Video Game / Sonic Superstars

Super Fast. Super Fun. Superstars!

"Gotta go fast… with friends!"

Sonic Superstars is a 2D platformer in the Sonic the Hedgehog series developed by Arzest (Yoshi's New Island, Hey! Pikmin, Balan Wonderworld), marking the return to the franchise of the studio's founder, Sonic co-creator and designer Naoto Ohshima, after a 25-year absence. Sonic Team remains involved, assisting with design and other aspects of the game. Notably, longtime series composer Jun Senoue also returns as music director, with other musicians (including Sonic Mania composer Tee Lopes) collaborating with him on the game's soundtrack.

The game's plot revolves around Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose heading to a new island called the North Star Islands, as they attempt to stop the nefarious Dr. Eggman from once again converting animals into Badniks and taking over the world, this time while even converting giant animals into Badniks. Along the way, they also cross paths with the returning Fang the Hunter, acting as a hired gun for Eggman, and his partner Trip the Sungazer (a newly-designed character by Ohshima himself).

Unlike the previous 2D Sonic game Sonic Mania, which took a nostalgic Retraux approach, Superstars aims for a more modern take on the 2D classic Sonic formula similar to Sonic the Hedgehog 4 while retaining the classic designs, bringing forth 3D graphics, new abilities in the form of Chaos Emerald Powers that allow you to traverse the zones in new ways like being able to scale up waterfalls to get up to higher routes or to summon an army of clones to charge at enemies, and perhaps most notably, the addition of local Co-Op Multiplayer, which allows four players to play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose at the same time similar to other modern 2D platformers such as the New Super Mario Bros. series, Rayman Origins, and Kirby's Return to Dream Land.

An accompanying animated short featuring the antagonist trio of Fang, Trip, and Eggman named Sonic Superstars: Trio of Trouble was released on September 20, 2023. A twelve page prologue webcomic, Fang's Big Break, was released in in the lead-up to its release, written by Ian Flynn. Part 1 was released on September 25, 2023, part 2 was released on October 2, 2023, and part 3 was released on October 9, 2023.

It was released on October 17, 2023 for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store.

Not to be confused with the similarly named Sega Superstars series.

Previews:

• Announcement Trailer
• IGN Japan gameplay of Speed Jungle Zone
• Opening Animation
• Multiplayer Trailer
• Pinball Carnival Zone Act 1 Music preview
• Speed Jungle Zone Music Mix preview
• Battle Mode Music Mix preview
• Launch Trailer

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Sonic Superstars contains examples of:

• 2½D: Unlike the previous classic Sonic title, it is a 2D platformer game where everything is rendered with 3D graphics, similar to Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II.
• Ability Required to Proceed:
  • 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.
  • Trip's campaign has much more incorporation of the Emerald Powers throughout the levels than the main campaign does, so getting all of the Emeralds before playing it is recommended.
• Action-Hogging Opening: Continuing the tradition established by Sonic CD, revived by Sonic Mania, and continued by Sonic Origins, there's a 2D-animated opening movie that plays before the title screen.
• Alliterative Title: Sonic Superstars.
• Anti-Frustration Features:
  • Checkpoints that have already been activated can be reactivated even if they're already active. This allows the player to explore more of the level without being punished for activating a checkpoint too early, as well as restore any Chaos Emerald powers that have been used up after reaching it before.
  • 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, once again allowing them to explore more of the level in a single playthrough.
  • The player can switch characters on the level select screen, meaning they no longer have to make a new save file for each character in order to play them.
• Ass-Kicking Pose: During boss battles, the characters strike a battle stance as their idle standing pose.
• Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: 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 Insta-Shield is easy to use even if by accident, her Hammer Rush gives her more control than Sonic’s Drop Dash, and she can even double jump. 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’s level design changes to be harder in her unique story compaign, and her Super Mode changes the way you control her.
• Bandit Mook: One of the new Badniks in the game is a dragonfly that steals Item Box Monitors away from enemies of the Eggman Empire that would try to use them, as seen in various gameplay videos featuring Speed Jungle Zone.
• Balance Buff:
  • Knuckles in the previous classic games usually has the lowest jump height compared to the other playable characters, with his climbing ability somewhat serving as compensation. Here, his jump height is now equal to the other characters to help him keep up with them, especially during multiplayer.
  • Super Sonic's boost ability initially cost 10 rings in Sonic Mania during the True Final Boss segment in Egg Reverie Zone. But in this game, it costs 5 rings instead to compensate for the longer fight against Black Dragon.
