Summary
With what may set the stage for a new era of 2D Classic Sonic,Sonic Superstarsintroduces a number of game-changing features that heighten the experience for players. Taking place beforeSonic Adventureand afterSonic Mania, the game sees Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and new playable addition Amy Rose explore the Northstar Islands to save it from Dr. Eggman, and the returning veteran character toSonic Superstars, Fang the Hunter.
Across the game’s 11 stages, players can pick and choose which characters they’d wish to experience the game as at all times. With Sonic’s speed, Tails' flight, Knuckles' gliding and climbing, and Amy’s double-jump and hammer shield, there’s quite a lot of ground to cover to avoid stage hazards and bosses if players ever feel stuck asone ofSonic Superstars' playable charactersin particular. However, everyone will get their chance to shine in Story Mode through the game’s brand-new “character acts.”
RELATED:Sonic Superstars Producer Confirms Where the Game Sits on the Sonic Timeline
Sonic Superstars' Character Acts Put an Importance on the Whole Team
Taking the place of a few levels in particular Zones, players will be asked if they want to play acts represented by the heads of the four main playable characters. Each character gets one unique act to themselves each that answers to their specific strengths and play styles. Sonic has a race against Fang, Tails has multiple paths that can be handled with his flight, Knuckles makes use of his climbing, andAmy can knock large fruits away with her hammer. These zones are optional, so they’re more lackadaisical than other levels inSonic Superstars.
Even though the character acts are optional, they serve an important purpose of teaching players how the other characters they may not have played yet work. This helps branch players out of their comfort zone and be aware of what every character offers, so that way if they run into trouble that they know another character could handle better, then all they need to do is quicklyvisitSonic Superstars' world mapto swap characters.
The Rewards for Playing Sonic Superstars' Character Acts
While optional, there are actually plenty of benefits that fans can get from including the character stages in their playthrough of the game’s story mode. Not only do fans get to experience a stage designed with one character at the forefront for the most part, but Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails' stages all have easy access to Special Stage Warp Rings, making them perfect for getting threeChaos Emeraldsin as little resets as possible. This works well asSonic Superstarsassigns one Emerald to a zone each.
Amy’s character act is incredibly special, though, and should not be missed. In fact, Amy’s character stage holds a vital key to the story within it. As fans begin her stage, they’ll see the latest character to theSonicfranchise, Trip the Sungazer, get trapped in some ruins. Only through playing Amy’s act do fans get to see Trip return from the ruins safely, as well as see exactly what gives her the courage to strike out againstSonicvillains Dr. Eggman and Fang. Seeing Amy get such a prominent story moment is great for her first non-DLC playable appearance in 14 years.
Character acts have to be discovered as fans play, be it by getting a prompt on which act they wish to play next, or by seeing them on the world map after unlocking the next Zone. This means that unless players look up a guide, they’ll likely stumble upon their favorite character’s personal act as a big surprise. It makes the adventure all the more exciting, even though these character acts lose their exclusivity later oninSonic Superstars' extra content. However, these stages remain character-specific in Story Mode, which means they can be replayed at any point.
Sonic Superstarsis available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
