History VideoGame / SonicSuperstars

** [[spoiler: Much like Knuckles before her, Trip's story has Eggman being replaced by an Egg Robo in the boss fights.]]

* AbilityRequiredToProceed: Players are encouraged to obtain the Chaos Emeralds as soon as possible to access certain routes and shortcuts in later stages. Examples include using Water to climb waterfalls or Slow to get past hyper-fast crushers.

* BalancePowerSkillGimmick: Sonic is the Balance, the levels being built with him in mind, his moveset being the base for the others and his only gimmick being the Drop Dash; Knuckles is the Power, as he can destroy walls while running and he can climb walls to find secrets; Tails is the Skill, his (time limited) flying ability being a way to cheese levels and find secrets easier; and Amy is the Gimmick, as her running speed feels slower than the others, but her Insta-Shield is easy to use even by accident, her Drop Dash lets her more control than Sonic’s, and she can even double jump. [[spoiler:Trip is a Power and Gimmick character, as she cumulates Amy’s double jump with a spiky armor that allows her to climb walls like Knuckles (in addition to clinging on ceilings), the game becomes harder with her, and her Super Mode changes the way you control her.]]

Damsel in distress In Golden Captial Fang kidnaps Trip who somehow escapes

* PiggyBank: The boss you’ll face in the Lagoon City Zone is a giant golden robotic pig, that sucks up some rings you collected.

** Bonus Stages are the ''VideoGame/{{Cameltry}}''-esque rotating mazes from ''Sonic 1'' and they're accessed from checkpoints. There are 12 rounds in total, each with multiple layers, and they're only worth medals.

* BreakingOldTrends:
** For a long time, it's been allegedly stated that only male hedgehogs had the capability to utilize [[SuperMode super modes]], with anyone else being able to do so being deemed non-canon.[[note]]Despite this, Super Knuckles does get referenced in ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers'', as Knuckles claims he could've defeated Wyvern in his Super form in the cutscene following the Super Sonic boss fight against Wyvern. However, according to writer Ian Flynn, as a way to [[LoopholeAbuse get around this rule]], he made it [[AmbiguousSituation deliberately ambiguous]] if Knuckles can turn super, or if he was just being hyperbolic.[[/note]] [[spoiler:That is, until Trip ended up having enough of Fang's abuse at the end of Golden Capital Zone and decides to use the Emeralds against him to transform into a giant golden dragon, proving definitively that others ''could'' go Super if they really wanted to. It's also the first time that someone besides a male hedgehog got a GoldenSuperMode.[[note]]This is discounting Blaze, who gets [[LoopholeAbuse around the male hedgehogs rule]] thanks to her super form being activated by a different set of emeralds (the Sol Emeralds) and her super form being called "Burning Blaze" instead of "Super Blaze".[[/note]]]]

* ADayInTheLimelight: Some zones have an additional third act that forces the player to use a certain character and will have them play the act solo if in multiplayer. [[spoiler:In the case of Trip, she gets her own story mode.]]

* ChekhovsGun: A strange purple gem is in the middle of the stage select screen but nobody pays it any mind. [[spoiler:In the true ending, Trip uses it to seal the Black Dragon once again.]]
* ColorFailure: When Fang shoots a cork at a giant Flicky while exploring the North Star Islands, it briefly turns grayscale, with the next panel showing it glowing red with anger.

** In "Trio of Trouble", Eggman encounters a giant wall with seven people that look like Trip, implying there’s more to Trip than what viewers currently know about her.
** Amy's personal stage in Lagoon City is mandatory, unlike Sonic's in Speed Jungle, suggesting it is plot important. [[spoiler:During the stage Amy helps Trip after her latest trap malfunction strands her in the labyrinth. Later in the game Trip pulls a HeelFaceTurn because of her kindness.]]

* SelfDuplication: One of the Chaos Emerald powers — "Avatar" — allows the player to summon an army of copies of the chosen character to rush over the screen and hit enemies and bosses in their path.

** Golden Capital Zone Act 1 is a casino level that comes immediately after the player can have collected all the Chaos Emeralds, making it a breeze to gather hundreds of rings and demolish the stage as Super Sonic. [[spoiler:Immediately afterward, Fang steals all of the Chaos Emeralds, turning Act 2 into a brutal NoGearLevel where the casino theme is downplayed in favor of the first act's secondary motif: being a LethalLavaLand.]]

* WreckedWeapon: In ''Fang[='=]s Big Break'', Fang's signature cork gun is crushed by the giant Flicky's foot while running away to his bike. When he manages to capture said Flicky, Trip then tries attacking him with her spear, but [[WeaponGripFailure immediately loses her grip on it]] after she trips over a branch, where it subsequently gets crushed by Fang's foot.

