YMMV / Sonic Superstars

• Abandon Shipping: Prior to the game's launch, there were a decent amount of fans who shipped Fang x Trip, due to them being billed as Eggman's two main henchmen. However, after the game came out, traces of their shippers all but vanished, due to Fang not only being established as a Bad Boss to Trip, but also personally wanting her dead without Eggman's command during Trip's campaign. Instead, most fans opted to ship Trip x Amy.
• Alternative Character Interpretation: What was Eggman's plan for the Black Dragon? He's actively hunting for it or at the very least interested in it, yet he never attempts to take control of it during the True Final Boss, nor was he the one set it free. Was he planning on releasing it to try and control it? Release it and then kill it to harvest its power? Or, considering that later games show that Eggman will save the world if only so that he can try to conquer it later, was he planning to keep it sealed or even try to defeat it himself to prevent it from destroying the world?
• Contested Sequel: Mostly to Sonic Mania. People who favour this game to Mania consider it more original by virtue of not re-using any stages or plot elements, and adding features that had never been seen before such as the Emerald Powers and co-op multiplayer. Those who prefer Mania consider its level and boss design far worse than Mania, its visuals and story not particularly inspired despite being all-new and point out the brokenness of multiplayer despite being touted as a flagship mechanic. There's also the matter of how it stacks up to the other 2D Sonic games, where it usually places around the middle of the pile—better than the likes of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and some of the Dimps games, but worse than the Classics.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • With Fang appearing in the reveal trailer, fans immediately started guessing that Bark the Polar Bear and Bean the Dynamite would also appear since they're usually depicted as a Power Trio alongside Fang thanks to the Archie comics, even though they're nowhere to be seen in any of the promotional material or gameplay footage. Ultimately, the fan theories were jossed, as only Trip accompanies Fang, and even so, she performs a Heel–Face Turn and leaves him in favor of Team Sonic after he pushes her too far.
  • Fans noticed that the title screen of the demo has a conspicuously empty spot next to Tails, and began speculating that there might be a fifth playable character (either Fang, the new villain, Trip, or an as-of-yet unrevealed character). This intensified after the game's website launched with seven character profiles arranged in a grid, leaving another conspicuous blank space. Fans were right, as Trip is unlocked as the fifth playable character after the main story mode is completed.
  • In Egg Fortress Zone, when you take a closer look at the open space in the background, there's a purple moon that notably resembles THE END from Sonic Frontiers. While it is confirmed to just be a purple moon and the game brings no attention to it, many fans quickly began theorizing that the purple moon is THE END, even though THE END is supposed to be imprisoned in Cyberspace before Frontiers. This theory was later Jossed by Ian Flynn (the writer of Frontiers) on his X account, though that didn't stop it from becoming Fanon, with some fans opting to dismiss and ignore his statement. Ironically, his post would kickstart a separate (but more tongue-in-cheek) fan theory that the blue moon is also a malevolent entity similar to THE END (often humorously dubbed "THE BEGINNING" by fans).
• Fandom Rivalry: Within the same franchise, this game has a bitter one with Sonic Mania. Although the majority prefers Mania for its tighter design and better gameplay, a Vocal Minority prefers Superstars for having more original stages, while Mania largely consists of reused zones from previous games. Many arguments between fans of either game can be found online.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Just as Sonic Mania had been given the name "Sonic the Hedgehog 4" by fans^note in spite of there being an actual Sonic the Hedgehog 4, many have continued the trend by deeming this game, "Sonic the Hedgehog 5".
  • Since the game is a 2½D game that modernizes Classic Sonic in 3D, many fans have dubbed it Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode III. The name would only see more use after fans learned that much of the game's soundtrack is done in the same style as Sonic 4's soundtrack.
  • Sonic Planet Robobot / Triple Deluxe: Due to having similar experimental gimmicks to these two Kirby games like jumping to platforms in the background, having boss fights that take advantage of the third dimension while the player is stuck moving in 2D, with the platforms/motion sometimes wrapping around the boss, new powerful attacks/forms not seen in previous games, a lesser villain turning to the side of good, etc. Adding to this is the later boss theme's close resemblance to "Pink Ball Activate!" from Kirby: Planet Robobot. As a bonus, Triple Deluxe also works, because once again, Sonic is dealing with Triple Trouble.
