Sonic Superstars' BIGGEST Problem 

Giving Sonic bosses invincibility frames was the worst decision.

Sonic Forces is technically Sonic Mania 2 but..... We don't talk about it

The reason the bosses are so long, aside from the fact that the Fang and True Final bosses are also long, is probably because Arzest and Sonic Team didn’t want players in multiplayer beating the boss in 10 seconds.

I was legit stuck on the final boss (the Eggman one) for almost an hour bc I thought once your time goes out, you just instantly die. So it led me to taking way more risks than I normally would and I ended up looking up a video and learned time doesn’t matter. Then I beat it on my 3rd try and was mad about it

Solid editing! I agree with most your points about the bosses. I still have PTSD from facing fang during trips story

After completing speed jungle zone, all the levels turn into scrap Brian zone

To add to the death egg robot vs fang fight since it got me thinking. Both of these fights share the issue of one mistake equals having to do the whole fight again and that's bad no doubt. However I would like to add that the death egg fight even with silver sonic takes significantly less time to beat than fang. The death egg robot has a very simple attack pattern too but the difference is that a skilled player is able to almost always land a hit on him and make the fight take less time provided you can take the risk Another unfortunate fault is that since sonic 2 is a retro game it was made to have lives and continues so a player back in those days had very little opportunities to learn how to hit the boss efficiently, this is no longer an issue in sonic origins so it really showcases how much better that fight is

It's a shame that we never got a fix for this issue. This would have great if it didn't have terrible boss pacing.

This was a really well made video, and graph chart really puts into perspective how egregiously long and drawn out the bosses in superstars can be, also I wouldn’t call Superstars “Good” I feel like that’s being a bit too generous, I would call it “Ok” at best, it’s just “Ok” worth one Playthrough but not multiple or even revisiting it, I even sold my copy because that’s how bad the game was, but you could argue at least I gave it a chance, you also forgot to mention… *Arzest* Sonic Team wasn’t the only ones in charge, there was also Arzest, the same people behind Yoshi’s New Island and Hey! Pikmin! And they don’t have a good track record.

This is the best video essay I've ever seen that is so in tune with my exact thoughts on Sonic bosses. I seriously hope more and more people watch this, what a wonderfully made video mate! Fantastic job!

I remembered being stuck in the final boss in the Main Story with Sonic. But when I fought Eggman with Amy, I somehow beat it on my first attempt with her. But I am not doing Fang’s fight in Trip’s story.

This was a great video! I think it particularly excelled in the editing and visual representations of ideas such as the ‘the flow state’ you mentioned earlier on in the video. For the talking points you brought up during the video I don’t have much of anything to think about bringing up additionally, because I essentially agree with you on everything… though I would like to touch on a “3rd Method” in regards to taking on the DD Wrecker. The 3rd method implements one of my favorite segments of the video, when you talked about P.O.P (Player Optimized Pacing). Using Angel Island as an example was an incredible idea and I liked how you actually showed the ways how you can optimize your run through the zone (once again great editing). Especially using the bubble shield to get extra height from hitting the lighting shield under the shifting stairs and then using the mid air ability of that shield to double jump above the tree thus skipping the need to run up the path to the left to get up there (I’ve done the bubble shield height thing but I didn’t even think to use the double jump so I actually learned something too). The two methods you mentioned each had their risks & rewards. The 3rd method is nothing crazy and I’m sure you knew about it already, but just to say it, there is a way you can attack the boss quickly and also keep your ring count… by utilizing the invincibility monitor that’s placed after you take the tunnel that leads to the boss. If the player is fast enough they can carry that invincibility with them and obliterate both wreckers just before the invincibility runs out (since I primarily play as Sonic, I like to drop dash after bouncing off the invincibility monitor and then use the slight slope to jump up in time). Nothing Earth shattering just something I feel gives further credence to your points that I wanted to share. Again, great video!!! And thanks to all the shout outs that helped make the video come out.

Ngl, I do like the Fang Final boss when everything is working out in my favor. It’s actually satisfying and fun to fight. The problem is when things aren’t in my favor, the speed of it being really slow, and how it constantly tries to get in cheap kills in that doesn’t even at least take you back to a checkpoint in the middle of the boss. It gets very annoying and monotonous.

Nice vid, but its worth noting that Sonic Team did not make Superstars, Arzest did. So a lot of your critiques about Sonic Team wanting to reinvent the wheel dont really apply to Superstars, lol

WE GETTIN ON THE ROAD TO SONIC SUPERSTARS WITH THIS ONE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

nobody tell him about the souls franchise-

Noice editing. Did enjoy m8.

Awesome video!

