Sonic Superstars isn’t the first time that Sega has attempted to recapture the magic of playing the original Sonic the Hedgehog more than 30 years ago. Just five years ago, in fact, Sonic Mania stuck that landing. So is there enough creative juice left in that IP tank to truly warrant another stab at rebooting the classic sidescroller? After blazing through four levels with Sonic and his cabal of colorful friends, each with their particular set of skills, signs point to yes — with a caveat. Ultimately, Sonic Superstars is just more Sonic with a facelift and a few new bells and whistles. The game is fun and tricky, great to look at, and speaks to those Sega Genesis memories lodged forever in my brain, but it also doesn’t feel amazingly novel. At least in solo play, that is.
Sonic Superstars shines in local co-op mode.. Up to four people can join, but even just playing with one other person, as I did, had me feeling like a kid on the couch, shouting at the screen with friends. Except this time, we’re not passing the controller back and forth; we’re all in on it together. The mechanics for keeping the team as one unit works surprisingly seamlessly. If one player gets stuck on an obstacle as another powers forward on unstoppable momentum, the player left behind is prompted to catch up with a button press and boom, their character of choice materializes back into the action.
Chaos Emeralds wait in portals at checkpoints, and in co-op mode, players swap turns at slingshotting through a sea of rings to collect the gem in the center before the clock runs out. It takes a second to get a grasp on this minigame, but the new powers from the seven Chaos Emeralds are well worth the effort. In Sonic Superstars, the most prized Chaos Emerald that I experienced grants a power called Avatar. Calling on this sends a barrage of Sonics or Tails or Amys or Knuckles across the screen in attack mode — which is great in the tough boss battles against Doctor Eggman and his many frustrating gadgets. (Don’t expect to clear many of those on the first try.) Superstars will also give indicators for when to use a Chaos Emerald power; it’s particularly handy when it comes to Vision, showing otherwise invisible rings or platforms if I wanted to explore new areas of a level or felt stuck.
For me, the standout level was Cyber Station, an old-school pixelated world. Players will inevitably pass through gates that turn their characters into rockets, cute jellyfish, and mice that travel on a grid in an enemy-avoiding puzzle that feels straight out of Pac-Man. The other three — one bearing close resemblance to Green Hill, another set in jungle, and the last in a pinball-themed arcade land — dealt out familiar, elaborate, and challenging gameplay that lends itself to going back for reruns to collect as many coins as possible and explore the many dimensions of each level. The rich, 2.5D design turns loops into M.C. Escher-esque highways taking Sonic and his buds through the foreground and background of spaces without coming off as pretentious flourishes or overly complicated.
Even with all of these bonafide positives, I still didn’t find myself completely sucked into Sonic Superstars playing alone. The game covers well-trodden ground, trying to break land-speed records that don’t really need to be broken. I’m certain that there will be people who adore this game for the same reasons I find it a bit lonely and stolid. Why shouldn’t they? It’s an iconic, airtight formula when the game design is as painstakingly thoughtful as Superstars is. But even sometimes the best, most respectful homage just can’t top the original. That’s where having friends helps a lot.