• Fanon:
  • Due to Amy's newfound friendship with Trip and having a similar bob cut to Amy's modern design, some fans like to think the former was inspired by the latter to change her spines to her modern bob cut (which became more prevalent, with the reveal that it is set before Sonic Adventure).
  • Since the Black Dragon has a similar purple color scheme to THE END, fans were quick to theorize that the Black Dragon is related to THE END in some way.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: It's generally agreed that the hand drawn artstyle the game was originally going to have would have been much better than the final game's 3D graphics.
• Friendly Fandoms: Despite the usual rivalry stemming between both fanbases and franchises, Sonic and Mario fans are both equally supportive of this game and the new upcoming 2D Mario game, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, both of which were released within three days of each other. Both games are looking to be a very nice return to form after past controversial 2D game entries (Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and New Super Mario Bros. 2 respectively) with very beautiful and expressive animation and art-styles while also having completely new and unique looking environments and areas and multiple different playable characters (with Amy and Daisy being the biggest surprises). Plenty of crossover art celebrating both games were made within hours of Wonder's reveal.
• Game-Breaker:
  • If you know how to use the Chaos Emerald powers that you gain with each new emerald, level design and a number of the boss fights can become a joke. Bullet in particular lets you effectively ignore most levels by freely boosting through the air all over the place, Slow makes some of the nastier bosses and stage hazards far more palatable, Water practically seems tailor-designed to make Lagoon City's boss a joke, and Avatar is explicitly for gaining free hits on a boss you can't quite reach readily. The only thing holding them back is that they have one use and can only be refreshed at a checkpoint, meaning every boss fight expects you to ration their usage wisely.
  • Amy's new moveset, despite how deceptively simple it is, makes her a fantastic boss killer. Having a double jump on top of a larger spin jump attack hitbox allows her to both have a much easier time dodging the bosses attacks and hitting them when other characters wouldn't be able to. Notably, she makes the main campaign's Final Boss significantly easier to take down.
• Good Bad Bugs: If Sonic grabs an air bubble in Lagoon City Act 2 after defeating the boss just as soon as the water level is about to cross his hitbox, the physics of moving in water will still apply to land movement, and this also means that Sonic is able to drown on land. While this would normally be an undesirable effect, clearing the stage fast enough means that the drowning music will start to play during the transition cutscene to Sand Sanctuary, creating a really unintentionally funny scene.
• I Knew It!:
  • Back when Trip's species was still unknown, one of the more popular theories was that Trip is a lizard due to her reptilian-like armor and her spiky tail. This turned out to be right, as a few months after the game's reveal, Sega would confirm her to be a sungazer lizard.
  • Several fans theorised prior to Superstars' release that Trip, due to her ineffective nature as a villain, would eventually side with Team Sonic by the game's end. Of course, they were proven right come the game's release, with Trip pulling a Heel–Face Turn in Golden Capital Zone once she's finally had enough of Fang pushing her around.
• It's Hard, So It Sucks!: A major complaint lodged at the game is just how insanely hard some of the boss fights can get. While the levels aren't particularly difficult for the most part, the boss fights are designed in a way that makes getting multiple hits in one go impossible, and some of them leave very little room for error. It's to the point that the final boss fights for all three campaigns are consider some of the most difficult fights in the entire franchise.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: One major criticism the game got both before and after its release is that the game is quite short for its $60 price, having the exact same amount of zones as Sonic Mania. Even when including the battle mode and Trip's story mode, as well as the stages being longer than previous games in the series, the game still doesn't have much content.
• Last Lousy Point: Players wanting trophy completion will most likely be stymied by the trophy that requires completing a stage in offline co-op multiplayer, meaning you need a second controller and someone to play with in order to complete the game. For players who can get past that hurdle, the trophies to kill 100 enemies using one specific move from each individual character, and 1000 enemies total, will likely remain out of reach long after everything else has already been finished.
