Yes, Going Up Against Super Mario Bros. Wonder Probably Wasn’t a Good Idea for Sonic Superstars

Sonic Superstars launched on October 17. Super Mario Bros. Wonder launched three days later, on October 20. Both 2D platformers went up against each other in an old-school video game rumble that rekindled memories of the Sega versus Nintendo playground battles of the 90s. Well, it seems this time around, there was a clear winner.

While Super Mario Bros. Wonder broke sales records, becoming the fastest-selling Mario game of all time with 4.3 million copies sold in just two weeks, Sonic Superstars sales failed to meet Sega's expectations. Or, as Sega boss Haruki Satomi put it in a recent financial report, Sonic Superstars had a “slightly weaker start than we had anticipated”.

Why? In an investor-focused Q&A, Satomi admitted other games had a “significant” impact. Satomi didn’t name names, but it’s clear Super Mario Bros. Wonder played a part. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Nintendo Switch owners preferred Super Mario Bros. Wonder on their console, and on other platforms, Sonic Superstars failed to generate the interest Sega had hoped for. It’s worth noting that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 launched on PlayStation 5 on 20 October, also just a few days after Sonic came out, and sold millions of copies. And there will have been plenty of people still busy playing through games that came out not long before Sonic, such as Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Cyberpunk 2077 DLC Phantom Liberty, Starfield, EA Sports FC 24, and Mortal Kombat 1.

Here’s the question Sega was asked: “What do you see as the reason for the lower-than-expected start of Sonic Superstars?”

And here’s the answer: “We believe that the impact of other companies' major title released at the same time is significant, but we plan to expand the promotion towards the holiday season, especially in overseas market. Both the Metacritic score and user score are higher than Sonic Frontiers, and we would like to continue to sell firmly.”

Satomi fleshed the idea out a little bit in another statement. “I would like to explain a little about the initiatives of our mainstay IPs,” he said. “As for Sonic, we have released Sonic Superstars and Sonic Origins Plus. Sonic Superstars was released in October, which is a slightly weaker start than we had anticipated, but in reality, when Sonic IP sells the most is mainly November to December, and more than 90% of this title’s marketing cost will be spent in the Thanksgiving and holiday season from November onwards.

“Although in the financial results announced today, we are forecasting this title’s sales slightly weaker with the view of the status of start mentioned above, we plan to continue our marketing efforts to sell on the same level as Sonic Frontiers. Also, we are planning to release the third movie within the next year.”

The third Sonic movie may prove key to the video game’s success. Nintendo has said in recent financial reports that the blockbuster success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie boosted sales of all things Mario, including Super Mario Bros. Wonder. Perhaps excitement around Sonic the Hedgehog 3, due out December 2024, will have a similar knock-on effect.

Until then, Sega has work to do to convince fans to pick up Sonic Superstars. IGN’s Sonic Superstars review returned a 7/10. “Sonic Superstars has a mix of both interesting and ill-advised new ideas, making it an enjoyable Sonic game but not exactly a Super one,” we said.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.