Sega Implies That Releasing Sonic Superstars Next To Super Mario Bros. Wonder Wasn't Smart

I just can't imagine why anyone thought that was a good idea.

It also wasn't smart to get Arzest to make this game but that's just my opinion. I don't think the game is bad but it was still a disappointment in my book

SEGA's bad decisions once again screw them over. Real shame, Superstars looks amazing.

But unless they could have released it earlier (unlikely), would it have mattered? They’d have wanted to release it in the window up to Xmas, so no matter when they released it in that window it would have been in Mario Wonder’s shadow. The only alternative would then be to release it after Xmas, which is even worse.

in my quest to see what i should play next, i'll buy this come next pay day.

@Olliemar28.” the firm has finally acknowledged “

They didn’t “finally” acknowledge it, they said so in their last investor meeting back in November.

“ We believe that the impact of other companies’ major titles released at the same time is significant, but we plan to expand the promotion towards the holiday season, especially in the overseas market,” CFO Koichi Fukazawa admitted. “

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2023/11/sega-wonders-whether-releasing-sonic-superstars-next-to-mario-was-a-good-idea

You covered the same material in a similar article about the same report back in November but I’m guessing the above quote was in the Q&A w/ investors but you only quoted the actual report.🤷🏻‍♂️

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/11/sonic-superstars-sales-were-slightly-weaker-than-sega-had-anticipated

For me both games were mid, animations aside mario wonder did nothing for me. Sonic is about what I expected so I enjoyed that one more.

The worst part about the game was the bosses. Multiplayer was fine as long as you know that it's like Sonic 2's Tails and not NSMB's Toads.

Gee, maybe you should've delayed it for a few weeks. That way, you wouldn't have been competing with Wonder, and the game would've gotten some much-needed polish. Win-win. But of course that's too much to expect from SEGA.

Being more expensive didn't help either.

On another note, I still struggle to understand why everyone complains about the bosses? Do people want to speed through them in 30 seconds? I thought they were fun and challenging. Exactly what a boss should be.

In the long run, I wonder how much this really matters. Casual gamers will still see Sonic Superstars on store shelves whenever they go to GameStop or Walmart and get it for themselves or their kids because it's a Sonic game. And core gamers will remember to pick it up during the next gaming drought.

Like, picture this scenario: A mom takes her little boy to Walmart. He has $60 left over in birthday money and wants to buy a game. He sees Mario Wonder and Sonic Superstars sitting right next to each other on the shelf. He desperately wants them both but only has enough money to buy one. Will his mom say, A: "Whichever one you don't buy, Santa might get it for you for Christmas, sweetie." or, B: "You're screwed, Timmy. All hope is lost."

Of course, it's good to get early launch sales while you're still running promotions and the game is fresh on people's minds so they don't forget about it down the road. But it's Sonic--one of the most iconic game characters ever. This isn't some little indie thing.

If anything is hindering the sales of Sonic games, it's 1) customers feeling like they have been burned by the franchise too many times due to inconsistent quality, and 2) SEGA competing with themselves by releasing a new Sonic game every year. I mean, we had Colors in 2021, Frontiers in 2022, Superstars in 2023, and now Generations in 2024. I'm fine with it as I've personally enjoyed them all, but it's not a great business strategy to confuse little Timmy's mom with two different Sonic games at Christmas that both look pretty similar.

A real "No sh!7, Sherlock!" quote if I've ever seen one.

As a fan of both under normal circumstances (there's stock of both games and they're equally priced), I'm sorry but I'm gonna favor Mario over Sonic.

We know, SEGA. We all knew.

Weird how this is super obvious to all of us, but apparently not to those in charge of running a multi-million dollar corporation.

"Bear implies that faeces in woods were their doing".

@RainbowGazelle on a first playthrough they're not that bad. But Sonic fans usually really like to replay these games as they're designed around being replayable with all the different pathways and such. On a replay they're a total slog where you're just waiting for the boss to open its weakpoint.

"strategic expansion of Sonic IP", "diversity in genres"

A new 2D platformer in the spirit (I think) of the Genesis games and a remastered 2D/3D platformer of an OG that has until recently been on sale is strategic expansion and diversity? Okay, SEGA.

Both were AA titles for me. The animation of Mario wonder was amazing and I hope they keep using it for future titles. The wonder flower made it less for me. It became just a gimmick because it was in every level. Sonic was just all over the place and short, the levels were very easy and the bosses were way to hard in comparison.

@HammerKirby I will give them a very, VERY small benefit of a doubt because the higher-ups are usually only looking at numbers, they're not normally a part of the mass audience so they're not thinking the same way we as consumers are.

That being said, this is where corporate looks to their teams that are directly closer to the consumer level for second opinions. The problem there is if they do that, then the people deciding payroll could look at it and ask, "okay, then why are we paying you millions if you're just going to ask for advice?" So, the higher-ups likely just claim to know what they're talking about and hope for the best.

