Sonic Superstars Gameplay - Bridge Island Zone
0I get lost in a lot of special stages in Bridge Island Zone in Sonic Superstars.
About (Per Wikipedia):
Sonic Superstars is a 2023 platform game developed by Arzest and Sonic Team and published by Sega. It features side-scrolling gameplay similar to the Sonic the Hedgehog games released for the Sega Genesis in the 1990s. As one of four player characters—Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, and Amy Rose—the player completes side-scrolling levels as they set out to defeat Doctor Eggman and Fang the Hunter. Superstars introduces power-ups that the player can obtain by collecting the Chaos Emeralds.
Sonic Team's head, Takashi Iizuka, wanted to modernize Sonic's traditional side-scrolling formula so it could continue independently from the 3D games. After plans for another collaboration with the developers of Sonic Mania (2017) fell through, Iizuka began discussing a collaboration with Arzest, a studio founded by Sonic co-creator Naoto Ohshima. Superstars marked Ohshima's first contribution to a Sonic game since Sonic Adventure (1998), and Arzest sought to replicate the Genesis Sonic gameplay while innovating with new game mechanics.
Sonic Superstars was released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on October 17, 2023. It received positive reviews from critics.
Gameplay
Sonic and Knuckles explore Bridge Island Zone, one of the game's levels.
Sonic Superstars is a side-scrolling platform game similar to the Sonic the Hedgehog games released for the Sega Genesis in the 1990s. The player must complete a series of levels ("zones"), presented from a 2.5D perspective, to defeat Doctor Eggman, who has hired Fang the Hunter and Trip the Sungazer to capture the North Star Islands' giant animals so he can build a powerful army. There are four initial player characters, each with their own unique abilities: Sonic the Hedgehog can roll into a dash after a jump; Miles "Tails" Prower can fly; Knuckles the Echidna can glide and climb; and Amy Rose can attack enemies with a hammer and double jump. Players unlock an additional character, Trip, by completing the main campaign once; her moveset combines Amy's double jump with Knuckles' climbing.
The North Star Islands comprise 12 zones; Each contains elements such as springs, vertical loops, collectible rings that serve as health, and shield power-ups. Some zones feature unique elements, such as a jungle with vines the player can grind on and a futuristic zone where they transform into a voxel creature, and some feature acts exclusive to the selected character. Zones are split into separate parts called acts; the number of acts in a zone varies between one, two, and three. Each act ends with a boss that the player must defeat while dodging attacks. In between levels, the player explores a 2D hub world where they can select a zone and change or customize their character. The campaign takes four hours to complete as a single character, and about 15 hours as every character.
Superstars features two kinds of special stages. In the first, accessed through giant rings hidden in each act, the player swings from bubbles in a 3D environment to obtain one of the seven Chaos Emeralds. Each emerald grants the player a power-up ability, such as the ability to swim up waterfalls or create clones of the chosen character; the seventh provides a character-specific ability. Collecting all seven emeralds allows the player to transform into their character's super form, granting them speed and invincibility at the cost of ring depletion. The player can swap abilities from a selection wheel at any time. In the second special stage, accessed by passing checkpoints, the player navigates a rotating maze, similar to those from Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), to collect medals. The medals can be used at a shop in the hub world to purchase parts for customization.
The campaign supports local multiplayer for up to four players who can join or leave at any time, a first for the series. Superstars also features a player versus player component that can be played locally or online, in which players create robots to partake in competitions. Modes include races, battles, collection competitions, and last man standing.