Kinda Funny Gamescast: Video Game Podcast - Super Mario Bros. Wonder & Sonic Superstars Review - Kinda Funny Gamescast

Episode Date: October 18, 2023

Tim, Blessing, and Greg give their reviews of the latest from Nintendo and SEGA. Run of Show - - Start - Housekeeping - Super Mario Bros. Wonder Review - ADS - Sonic Superstars Review Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's up everybody. Welcome to the kind of funny games cast. I'm one of your host, Greg Miller, alongside Forbes 30 under 30, a.k.a. Be okay beast. Blessing Adioje Jr. Happy birthday. I'm in a minute. He turns 51 today. Yesterday. No, 51? 51. Yeah. Wow. Or let me be me. Yeah, no, I know. I know. I know. I know. Remember when he, he popped up in my TikTok feed the other day and it made me laugh out loud because you and I, you had been like, you know what? Eminem you can do comedy bits, but you can't rap anymore.

Oh, yeah. You're like, you know, that's how it is. Oh, man. That's sad out there. Isn't it blessed? It is. It is sad out there. Naus is out there doing his thing.

He is. At the age of how old, 73? I have no idea. But you're telling it. They say that 50s is when you really realize what rich is, you know, and talking about. Yeah. I was a Noss line for me.

I was going to say, it's a reference I don't get, but I sure I should get. And you, of course, are four, 30. under 30, aka Lost in Cult author at Tim Gettys. Hey dude, shout out to that. For people that don't know, Lost and Cold is an incredible I want to call it magazine, but that's

doing a disservice to it in what it is. It is an incredibly premium product. They have six issues out or additions out. They're like a hardcover book that you can get. Each one kind of focused around a different concept of video games. So this edition, the sixth one, is Final Fantasy.

So they reached out to a ton of different people, myself included. Very lucky to be a part of this. It includes a lot of people way more important than me. And everyone wrote about their favorite Final Fantasy or like something about a different Final Fantasy. So all of them are being covered by different people. But it's not just Final Fantasy. Matt Mercer did a whole thing. It's a retrospective on Tears of the Kingdom for it. Oh, Matt Mercer from the Game Over Greggie podcast. Of course. Of course. That's where they know him from. I know him from There Will Be Brawl, which was his Smash Brothers fan series he put out back in 2008. anyways you can pre-order it now

the cover art is exclusive a mono artwork which is wild that's like the Final Fantasy artist and so it's very very cool to be a part of this it's a little bit unreal with some of the names involved in all of it but you should definitely check it out it's fantastic Lostincult.cote.c.c.org

before blessing takes us over it. I type in their movie brawl is the first thing that popped up. Yeah, dude. Bless one day me and you were going to do a full watch along of there. will be brawl and I guarantee you're going to have the best time. For people who for you were watching listening, I just, I pulled up a YouTube video of the Rowe We Raw episode of one and I just scrub up to the middle and it's immediately it's peach

riding Mario. It's getting to the very very, very end of it. Just like see the little final final tease you get there. But yeah, this is a promise to everybody. We will watch it all one day. We will watch it all one day, ladies and gentlemen, just like we will review Super Mario Brothers Wonder and Sonic Superstar. on this episode, on this podcast, because this is the kind of funny games cast, each and every week, four, sometimes three. Best friends gather on this table each come to talk about video games and all the things they love about them. If you love that, head over to patreon.com slash kind of funny, where you can get each and every episode of the games cast ad free. You can usually watch us record it live, but of course we aren't embargoed on this one.

You can all the other podcasts live. You can all the other podcasts add free on demand as an MP3 as a video. you can get more than 300, almost 400 now, exclusive episodes of Kind of Funny shows like Greg Way, Kind of Feudy, and of course the next gen podcast. I digress, though, if you got no bucks to toss our way, no big deal, you get the games cast each and every week on YouTube.com slash kind of funny games, and of course, podcast services around the globe. Yes, this is your second gamescast of the week. You had your Spider-Man 2 review to kick it all off.

Here we are, though, with two more reviews because review season doesn't stop. housekeeping for you. Of course, there is a new PSI Love You, XOXO Live. This is your Spider-Man 2, FAQ. We said, hey, read all the reviews, watch all the reviews, then come ask us questions. Me, Blessing, and Janet, dive in, spoiler-free, hour and a half talking about everything under the hood of Spider-Man 2. Over on Patreon, of course, there's a new Remember Blank up, remembering your favorite Spider-Man video games. Again, patreon.com slash kind of funny, but important for Remember Blank, I need your Mario memories. Next week's Remember Blank is Mario, Super Mario, Mario,

just Mario in general. So write in for free at kindofunny.com slash remember blank. Thank you to our Patreon producers, Jedi Master Deadpool, Delaney Twining. Today we're brought to you by BetterHelp and Emersion Fragrances. That's the second time I've screwed up.

The immersion fragrance fragrance. Emergent's fragrance. Emergent fragrances. A candle company. by a kind of funny best friend. We'll tell you about that later.

