Sonic Superstars

Sonic Superstars is the long-awaited follow-up to Sonic Mania, bringing back the classic Sonic gameplay in 2.5D with all-new zones and four-player simultaneous multiplayer promoted as the main gimmick.

While it's generally regarded as better than the previous attempts at a 2.5D Sonic due to the near-accurate physics to the Genesis era titles, and the return of Fang the Hunter, it wasn't exactly the Mania sequel many were hoping for, thanks to a divisive aesthetic, an inconsistent soundtrack (which inexplicably shifts between the instrumental styles of the Genesis games, Sonic Mania, and Sonic 4 - sometimes multiple times in the same level), and some questionable design choices, particularly in the boss fights. Unlike Mania and Sonic Origins, it also never got a Plus update to address the problems (though claims the game bombed commercially ended up being false).

This was notably the first mainline Sonic game developed with the Unity game engine (previous Sonic games made in the engine were largely mobile spin-offs).

Sub-Pages#

Prerelease Info Unused MusicThere's a lot in here, including earlier iterations of various tracks.

Unused Graphics#

Gamescom 2023 Leftover#

"UI_FT_Spr-a1c8a8ee" contains a leftover graphic from Gamescom 2023, where it would appear after completing act one of Bridge Island or Speed Jungle Zone.

Project Orion#

"UI_FT_Tex_Logo_B01" has a unused graphic for the placeholder name of Sonic Superstars.

Early Menu Leftover#

"UI_FT_Spr-a1c8a8ee" contains a graphic that features a blurred image of Bridge Island Zone and the logo used for the Classic Sonic brand. Most likely, it was a leftover graphic from an early version of the main menu.

Debugging Tools#

"IngameDebugConsoleSpriteAtlas-a26202a9" has icons used for (actual) debugging purposes.

Placeholder Level Preview Image#

"UI_Com_Tex_Image_None01" is a unused placeholder graphic for when previewing stages from the world hub.

Dummy#

"ay_dummy01a" contains a pretty simple red dummy graphic.

Clouds Test#

"cloud_02_Test" & "cloud_03_Test" features unused clouds graphics that was purely used for testing as shown with its filenames.

Debug Menu#

By finishing story mode, a secret debug mode can be accessed by inputting these button combinations:

• PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5: Square, Square, Triangle, Triangle, Square, Square, Square, Square
• Xbox One/Xbox Series X: X, X, Y, Y, X, X, X, X
• Switch: Y, Y, X, X, Y, Y, Y, Y

Unlike prior debug modes in 2D Sonic games, it's closer to the Level Select and Sound Test cheats from them. It is presumably a developer tool that Arzest forgot to disable in the retail game, judging by it's barebones appearance and none of the marketing ever mentioning this. There are two options you can select: "Stage Select" and "Sound Test".

Stage Select lets you choose any stage and any character, though trying to access the character-specific acts with anyone else will instead have the game pick the character the stage was designed for.

Sound Test has no sound effects to listen to, just the zone music.

Internal Project Name#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Is there any actual concrete proof that it's actually named after a brewery? Because the "sources" are vague at best and comes off as "Just trust me, bro".

Sonic Superstars is named "Sonic Orion" internally, according to various sources (such as the "ACF" file being named "Orion_Sound"). It appears to have been named after Orion Breweries, making this the second Sonic game to have its internal name pulled from a beer company after Sonic Origins. At one point, it was erroneously thought to have been named after Orion from Greek mythology.

Oddities#

Hidden Level Features#

To do: Сheck the text for grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes. Is this information needed here?

Speed Jungle - Act 2#

There are two vertical-looped sections on this level with an endless burrow with two output routes at right. Actually there are four tunnels (not two) but the very top and the very bottom burrows are hidden behind gray HUD screen. There is no way to get in these tunnels.

First endless burrow	Second endless burrow

Press Factory - Act 1#

There are two vertical-looped sections on this level that realized by hidden player teleportation, but these are practically non-noticeable in normal play. Some yellow platforms are duplicated for a seamless view of a moving player, but there is no way to get to them. There are unobtainable rings: the rings are located higher than the trigger that teleports the player to lower part of this section¹. A player can get the rings on lower platforms, but those are different rings completely.

First section	Second section

Filename Oddity#

To do: Get the actual filename.

The music heard during the cutscene of Fang arguing with Trip is internally labeled as a "boss fight" track, despite it never playing during any boss battles. This oddity would carry over to the game's soundtrack, where it is labeled as "Boss Battle 4".

Platform Differences#

To do: More differences between platforms to document? Go into more detail and add sources: this info is mostly from the Digital Foundry video List any differences exclusive to the Xbox One and Xbox One X versions. Same case for the PS4 and PS4 Pro versions, if applicable. Get screenshots from each version. Single fan object that is only animated on Switch? Get input delay numbers

• As usual for Sonic games since 2017, the PC version utilizes the online-only Denuvo DRM.
• The game renders in 4K on PS5 and Xbox Series X, 1080p on Xbox Series S, Xbox One X & PS4, 900p on Xbox One, and 720p on Switch, both handheld and docked. The PC version renders at the resolution chosen in the video settings.
  • On Switch, Lagoon City Act 1 and 2, Press Factory Act 2, and Egg Fortress Act 1 and 2 appear to run at a resolution lower than 720p when played in handheld mode.
• Similar to other 3D Sonic games on the platform, the Switch version has lower polygon meshes, reduced texture quality, and simplified post-processing in order to improve performance. Bloom and depth-of-field are also disabled, affecting the visual look of various stages. Shadows are also missing on most characters, enemies, objects, etc.
  • The waterfalls in Bridge Island Zone are opaque compared to translucent in all other versions.
  • Some of the smaller terrain meshes in Speed Jungle Zone were removed entirely.
• While all versions target 60fps, the PC version has an option to run without a frame rate lock.
  • This introduces a bug where charging a spin dash feels somewhat slower than it would at 60fps.
• Input latency is best on PC and Switch, with the PS5 version only having very slight input delay, and the Xbox Series X|S versions have noticeably more input delay.
• Loading times are fastest on the PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. They are considerably longer on Switch.
• Post-processing was pared back slightly on the PS4 and Xbox One versions.
• The Amazon Luna version lacks all online features (Online Battle and Time Attack leaderboards), only has the Modern Amy costume DLC for purchase, no title screen button for the DLC store, and is bundled with the Holiday and Shadow costumes for Sonic.

References#