Sonic Superstars looks great and all, but it's giving off some very strong Sonic the Hedgehog 4 vibes.

Sonic Superstars is the brand new 2D Classic Sonic game, coming in Fall 2023 to Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. The game's biggest innovation is probably the four-player co-op, but the first thing that's going to catch the eye of most Sonic fans is the fact that it featuresvisuals akin to the Classic Sonic sections of Sonic Generations and Sonic Forces.

With Sonic Frontiers clearly being the future of Modern Sonic going forward, it seems that SEGA is attempting to find a different, alternative niche for Classic Sonic - while still charging consumers $60 for some baffling reason.

A lot of this game looks good, but there's just something about it that screams Sonic 4, and that's lighting up the Flight or Fight parts of my brain.

I am a tremendous fan of 2D Sonic, having started with the Master System titles before progressing to the original Mega Drive games as a child. I've played and loved the Sonic Advance Trilogy, Sonic Rush (not Sonic Rush Adventure, I didn't like that world exploration and navigation got in the way of the actual gameplay), and even Sonic Rivals, the oft-forgotten PSP game that gave Sonic a 2.5D structure long before it was cool.

The question, then, is whether Sonic Superstars will be another in a long line of fairly solid to downright brilliant 2D Sonic games... or if it'll be Sonic 4 all over again.

Honestly, SEGA, why couldn't you have just done whatever you needed to do to keep the Sonic Mania team onside? Things could have worked out so much better for the human race.

Anyway, thanks for watching this rather unusual video. BretonStripes will be back next week, promise.