For now, let's begin with Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Timothy Gettys. Yes. You have beaten every Mario game ever. Yes. Multiple times. Oh, yeah. 100%ed majority of them,

if not all of them, honestly, like any of the cores. I think I can say with certainty I have 100%ed all of the mainline 2D and 3D Mario games. I have not, but I do enjoy a Mario.

And I'm very excited. excited for Friday to get my hands on wonder. I have not played it on the kind of funny review scale. One being terrible. Five being amazing. What does this get? Before I answer that question, I just want to let everyone know how special it is for us to be here right now on the same episode of this show reviewing a new 2D Mario and a new 2D Sonic. Yes, sir. On the same same show because they're coming out in the same week in 2023. Who is going to win? Sonic or Mario? You know, I think is going to go the way most people expect them to. That does sad in me a bit, of course.

And that's the other thing that makes me really sad about this, because of how code distribution worked for this round of things. We only got one code for each. So I got to play Mario. Bless got to play Sonic. But I'm sure the two of us will trade and get experiences that we'll talk about in the coming weeks for all this stuff. Now going back to it, though, Greg.

Mario Wonder, I'm giving it officially a four out of five on the kind of one scale. And I feel like that is coming from somebody that, like you said, has 100%ed all the core Mario games. I haven't 100% of this one yet. But I did beat it. I'm doing a whole bunch of the extra stuff going back to a bunch of the things that I missed, having a fantastic time. But really, to me, it's a four out of five,

but I can see it being a five out of five to many, many others. And I think that's because this is going to be the best game ever for families, for people with kids. When we look at the game awards, the family category. Oh, the Nintendo game. We have a new winner, everybody, right? Like there's something incredibly special about this game. So many different things that we'll get into throughout all this.

But to me, I think the thing that's really holding it back is because of how much I love Mario, because how much I love 2D Mario specifically and how much I care about this existing, this continuing to exist and continuing to be pushed forward, I really need to ask myself, like, having played this, is this in the running for game of the year for me? And it's not. And I think because of that, I mean, is it a continuous? tender, absolutely. There's no way this won't be

on my top 10 at the end of the year. But it won't be in my top five. And I think to me, for a 2D Mario game to come out and not be in my top five, I find it hard to give it our highest rating personally. But again, a four,

I give it a high four on this one. Sure. This is always the tricky part with the review, right? Especially when you're the expert like this. Because, of course, all I want to know is why is it not a five? And that's the thing is because I feel like

it just, a lot of the stuff that to me feels derivative is going to feel fresh as hell to other people. But that's because I've 100%ed all four of the new Super Mario Brothers games in the last little over a decade, right? Where I feel like a lot of other people maybe played them a little bit, put it down. Maybe they beat the DS1, didn't even look at the others, didn't even touch them because they're like, it's more of the same. I hate the Wii U, et cetera, et cetera.

There's a ton of reasons why. Because of that, I think so many people are going to play this game for the first time in a long time for a 2D Mario and be absolutely floored by the, the magic that exists there. And Greg, there's a lot of magic in this game. I feel like Mario Mario has never felt more alive in a 2D space. In fact, I think that this is the closest we've ever seen to a blend between the 2D and 3D Mario styles, maybe even more so than 3D Mario World and then Mario 3D World. Wow. Mario 3D World, I would say, plays more like an old school traditional 2D Mario game, but it just happens to be in 3D, but it's very obstacle-based,

get to the end of the level. That's the challenge. That's the game. And I love it. Love that so much. This feels a little bit more like a 3D Mario put into a 2D Mario world. It's more about the adventure. There's no timer. The challenge for the most part comes less from the platforming and the obstacles and stuff and more from environment puzzles.

How do I get there? How do I figure this out? Or what could cause this to do that type thing? So we're talking kind of like an Odyssey where you could see, oh, I need to get over there. I need to get that thing, but I don't know how to do it yet. Very similar to Odyssey, especially when it comes to the different types of power

up and the sense of wonder that comes from the wonder seed, where every level has a wonder seed. You have to find it. It's most of the time not readily apparent exactly where it is. You need to kind of go out of your way to find it. But once you get that, it changes the level in some dramatic way like we've never seen before in a Mario game. And one thing I want to say is this, there's two games. This reminds me of more than anything else.

One of them is Mario Odyssey due to Kappi's abilities and how it really felt like in that game, it was very rare for a gimmick to be reused more than once. It really feels like every single time you're having a capy enemy encounter thing where you get a new ability, you play through that level with that ability, maybe you play through the next level with that ability enhanced a little bit, one more time, twist it on its head, and then move on and never see it again. Wonders very much like that. The other one is Yoshi's Island, Super Mario World, too, which one of my favorite games of all time, the first video game I ever beat. There's something so special about that game that is focused on the weird and wacky

of the transformations of Yoshi turning into a helicopter or a race car. There's weird shit that doesn't make any sense. And this game is just... I definitely like, hey, my head just jumped to Yoshi turning to a racist. Not quite. But I feel like with Mario Wonder,

that was the inspiration for this. It was just like, hey, let's... At the end of the day, it is 2D Mario. At the end of the day, it... We're not going to get too far away from like what this is because it is that thing. But how much fun can we have with the formula and switching things up to keep people on their toes, whether they're new players or seasoned veterans of this whole thing. And I feel like in that they definitely accomplished the the jump up superstar moment in Mario Odyssey, right?