• Les Yay: Some fans have interpreted that Trip has feelings for Amy, after the pink hedgehog helped escort her out of Lagoon City Zone. It is the first time in the game that anyone ever showed her any kindness, with Amy calming her down after the sungazer fell into the city and in return, the latter gives her access to the secret underwater passage blocked by a giant octopus. The fact it is the only Character Act that a player must do in order to progress only strengthens this further, where her friendship allows Trip to fully kickstart her Heel–Face Turn against Fang in Golden Capital Zone. When she's later introduced to the group, it is Amy who does so, and Trip is noticeably nervous around the other three heroes except Amy, where she initially hides behind her helmet, though loosens up by the ending. This goes hand-in-hand with the idea that Amy was inspired by Trip to change her spines to her modern bob cut, with the latter possibly even giving her that cut at some point.
• Memetic Badass:
  • Fang is usually a harmless Butt-Monkey one way or another, though just his mere return had people hyping him up. Then you fight him as the Final Boss of Trip's Story where he uses not only a souped up Marvelous Queen, but also finally pulls out that Humongous Mecha that was foreshadowed in Golden Capital Zone in the main story. From there, he immediately becomes That One Boss of Superstars, if not one of the hardest bosses of the entire series. After that, fans proclaimed that Fang is anything but a pushover.
  • Amy's moveset making her a fantastic boss killer up to including making the Final Boss significantly easier if you choose her has caused classic Amy to develop a reputation of being a Little Miss Badass that leaves the rest of the cast completely stunned at her tearing through boss Badniks with ease.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Due to the aforementioned empty spot right next to Tails, it's pretty common for people to add one more random character within or outside the Sonic series to fill it in.
  • THE END confirmed!^{Explanation (Sonic Frontiers spoilers)}In Egg Fortress Zone, a purple moon can be seen in the background, looking suspiciously similar to Sonic Frontiers's Final Boss THE END. Naturally, countless theories about why it's there popped up, given that he's supposed to be imprisoned in cyberspace in this point in time. This got so bad that Ian Flynn, who wrote Frontiers, eventually Jossed the entire thing, confirming that it's just a purple moon, not THE END.
    • THE BEGINNING^{Explanation (Sonic Frontiers spoilers)}In his post debunking the purple moon=THE END theory, Ian Flynn states that while fans losing their minds over the purple moon, nobody is talking about the blue moon. This led many fans to jokingly theorize that the blue moon is also a malevolent entity known as THE BEGINNING, with many claiming it is the more powerful opposite of THE END
  • The Dark Dragon watches DEATH BATTLE!.^{Explanation (spoilers)}The Dark Dragon spends most of the boss fight in the background while taking its sweet time to do any attacks, all the while Super Sonic's ring counter continues to count down. One of Death Battle's is its undervaluation of Super Modes often saying people can just wait them out as a way to deal with them. So, people have jokingly suggested the Dark Dragon follows the show and is employing that same mentality against Super Sonic in their battle.
• Memetic Psychopath: Given just how insanely hard the Final Boss of the normal campaign is, fans have taken to portraying Robotnik in this moment as finally snapping and going completely unhinged, outright wanting Sonic and the crew dead by any means possible this time.
• Nightmare Fuel: Fang's dream in "Trio of Trouble" starts out the same as prior shorts, but upon his defeat, Sonic, Tails, and Amy's faces suddenly turn demonic while the scene itself adopts a blood-red hue. As he's about to be finished off by the Piko Piko Hammer, Fang wakes up, and the horror ends as suddenly as it began. It's especially jarring because of how... out of place it feels in an otherwise-lighthearted cartoon short.
• Older Than They Think:
  • The concept of each Chaos Emerald having a unique ability is not an entirely new idea for the franchise, as Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog featured a similar concept with their incarnation of the Chaos Emeralds in the "Quest for the Chaos Emeralds" saga back in 1993.
  • This is not the first 2D classic-styled Sonic game to feature Amy Rose as a playable character alongside Team Sonic. That honor goes to Sonic Advance, which was released back in 2001. Amy is also playable in the game's sequels.
