Blue streak speeds by. Too fast for the naked eye. Sonic The Hedgehog. On this, the 32nd birthday of SEGA’s indomitable blue blur, we got to check out Sonic Superstars- a surprisingly apt game, since it seeks to return to 2D sonic, with new levels instead of the more tribute-flavored attempts of Mania, Generations and even Frontier. The game is available at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre as part of Olympics Esports Week, where it’ll be playable until this Sunday.

Sonic Superstars makes this departure pretty clear in the presentation, since the first thing you’d notice is that Sonic and friends are in 3D, rather than the pixel sprites of yore. As someone who grew up with the cuter rounder sonic before we got the lankier modern one, it’s pretty great seeing Superstars return to that. There’s a total of four characters we got to try, ranging from classics like Sonic, Knuckles and Tails to even Amy, who’s sporting her classic design.

The characters themselves feel pretty distinct- just like older Sonic games they each have their own unique quirks, like Knuckles gliding and climbing or Tails flight. Although, as with everything else we’ve seen, it looks like SEGA’s not content for the characters to just be one-trick ponies, either.

Lots Of New Toys

A new feature in the game is various power ups, letting you do all sorts of special moves. These are cooldown-based and really add to the flavor of Sonic, since rather than worrying about hoarding them like you would consumables, you only need to worry about timing. From what we’ve seen, there were two power-ups: a waterfall traversal that envelopes you in water, as well as a more offense-based ability that has Sonic summoning an army of shadow clones.

I really prefer this to the bubble power ups of older sonic games, since that means there’s a higher chance of future levels having some sort of use for them, rather than just knowing that there’d be a use for a bubble if there’s one suspiciously in the middle of the stage.

That being said, the star of Superstars is the levels themselves. I don’t think it’s controversial to say that a lot of 2D Sonic Games had been held back by the tribute aspect of recent titles. Superstars breaks a lot of new ground by adding a Z axis in some sections, letting you move toward or away from the camera.

Considering how much games like OlliOlli World excels for it, it’s great to see Sonic Superstars using this feature. The feature itself doesn’t feel overused- meaning you’d want to keep an eye out for the track shifts so you can react on time.

Thankfully, classic Sonic fans will rest easy knowing that it’s not all about violently reinventing Sonic- plenty of other 2D staples like alternate paths are there, as well as the ability to backtrack if you think there might be a better path you zipped past.

Elaborate Boss Stages, Hopefully

The demo build we tried also features some boss battle, which seems a lot more elaborate than anyone whose only memory might be the early Egg Robots. Boss battles now actually span multiple screens, not unlike 3D Sonic games as the boss tries to tamper with your ability to platform until they open up to an attack.

These stages are simple but not necessarily easy- it should be noted that the one stage we played seemed fairly early on, so the idea of “find the safe spot in the projectile wall and counter” might only be the precursor to the kind of screen-polluting mess that would allow Sonic to finally tap into the Touhou demographic.

Considering the offensive nature of the clone attack, I’d love to see some more elaborate bosses coming in- especially if they start operating on a “this ability hard counters that boss” logic.  That being said, as a South East Asian, it fills me with great joy that Sonic Superstars gives me the visceral satisfaction of destroying a giant mosquito.

Refreshing Twist

I gotta say, it’s great to see new ideas being added to 2D sonic, or even just given a fresh coat of polish. Considering how much the original Sonic The Hedgehog changed platforming back in its heyday, it feels like Sonic Superstars is going to have quite a bit going for it, especially since the levels would have been designed with the four-character roster in mind instead of having them added later on.

The hands-on build is available at SEGA’s booth at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, so don’t forget to try it out for yourself this weekend if you want some good 2D Sonic to play.