Like do you guys remember? No, no time I'm talking about here. What a defining moment, right? Where it's like we will talk about that forever is like how special that was. It really felt like with Mario Wonder, their goal was every time you get the Wonder seed to have one of those moments. Interesting. I know during the preview you talked about, hey, there's a there's a, there's a, a moment in every one of these levels that's

going on that way. And then on the other side of that with the New Super Mario Brothers games, we've talked so long. I mean, over a decade about even the most recent one at this point of New Super Mario Brothers You, where when that game was first shown, universally, the reaction was like,

why is this look exactly the same? Like, are you kidding me? You're really doing this. And that was after New Super Mario Bros. Yes, we, New Super Mario Bros. 2 on the 3DS, and then this all in a very short amount of time. And, And they all looked very similar and played very similar. And in Mario News of My Brothers, you, there was the Starry Night Level. And that was the level that, to this day, we all talk about, I was like, well, except for that, that looked great.

That was awesome. That was cool. And really, it was just a slightly different art style for the level and the background was different than the traditional overworld, underworld, underworld, lava, desert, snow, like normal Mario places. It felt different. Every single level feels like the Starry Night in this game. Wow. Like every single background is unique.

Every single world has a vibe that we've seen before, but with a twist or we've never seen anything like it before. The levels of animation, it's wild. How many things are in this that you would think, oh, there's not going to be a custom animation for this. And then there is.

And it keeps you on your toes the entire time. It just really just makes you smile. Like this game makes you smile constantly. Having said all that, though, and this goes back to like, why not a five? I'm glowing about this game. There's a lot to glow about.

A lot of great. I think that although there is a wonderful moment in each level, I don't know that I'm going to be talking about any of these moments the same way we talked about the jump-up superstar moment. Like I don't think any of it really, really hits that high. It's just a consistently amazing time the whole time. It just doesn't feel like this game has too many moments that I'm like, wow, haven't ever experienced this in a video game.

And a lot of my favorite Mario games give me those moments a lot. So that's kind of the biggest downfall of the game. But otherwise, lots of love here. I feel like the levels, there's a lot of them. I would say this is on the shorter end for a 2D Mario game or Mario game in the period at this point. Can you say? I know that there's a bunch of a bar. I would say that I'm about like seven hours in and I want to say I have maybe three hours more and I'll be done with it.

Okay. which not a bad thing necessarily, but again, we're talking about me and this is something going into this that we mean, me and Bless talked about a lot on games daily. We're talking about a new 2D Mario and a post-celest world. We're talking about a new 2D Mario. When New Simari Brothers DS came out,

that was so exciting because it was the first time we got a 2D Mario in about a decade from even before that was 2006. Before that was Mario World too, which was not debatably a Mario game. game in 96. So like big ass gap and on top of that, we weren't getting 2D platformers left and right. It wasn't until Super Meat Boy kind of like brought

those back into Devogue when it comes to the retro platformer thing. And because of that, we've had so many amazing 2D platformers. So I feel like Mario Wonder's competing against more than just Mario's own legacy. It's competing against the things that inspired. Exactly. And

that makes it kind of difficult to talk about critically in a way, that doesn't have a lot of caveats. But I think at the end of the day, this is a game that everyone should play if you enjoy joy. How do you feel about the way

it fits into the Mario ecosystem? Because you talk about, like, you know, all the new Super Mario Brothers games, how there could be like a new Super Mario Brothers fatigue a little bit. At least I feel that when I think about the 2D Mario games, especially the ones that I gravitate towards.

Does this at least feel like a right step for 2D Mario? When you think about the listings of 2D Mario games, is this one that is getting into that higher end of 2D Mario? or like how does it fit in there? Oh, man, it's such a complicated question

just because I care so much about this. Like I feel like yes, the answer is yes, especially because, and then I don't know if I already said this. I've been talking to Greg about this earlier too, so I remember what was on camera and off, but like I do feel like this game is going to review very well. Like I think that my review probably is even going to be on the lower end, which is funny.

Like I can see this getting a lot of nines, which is higher than 2D Mario's traditionally get. But I think that's going to be because it's going to be played by a lot of people that didn't really give those other ones a shot or just to them this is different enough and they've stepped away enough that they're ready for this. And to me, I feel like a lot of the stuff, so much of it is fantastic and great,

but I don't know that it's like completely out of being in the family of the new Super Mario Brothers games. So you're talking about where it's placed in the ecosystem. I feel like this is a very inspired sequel to those, but I don't know that it necessarily like creates like a new branch of things. But at the same time, it's radically different

and it is just a best of those with way more, even that's not even fair to say. This is its own unique thing for sure. It's just, I don't know that this is necessarily like, this is never going to be on my top five Mario games. Like that's not even going to be in the conversation.