** The timer is now purely for points at the end of the level, and will now no longer automatically kill the player if it runs out.

* EasyLevelsHardBosses: The general take is the levels themselves are pretty standard difficulty wise by classic Sonic gameplay standards. The ''bosses'', however, are markedly a step up from previous Sonic titles both classic ''and'' modern, to the point that the FinalBoss of the main campaign, [[spoiler:the FinalBoss of Trip's campaign, and the TrueFinalBoss are consider some of ''the'' most difficult fights in the ''[[SerialEscalation entire franchise]]''.]]

* CallForward: The Mosasaurus, Horned Moss-quito, Monkey, Golden Piggy Bank, and Pterodactyl Badnik sub-bosses have menacing cyan eyes, which Eggman's Badniks themselves such as Buzz Bombers and Crabmeats will have in [[VideoGame/SonicColors due]] [[VideoGame/SonicGenerations time]].

** In the final level, Eggman [[spoiler:activates what looks like an artificial version of the [[VideoGame/SonicMania Phantom Ruby's power]] to send time backwards and repair his final mech when Team Sonic nearly destroys it. This also ties into ''VideoGame/SonicForces'' where he was able to complete the artificial Phantom Ruby and have it work multiple times.]]

* ManiacMonkeys: The mini-boss in the Press Factory Zone is a primate of a Badnik, that is seen swinging on the pipes of said factory.

** The Red Emerald's ability (Bullet) is awfully remeniscent of the Red Wisp's (Burst) abilities from the DS version of ''VideoGame/SonicColors'', the 3DS versions of ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' and ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'', and as a Wispon in ''VideoGame/SonicForces''. They even have the similar method of both being fire-based, both revolving around dashing through the air semi-indefinitely, and both having a certain time limit to do so.

* CameraAbuse: The very difficult final boss for the second scenario has a OneHitKill projectile that sends the protagonist flying into the camera, cracking the screen. What's very satisfying is that once the BigBad is defeated, he fails to escape the collapsing Egg Fortress and gets blown into the camera as well.

* BalancePowerSkillGimmick: Sonic is the Balance, the levels being built with him in mind, his moveset being the base for the others and his only gimmick being the Drop Dash; Knuckles is the Power, as he can destroy walls while running and he can climb walls to find secrets; Tails is the Skill, his (time limited) flying ability being a way to cheese levels and find secrets easier; and Amy is the Gimmick, as her running speed feels slower than the others, but her Insta-Shield is easy to use even by accident, her Drop Dash lets her more control than Sonic’s, and she can even double jump. [[spoiler:Trip is a Power and Gimmick character, as she cumulates Amy’s double jump with a spiky armor that allows her to climb walls like Knuckles, the game becomes harder with her, and her Super Mode changes the way you control her.]]

** [[LimitBreak Extra]] (White) enables a unique move for each character. Sonic gets the Homing Attack, Tails can shoot a tornado with his two-tails, Knuckles performs a punch that can shoot projectiles, Amy is allowed to toss hammers like she could while in Hyper mode in ''Sonic Origins'', [[spoiler:and Trip is capable to shoot fireballs.]]

* BalancePowerSkillGimmick: Sonic is the Balance, the levels being built with him in mind, his moveset being the base for the others and his only gimmick being the Drop Dash; Knuckles is the Power, as he can destroy walls while running and he can climb walls to find secrets; Tails is the Skill, his flying ability being a way to cheese levels and find secrets easier (but also having a time limit on the flight); and Amy is the Gimmick, as her running speed feels slower than the others, but her Insta-Shield is easy to use even by accident, her Drop Dash lets her more control than Sonic’s, and she can even double jump. [[spoiler:Trip is a Power and Gimmick character, as she cumulates Amy’s double jump with a spiky armor that allows her to climb walls like Knuckles, the game becomes harder with her, and her Super Mode changes the way you control her.]]

* BalancePowerSkillGimmick: Sonic is the Balance, the levels being built with him in mind, his moveset being the base for the others and his only gimmick being the Drop Dash; Knuckles is the Power, as he can destroy walls while running and he can climb walls to find secrets; Tails is the Skill, his flying ability being a way to cheese levels and find secrets easier (but also having a time limit on the flight); and Amy is the Gimmick, as her running speed feels slower than the others, but her Insta-Shield is easy to use even by accident, her Drop Dash lets her more control than Sonic’s, and she can even double jump in ''Superstars''. [[spoiler:Trip is another Gimmick, as she has Amy’s double jump coupled with a spiky armor that allows her to climb walls like Knuckles.]]