Summary
- Sonic Superstars introduces Amy Rose as a playable character in a 2D platforming game, marking her first proper 2D debut.
- Amy's moveset in Sonic Superstars includes a double-jump with her trusty Piko-Piko Hammer, replacing the insta-shield from previous games.
- The absence of Amy's hammer in Sonic Frontiers suggests a potential evolution of her moveset, with the possibility of her hammer being used as a Drop Dash attack in future 3D titles.
Sonic Superstars aims to welcome in a new era of Classic 2D Sonic platforming as it tries to capture how the old games felt while bringing new ideas and challenges to the table. One of the biggest ways that Sonic Superstars makes a name for itself is including Amy Rose as part of the main playable roster from the very beginning. Superstars may mark Amy's first proper 2D debut, but the latest Sonic game only keeps a new trend going, possibly aiming to solidify it as part of the status quo rather than a one-time event.
This year has served as a rather important year for Amy Rose, as she has been made playable in not one, but technically six games in the last five months. Sonic Frontiers recently made her playable in its The Final Horizon DLC, which added an entirely new ending to the open-zone title, but even that was following suit after Sonic Origins Plus. Origins Plus did what many fans considered to be a pipe dream or impossible, and made Amy playable in all four mainline Classic Sonic games, including her debut title, Sonic CD, which turned 30 last month. Considering how the spotlight is on Amy for once, the way she plays is very important for many players.
How Sonic Superstars Improves on Amy's Sonic Origins Moveset
As Sonic Origins animation director Tyson Hesse has revealed that Amy's presence in the game was meant to be a tease to her joining the group in Sonic Superstars, there is naturally an overlap between the pink hedgehog's moveset between both releases. Using her trusty Piko-Piko Hammer, Amy is given a bit of extra protection against enemies in the place of the insta-shield that Sonic 3 and Knuckles is particularly known for. However, in Superstars, this is changed into a double-jump, with her hammer being used during every jump.
Beyond that, Amy's moveset in 2D is rather similar between both games, and ultimately how she feels comes down to the differences in physics engines. Sonic Superstars has a bit of a slow start compared to Origins, but with Amy's use of the Drop Dash from Sonic Mania as a permanent staple of her moveset, she may feel like the "easy mode" in the original games compared to Superstars, where the level design is made to compensate for her inclusion. Still, though Amy may come off as rather easy to play, she takes practice to master.
Sonic Superstars Shows Potential in Sonic Frontiers' Playable Amy
While Sonic Superstars and Sonic Frontiers are vastly different platforming experiences, what with Frontiers being 3D and Superstars being 2D, there's still an interesting detail to how both games approach Amy that's worth analyzing, and that's the absence of Amy's trademark hammer. For an unexplained story reason, Amy's Piko-Piko Hammer isn't entirely usable in the state that she's in after interacting with Sonic Frontiers' Cyber Space. However, she can call upon her Fortune Cards for help, which changes her moveset drastically.
Considering just how many games Amy's been made playable in lately, as well as how Sonic Team aims to add more playable characters in the future, there's a good chance that the Frontiers and the Superstars movesets will meet in the middle with the next 3D title. Her hammer could easily be used as her Drop Dash attack, and she could also include it as part of her new triple jump that Frontiers has, likely to act as a sort of evolution of her skills between her Classic and Modern selves. Hopefully Superstars is a sign of what's to come, and Modern Amy fans won't have to miss her Piko-Piko Hammer for much longer.
Sonic Superstars is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.