  • Superstars isn't the first piece of Sonic media to have a Metal Tails or Metal Amy. In Sonic Universe Issue #37, the comic would debut a Metal Tails and Metal Amy, who joined with Metal Sonic to form Team Metal, though these versions were based on the modern versions of these characters, as opposed to Superstars' classic versions.
  • While fans were shocked by Trip's Golden Super Form being a golden dragon instead of a golden/enhanced version of her normal form like the other super forms, this is not the first time the series has done something like this, as Chaos from Sonic Adventure is shown to shapeshift into different forms with each emerald he obtains, before becoming a giant water monster in the form of Perfect Chaos after he acquires all seven Chaos Emeralds. This is also the case for Gemerl, whose super form (Ultimate Gemerl) has little resemblance to his normal self, being a floating saucer with several arms.
• Scrappy Mechanic:
  • The co-op is a big selling point of the game, and if you're just messing around playing casually, you should still be able to have fun. But the level design is not tailored for this whatsoever; many acts are structured like a Sonic game usually is, which means one player will constantly be leaving others in the dust if they don't keep up the pace, and Camera Screw can wildly ensue as the game is trying to figure out who is the "leader" it should be following in these cases. Remember how often Tails had to teleport in the classic games every time he flew off-screen because the AI couldn't keep up? Imagine up to 4 human players fighting for the right to be the focus and the problems show themselves rapidly.
    • One aspect that was designed around multiplayer was that the bosses have significantly longer Mercy Invincibility upon getting hit to prevent four players for barraging and quickly defeating the boss...however, the invincibility isn't adjusted for single-player mode, so single-player bosses involve a lot of waiting around, making them take much longer than they should. This is exacerbated by many of the bosses being extremely difficult and lacking checkpoints.
  • While Trip being unlocked as a secret playable character was quite the surprise and her having a cool golden dragon form as her Super form is awesome, playing as said golden dragon Super form is well... less than ideal and leaves a lot to be desired to say the least. For one thing, Super Trip controls far differently and far less intuitively than the other Super characters as well as Trip's base form and controls extremely awkwardly in comparison. While she can fly freely unlike the other Super characters, it doesn't make up for all of her other shortcomings. Combine that with her only unique attack in said Super form being a small short-ranged fire breath attack that is nearly useless and it makes for a far less fun character to play as than in her base form.
• Sequel Difficulty Spike: For the most part, the game's levels are largely in the same line as levels from previous classic Sonic games. However, the bosses, on the other hard, are largely considered to be some of the hardest bosses in all of Classic Sonic, having much longer battles and smaller windows for actually damaging them. It's to the point that the Final Boss manages to reach this very wiki's standards for qualifying as being That One Boss for a final boss fight.
• Shipping: Fans have taken to shipping Trip and Amy Rose, since Trip's Heel–Face Turn was fully kickstarted thanks to Amy helping her in Lagoon City Act Amy and the kindness she showed her after Trip was escorted out of danger. It is the only Character Act that a player must do in order to progress, as this act of friendship allows Trip to retaliate against Fang in the main story after being pushed around by him. When Trip joins Team Sonic, Amy is the one who introduces her to the group.
• Shocking Moments:
  • The game's surprise reveal at Summer Game Fest shocked a lot of fans, as most were not expecting a new Sonic platformer so soon after the release of Sonic Frontiers (since Sega/Sonic Team had largely stopped releasing mainline games on a yearly basis after Sonic Lost World), let alone a new 2D Classic Sonic game. Especially considering that, at the time, Frontiers' second DLC pack and Sonic Origins Plus hadn't released yet (both were released on June 23rd, 2023, just over two weeks after the announcement).
  • The reveal that Naoto Ohshima (one of the co-founders of Sonic Team and the original designer of Sonic and Dr. Eggman) was returning to work on the game was a shock for many, since many fans had long accepted that he was very unlikely to ever return to the series after Sonic Adventure (his last Sonic game) came and went.
  • The end of the trailer revealing that Amy's modern Sonic Adventure outfit is an unlockable outfit that can be obtained by subscribing to the game's email took many by surprise, since nobody was expecting anything from the modern era to be featured in a Classic Sonic title.