Well, about 2D Mario. No. Really? Yeah. And I think that I might, that might be an unpopular opinion when I'll set and done. But just being honest with myself,

it's not. How would you say the power-ups are? Like the ones we've seen, right, have been like the elephant ones. And like that seems to be the most, well, that seems to be the one that's advertised. And also, like, maybe the most out there. Were there other power-ups that you got where you were like, oh, shit, like this is just as insane, just as zany as this one? You know, it's really funny. So there's a lot I can't talk about.

And that's a good thing. I feel like the magic of this game and the fun of this game comes from the surprise of, and not surprise of reveals, but surprise of like what's happening. That's weird. You know, just like the different things you get. But because of that, I do think that so much of the formatting of this game, it plays with your expectations. So not all the levels are the same. It's not like you're getting into every single level and they're all platforming levels and you get to the end and that's it. There's essentially like three formats or so of different levels you can get into.

Some are, there's these new badges that you can get that function as power-ups. So you can apply a badge to yourself going into a level. You can only have one badge per run, but you can change it every single time. We're seeing badges here, thanks, Kev. Those badges can allow you different things like the parachute cap, which is kind of the default one, allows you to jump and hit R and you kind of like horizontally float. There's other ones like the grappling line,

which is amazing and super fun exactly what you think it is. Then there's one, there's like the crouch jump that functions like Mario 2, where you can hold down and power up for a bit before jumping up super high vertically. Those things, there's levels to get those that are a little 30 second like challenge levels that you beat once and then you earn the badge and then you can use the badge in other levels. And then there's like more, um, adventurey puzzle style. There's like five coins in this like puzzle room try to figure out where they are and get them type levels. Um, so keeping it varied with the level design, I think is more their key than the powerups in

this game. Um, the power ups I got to say I was a little let down by the lack of new inspired ones. Seeing the trailer, seeing the elephant, I'm like, oh, we're about to get weird. I remember even saying, like, oh, there's all the playable characters. I bet they all have different. No, they're all elephants. Okay. And it's like, huh. So that's, I feel like a lot of my hesitation with the, this is the best thing ever,

is that while it does so much great, I still, it doesn't go all the way. I'm hoping there was more. I was hoping, like, in so many different categories with this, I was like, oh, man, like, it is just missing that, that, the cherry on top of all of this. here we have the jump-up superstar moment in the back but yeah I was a little let down by the power-ups and in fact there are not many of them

and there were a couple of them that given any chance I had I would not use it What about the themeing of the world? Like this is another one that you know You bring up the starry night thing And like you know We know what to expect

When it comes to platformers Especially in Mario where it is World for World you're going to start off In the grassy plains Then you're going to go to the desert Then you're going to go to the water Then you're going to go to the fire right like there are these like templated okay we know what this is how does mario wonder bring it in terms of the world's i think

that this is kind of uh the perfect addressing of all my issues when it can to that stuff like uh it is that's one of the things that i keep talking about keeping me on my toes the world map awesome it feels very much like uh the closest thing to a sequel to the mario world map than i've ever seen where the map itself feels like something I want to explore, and you know there are secrets on. A ton of secrets in this game, ton of hidden exits. In a lot of ways,

this feels like Mario World was the base, but Yoshi's Island and Mario Odyssey were the inspiration. And it really, really works. The world map is awesome. The way it plays with perspective and the way that you're kind of like going around and some of the times you're on the little dotted lines, right? But even look at how 3D it all is,

of like going down into the mountains and stuff. but here are these areas that are open. You're just running around doing whatever you want. And the bouncing back and forth between the kind of like open world map and then the more closed off ones, it creates a really fun guided experience that guides you to open secrets. And I feel like it doesn't waste your time. Like it really kind of like meets me where I want to be met with this world map stuff of sometimes secrets and world maps and stuff like that are just like, all right, I'm going to walk everyone,

just keep hitting A until this invisible secret pops up. This doesn't feel that way. It feels way more design than that, which is very cool. But going back to your question about the looks and vibes of the different worlds, and you expect world one is this, and then world two is the desert, and world three, because that's what Mario's done for decades at this point.

Playing this game, one of my first thoughts getting to like World Three or Four, I was like, dang, after playing Pokemon for decades, and you go to the professor, and they're like, you choose a starter, it's either a fire, water, or grass.

And I'm always like, why don't you just change those types up? Give me a different cop. Give me a psychic, dark ghost. Give me, you know, some of that. This feels like them doing that. This feels like them, like getting just a little bit weird, a little bit out of ordinary, and it makes it feel so much more fresh.

Hell yeah. Talking about fresh. One of the things you mentioned your preview, but I'm interested here now. You're further into it. Art style. Where did you come down on that? That was something I know we all looked at like, oh, is it different? Is it the same?

Is it claymation? Is it with this? Where are you at now, you know, seven hours in? Totally getting what they were going for. I mean, it's great. It looks awesome. I feel like the word alive is going to come up a lot. The animations for everything, whether it's your characters themselves, background things, bosses, like, enemies.

