkling of modern ideas. Sonic Superstars has the potential to be a great trip down memory lane, but it doesn’t recapture the rush of the original games like it should.

While playing through , players will notice that they accrue coins to be used in the shop, allowing them to unlock different items and character designs. These are specifically for use in the new Battle Mode in which players can customize their character with items purchased from the shop.

The Sonic timeline just got a little messier, with Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka explaining when the latest game takes place. According to Iizuka, Sonic Superstars fits in the timeline just before Sonic Adventure, after the original platformers on Mega Drive.

There's nothing like becoming Super Sonic. From the first time the blue hedgehog transformed into a glowing invincible powerhouse back in 1992, the ability has become a main staple of the Sonic series since – and for good reason.

For many, Sonic Superstars has felt like a “return to form” that fans have been asking SEGA for and are finally getting. Fans have said for years that Sonic and friends need to return to the 2D gameplay style that made the franchise famous in the first place. SEGA hesitated for many years but eventually made this game to see how fans felt about it. Overall, the praise has been positive, and the members of Sonic Team worked hard to try and deliver a balance between the Sonic titles of old while also making the game feel fresh and new.

Sonic Superstars fans have already rushed through the game and are quickly discovering neat little details. It's Sonic, I'm gonna make speed puns. Anyway, one of those discoveries is that you can actually customise the Cyber Station zone boss in the Battle Mode.

Sonic Superstars has four characters to play when you first boot up the game, and all four are pretty darn awesome. Of course, these are just the usual suspects fans have come to expect, but we can’t help but love the return of Amy, Knuckles, and Tails. Each character has its own unique playstyle, giving Sonic Superstars oodles of replayability.