  • The inclusion of a costume based on Sonic's prototype rabbit design was another surprise few could've expected.
  • Trip being Promoted to Playable was something that a lot of fans expected prior to the game's release. Trip having her very own Super Mode, one that turns her into a fire-breathing golden dragon? Now that was a shocker.
• So Okay, It's Average: Many consider the game this. Though the game has solid level design, physics accurate to the classic games and decent graphics that, while a bit outdated, are not bad by any means, all that is brought down by tacked-on emerald powers, tedious boss fights, wonky multiplayer, inconsistent music quality and occasional buggyness. Ultimately, while few would consider the game as bad as Sonic the Hedgehog 4, few would consider it as good as Sonic Mania either.
• Special Effect Failure: The playable characters' shadows often disappear, which is extremely noticeable due to the 2½D artstyle.
• Spiritual Successor: The inclusion of LEGO skins for the main cast and Eggman brings the "Sonic Dimensions" level from LEGO Dimensions to mind, which is a Sonic game in the LEGO game format and was very well-received by fans who hoped that this could lead to a standalone "LEGO Sonic" game.
• Tainted by the Preview:
  • Several fans were turned off by the confirmation that the game will retail at $60, with many skeptical that a Classic Sonic game could contain enough content to warrant being full price. The Nintendo Direct announcement mentioned that there will be 12 zones (the same number as Sonic Mania, and without any old zones being reused), but whether that will be enough is a point of contention. By the game's release, it's agreed that the price should've been a lot lower, with some blaming the high price point for the game's low performance in sales, especially since there was a noticeable Demand Overload for the game after it went on discount during Black Friday a few weeks later.
  • Those who were otherwise interested in the game expressed disinterest in playing after the seeming confirmation that there will be no online multiplayer, with co-op limited to local play, though the battle mode does have an online co-op functionality.
  • To a lesser degree, the fact that Arzest would be co-developing the game has left some fans worried, as while Naoto Ohshima himself helped found the studio, the company has a reputation for developing middling games such as Yoshi's New Island and Hey! Pikmin, as well as being partly responsible for the poorly received Balan Wonderworld, with some even going as far to blame Arzest's lack of competence for the game's failings.
  • Also to a lesser degree, Amy's gameplay. Some fans were disappointed she doesn't have her incredibly unique Sonic Advance gameplay, and even some that were happy she had the same capabilities as the others now were disappointed by her Boring, but Practical moveset in the preview footage over having many unique pros and cons with her hammer. Even worse since it was this gameplay style that carried over to Origins Plus beforehand, making the extra DLC seem rather underwhelming due to not changing up the games in any palpable way.
  • The confirmation of Jun Senoue's involvement made fans very apprehensive, with the main worry being that he would carry the infamous "faux-Genesis" style from Sonic the Hedgehog 4's soundtrack over to Superstars. Gameplay footage and the Battle Mix would confirm those worries, as most of his compositions are shown to be done in that style, angering fans. His tracks have also received criticism from fans for sticking out like a sore thumb from the other composers' comparatively more modern-sounding tracks. What makes this even more baffling is that numerous songs in the game were composed by Jun Senoue before other composers rearranged them, as evidenced by early versions left in the files, as one has to wonder why the entire soundtrack wasn't redone to be fully consistent.
• That One Boss: All of the final bosses are difficult, even by Final Boss standards.
  • The Final Boss of Story Mode, Egg Diablo. The majority of its attacks are a One-Hit Kill at best unless you're good at timing your dodges. To top it off, not only does the first phase last around four minutes, making the whole process tedious but the boss uses a new attack when it has two hits left on the second phase which is almost impossible to evade.
  • The Final Boss of Trip's Story, which is far and away one of the nastiest Sonic boss fights ever. Fang in both upgraded Marvelous Queen and his giant robot is absolutely merciless, filled to the brim with Trial-and-Error Gameplay because a number of his attacks are all instant kills, and the points that he's left vulnerable are very short-lived. This results in a Marathon Boss that refuses to go down while the smallest mistake means having to start the entire grueling fight over, and just for extra measure he pulls out a couple swift and sudden new attacks that also can outright kill you towards the end for repeated "Gotcha!" moments.