Like, there's just so much happening. And the way everything interacts with each other is so, so cool. Whenever you get the Wonder Seed, so many random things will happen that I don't even want to talk too much about even specifics of ones. I don't want to know. I don't know. You might know just because it's like they're just every little moment would make me go, whoa, that's awesome. and seeing the Gumbas react to how the world's changing is so damn cool. So I think it's those little moments and it is that claimation look to it all

that add up to something special. I said this in the preview, but you get the fire flower and Mario kind of jumps up and like fire spins around and he does like a dope-ass anime pose. It's just like a level of of care and coolness that Mario has not had in a very long time. I still think overall it's not like my favorite thing. like it's it works and it's great uh yeah we just saw the fire clip right there but um it it's a nitpicky it's just not my fame that's all that it comes yeah it's our era is gonna

feel something different about it and then where are you at with the voice voices are great yeah so great they feel right at home uh honestly i wouldn't really know the difference uh if if i didn't know yeah it's it sounds difference but like it's not like the biggest thing that you're you're gonna notice because it is just a bunch of Wahoo's and stuff, right? And it's a Wahoo, even the new guy is trying to sound like Mario. You know what I mean? So it sounds like Mario. Having said that, though, so Kodji Kondo is the sound director on this.

And that's so evident he's been since Supermar Brothers won. So like to think of somebody being part of a team for these games for that long, that's pretty damn special. You know what I mean? Like, and you can see the identity in that stuff like the jump sounds new. The coin sounds new. the power-up sound, they're going down to War Pipe, they're all the same sounds, but they're just

modernized and unique to this game. I think all of that comes together to give this game such an amazing identity. And my hope is that there's not a Mario Tundor. Tundor? Yeah, I hope not either. I hope not either. Like, I hope that the next thing is like similarly,

like we're trying something different, new sound effects, new vibe, new different look. Because like, that I think would make this game, in retrospect, later stand out to me a lot more. Because where it stands right now, this does just feel like, yeah, it's the natural iteration of all those things with that

Nintendo Magic, so it's still an amazing video game. Okay. Yeah. Anything else that you can say? I know you're, I appreciate you wanting to protect the experience, let alone I know that there's some embargoed stuff. Did you get a chance to try co-op or multiplayer? I did not. No, that

was the other thing. Come on. Gia. Pull your weight on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't really do too much or any of that. But one thing I do want to say is I was kind of let down by the bosses. Okay.

There's a lot of things that, again, this is on my nerd Mario shit, but I feel like this game takes a lot of steps backwards in ways that I didn't expect it to in terms of quantity of boss fights, quality of boss fights, and just the amount of like different things

you're doing in the boss fights. Remember, you know, Mario 64, like you fight Bowser four times. Yeah. And like maybe there's a couple of mini bosses here and there. Yeah. And it was like, that's weird.

Like why weren't there more? Kind of feels like that. Interesting. We're like, huh, all right, cool. But some of the boss fights,

some of the levels very, very, very, very cool. Okay. Well, thank you, Tim, for doing your work. And thank you,

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Talk to me about Sonic superstars. Of course, you are the biggest Sonic fan we know. I'll put Tim in there. You're bigger than Tim. You're a bigger Sonic fans. I'll take it. Remember Sonic Frontiers, right? Three out of five.

Three out of five. You love like a five out of five. Where does this one come down? I would say Sonic Superstars is a three out of five that I love like a four out of five. Get the fuck out of here. It's like I'm serious about it. Like it's funny because this is one where it was announced around Summer Game Fest. And both me and Tim saw that debut trailer and we're both like, all right.

Like this art style is what we would have asked for. Like I feel like we always would have asked for a Sonic mania. And this is giving you a good thing in a 2D Sonic. But then a lot of things that we desired from the heart and charm. and art of like of a sonic mania right of something that did have the pixel art and something that did have that level of tlc to it after now playing through it and beating it even though i'm officially giving it a three out of five i really really like this game like i had a really fun time playing it it's one that the more i played it at first blush i still had that feeling of oh man okay

i don't know how i feel about this this feels like it's just you know it feels like a wateredown version of what a two d sonic could be the more i played it by the time i got to the end, I really start to get what they're going for. And for me, what they're going for is trying to make something that is like the Donkey Kong country returns of Sonic where we're going for something different. We're going for something, quote unquote, modern, right? Like I wouldn't say that pixel art is not modern, but like you associate pixel art with retro now. Sure.

This feels like it is them going, hey, how do we make something that can be 2D Sonic, but also be something new and fresh at the same time? And I think you get a lot of that from here. This game feels like a Sonic game, right? It has that same level of, it has the same physics. It has the same feel. It feels like something that is classic 2D Sonic. But I think because they're going for 3D,

they get to be creative in ways that maybe they would not have done if it was a straight up pixel art Sonic. And so, like, you know, for me, the thing I like the most about this game would be the level design where toward the end, there are levels and concepts they were introducing where I'm getting blown away, right? Like there was a certain level where by the time I got to act two,

the transition from Act 1 to Act 2 made me go, oh shit, like this is what we're doing and this is really cool. That stuff for me really hit, you know, going back to the Donkey Kong country comparison. Like there are moments where there are foreground background things happening. You know, either you'll hit a pad that'll launch you to the background and now you're playing in the background of the level for a second or you'll even hit a point of the level where if you're playing as Amy Rose, for example, you'll see Sonic pop up and do a thing in the background as you're playing the level in the foreground.