• Bat Out of Hell: The Batbrains reappear in Bridge Island Zone, Speed Jungle Zone, Pinball Carnival Zone, Press Factory Zone, and Cyber Station Zone.
• Big Boo's Haunt: Pinball Carnival Act 2 invokes a Carnival Spookhouse theme, with a creepy purple and green sky, and some badniks disguising themselves as ghosts.
• Blackout Basement: Speed Jungle Zone Act 2 shows cave areas where a glowing butterfly lets Sonic and friends see a short distance ahead of themselves.
• Bonus Stage:
  • Special Stages are accessed from Giant Rings. In this game, you must grapple to blue spheres and swing around to chase after the Chaos Emeralds. Blue Giant Rings also warp into this bonus, but the reward is changed to medals.
  • Bonus Stages are the 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. With that said, collecting all of the rings in one of the stages unlocks NiGHTS costume parts to buy.
  • Warps found around levels send the player into a brief skydiving pocket dimension to collect rings before spawning the player somewhere else in the level.
• Bookends: The game starts off and end in Bridge Island Zone, where the final fight against Black Dragon also takes place.
• Boring, but Practical: While everyone gets their own unique abilities, Amy's is the most basic, in that she is basically Sonic with a double jump and a larger spin attack hitbox. Although not as flashy as the others, this makes her really good at fighting bosses. This makes her an ideal choice to fight the Final Boss of the main campaign, where these abilities make it significantly easier to fight it.
• Boss-Altering Consequence: Downplayed in Cyber Station Zone, where the boss is The Prototype you can customize in Battle Mode, with the game choosing the first prototype slot for this boss fight. You can change the boss' look but not any of its attacks.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • Black Dragon marks the first time where Dr. Eggman doesn't serve as the True Final Boss in the classic series, as well being the first supernatural entity chronologically that he actively seeks out. However, Eggman does not find or get to control it at all for the entirety of the game's plot, where it just appears completely out of left field and has no connection to him at all, acting on its own accord.
  • Amy is playable for the first time in a new Classic-style Sonic platformer, and Trip is introduced as one of the few new female classic characters you can also play as.
  • This is the first 2D Sonic game to not have Video-Game Lives, not counting the Classic Sonic stages in Sonic Forces or the anniversary mode in Sonic Origins.
• Bumbling Henchmen Duo: This is how Fang and Trip, the new antagonist, are portrayed together, as if Fang wasn't clumsy enough by himself back in Sonic Triple Trouble and Trip is already a clumsy kid. In Speed Jungle Zone Act 2 for instance, not only do they arrive too late to confront the heroes, but Trip then trips herself and accidentally sets off a trap that catches Fang, leaving Trip panicking while Fang angrily yells at her.
• The Bus Came Back:
  • After a couple of cameo appearances, Fang the Hunter returns for the first time since Sonic the Fighters 27 years ago.
  • The game also shows the return of Mecha Sonic Mk. I from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to the main series after being featured in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, albeit as a mech skin for Battle Mode, as well as the main boss of Cyber Station Zone if the player has chosen it as their primary Battle Mode player. Likewise, the same trailer also reveals Metal Knuckles is returning to the games after fading into obscurity. Tails Doll makes a cameo in Pinball Carnival Zone, marking its return from the same game as Metal Knuckles.
  • In terms of Badniks, the Splats in their original design from the first Sonic the Hedgehog, Vultrons, Crawltons, Skorps, Slicers, Uni Unis, and Antons reappear in the game, marking the Skorp's return to the series after a hiatus since 1994's Sonic 3 & Knuckles, barring a card cameo in Sonic Rivals 16 years prior, as well as the Crawlton, Slicer, Uni Uni, and Anton's return after previously appearing in Sonic Lost World, in addition to a cameo for the Sonic CD Badnik in The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog.
• Call-Back: Frozen Base Zone has Tails repair a set of scrapped Egg Mobile vehicles for the gang to use as their transportation to Egg Fortress Zone. Each Egg Mobile model corresponds to the first game each playable character who uses it appeared in. As for Trip, she gets the Egg Scorcher Mk. 3 from Sonic the Hedgehog 3's boss fight.
  • Much like Knuckles before her, Trip's story has Eggman being replaced by an Eggrobo in the boss fights.
• Call-Forward:
  • The Mosasaurus, Horned Moss-quito, Clown, 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 due time.
  • One of the free post-release DLC outfits for Sonic is a costume based on Shadow the Hedgehog, who Sonic won't meet until well after the classic-era (since he was still sealed up at Prison Island at the time).^note Though Classic Sonic does briefly meet Shadow before Adventure 2 in Sonic Generations
• Camera Abuse: The very difficult final boss for Trip's story has a One-Hit Kill cork projectile that sends Trip flying into the camera, cracking the screen. What's very satisfying is that once Fang is defeated, he fails to escape the collapsing Egg Fortress and gets blown into the camera as well.