I feel the bosses are fine but all 3 final bosses go on to long. And i feel like hitting the boss whenever was not allowed because of multiplayer as this means you need to A redo HP values per character playing or B have an HP value so small 4 people win in like 5 seconds. Multiplayer would break the free flow of being able to hit a boss whenever. Player skill is then hard to judge for 4 people and boss HP being higher is also harder to judge. The final bosses need checkpoints and the game would be fine. Still hoping for a patch that makes the 3 final bosses easier. I have yet to beat Last Story because the rings you get are a bit to random meaning you often lose to RNG. I can't beat that last part because I don't fully get the timing and normally can't even make it to that part in each failed try. If the bosses had more rings and a checkpoint I would be fine.

Nice vid man

I'll give ya a 10 for the entertainment, a 3 for subject at hand, and an 8 for the topic. Overall, good work kid 👍 I want to hear your opinion on which dinosaur is objectively the best one and why it would have survived if it would have been able to parry the meteor that showcased to the universe why it will hold the highest KD in existence(y'know until WWV) video format only 😤

The game didn't want to play fair with the Egg Fortress bosses, so I decided not to either. I used a cheat engine to give myself god mode lmao. Thankfully the Last Story boss is actually pretty fun.

I had a lot of time fighting the final boss because dying at any point sends me back to the beginning of the fight, which really annoyed me and dragged down the last few bosses of the game. I have not done Trip’s story and with the amount of hatred towards the Fang fight, I’m scared to see what level of unfair bs is waiting for me along that journey.

this is crazy

Cool video. Hope to view more contents.

In my case i would honestly die at this part 11:50

This may be a mad cuz bad claim but i absolutely *HATE* the fang mech final boss with a burning passion that burns more than the lava in that stage. It is by far the most unfair, unnatural, and overly challenging boss in sonic yes it’s harder than eggmanland in my opinion, it’s harder than enjoying classic sonic in forces and it ruined the entire game for me

Playing the game on time attack makes enormous difference, rivals the best of Sonic 2, 3 & Knuckles and Mania. Came so close to being a worthy Mania follow-up just needed some better bossee

Congratulation the algorithm has blessed you🎉

I DESPISED GOLDEN CAPITAL

I did want to give credit to the first giant whale boss in the first level is actually interesting

When is the next podcast ep dropping though 😢

8:32 bro claims to be a sonic fan but doesn't know who King Dragon is 🤣🤭🤣 Great video otherwise

Give me a break. Players have complained that bosses in 2D Sonic games have been too easy and too simplistic for decades, and now that they're actually more involved, everyone's whining.

I feel like superstars level design is really blocky as well with slopes that feel really slugish

15:58 What’s blurred here?

The bosses are definitely the worst part of the game.

Well I don't really want to buy it but should I?

My sonic brother from another mother, this review is disingenuous, as nice of a guy you seem to be so I'm not gonna say it was intentional. 1. Not a single mention of the multiplayer focus of this game. Remember the Chemical Plant boss you use as an example here? Think back. How many players have died bouncing on Eggman like that because Tails gets an unexpected hit? If Superstars bosses had no s after a hit, everyone would just be falling through the boss trying to dog pile it during multiplayer. 2. Not a single mention of Emerald Powers. Really? One of the core mechanics the games bosses are designed around? Weird choice. 3. So replaying stages to learn them and gain mastery and faster times is ok...for stages. But not for bosses? I play this game all the time and with that repetition you'll naturally kill every boss in the game way faster than your first attempt. Most bosses in this game are 15-45 seconds and if that's too long for you I can't help ya. 4. No mention of how the vast majority of bosses DONT hide in the background after you hit them once? You used the Desert stage boss, one of the worst in the game, as your example. He isn't the rule he's an exception, the Monkey boss too. And I have receipts as well, those being my fastest recorded glitchless time attack runs of the bosses. I'm working on a vid about this as well, because I get people complaining about it over on my channel too 😅 Look guys I'll say it until I'm blue in the face. You don't play Sonic games once. Yes, that includes the bosses.

You are absolutely right. It's why the game is inferior to Mania. The levels themselves are enjoyable, but the Boss battles are an incredible chore and honestly makes Superstars have some of the worst pacing I've seen in a Sonic game. I beat the game with Eggman and honestly that fight was so long, brutal and unrelenting, I never wanted to go through it again. (Lord help me when I get to Fang as Trip....) None of the bosses were particularly creative or fun and really broke the groove of the game. Superstars was okay, but it's honestly by far my least favorite Classic Sonic. Better than 4, but not by much.

The boss fights are the sole reason I don't play this game past the first two zones... I shudder at the day I have to record the game and reface Fang and his such bullshit battles