That's cool. Yeah, those moments were really cool. And yeah, like all in all, I think for me the thing that's still brings you. it down to a three out of five is that it is such a by the numbers uh sonic game you know it is it is very much all right like this you didn't find any wonder i didn't find any honestly i didn't find any wonder in it right like the to the moments i really appreciated for the interesting level design concept moments there are so many other moments where i'm like oh man this feels like it's being hampered by what it wants to be right it feels like it's being held back by you know

90s level Sonic design as opposed to like trying to dump the things that held that back and try to find things that push it forward. And so like immediately one of the things I noticed that I was like, why are we still doing this is all the bonus levels? There is an abundance of bonus levels. Like more bonus levels than you typically even get in a 2D Sonic game. And it feels like you're getting stopped at every checkpoint, right? Especially if you're playing while if you're getting all the rings, right? Like you get to a checkpoint and it is, all right? I'm going to hop into the thing.

I'm going to do the bonus level. That's the rotating blocks. and I am like a ball trying to get to like the end of the level and get the three different coins. That stuff feels like it's taking up half my time while playing this game to the point where I gave up and said, screw it. I'm not going to do the bonus levels anymore. Like I'm going to skip most of the stuff. The only bonus levels I'm going to do would be the big ring ones that you jump into and I would do those to get the chaos emerald,

which would also get you a special power. And that's another thing that this game introduces to is like the powers, right? Where you move your right analog stick. I played on PlayStation. and you get to pick a different ability. And the abilities are things you collect as you play through. There's one that's like a water ability that will let you climb up waterfalls.

There's another one that's like a fastball ability that'll let you launch yourself in a direction and you press square to activate them. And it's an addition that I liked that I would have liked to see explored even more, right? It feels like in addition for the sake of adding in a new layer, but it didn't necessarily feel like it was something that the game was built around.

Although one thing I will say in a way that I like how they implemented it is you'll be playing the game and you'll get to a point where you'll see a little icon at the bottom of the screen and that icon will correlate to, hey, you should use your ability here. And so like for one of the abilities I got, right, there's an ability in there that's that lets you see invisible platforms. And so as I'm playing, that icon popped up and I'm like, oh, I should use this. And then like, cool, there's a platform that will take me to get a bunch of rings or like

a special coin or like another bonus thing. Yeah. So I like how they started to do those things. I wish they would have doubled down and, like, found way more scenarios to use your abilities, because I felt like I could play this game as a regular Sonic game, ignore the ability stuff, and still be business as usual. In terms of aesthetic and soundtrack, both of those are things I would have wanted a bit more from. No. Soundtrack, like, the melodies are catchy.

You know, it feels like the melodies were made for a 2D Sonic game, but the sound quality and, like, the catchiness didn't hit for me in the way that a lot of 2D Sonic games really do excel with that stuff. I was a bit let down by the soundtrack. And then on the other side of it, right? Like the visuals, I like the direction of it, but I wish it looked prettier. You know, I look at the gameplay

that was up earlier for the Super Mario Wonder. And frame to frame, I'm like, oh, that looks really good. Like, that looks really pretty. Oh, this is blowing me away. Whereas Sonic Superstar is very much feels like, hey, we took Sonic, we made it 3D. It is what it is. It is what it is.

And there's not much that pops about it. There's not much that really stands out about it. It's not bad per se, but it's also not great, right? Like, it's a solid, okay-looking game. So it's funny. Now, Bless, I know me and you go way back with the Sonic franchise, and I feel like overall we have pretty similar taste when it comes to Sonic, for the most part.

Going from the classic 2D Genesis games and them having their vibe and their style, both aesthetically and specifically the sound and music, going into the 3D era, I know that some of those games are quality-wise, give or take for people, but everyone loves the music even if they love it in an ironic way

or at some point it's not ironic they fucking love this bad music but it's good music you get what I'm saying right it's a different type of vibe I feel like with generations that was the Sonic game that us Sonic Sickos out there kind of for a decade held on to of like the Sonic Cycles

Real we know that a lot of these games suck but generations though generations was great and that was you know old school and new school and even then that was the introduction of introduction of classic Sonic The way that he looks that we see him in superstars now. Does this game, I know it feels more like mania, which is good. But now that you've actually beat it, what does it feel like?

How would you compare this to that? Is this like, oh, we're back to the generations type of thing? No, no, no, no, no. It feels like a 2D Sonic. Like, it feels like a mania slash classic Sonic. In a way that's actually pretty surprising because it doesn't look like it feels that way. Like it looks like it feel more like a generations and like that 2D. It does not feel that.

It feels like a actual 2D Sonic. Sonic, which is where so much of the fun came. And that's where I come down on I really, really like this game despite giving it a three out of five, right? Like, it's one that I look at you, Tim, and I'm like, you should play this. If you're a fan of Sonic, you should play this because it's a good time from beginning to end. There's just enough qualms there.

