Sonic Superstars proves 2D Sonic still works without leaning on nostalgia

Sonic Superstars wants to be the Sonic game you remember, and for long stretches it is. Sega released it on October 17, 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Sonic Team built it with Arzest, the studio founded by Sonic co-creator Naoto Ohshima, and the pitch is simple: side-scrolling Sonic, four playable heroes, no Green Hill Zone.

Trailer, via Sonic the Hedgehog.

The North Star Islands Are New Ground

That last part matters. Sonic Superstars does not reuse levels from earlier games. Takashi Iizuka, who runs Sonic Team and wrote the story, called the new setting a story-based decision. The North Star Islands hold 12 zones and 26 acts, and the act count per zone shifts between one, two, and three.

Some zones carry their own rules. A jungle lets players grind on vines. A futuristic zone turns them into a voxel creature. Certain acts are exclusive to the character you picked. The campaign runs about four hours with one character and roughly 15 with all of them.

Four Heroes, One Rabbit Skin

Sonic rolls into a dash after a jump. Tails flies. Knuckles glides and climbs. Amy Rose swings a hammer and double jumps. Beat the campaign once and Trip the Sungazer unlocks, mixing Amy’s double jump with Knuckles’ climbing.

Amy’s playable status is the quiet win here. She debuted in Sonic CD in 1993 but never appeared as a playable character in the Genesis games, so Sonic Team and Arzest put her in the lineup. A rabbit skin based on one of Ohshima’s prototype Sonic designs rides along too. Ohshima described it as essentially a new playable character.

Chaos Emeralds Change the Math

The big mechanical addition is the Chaos Emerald powers. Collect the seven Emeralds and you unlock power-ups that change how you move and attack. Arzest introduced them to push players toward hunting all seven instead of skipping them.

There are no lives, so you will never see a game over. That is a real break from the older 2D entries and a smart one. It keeps the pace up and stops the difficulty spikes from turning into punishment. Shields, springs, vertical loops, and rings-as-health do the rest of the work.

Fang Returns, Trip Arrives

Iizuka wanted a new antagonist alongside Doctor Eggman. Fang the Hunter, the bounty hunter from the Game Gear Sonic games, got the call. Sonic Team and Arzest considered other obscure characters but judged Fang the most well-known and the best fit for the game’s direction.

Iizuka wanted Trip to add story depth

Ohshima designed Trip, a newcomer whose armored look comes from a sungazer lizard. Eggman hires both Fang and Trip to capture the islands’ giant animals and build an army. Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy race to free the creatures first.

Multiplayer and the Trip Campaign

Up to four players can run the campaign together in local split screen, which suits the short act structure. Finish the main game and a harder campaign opens with Trip as the only playable character. The story unfolds through character interactions between levels rather than voice acting, echoing the Genesis approach.

Sonic Superstars takes place between Sonic Mania and Sonic Adventure. The title refers to the four “superstar” leads, and Iizuka said Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were non-negotiable because the Genesis games made them playable.

Release Schedule and Platforms

Development started in 2021 after plans for another collaboration with the Sonic Mania developers fell through. It marked Ohshima’s first contribution to a Sonic game since Sonic Adventure in 1998.

The emerald powers are the piece that will decide whether Sonic Superstars sticks with you. Four hours is a lean campaign, and the character-exclusive acts give you a reason to run it again as someone else. The no-lives choice keeps frustration low without gutting the challenge, and the new zones earn their place next to the classics rather than leaning on them.

What holds it back is familiarity. The 2.5D presentation looks good, but the act-to-act rhythm is the one you already know, and the bosses lean on patterns you have dodged before. Fang and Trip add texture to a story told in brief exchanges, not depth you will remember. This is a confident modernization, not a reinvention.

Sonic Superstars is the best version of this formula Sega has shipped in years, and it knows exactly what it is. It is not the next Sonic Mania. It is a solid, fast, generous platformer that treats Amy like a lead and hands you a lizard with a hammer problem. That is worth your time.

game review · Nintendo Switch · Platformer · Sega · Sonic Superstars · Sonic Team