• Catapult Nightmare: Happens to Fang in Trio of Trouble (see Surprisingly Creepy Moment below).
• Character Select Forcing: All four characters have at least one act that can only be accessed by playing as them specifically, as it usually makes extensive use of their character specific abilities. Most of them are optional, but even if you're doing a single character playthrough, Amy's exclusive act will need to be played at least once due to it being important to the plot, as her being nice to Trip is what causes the latter to pull a Heel–Face Turn.
• Checkpoint: Checkpoints save progress in a level, create a warp to the rotating maze bonus levels if you get to one with enough rings, and also restore your Emerald Powers.
• Chekhov's Gag: Eggman in both the animated prologue short and opening cutscene of the game has a crudely-drawn picture of what looks to be a dragon, which he drew after finding a strange mural on the Northstar Islands. This drawing depicts the True Final Boss, the Black Dragon, which makes its appearance in the Last Story mode. The same scribble appears on a wall in Trip's story mode during the second act of Egg Fortress Zone and after the Black Dragon has been sealed away in the purple gem, where the drawing flutters to the ground while the heroes celebrate their victory.
• Chekhov's Gun: A strange purple gem, the Black Onyx, is in the middle of the stage select screen and depicted in the center of the mural seen in Trio of Trouble, but nobody pays it any mind. In the true ending, Trip uses it to seal the Black Dragon once again.
• Color Failure: In the prologue comic, Fang shoots a cork at a giant Flicky while exploring the North Star Islands. It briefly turns grayscale after dropping its food, with the next panel showing it glowing red with anger.
• Company Cross References:
  • In Speed Jungle Zone, running through some bushes will get bombs hidden in them stuck to your character, like in the first stage of Ristar.
  • Frozen Base Act 2 is a round of Fantasy Zone, complete with various enemies (including two bosses) from that series redesigned as Eggman's Badniks. Additionally, while Tails' Eggmobile is based on Sonic 2's Eggmobile, it is moreso designed to resemble the series' main protagonist, Opa-Opa.
  • You can unlock a NiGHTS costume for The Prototype by collecting all the rings in one of the game's checkpoint bonus stages.
• Co-Op Multiplayer: For the first time in the series, the game features co-op that allows up to four players at the same time. Unlike previous attempts, all of the players are treated as full characters. Several level mechanics encourage playing in groups, like loops that trap the player for a certain number of laps or sets of pulley boxes that award larger amounts of rings if more than one is pulled at once.
• Connected All Along: The Battle Mode, featuring an array of customizable Badniks dubbed as "The Prototype", are given prominence as the boss of Cyber Station Zone alongside Eggman, revealing that the Battle Mode is a way for the best robots to be singled out for his latest excursion. More specifically, the one you first made gets used as the main boss.
• Conspicuous Electric Obstacle: Lagoon City introduces yellow spherical things that emit electricity. Cyber Station Zone has red rails on the surface that sizzle with electricity and are harmful upon contact.
• Continuity Cameo: Tails Doll appears hovering around a spot in Pinball Carnival Zone Act 2, and you get a medal for hopping on it.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In Fang's Big Break, the jerboa remembers his past encounters with Sonic from Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble, with him attributing his various defeats to "technical issues" (ie. the way his attacks backfired on him in said boss fights).
  • One of the Golden Piggy Bank's attacks has it surrounded by orbs similar to Egg Bubble.
  • In the final level, Eggman activates what looks like an artificial version of the Phantom Ruby's power to send time backwards and repair his Egg Diablo when Team Sonic nearly destroys it. This also ties into Sonic Forces, where he was able to complete the artificial Phantom Ruby and have it work multiple times.
• Cosmetic Award: The end of the announcement trailer reveals that, similar to Sonic Frontiers, subscribing to the official newsletter unlocks the ability to have Amy wear her modern outfit. Several more have made the rounds from the full release, such as a skin based on LEGO Sonic and LEGO Eggman (with LEGO skins for the rest of Team Sonic available with the Digital Deluxe package), and one based on Sonic's earliest design from the same DLC.
• Cumulonemesis: One of the enemies is a cloud robot that shoots lightning.
• Cutscene Power to the Max:
  • Characters in the background can use their silver Chaos Emerald powers before they are available to you.