I'm like, oh, man, you could have elevated this in so many different ways that I would have loved to see. But I think it does get the job done. And to the point where, like, I have some of the same complaints, right? of like the classic Sonic games and how they control with this game. Like I do not like that when you find yourself caught in like a

like under a something that like slams down. It's an automatic death. Right. Like you don't lose the rings. It fucking kills you. If like a robot steps on you or something, like it's an automatic death. That's the most annoying thing to me.

And the collision detection is always like and the collision detection. It touched my freaking like one piece of my hair. There's like there's a like a part in a level that I died to I swear like four times where it was me trying to essentially jumped through a gap, right? But because of the way the two things collided, I kept dying in a way that didn't feel natural. I was like, that shouldn't kill me, but it's killing me every single time. And yeah, it's that level of jankiness where I'm like, oh, you didn't need to keep that, though.

Like that's something that we could have accounted for and maybe like, hey, maybe make it a rings thing, right? I lose rings instead of the automatic death. And so small things like that are the things that build up to where even though this feels like a next step for what a modern Sonic could be, it is held back by the things that old Sonic had been, and I wish it stepped beyond that stuff. But yeah, like I, despite it all, like, for me, as somebody who really likes Sonic, this game's scratch niche real well. It is 2D Sonic.

It is new levels in a 2D Sonic. It is some really good level concepts. I wouldn't necessarily say my favorite levels, but some, like, a lot of moments that had me go, oh, this is a brilliant idea to like to do and to try and pull off here. And like I think for the most part, when they do those things, they get them done. I would again like even those things I would love to see elevated but I think they get them done enough

one more thing I'll throw out too is the boss fights which I think the boss fights are a mixture of sometimes really good and really creative and other times really annoying and why is this this hard right like it's it's it's it's it is that dice roll of what you're going to get when you get to a boss and at points you know you mentioned the boss fights for super marie wonder and as you're talking about that immediately I started thinking about some of the best boss fights I had in this game and I'm like yeah dude I feel like In the few places I feel like Mario could learn from Sonic, I feel like this is one of the places where it's like, you know,

I like how puzzly the boss, the boss fights can be and how like, okay, cool, I just got to wait. I just got to wait and see when is the vulnerability. Oh, it's right there and you get to the jump and it's about executing. I really like those, um,

uh, those parts in the Sonic game. But again, there are those handful of boss fights that had me like wanting to tear my hair and get, and get frustrated. Oh, no,

like good time. Uh, I enjoyed it. An okay time. Three out of five. Okay. Yeah. I mean,

okay to good. I'm just saying. Four is a great. So, like, it was a 3.5. I give it a 3.5. Sure. So, like, you mentioned the soundtrack, and it broke my heart. And you say that it wasn't one of your favorite things.

Because I feel like if a soundtrack isn't one of your favorite things of a Sonic game, it's not a real Sonic game. You don't know what I'm talking about. Are there tracks, though, that stand out? Like, are there something you're like, all right, at least they have that. No. Sadly, there was not one track here where I would add it to my Sonic playlist. Okay.

Because, of course, I got my soundtrack playlist, right? And, like, there are Sonic songs where I'm like, I'm coming back to this. I'm coming back to Chemical Plan Zone. I'm coming back to like the 3D, like the Sonic Hero song and Escape from the City and all that stuff. I don't think there's one song on here

where I would add it to that playlist. They're, again, they're not bad, but it's not as good as Sonic usually is for music. You know, it's like the songs are slightly catchy, but I wish that like some of these songs were chip tunes. I wish some of these songs were,

like felt like they had a different texture to them where it didn't feel like watered down, 3D, I guess modern, you know, Sonic type sound. Like I wish we were doubling down on the type of sounds that you heard in a Sonic Mania or just in 2D Sonic in general because I feel like we're in an unhappy medium with it that doesn't make it as stand out and memorable. Did you play Sonic 4? Like as a, well, I played it like, I played maybe a couple levels on my iPod touch.

Because my biggest, wow, okay, damn. So you did it like the worst way possible. Yeah. Yeah. That is nuts. Yeah, because Sonic 4 was not good. And we all hoped it was going to be. It was very exciting when it was first announced

that we're getting a new 2D Sonic. But it played like a weird, more 3D than 2D. It's all the boost mechanics and all that. And the sound, the music was really the thing that was not it where it sounded more like the generic 3D music, not the vocal tracks. Emulating what a Sonic game should sound like. And when we first saw Sonic Superstars,