I think I played maybe 3 levels with my kids before they were done. It’s a real shame. Mario wonder on the other hand was a delight to play together. I haven’t gotten back to superstars since

eh it is what it is id be more frustrated about it if i had liked the game more, but i am VERY excited to have generations on switch and im praying that they dont boof it

@Aurumonado true that true that

So their options were to release it early (i e "unfinished") or... what? What is the implication, here?

Can y'all please tell me how long would've been appropriate to delay this game, so that the existence of Mario Wonder didn't affect its sales?

Uh... Releasing that close didn't help, but let's not overlook the fact that their game was glitchy and just not all that fun. Maybe they need to realize their Miyamoto of Sonic is Christian Whitehead.

@PipeGuy64Bit IKR!? they made a mid pikmin game and then they made a mid sonic game xD

@Aurumonado heyo how you doing?

@-wc- Waiting until January or around now would've allowed them to polish it up a bit more and since this time of year is generally a dry season, it would be a real highlight.

@-wc- Like atleast a month or 2 lmfao. Wonder was A Tier and Superstars was like B- Tier. It would have sold better if it was further away from Mario wonder so it could scratch the platforming itch that people have after finishing wonder.

@Martijn87 The wonder flower was the coolest part though. I loved going through the levels wondering what the effect would be this time around. Legit loved it

When Sega says competing titles, they meant both Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Spider-Man 2. Not just Mario alone. If anything Sega should had delay the game to November and it'll had a better chance of success.

@rainbowtick Christian Whitehead is nothing like Shigeru Miyamoto. Shigeru Miyamoto created his own work and polish them to the extend of what works on their platform, Christian Whitehead only took existing assets and work around those polishing what was outdated so it could be up to date. Also Miyamoto is the creator of Mario whereas Whitehead is not the creator of Sonic.

Also that this game is a 6/10 at best. The later Zones suck, and the bosses are the worst in the franchise’s history.

I'm sure that didn't help, but that's not really the problem. The issue is that the game doesn't have enough value for the price.

When you buy a Mario game, they may not be the longest games, but they have a lot more levels, a lot more ideas crammed in and they have a lot more replay value thanks to the collectable and extra objectives. Mario games are a worthy investment, but a lot of times, Sonic games fly by so fast 60$ is just too much

In a parallel universe, we are all enjoying the surprior Mania sequel that our universe's Sega should have encouraged in the first place....

I bought both day one. I played Sonic for a while at launch, but I got a bit bored and haven't gone back since. I saved Mario for Christmas, 100% completed it over the holiday and haven't gone back since.

I can see why some people would do it the other way around, to save some money on the inevitable discount Sonic would receive at Christmas, but I deliberately chose to support both games.

I think gamers should do whatever they feel comfortable with doing / can afford to do in a difficult economy. However, it's not OK to on the one hand seek out discounts and on the other hand be surprised when developers are struggling.

Sounds like SEGA need to come up with a new mascot. I propose AiAi

Releasing Sonic next to Mario isn't smart?

• insert surprise Pikachu face *

They had the clout back in the 90s to go toe to toe with the big N but since then, Sonic has been flaky at best and the reputation just isn't there anymore. Shame but Sega hasn't been the same since leaving the console market.

Bad business decision? Maybe. But for me it was one of the greatest gaming weekends of the year, a full on 90s nostalgia overdose as I played both a new classic Sonic and a new classic Mario

@PipeGuy64Bit Arzest is basically a studio that makes "meh" games as a whole. Balan aside because Naka was the one who really caused it to go from "meh" to "What the hell was he thinking?!"

@Coolmusic I have to disagree. Mania is one of those lightning in a bottle type of games, even if it was made again with the same team. The other universe would be complaining how dispite how good it was, it's more of the same.

LMFAO! That's gotta be the funniest thing I heard all week. Who would've guessed?!

The good news to take from this article, in my opinion, that Sega seems to realize they screwed up. They can't blame Sonic Superstars alone on the assumption that people just don't want "classic" Sonic, and use that to bury 2D Sonic and focus only on 3D Sonic in the future. That is what a previous article on Superstars' sales seemed to imply. It's a good thing that that is not actually the case.

Probably buy Sonic Superstar someday as I like the Sonic 2D platformers. But had just bought Sonic Origins Plus in the summer of 2023 which had a lot of content to play through. And to me it is not clear why Sonic Superstars had a higher asking price than Sonic Mania Plus and Sonic Origins Plus.

I don't think a Mario game that released in the same time frame had something to do with it.

Too soon to make another 2D game with 3D visuals, many people were hoping for a Mania successor.

I think that played a part. Isn't the worst aspect of modern 3D Sonic games when the gameplay shifts you into 2.5D?

I know for a fact SMBW did not affect my decision to get Superstars.

So, is everyone in the comments just forgetting that sonic frontiers was the fastest selling sonic game PERIOD in the last 20 years? Not only that but the Sonic Adventure games were also just released in Japan and they're doing GREAT. Maybe the problem wasn't just the date, maybe it's just because modern sonic is more popular then classic sonic. And sega knows this because classic sonic ain't even in the promo art of sonic x shadow generations. Classic sonic has never been popular in Japan and still isn't as modern sonic is growing. I think sega should just dead classic sonic until nostalgia calls for him again.