  • The True Final Boss, Black Dragon, doesn't let up on the nasty design following Fang's robot, for a variety of factors.
    • While most of its attacks are harmless in all three phases against Super Sonic, the rings you get in order to survive are extremely limited, which only becomes more apparent due to how long the boss goes on for. Not helping things it the fact that dashing uses up 10 Rings, with at least one phase (when it rains meteors down) requiring you to dash to deal damage^note Alternatively, the player can also just move underneath the meteors. While it conserves some of the player's precious rings and they will bounce off Sonic it counts as being deflected back at the boss, they still count as "hits" to the player. There are also points where Tails and Knuckles can swoop in to give you more rings, but these can be cut off when the boss chooses to move into the foreground. Amy and Trip can also appear with a giant Flicky to drop boxes that can give 40 rings in total, but only after the player has managed to not get hit or be damaged for a minute.
    • In the first phase, the nastiest attack it has fires waves of black holes that force you to boost out of them, which wastes more rings, or else you immediately die if you don't.
    • In the second phase, the boss can only be hit by either attacking the shadowy hands after they swipe across the screen, or by hitting the center of the boss during its foreground attack, where it shoots fireballs at the player. The fireballs don't cause instant kills like the black holes in the first phase, but they will push Sonic back, where the player won't be able to hit the boss after a certain amount of time, to the point boosts won't help catch up to them if they're hit even once. This requires perfect dodging or luck to avoid being hit and attack back. After a few hits, the boss will only use a wide ring attack, which won't harm Sonic, but requires him to move out of its range or in the center to avoid being hit, while also trying to collect the limited rings. This means that it won't summon its shadowy hands to attack, meaning the only way to hit the boss at that point is when it jumps into the foreground and spews fireballs, which already has a limited window of opportunity.
    • Then there's the final phase, where it requires the player to first counter a set of incoming meteors six times, using a new target reticle mechanic. The player must have the reticle perfectly surround a meteor before boosting into it. After that, the boss will attack with a laser beam, where the player must avoid it for at least ten seconds. If the player has managed all that, they must boost into the boss by having the reticle surround the target perfectly again. If Sonic gets hit by any of these attacks or fails to perfectly hit any of the targets, then the phase starts over. The amount of rings the player has will also likely be quite low at this point, making it a race against the clock to dodge/counter the attacks, gather rings that sparingly spawn, and finish off the boss all in one go.
• That One Level:
  • Pinball Carnival Act 2 has the rollercoaster platforms, which move blindingly fast and require you to have split-second timing by pre-emptively jumping to make sure it gets the idea to take a higher path or else you'll either loop around endlessly or get flung into a Bottomless Pit. Good news is that your character kinda sorta sticks with the coaster's momentum so you don't have to fight air control with each jump. Bad news is the level relies on these several times, the last of which is a quick-paced section to avoid enemies latching onto them and not get flung off the platforms. Naturally, any mistakes are an instant death, and playing in co-op is almost always going to fling someone off to their death.
  • Press Factory Act 2. There are crushing traps just about everywhere, so it's really easy to get instantly killed. On its own, that wouldn't be too bad... but do you remember the switches in Sandopolis Act 2 and how ignoring them would eventually lead to being mauled by ghosts? How about in Oil Ocean Act 2 where ignoring the switches would eventually lead to your rings constantly bleeding out? How does a version of that switch mechanic that outright kills you if left alone sound?
  • Cyber Station Zone has a section where the player is turned into a pixelated mouse and must climb a set of four circuits guarded by orange creatures. When in this form, you can only move in one direction and dodging the creatures is usually a matter of sheer dumb luck. If you get hit, you fall ALL the way to the bottom of the room and may or may not be able to recover any rings. The kicker? Only one circuit leads out of the room, the others to an electrical trap that will knock you back to the bottom too.