  • Trip uses her super form to fly into the background and instantly destroy the giant mech that Fang attempts to pilot against her and Sonic's group. This does reflect how powerful Super Trip's gameplay is, since she's actually allowed to fly, but you can't insta-kill bosses with her either.
• Cyberspace: Cyber Station Zone is Eggman's digital base of operations where just about everything is pixelated. The playable character becomes pixelated about a third into the level and can even transform into a digital octopus, mouse, or rocket when prompted.
• A Day in the Limelight: 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. In the case of Trip, she gets her own story mode after beating the main game's story once.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: A gimmick similar to the Magnetic Spheres from the Glowing Sphere Bonus Stages of Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Titanic Monarch Zone from Sonic Mania appears in Press Factory Zone Act 2, however they control differently. In those previous games, you only hold the left and right buttons to adjust the direction where you want to launch off of, but in Superstars, you can get the exact direction you want to launch by directly tilting the analog stick into that desired direction. The spheres in the previous games launch you in a certain distance depending on the location of the sphere you jump off of, but in Superstars, they only launch you at a fixed distance.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: This is the first original 2D Sonic game that doesn't use extra lives. Dying simply sends you back to your last checkpoint (had you hit one) and no other consequence is applied. This change also affects the bonus for collecting 100 rings (see Every 10,000 Points below).
• Dire Beast: Downplayed. Several huge versions of the usual small animals that Eggman likes to use as power sources for his Badniks populate the North Star Islands. While they seem to normally be fairly peaceful, they’ve been captured and repurposed by the doctor to be used to power a number of new Super-Badniks. That said, one giant Flicky is seen to be dangerous enough to briefly put Fang on the defensive in the "Fang’s Big Break" prequel comic.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Trip's Super Mode, unlike everyone else, completely changes the way she plays. It transforms her into a big (relatively speaking) golden dragon with unlimited free flight and the ability to breath fire. As neat as it is to blast through levels as a dragon, her bigger hitbox can make navigating some of the tighter corridors of levels difficult and certain levels such as Pinball Carnival Zone have kill planes that the player can accidentally fly into if they don't know where they are ahead of time. That said, she still has unlimited free flight. In a platformer. Needless to say, if the player knows what they're doing, they can completely bypass much of the level design if they're careful enough.
• A Dog Named "Dog": The pre-Sonic Rabbit skin is only referred to in-game as "Rabbit". Justified, since it's only a character skin for Sonic rather than an actual character.
• Doppelgänger Attack: 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.
• Downloadable Content:
  • A set of skins based on LEGO Sonic and LEGO Eggman (with LEGO skins for the rest of Team Sonic available with the Digital Deluxe package).
  • The Digital Deluxe package also contains skins for Sonic's earliest design, along with customizable parts for The Prototype in Battle Mode, based on Mecha Sonic 2.0 from Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
  • In December 2023, Superstars added a free Santa Sonic skin for the Holiday season.
• Dualvertisement: In April 2024, IHOP had special Sonic-themed menu items, and using their app-based rewards system could net you a special IHOP-themed outfit for Amy.
• Easter Egg: When Sonic starts running at top speed, he will point a chili dog at the player for a barely noticeable split second. This also applies to his LEGO skin.
• Easy Levels, Hard Bosses: 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 Final Boss of the main campaign, the Final Boss of Trip's campaign, and the True Final Boss are considered some of the most difficult fights in the entire franchise.
• Establishing Character Moment: The Fang's Big Break prologue comic shows Trip's meek personality and klutzy characterization, along with how she was coerced into helping Fang and Eggman. When Trip tries confronting Fang with a spear, she is noticeably nervous, indicated by her shaking, and her clumsiness causes her to trip over a branch. Once Fang breaks her weapon, she is then threatened to guide him and the doctor through the islands.
• Eternal Engine: Press Factory Zone, a huge industrial area filled with various hazards, traps, and huge industrial presses built by Dr. Eggman.
• Every 10,000 Points: Due to the removal of extra lives, collecting 100 rings now awards another Sonic Medal.
• Evolving Title Screen: The initial title screen features Sonic, Amy and Knuckles on the front row, and Tails standing behind Amy. Every so often, Tails glances at the empty spot to his left. After unlocking Trip, she will sheepishly raise her head from behind Knuckles, look around nervously, and then hide again.
