It’s been six years since Sonic Mania’s release. That was a game that was immediately clear was a labor of love, a game made by fans for fans. It also might be the best 2D Sonic the Hedgehog game of all time. With that in mind, I was ready for another 2D game when Sonic Superstars was announced. However, with a completely different developer, Arzest, the team behind Balan Wonderworld, it was pretty easy to be nervous. So, how did it turn out?

I’m currently on the eighth zone out of, I’m pretty sure, eleven. While I have been enjoying myself, the game is definitely lacking some polish. Why am I pretty sure that there is eleven zone? Because at one point, I visited the game’s shop, and when I left, it dropped me outside of the eleventh zone on the world map for some reason. The name of that zone sure seemed like what a final area might be called. To add to some of the jank, when I tried leaving, Sonic fell through the ground and just kept falling for all eternity, forcing me to close the game.

Thankfully, that was the only huge glitch I’ve encountered so far. Otherwise, my main complaint is that the game doesn’t appear to be well optimized for the Switch, which is where I’m playing it. There is some extreme load times, especially noticeable when going between levels. You’ll finish Act 1 of whatever zone, and then just kind of stand there for a really long time, before Act 2 finally starts up. Also, when coming back from a minigame, you’ll just kind of float in the air for way too long.

But enough of the negative, because I’ve been really enjoying my time with Sonic Superstars. At face value, it’s a very straight forward 2D Sonic game. You run quickly to the right while collecting rings and power-ups, beating up bad guys, and finding warps to minigames. The game offers four different characters to play as, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. I’ve been playing as Sonic for my playthrough, seeing how it feels as just a classic Sonic game. But there are certain levels where the game makes you play as another character. So far, the only’ one of those I’ve played featured Amy. While Sonic has all his traditional moves, running, jumping, and spin-dashing, Amy has a hammer that she swings around her when she jumps and a double jump. Overall, it didn’t feel that much different from playing as Sonic, but it was a nice change of pace.

The thing that really differentiates Superstars from previous Sonic games are the Chaos Emerald powers. In the older games, collecting all the Chaos Emeralds allowed Sonic to transform into Super Sonic, an invincible form that would slowly burn through your rings. In this game, every time you collect a new emerald, you unlock a new power. The first one you get causes a ton of Sonic clones to fill the screen, hitting everything they touch. It’s pretty useful when you have a boss that’s pretty annoying to hit. These new abilities add a good amount of variety and are fun to play around with.

Collecting Chaos Emeralds requires you to find a large ring hidden in each level, which teleports you to a minigame. The minigame is pretty fun, but not as good as some of the previous games’ bonus areas in my opinion. In this one, you swing around like Spider-Man, going from floating ball to floating ball while trying to catch up to a Chaos Emerald that’s flying away from you. I found actually aiming to be annoying, but it was fun when things worked out. It’s fine, but not amazing.

Outside of the main campaign, there is a battle mode and the option for simultaneous co-op play. I haven’t done either of these, so I can’t really speak of them. I was a little confused when I had gone to the game’s shop and found a bunch of parts that I could buy, but no explanation for why I would be buying them. It turns out, it’s to customize your character for the battle mode. Maybe I’ll check it out later and report back if it feels necessary to do so.

As a classic Sonic the Hedgehog game, Sonic Superstars does a lot right. It’s fast, fun, and introduces some new elements to the series. While I wasn’t instantly blown away like I was with Sonic Mania, this game does a lot right and is absolutely worth checking out for fans of the series. I just wish it was a little more polished.