  • Egg Fortress Zone is far and away one of the most aggravating 2D Sonic levels ever, with plenty of split-second reaction obstacles, one-hit kill crusher or falling platform traps, and incredibly bizarre chambers where you lose gravity and very slowly float through a maze of randomly-generated lasers.
    • Act 2 initially seems cool, considering you go through the entire first act in reverse, but that also applies to every enemy and obstacle. That can make avoiding enemies and keeping your rings difficult. One of the biggest headaches is the flying centipede-like enemy, as their energy blasts go in reverse, materializing out of nowhere before returning to the enemy. Similarly, flamethrowers spew fire at full blast before giving the indicator it's about to fire.
  • While the Special Stages are some of the absolute easiest in the entire series, the same cannot be said about Special Stage 5. Whereas the other Special Stages are revolved around using physics to your advantage in order to get close to the Chaos Emerald, Special Stage 5 completely ditches that notion by having the top half be filled with launchers that, unlike the grappling balls, don't take physics into account and slow you down to a crawl. However, using the launchers is the only way to get close to the Chaos Emerald, and the only feasible way to catch up to the Emerald is by going backwards, something that the other Special Stages don't require you to do. Suffice to say, many fans became so stumped on trying to figure out how Special Stage 5 worked, that a guide became a necessity.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: A few fans weren't happy with Fang's name change from Fang the Sniper to Fang the Hunter, seeing it as needless Bowdlerisation, and others aren't happy that he is no longer referred to as "Nack the Weasel" like he was in his earlier appearances. The tie-in comic — Fang's Big Break — would soften the blow a bit by revealing that his previous names are still canon and that Fang the Hunter is just his current alias. A few were also unhappy that his species was seemingly changed from half jerboa, half wolf to just plain jerboa, with them feeling it takes away some of his uniqueness.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Given that Trip's Golden Super Mode is a dragon, and the True Final Boss is also a dragon, one might assume that this would lead to the two dragons duking it out during the fight, especially since Super Sonic and the new character's super form working together against the final boss has been a staple in past games. Despite this, Trip is absent from the boss fight against Black Dragon outside of helping Super Sonic gathering more rings with the others, much to the disappointment of fans.
• Underused Game Mechanic: While the Chaos Emerald powers are pretty cool on paper and despite being advertised as the game's main gimmick, they're not very frequently well utilized in the game's levels and you can go throughout the entire game without using them once as there isn't really any part of the game's levels that actually require you to use any of the powers. The only time it might feel obvious that certain powers are used is when going through Trip's story, where some obstacles can only be navigated past if they have a corresponding emerald power. It simply makes the Chaos Emerald powers feel like an afterthought more than anything. With that said, it's generally useful against bosses, as stated in Game-Breaker above.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Nobody expected Fang the Sniper to make his proper return in the reveal trailer, given that, outside of occasional cameos and adaptations, he has been absent from the games since 1996's Sonic the Fighters — over 27 years prior.
  • Stretching the definition of "character" in this case, but nobody within the fandom had expected the multiplayer trailer to reveal that the unused pre-Sonic rabbit design from the pre-development stages of Sonic 1 would be included as a character skin in the Digital Deluxe edition.
  • The multiplayer trailer shows Metal Knuckles is one of the playable robots, which took many fans by surprise since, outside of the comics, Metal Knuckles has not been present since his debut appearance in 1997's Sonic R. Then the existence of a Metal Tails in the multiplayer mode implied the exclusion of Tails Doll, but no, he makes a little in-game cameo too.
• Unnecessary Makeover: Some fans ended up preferring Trip's initial armored appearance over her unarmored appearance, since they found the armored look to be unique and were disappointed in the unarmored design for not leaning more into the "reptilian" look.
• The Woobie: Trip. She's Forced into Evil by Eggman and Fang, with the latter being a massive bully towards her, even when she's actively trying to help him or when something goes wrong that wasn't her fault. Thankfully, she does get a happy ending in the form of Team Sonic welcoming her into their friend group after she turns on Fang. She also manages to get one up on the jerboa, beating him in the main story campaign by using the Chaos Emeralds that he stole, along with defeating him in the final act of her own story campaign.

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