• Flame Spewer Obstacle: There are various places in the game where jets of flame are spewed out at regular intervals. Pinball Carnival Act 2 in particular comes up with its own spin: there are red or blue switches and when they're passed over they change to the opposite color, which will then trigger the flame jets of that color. So the obstacle comes from not triggering the switch at a time where it would harm your character in their current position.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In Trio of Trouble, Eggman encounters a giant mural that depicts seven people that look like Trip, whose colors match the seven Chaos Emeralds. Not only that, there appears to be a large dragon-like being drawn as well, with a dark gem in the center of the mural. All of these elements are connected to Superstars' True Final Boss, the Black Dragon. In the game's Last Story mode, the Black Dragon is set free after completing Trip's Story mode and collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds. After a battle between the dragon and Super Sonic, Trip seals the beast back into the Black Onyx that was present on the game's stage select screen.
  • Amy's personal stage in Lagoon City is mandatory, unlike Sonic's in Speed Jungle, suggesting it is plot important. During the stage, Amy helps Trip after her latest trap malfunction strands her in the labyrinth. Later in the game, Trip pulls a Heel–Face Turn because of her kindness.
  • When Trip pulls her Heel–Face Turn in Golden Capital Zone's ending, Fang temporarily retreats to a giant mecha in his image, which is quickly destroyed by Trip's super form. Come her story, and this same mech, fully colored and decked out in the Hunter's image, is Fang's final trump card during the two's final fight against each other.
• Funny Background Event:
  • When Sonic is transitioning between Emerald Hill Zone and Bridge Island Zone in the beginning of the announcement trailer, Fang can briefly be seen sneaking behind a tree on the left edge of the screen.
  • In Egg Fortress Zone, the background features an ominous purple moon in space — one which resembles THE END from Sonic Frontiers. It does nothing, and its presence is never explained.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: At the end of Golden Capital Act Knuckles, he will find a chest containing the Chaos Emeralds the player didn't find. At the beginning of Act 2, Fang steals the Emeralds from Knuckles, turning the act into a No-Gear Level. Finally, at the end of the Act, the heroes gain all of the Emeralds back. The segregation in this case is that the extra Emeralds do not get added to your count, and you still have to get them in the Special Stages to use the Emerald Powers. Also, even if you don't play Knuckles' optional act, he'll appear in the start of Act 2 with the extra Emeralds regardless.
• Giant Mook: Part of the game's plot is that Eggman is creating giant Badniks by kidnapping giant animals from the North Star Islands to use in them, such as Mosasaurus in Bridge Island Zone and Horned Moss-quito at the end of Speed Jungle Zone Act 1.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The True Final Boss, which is a giant indigo dragon. A mural in the promotional short Trio of Trouble briefly hints at its existence, but then it just shows up at the end of the game unprompted after completing Trip's story. It gets sealed by Trip after being beaten back by Super Sonic, and is never brought up again after the final battle.
• Gotta Kill Them All: With an exception of Pinball Carnival Act 2 by using Tails Doll instead, each act has a golden Badnik somewhere that is worth a medal. They're replaced by normal ones on revisits once destroyed, and finding them all is worth an achievement.
• Green Hill Zone:
  • The first zone — Bridge Island — mixes this with Palmtree Panic, being an easygoing and relaxing tropical island with plenty of grassy hills, waterfalls and rainbows. It even uses the same checkerboard pattern that Green Hill uses for good measure.
  • The Trope Namer itself is shown to be one of the Battle Mode stages alongside an opening intro for Amy.
• Grind Boots: In Speed Jungle Zone, the player character will display a grinding animation on vines if moving fast enough over them, with missile Badniks in hot pursuit to force them to jump out of the way.
• Gusty Glade: Sky Temple Zone, a series of abandoned ruins and massive fans and wind currents that will blow the characters in all directions.
• Had the Silly Thing in Reverse: Trio of Trouble sees Fang on the receiving end of this trope, where Tails flips his bike's battery in the reverse direction, causing the thing to drill downwards. This all happened in a nightmare, but then Fang recalls this exact moment, which allows him to use his Marvelous Queen to dive down, with its drill spinning him around to tie up the snake that they had ran into in the ruins.
• Hailfire Peaks:
  • Golden Capital Zone is a combination of Ancient Grome, Lethal Lava Land, and a Pinball Zone (which is odd, as there is also a normal pinball level (Pinball Carnival Zone) earlier in the game).
  • Frozen Base Zone is a combination of Slippy-Slidey Ice World and Eternal Engine, rather similar to Frozen Factory Zone.
• Heel–Face Turn: Trip isn't exactly evil to begin with, but this trope is still in play nonetheless. After being pushed around too much by Fang, and with the help of Amy's kindhearted assistance earlier, Trip has had enough of the jerboa bossing her around and sides with the heroes mid-way into the story.
• Humongous Mecha: The first main boss of Bridge Island Zone has Eggman pilot a variant of the Death Egg Robot, a la Sonic Mania. An even BIGGER mecha returns as the game's normal final boss, and Fang gets his own to serve as Trip's final boss in her story.
