SEGA Wonders Whether Releasing Sonic Superstars Next to Mario Was a Good Idea

Doh!!! It wasn’t clever or smart but I’m sure the game has legs and overall should sell well once it hits the sales. Mario Wonder was £35 most places in run up to release, Sonic was £45!

Both are fun games, I did enjoy sonic more to be honest. I felt the Mario levels were really short and the wonder flowers were to much, would have been better if they weren't mandatory in each level, in my opinion.

I think its price point was a bigger problem, Sonic Frontiers launched at a lower price point and is the better game too (metacritic score be dammed) but its lower price made it more likelythat peoplewould try it. Bumping this up to £55 was a big mistake and did it no favours whatsoever in a crowded release schedule.

To be fair I also feel Mario Wonder is a bit overrated, the Wonder gimmick grew tiresome, bosses are either a bit dull or just don't exist and a lot of the levels I wouldn't want to replay. It's fun the first time through but DK Tropical Freeze is a much better 2d platformer

@johncalmc yeah, they chose this over a sonic mania sequel

It was a bad idea.

I don't think it was going to be a massive sales hit but launching it next to the first genuinely fresh Mario sidescroller since 2006 (or was it 2005?) was ill advised.

I'm waiting for it to be £20 or less before I pounce

Simple solution - make better Sonic games.

@hypnotoad that isn’t simple at all

I thought at the time it was a silly time to release it.

Pretty much any other time it would have had my attention but they couldn't have chosen a worse week to do it with Mario & Spiderman out only 3 days later

Perhaps this should be a reminder that Sonic is basically the most hated character in all of gaming (particularly by it's own fans), while the Mario series has never released a game that's anything less than spectacular. Even the bad games are considered better than anything else ever made.

Maybe it would also have done better had Sega released more games from its older IPs instead of a glut of Sonic titles and remakes over the past few years (and there are avid fans of Sega RPGs not named Yakuza while we're on the subject). There is such a thing as oversaturation and consumer fatigue; while Mario and Zelda may be its two "pillars", Nintendo understands this and at least continues to offer a broad spectrum of first-party IPs across a wide variety of genres in between those releases.

People do realize it was still number 9 in the top 10 in sales for the month of October according to Circana right? It's not like the game flopped or got trounced.They are just saying competition was stiff is all which was basically the case for any game coming out in October.

Was releasing next to Mario a great idea? Of course not but sometimes that's just the way these things work out and it can't be helped. Regardless though don't worry the game still sold well all things considered. It was well deserved too Superstars is a good time.

Their logic was probably that Mario Odyssey and Sonic Forces released very close together with Sonic Forces still selling well so they felt they could do the same with 2D Sonic.

Superstars could've done with a delay given the Switch version is unstable at times (mostly later on in the game), for example there's repeated stuttering during the final boss.

Even without Spider-Man 2, Super Mario and Alan Wake 2 in the same timeframe no one was waiting for this game lol

I am in the Minority but got Superstars instead of Spider-Man 2 and never had any real interest in Mario games.

Still, I would prefer a game in the pixel style of Mania or Origins. Some elements blend together and some of the late bosses need rebalancing.

No hate but I never really had a click with Sonic the speed thing does not really do it for me. The 3D was such a terrible release that one really deserved a few months polish. And yes it's always stupid to go head to head against Mario.

@somnambulance Maybe make it less about speed orand make it about speed on certain set points so everyone can play with each other.

I bought it day one, enjoyed it for the most part, and got the platinum 🤷

It definitely wasn’t smart of SEGA to go up against Spider-Man 2, Mario Wonder, and other big games. Maybe it’ll have legs and do better on sale like Frontiers did.

The answer should be obvious Sega...

There is also the game's price to consider, certainly didn't help with things. Whats ironic is that Superstars actually sold more during some Black Friday sales than any time since launch. Maybe it should've been a $40 game from the start lol.

I don't think this game would have been a crazy seller but SEGA releasing this at £55, more than Sonic Frontiers at £49.99 and right next to Mario Wonder which was at a lower price, alongside Spider-Man 2, was a terrible decision they should have seen coming from a mile

It wasn't, but the game itself was not that great for a 2D Sonic and doesn't look that great if i'm honest. Had they made Sonic Mania 2, it would've sold gangbusters Mario or no Mario.

Yeah, releasing next to Mario wasn't a good idea, especially Mario Wonder.

Whoever set that release date should seriously consider changing jobs xD

There is another Sonic game??? Maybe it has fallen somewhere between endless Spider Man 2 articles...

If you think it’s too good to be true, it is. Common Sense seems to be lacking from game companies, too many strong egos.

no, but releasing two medicore sonic games mere weeks from eachother was also not a good idea. try harder next time.

It really feels like a game that's going to sell really well once the price drops to the $20-$30.
I really don't think you can charge full price for these 2D games and expect succes.

@somnambulance I see we agree, you have to change the game completely, make it more slow or make it splitscreen to make it work.

Not having split screen in this game was the biggest mistake. Currently, you are constantly having to teleport to the other player when playing co-op.