If you’ve ever wondered what Sonic Mania would look like if it was mid, then look no further than SONIC SUPERSTARS

The bottom line is to spend the same amount of money picking up both Sonic Origins and Sonic Mania (combined). Imperfect as Origins is, it has more levels than Superstars in sheer quantity and it still inherits the greatness of the titles it is a collection of to the point where the biggest letdown is the removal of three of Sonic 3&K's best music tracks for merely acceptable replacements - something that can also be fixed by modding a PC version. (And as an aside, I actually think Sandopolis is an epic level, never ever got the hate for it.)

Bro rage quitted on the final boss and started to throw a fit on this game. Also, for a hint on the sand sanctuary boss, the pile of dust coming closer to you is not the red scorpion thingy but the blue enemy, which you can knock back

Maybe they removed the elemental shields so Sonic with the thunder shield wouldn't render Amy completely useless

If there’s one thing Superstars did that I liked, it made the best 3D Classic Sonic model. I like that it’s more accurate to the early Japanese art of Sonic, instead of an amalgamation of designs like Generations Classic Sonic. And in Generations, he looks too chubby.

I think that sonic superstars in general has a very mixed reviews a lot of people like it a lot of people hate it but i think it has more hate then love Mania is still peak though

Random lag that occurs is bad enough unless it’s NES lag and I can feel. One of my favorite games had an update and it ruined the whole thing.

So much for "humble"

On mobile, you can get sonic mania plus with a Netflix account

It's another matter that work on Superstars wasn't Sonic Team, obviously it wouldn't be on the same level as the mania and the price It's expensive because Sega saw that Nintendo makes a lot more money than Sega and Nintendo has expensive prices

blud rlly said that bout the greatest sonic game of all time 💀💀💀

Just as a note, to be fair the Switch version of this game is the worst by a considerable margin. The PC version is the best, as you can install mods that replace the real stinker musics and zoom out the camera a bit. And the visuals of the non Switch versions have a bit more fidelity. Still to say all this just takes the edge off, like adding 1 or 1.5 points out of 10, since it's a very underwhelming experience at its core and it's just about as by-the-numbers, barebones, competent-yet-nothing-more as 2D Sonic gets - I'd finally rate it as "diehards only, and only if on sale", just a slightest bit (on PC) more optimistic than your conclusion. Sonic 1 and CD levels (though definitely NOT their Mania returns!) probably annoy me more than Superstars' on average, but they at least stay away from a very generic artstyle. Sonic 2 I think has better zones at least up through Hidden Palace (or previously Mystic Caves), and Sonic 3&K and Mania literally better zones across the entire games (even Marble Garden and Oil Ocean which are probably my respective least favorites), with many being far better. Mirage Saloon Act 1 Knuckles is IMO the best 'character level' in the entire 2D line up, beating any of Knuckles' treks through 3&K's levels. (Mirage Saloon 1 Encore is absolutely no slouch for characters either!, arguably Encore's biggest selling point.) The idea of 'fully original zones' in Superstars is shockingly shallow and mostly in name only, often deviating from past work no more - and in less interesting ways - than Mania's actual recycled levels deviated from past work themselves, and not holding the tiniest candle to Mania's four original zones. Oh and lastly I think the Emerald UFO chase in Mania is WAY better than any bonus or special that Superstars was able to manage.

It doesn't make sense calling this game bad

As far as I know Sonic 3 only has 3 zones with new themes so you complaining about the superstars that have 2 doesn't make sense

i just realized sega has been making kinda bad sonic games lately.