• Jungle Japes: Speed Jungle Zone is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, as it is a jungle where you can ride on vines.
• Level Ate: A character-specific stage in Lagoon City involves Amy using her hammer to blast through huge fruit and fruit-based robots, such as a grape robot and a watermelon with a gun.
• Level in Reverse: Quite literally. Act 2 of Egg Fortress Zone has you go through the entire first act backwards while time itself is reversed.
• Limited Animation: Invoked. The LEGO skins have unique animations which are more rigid and janky to match a real Minifig's limited range of motion.
• Maniac Monkeys: The mini-boss in the Press Factory Zone is a primate-themed Badnik, swinging on the pipes of said factory.
• Meaningful Background Event: Keeping an eye on the background will be important, as events play out that can affect your gameplay. This includes massive mechs coming out of the background to attack, Fang's vehicle zooming about, and characters that you aren't playing making their own way through the zone.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Trip's Super Mode. Unlike the others whose Super Mode just makes them invincible and faster, Trip's transforms her into a big (relatively speaking) golden dragon, which has unlimited flight and can spit fire from her mouth. When traveling along the ground, she turns into a golden fireball.
• Multiple Endings: Each characters has a different unique ending depending on who you play as (or the first player character in case of multiplayer playthrough) after beating the game.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The special stages have Sonic and co. using an electric rope to swing through Bottomless Pits, similar to the Enerbeam from the Sonic Boom games.
  • In the post-boss cutscene for Speed Jungle Zone, Fang ends up caught on the rope-and-spikes trap from Sonic Mania Adventures.
  • The promotional image for Amy's Modern Amy outfit has her using her pose from her Sonic Advance artwork.
  • Fang’s profile on the official website says that due to his status as a wanted criminal, he has been known by different names over time, a clear nod to his former localized name of Nack the Weasel, with him now using the title of "Fang the Hunter" in Superstars. This is discussed in the prologue comic, Fang's Big Break, where Eggman accidentally calls Fang by his old aliases (Nack the Weasel, Jet the Jerboa, and Fang the Sniper) before correctly remembering his current one.
  • The name of the first two zones, Bridge Island and Speed Jungle, are extensions of the names of Bridge and Jungle Zones from Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit).
  • The Buzz Bomber's new laser attack in the game is similar to their portrayal in the Sonic the Hedgehog 2 theatrical film.
  • Sonic's "waiting" animation, where he lies down with one foot kicked over the other and wags his finger, is a direct recreation of the one from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. In his Super form, Sonic does a recreation of his idle animation from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles.
  • In Egg Fortress Zone, the player can clearly see in the background a purple moon orbiting the Earth along with the regular moon.
  • The Red Emerald's ability (Bullet) is awfully reminiscent of the Red Wisp's (Burst) abilities from the DS version of Sonic Colors, the 3DS versions of Sonic Generations and Sonic Lost World, and as a Wispon in Sonic Forces. They even have the similar qualities of both being fire-based, both revolving around dashing through the air semi-indefinitely, and both having a certain time limit to do so.
  • The White Emerald's ability (Extra) giving Sonic the Homing Attack mirrors how the White Gem in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) gives Sonic's Homing Attack an upgrade to the Homing Smash.
  • As confirmed in the game's art book, the snake from Sand Sanctuary and Trio of Trouble is visually based on a Sonic illustration◊ originally created for Harmony, SEGA's internal company magazine, and later featured in Sonic the Hedgehog The Screen Saver and the art galleries of various Sonic collections.
  • The Eggmobile you ride in Frozen Base Act 2 changes based on your character, and all of them are modeled after an Eggman vehicle from the character's game of origin: Sonic gets the classic Sonic 1 Eggmobile, Knuckles pilots the more detailed Sonic 3 Eggmobile, Tails flies in the Sonic 2 Eggmobile (and also closely designed after Opa-Opa), and Amy's Eggmobile appears to be based on the boss from Dubious Depths, the scrapped level from CD. Trip, being the newcomer, instead rides a miniature version of Angel Island Zone Act 2's boss.
  • Cyber Station Zone has tubes that turn you into data transmitted via radio antennae, a mechanic borrowed from Studiopolis Zone Act 1.
  • The first half of Cyber Station's boss fight is a take on Stardust Speedway's boss fight, with Eggman firing a deadly laser from underneath his Eggmobile while The Prototype does the actual fighting. The parallel can be strengthened by the fact that The Prototype is based on the player's Battle Mode-exclusive avatar, so you can have them actually be Metal Sonic (or Metal Tails, Metal Knuckles, Metal Amy, or Mecha Sonic Mk. I).