I was like, oh shit. Like the look of this feels like more. in line with Sonic 4, but then when we played it at Summer Game Fest, it's like, oh, no, no, this plays like Mania, which is the right move there. But yeah, I wonder, I hope the music's better than... Yeah, I mean, I imagine it's better than that. Like, I think there's no part of this game where I'm like, this is trash. You know, like, all of it feels up to par, like, in terms of, like, it all feels competent. You know, this isn't a, it's not a Sonic Frontier situation where Sonic Frontier's had high highs and then it's like, what the fuck was

going on in some of these aspects of the game when you look at the pop and you look at like bugs and all the stuff right it's not sonic frontiers everything in sonic superstars feels like it's just hitting that that bar right like it's it's it's hitting it none of it feels bad even the music is like it's fine how long did it take you to be not that long it took me four to five hours okay um and that was with me dying a few times where the checkpoints are fairly generous um is there a replayability to bring you back or bring people yeah like there are different characters you can play as you can switch characters as you play through the game you have the four different characters so sonic knuckles tails and amy rose um and i played it as all four as i played

through just to get the different feel of them that i mean it's the same differences is that you get in the other sonic games right and so like sonic has his spin dash and his um i think it's called like a jump dash it's like where you press the jump button again when we're in the air and then as you hit the floor you get to drop dash drop dash thank you uh sonic has that knuckles has like the glide and then he can climb on walls and then Tails has like his tails that let him fly and then Amy Rose has her hammer that when you jump you kind of get like a wider radius of um your like where you can get damage um so like those are the minor differences some characters are easier than others I stopped playing his tails pretty quickly because I was like oh this is not even fair I'm flying over over these

levels um but yeah like I think if you want to replay as different characters there's that and then there is a thing that I don't want to say um but like once you finish the game you get like another fun thing to do And so I think they're doing a good job in terms of content to keep you coming back and replaying the levels. And I think for a Sonic game, that's what you want. You know, a lot of Sonic is about, you know, the first run through being, all right, let's finish the game. Let's get a taste of the levels. And then the additional runthrough is being, all right, let's keep playing. Let's see if I can zoom through these.

Let's see if I can get all the collectibles. By one thing that, again, I'll go back to when it comes to the collectibles is that I don't love how many bonus levels there are. And I'll even throw in with that the lack of variety in the bonus levels. I think if there, I think if it was a fact that, you know, with. each bonus level, I'm getting a different thing. Then it wouldn't be as egregious. But I think because so many of the bonus levels are me, you know, in like the block maze doing the thing where I'm jumping around and hitting the R

so I can then rotate the other way and do all that stuff, it becomes tedious after a while, especially when you keep getting them. So yeah, that's my main thing with content. I think aside from that, like the content's pretty good. I know it isn't your forte, but how are the trophies? Did you look? Because I'm looking right now on PSN profiles. Nobody's popped the platinum yet.

But it's also because today's launch day for general public. And there's a couple in here that, like, nobody's achieved yet, but I assume it's just because you haven't gotten to it. I've not gone through all the trophies. You do collect 100 medals for bonus stages. You're just talking to you. Yeah, see, that I think that would probably be the thing that would make me give up. Got it.

But you do get a trophy after completing each zone. So like every two acts. So I did, I finished the game with like a handful of trophies. There's another trophy that's like defeat a thousand enemies. And I'm surprised I didn't get that one. Okay. So I'd look to look back and see, like, how many enemies did I defeat as I played through this? Because I would have, I would guess that I would be in at least 300 or 400 enemies, I guess.

So some of those trophies, I think, might take a bit of going back and grinding a little bit. But you do get a nice handful by the time you finish. I have two questions for you. At the end of the day, does this feel like a cash grab? And the second one is, do you want a sequel? Cash grab, no. I don't think it feels like a cash grab. I think it's good enough and it has enough of a vision there that it doesn't feel like it's just, hey, let's get money.

I think the game is good. I think it's okay to good, right? Like I will put it in that good range. For the second question of would I want to see a sequel? I'd say yes. I would be down for a sequel. Granted, like, I'd want a Sonic Mania 2 more, but I wouldn't be mad at a superstar sequel because going back to the idea of like Donkey Kong Country returns and how that feels like it's almost the vision of what this game wants to be.

if the next step is getting us to a tropical freeze moment where it's like, oh, now you guys understand this. Can you imagine? As I play it, I'm like, oh, this has a lot of good ideas. Like, this has a lot of good, this has a good vision to it. You know, like, I don't think they're, I don't think they're onto something bad here. I think the pitch of this game is there.

Is it different from what people ask for? Sure, but like, were people even asking for a 3D rendered like 2D.com? Maybe, I don't know. Like, I don't know if people were asking for it like that, but we got it and people ended up loving it. I think if you make a Sonic Superstars too that takes this art style, gives it more detail, more TLC, you know, sits down with the level design more and like really go for what make the best levels of this game shine and double down on that.

I think you've got a banger there. Like I think that's something that could come through and really make people fall in love with what Sonic Superstars is. That, you know, plus make the soundtrack better, plus find new bonus games or bonus levels. Then I think we're cooking once we do that. Like, I think you got something there. So I'm going to say yes, I'd be down for a sequel. Cool.

Hell yeah. Video games are cool, y'all. Sonic and Mario, man. Right? Super Mario Brothers Wonder, a four out of five in the kind of funny review scale. Of course, meaning it is great. Good job. You passed the test.

Sonic superstars, of course, say three out of five on the kind of funny review scale. Okay slash good. Okay, slash good. Yeah. Okay, good in parentheses. Yeah, so, you know, I was talking about it. either it's okay. Yeah, all right. I liked it or it's okay. Exactly. It's whatever. This is a good okay. It's a positive okay. I appreciate that.

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