@NatiaAdamo Sonic Mania was limited in the sense that it stayed true to the originals. It would have been interesting to see more new zones by the same team. I think there are enough options to create something that is not more of the same. At least the Sonic Mania team understand what makes a good 2D Sonic game.

@UltraZelda64 sonic team is the one that decides if classic sonic stays or not. Because that is a creative decision not a financial one. You ain't gonna find that in a sega sammy financial report.

Didn't they learn anything from the 90s?

More like the £55 price tag on launch

I feel like they tried to play into the 90’s console wars without saying so and when it didn’t work they backpedaled. Because otherwise why not delay or push the game up even a week?

@S-top Simple business/economics implies that if a product doesn't sell, a company will probably abandon it and try something new/different. How would that not apply for 2D vs 3D Sonic? Sonic Mania can probably almost singlehandly be thanked for Sonic's 2D support by Sega today. If it didn't release as the digital-only market test that it effectively was, you'd probably still be stuck playing Christian Whitehead's versions of the classics on your phone and emulations of varying quality on your TV.

Creativity does not always sell, and when it doesn't, business decisions often take priority. Companies exist to make money, and creativity (and even quality) does not always win in the end. If it did, we wouldn't end up with companies like EA.

Every game in the Super Mario series since 1989 has been good, that's why people buy them. They should work towards making consistency their goal, then sonic would sell better.

SEGA learned nothing from the 2000's.

I'm not familiar with Sonic platformer games but I heard Sonic Superstars was easy enough for newbie player since there was No Game Over screen which means the newbie player of Sonic franchise like me can enjoy the Sonic Superstars without get frustrated of getting Game Over.

I have Sonic Lost World 3DS since 3 years ago and never continue the game due to keep getting Game Over all the time, even on world 1-2 because of fallen into bottomless pit all the time.
It was really hard for me to clear world 1-2 where there were a lot of wall riding and I fell into bottomless pit for not perfectly press the dash button.

Every platformer games that get limited by life system, it will discouraged me to continue the game as when I keep getting Game Over screen all the time, I immediately stop playing the game. I play the game for fun, not for getting frustrated of getting Game Over all the time. I don't like to deal with ridiculous hard challenge.

Whoever was in charge of the release schedule CLEARLY was not informed to "check" if any other potentially heavy hitting/popular game releases were abound, but nope... Sega does what Sega do.

How do people feel about this game now that some time has passed? Is it worth picking up still?

" The strategic expansion of Sonic IP is progressing well, and we will continue to work to increase repeat sales of this title."

They want people who have already bought it to buy it again?

So what Sega is saying is that it didn't sell much on Sony PS, Xbox and PC, because Mario Wonders weren't released on any of these 3 systems?

No kidding...also building in hard bosses at the END of each stage with no way to bypass them made it frustrating. I got to the first stage of world 3 and couldn't beat the boss sequence, so I gave up and moved onto Mario Wonder...never to go back.

That pretty much goes without saying. I wish they would have released the game a few months prior to Super Mario Bros. Wonder. I wonder what the sales on the game would have been if they had done that.

SEGA be SEGA'ing.

It was a good game. Not brilliant or outstanding like, buh good.

Yeah, a pretty bad decision on their part. I don't have to think twice about buying a new mainline Mario game, Sonic on the other hand....

Ah, sega. Still doing sega things.
Much like Nintendo doing Nintendo things, but sega aren’t as competent

So which game's release date was announced first? My thought process is maybe Sega internally locked in that date and already worked out the logistics with storefronts and retailers before public announcement, then Nintendo announced their own release date and Sega were like, "well ****, can't do anything about it now."

Roblox oof noise

Ah, that's the Sega we know!

To quote Geoffrey from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: The word 'Duh' comes to mind

@TheBigK SMB Wonder got its release date announcement in late June meanwhile Sonic Superstars got its release date announcement in late August.

@Anti-Matter
Superstars’ boss fights are much much more frustrating than any of the classic Sonic games, because players have infinite retries at a checkpoint before the boss the developers decided to make most of the boss fights last for minutes with the final bosses taking longer to beat than any of the stages at around 7-9 minutes and have attacks that instantly kill.

Mario was the least of this games worries. I picked it up when visiting Japan and only managed to put 4 sessions into it (all of which lasted like an hour or two) before I was just done with it, it's so boring and uninspired that I just couldn't continue.

I know a lot of people say that the 2000s era of Sonic was the worst but I'll gladly take that again because at least the games had a semblance of passion behind them, now they're just stale and boring to play.

They should have delayed it to work on the actual quality of the game. I've been a Sonic fan for 30 years and Superstars was literally the first game (Shadow and Forces included) that I wasn't able to find one single thing to like about. The visuals, music, gameplay, all trash.