  • Frozen Base Zone Act 1 has ice sprayers that function exactly like the ones from Press Garden Zone Act 2, complete with being able to make your character look left or right.
  • The "LEGO Fun Pack" DLC which features Minifig skins for Tails, Knuckles and Amy is a reference to the Fun Pack sets for LEGO Dimensions, where Sonic and friends appeared in the "Sonic Dimensions" Level Pack. They also use the same brick-built ball form Sonic had.
  • Trip's spin jump animation is in the exact same vein as Vector's from Knuckles Chaotix, being a spiky donut shape. It also functions like the Spikes Wisp in Sonic Colors, by sticking to walls and ceilings and allowing her to roll along them.
• Nerf: The Electric Shield has been replaced with the magnet powerup, which, while it draws in rings to the player, no longer protects them like a shield does and doesn't give Sonic a Double Jump.
• No-Gear Level: At the beginning of Golden Capital Act 2, Fang does a sneak attack on Knuckles and steals the Chaos Emeralds, forcing the heroes to do the entire stage without any Emerald Powers.
• Our Founder: Pinball Carnival Zone is set around a giant statue of Eggman similar to the one in Stardust Speedway Zone back in Sonic CD and Mania. Press Factory Act 1 then features a gigantic piston in the background loosely made in Eggman's likeness. And later, Cyber Station doesn't have an actual Eggman statue, but it keeps the egopolis theme going with a giant hologram of his sigil spinning in the background.
• Painting the Medium: When Sonic passes by the goal post in the announcement trailer, the music abruptly changes score. The music continuously changes as Sonic passes the post and stays when Sonic does.
• Piggy Bank: The first boss you’ll face in the Golden Capital Zone is a giant golden robotic pig, which starts the battle by sucking up all of the rings you've collected.
• Pinball Zone: Pinball Carnival Zone is this trope meets Casino Park, a massive Eggman-built amusement park filled with pinball mechanics.
• Power-Up: This game is a rare instance in the series where each individual Chaos Emerald is associated with an ability and each color provides different one.
  • Avatar (Blue) sends a crowd of clones of your character running across the screen to deal damage to Badniks and bosses as well as picking up any rings in their path.
  • Bullet (Red) turns the player into a fireball and allows the to perform an air dash in any direction as long as the gauge lasts, blasting through any enemies in the way and serving as a very useful Double Jump for everyone.
  • Water (Cyan) turns the player into water, allowing them to explore underwater areas freely without risk of drowning as well as climb waterfalls and granting protection from crushing hazards.
  • Ivy (Green) makes a tall vine grow next to the player, so that both they and any multiplayer partners can climb it and reach tall areas.
  • Vision (Purple) indicates the presence of normally hidden and intangible objects around the player, which are then revealed and become tangible when the power is spent.
  • Slow (Yellow) slows down all hazards on the screen, including bosses.
  • 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, and Trip is capable of spitting fireballs.
• Promoted to Playable:
  • Not including Sonic Origins Plus and the Sonic Frontiers Final Horizon update that were released in 2023, this is the first main series game since Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) that Amy Rose is playable from the start, and is her Classic self's debut as a playable character in a main series installment.
  • Completing the main story for the first time will unlock Trip to play as for both main and her own story mode, which is harder to beat and has Fang and a good number of rogue Eggrobos causing trouble this time.
  • As the boss of Cyber Station Zone is the prototype you create in Battle Mode, you are in effect, Eggman making his latest creation to fight Sonic and co. with, which makes it the first time players do something with Classic Eggman in a main series game.
• Saw Blades of Death: Sand Sanctuary has deadly saws that skim along the surface.
• Secret Final Campaign: Superstars brings this tradition back from past games, with the game starting with one story mode. Upon beating it for the first time, Trip becomes a playable character and unlocks her own Story Mode campaign, Trip's Story, which consists of some remixed levels of the main campaign and a new Final Boss. Once the player has beaten that (along with collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds in the main campaign), this unlocks Last Story, consisting of a True Final Boss fight against the Black Dragon as Super Sonic.
• Shifting Sand Land: Sand Sanctuary Zone, a desert filled with old ruins, cacti, and, of course, sinking sands that the player must jump to stay on top of.
• Shout-Out:
  • One of the transformation gimmicks in Cyber Station Zone has Sonic and his friends turn into voxel-styled squids and swim through the air in a way that looks very similar to the ghosts from Pac-Man. The fact that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy's colors schemes match Inky, Clyde, Blinky, and Pinky respectively makes the reference clearer.
