 So hey, there's a new classic Sonic game. Sonic Superstars is dropping in just a few months, and I have mixed feelings about what I'm seeing. It's one of those cursed monkey poor be careful what you wish for situations. On paper this looks like everything I've ever wanted, but my last few wishes ended up being ironic punishments, so I'm very apprehensive. On the one hand, yay, more 2D Sonic. I love 2D Sonic. When these things are good, they are great. Plus it's clear that Sega has heard my very specific brand of whiny fanboy complaining, because Classic Amy is available right from the start. You don't even have to download her separately, which is for some reason a thing you still have to do if you're buying Sonic Origins physically. It's just… apparently, and I didn't know this until I saw the Sonic Superstars trailer, but apparently, when my brain sees this kind of 2.5D Sonic design, it gets flashback to playing Sonic 4 on iPod Touch in 2010, and my brain does not like that feeling at all. When it comes to 2D Sonic, I'm ordinarily quite happy to enjoy whatever's being offered, and I'm pretty forgiving of the game's weaknesses. Sure, there are the core Mega Drive and Sega CD titles, but I'm also a tremendous fan of the Master System games. Sonic 1 SMS has the best soundtrack of any of these games, sorry the estate of Michael Jackson. Then there are the GBA and DS games developed by Dimps. Absolute crackers, the lot of them. Sonic Advance 2 might not be the most beloved of the series, but it's my personal favourite. I love charging through levels at speed, finding quicker and quicker ways to max out my speed state. Sonic Rush, oh there's another game with a killer soundtrack, did a stellar job of giving Sonic a 2.5D makeover. Does that count as 2.5D? Maybe 2.25D. Either way, it pioneered the boost mechanic that modern Sonic is using to this day, and it's rarely been beaten even in far higher budget games. You know what's great, but it's often overlooked? The Sonic Rivals games. Excellent, really immersive 2.5D gameplay. They do a fantastic job of making the world feel big and full and alive, while sticking to fairly straightforward 2D Sonic platforming mechanics. The point is, I love these games, no matter their relative popularity among more casual Sonic fans. And Sonic Superstars could be another of these games that I will defend or it could be the new Sonic 4. Sonic 4 was famously an attempt by Sega to capitalise on 2D Sonic Nostalgia while providing a modern update for the series. Developed initially for Mobile, I believe, don't quote me on that, it was released in episodic format, because that's just what you did in 2010, even if you were dealing with one of the most recognisable gaming brands on the planet. One that I think is uniquely unsuited to episodic releases. Gotta go fast for 20 minutes, then wait 6 months. My verdict when playing Sonic 4 Episode 1 was that it had taken the crown from Sonic 2006, the new worst Sonic game ever, in my opinion. My feelings did soften a little over the coming weeks as I realised that I was somehow still playing it, but when episode 2 rolled around, I didn't bother paying for it. When it was free, I tried it for maybe 10 minutes, but no, no, I do not want. I've spent years trying to figure out why I drew the line here. Why was Sonic 4 of all games the one that I just couldn't love? I think the answer is physics. Every other 2D Sonic game I've mentioned may have had their own offbeat take on how Sonic controls, but the broad strokes remain the same. I know I can curl up into a ball and increase speed on a downward slope. Sonic 4 doesn't do that, or at least it didn't do that on mobile in 2010. I don't know what the game ended up playing like on other platforms or following updates. Instead, the game is built around the homing dash as a primary mechanic, and while that's fine, I'm not hating on it as a concept, by 2010 I already had over 15 years of muscle memory that were screaming at me every time Sonic didn't reward them as expected. So it's not even that Sonic 4 is a bad game, I'm not getting into a debate over what constitutes a bad Sonic game anyway, it's more that it simply didn't feel right. Like wearing high heels for the first time when you're only used to running shoes, like driving a manual car if you've learned in an automatic. Yes, there's an element of objective complexity and pressure, but the issue more comes down to what I was expecting from Sonic 4 versus how the game actually feels to play. But of course, Sonic Superstars isn't meant to evoke Sonic 4, if that were the case they'd have called it Sonic 5. No, this is meant to build on the most memorable bits from Sonic Generations, a standalone classic Sonic adventure now that modern Sonic is off collecting whatever his version of Korok seeds are called, I forget. And I can see the appeal, I know a lot of people love Generations, and I hate to say this, but there's a physics issue in that game as well. As I say, it's not an issue of relative quality, it's the fact that classic Sonic in Generations was built on the same physics engine as modern Sonic, so he just doesn't feel right to me. Entirely a personal thing, I get that, but Sonic Generations is not an accurate continuation of the Mega Drive Sonics in the same way that say the Sonic Advance games are. His jump is just a bit floaty, his acceleration feels off. I couldn't even give you specific reasons why I don't get along with classic Sonic in Generations and Forces. It's just... it's like sleeping on a pillow in a hotel. There's nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't feel the same as what I'm used to. It's not moulded specifically to fit me. Or moreover, I'm not moulded specifically to fit it. That's a high bar to set for any game, but you know what? Sonic Mania feels right in a way that a lot of recent classic Sonic games just don't. There are a lot of Sonic fan games indeed that nail the feel of true classic Sonic better than any actual developers at Sega. And as I look at Sonic Superstars, I see a game with a lot of odd new mechanics on display. Four player drop-in co-op is pretty brilliant, but how is that actually going to work in practice? Is it going to be younger sibling mode like traditional Sonic 2 player with the camera following player one and everyone else lagging behind and endlessly respawning, or are they changing up the very fundamental way that Sonic can co-control? And why is Sonic a jellyfish in one shot in his trailer? Why are there a million of him all on the screen at once? What is this? I've got nothing against weird new ideas. Obviously, if I just wanted to play old familiar Sonic games again, I'd play Origins, or Angel Island Revisited, let's be fair. I just... I want to make sure that the fundamentals are there more than the new throwaway gimmicks. It's not easy to tell how Sonic actually controls from watching gameplay footage, and even if those journalists that have played the game say it's pretty solid, I'm going to need to be hands-on before I can trust this game myself. I appreciate that my apprehension comes entirely from the art style of this game. It feels a bit flat for 2.5D, and it just reminds me of my least favourite Sonic experiences as a result. If it were traditional 16-bit style pixel art, I'd be proclaiming that this is the game that I've been waiting for since Mania. It's a bit harsh to hang all of my expectations for a game on the art style. A decade and a half ago, I'd have been all over this, and in fairness, apparently they've got Neotoro Shima back to design a new character, so that's cool. Presumably they didn't get Yuji Naka back because he's busy getting measured for an orange jumpsuit. At the same time, while you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, I can't help it. The proof of the pudding will be in my first 5 minutes with the game, and nothing other than checking out the physics will be enough to sell me on this. Well, I suppose I could always get the PC version and cross my fingers for a good physics mod, but to be honest, if I'm playing mods I might as well just be playing a Sonic fan game anyway. So, I'm not sure. The trailer does promise new thrills, classic feels, but I've been burned before. I'm intrigued as to why Sega is apparently pricing this at $60, and why they haven't announced it until just months before its release. Normally they build hype for Sonic games even 2D offerings over a period of at least a year, so if it's had a really quick development cycle, why is it full price? I don't know. I do not know. Will this be good? It's too soon for any of us, even the folks at Sega, to be able to tell. But one thing is certain. This game is exactly the kind of game that I should be absolutely thrilled by, and yet, I'm not sure I'm ready to love again. Fool me once, Sega. I really want to be impressed, but based on prior experience, I think I won't be able to get too excited about this until I'm absolutely certain that it's not Sonic 4 Episode 3 by another name. That said, classic Amy!