  • The Avatar ability (which allows Sonic and co to create multiple clones of themselves to attack their enemies) is somewhat identical to the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique from Naruto, with its attack pattern being similar to Ms. Chalice's third Super Art Move, Ghostly Barrage.
  • The boss of Speed Jungle Zone's Act 2 is very clearly an homage to the Omnidroid, down to the color scheme. Fittingly, as Mr. Incredible figured out in his first and final fights with the Omnidroid, the only thing that can harm the act 2 boss is itself — and it's even one of the claws that it hits itself with when Sonic directs it properly half the time (otherwise Sonic needs to hit its missiles back at it, which may also be a reference considering how the Omnidroid was finished off in The Incredibles by using one of its discarded claws as a missile).
  • One section near the end of Golden Capital Zone Act 2 has the player ride a floating platform, using it to outrun flows of lava in a room full of treasure, much like the title character of Aladdin did with the Magic Carpet in the Cave of Wonders.
• Skippable Boss: If Act Tails is played in Frozen Base Zone, the Pterodactyl sub boss Badnik is skipped.
• Snakes Are Sinister: In the Trio of Trouble short, a giant snake tries to eat Fang and looks incredibly enraged by their presence. In the game, it's actually subverted, as this same snake serves as a level element in Sand Sanctuary Zone, and you actually see it at the end of the level; however, it doesn't serve as the level boss and simply leaves shortly afterward. The implication is that it went after Fang specifically because it's a guardian creature, and Eggman and co. were messing around in the ruins it was protecting.
• Stalked by the Bell: In Act 2 of Press Factory Zone, a large hovering Eggman drone lurks in the background slowly charging up. The player must regularly press switches to prevent it from charging fully and blowing up the entire zone.
• Suddenly Speaking: Fang and Eggman talk to each other in the Fang's Big Break prologue comic, unlike the game and the animated short that conveys the story through actions with no dialogue.
• Surprisingly Creepy Moment: Fang's dream in Trio of Trouble starts off as a comedic animation about the jerboa bumbling to defeat Sonic and his friends, before abruptly becoming a Nightmare Sequence that distorts the visages of Sonic, Tails, and especially Amy. Before Amy can crush him with her hammer, he lurches awake and bumps into Eggman and Trip, with the comedy back in full force as the doctor berates Fang.
• Suspicious Video-Game Generosity:
  • Golden Capital Zone Act 1 is a casino level that comes after the earliest point where the player possibly has collected all seven Chaos Emeralds, making it a breeze to gather hundreds of rings and demolish the stage with super form. Immediately afterward, Fang steals all of the Chaos Emeralds, turning Act 2 into a brutal No-Gear Level where the casino theme is downplayed in favor of the first act's secondary motif: a Lethal Lava Land.
  • The "end" of the boss fight in Cyber Station features a suspiciously placed ring box in front of the animal capsule. The ring box is a subtle giveaway that you are not done with the boss, as when you jump on the animal capsule, a bunch of prototype robots fly out, which kickstarts the boss fight's second phase.
• Two Girls to a Team: Amy and Trip, once the latter pulls her Heel–Face Turn.
• Under the Sea: Lagoon City Zone, a submerged underwater city of the Northstar Islands and the 5th level of the game, with water slides, a jellyfish Badnik subboss, and an Escort Mission where Amy has to help Trip out during her own Act.
• Victory Fakeout: After you seemingly beat the Cyber Station Zone boss and open the Egg Capsule, a bunch of Prototype robots are released instead of animals, and you have to fight them as part of the boss' second phase. Some people may be tipped off by how there is a ring monitor right before the Egg Capsule (even though you obviously wouldn't need one if it really was the end of the level).
• Wall Crawl: As per-usual, Knuckles has the ability to climb walls. Trip also has this ability, as her spikes allow her to inherently mimic a slightly Nerfed form of the Spike Wisp power. She can roll up on walls and along ceilings, but unlike the Spike Wisp, she can't automatically go from one to the other, and has to do that manually through jumping from one to the other.
• Water-Geyser Volley: In some zones, there are water geysers of various sizes that shoot Sonic upwards. Some even act as Directionally Solid Platforms.
• Wrecked Weapon: In Fang's Big Break, Fang's signature cork gun is crushed by the giant Flicky's foot while running away to his bike (which is why Fang only uses his bike in this game when confronting the heroes). When he manages to capture said Flicky, Trip then tries attacking him with her spear, but immediately loses her grip on it after tripping over a branch, where it subsequently gets crushed by Fang's foot.

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