Super Sonic is essentially Sonic the Hedgehog at his peak. With the power of the mythical Chaos Emeralds, the blue blur can become invulnerable to any attacks, while also gaining the power of flight and limitless stamina. In this form, Sonic has bested gods, and in Sonic Frontiers, players can use Super Sonic to battle the titans of the Starfall Islands. While the initial trailer revealing the fact that fans could play as the powered-up hedgehog looked like normal Sonic boss fare at first, it couldn't be any farther from the truth.
Sonic Frontiers might give players huge mechanical marvels to fight, but to match the game's open-zone freedom, players have full reign to fly and fight the boss head on with all the power of the Chaos Emeralds. The result is some of the most dynamic bosses that the series has ever seen. Super Sonic has always been said to be all-powerful, but over the last 30 years, the form had become tradition in almost Sonic game that the golden invulnerability would play a part in the last act. Just when things were getting predictable, Sonic Frontiers' boss battles change that.
Super Sonic's Role in Sonic Games
Super Sonic's first appearance was in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 where gathering all the Emeralds and collecting 50 rings would let players gain the powerful form to be invulnerable to most anything in their way. For the first few games, this was Super Sonic's function gameplay-wise. Sonic Adventure changed that, turning Super Sonic into a secret seventh character that tackles the game's true final boss once all the stories were cleared. Adventure's method of making Super Sonic play a big role in the game's climax would become a staple going forward.
In total, a whopping 27 games feature Super Sonic either playable in levels, as the final boss, or as a special unlockable. However, many of the more recent titles either give the transformation to the player in the story's climax, or worse yet, use him to boost replayability. When Sonic Colors arrived and didn't feature Super Sonic, many fans welcomed it due to the slightly unexpected change. Over the years, the form has gone from an amazing reward for skilled players to just being yet another form of Sonic to play as, even being offered as DLC for Sonic Forces.
Sonic Frontiers' Super Sonic
While Sonic Frontiers makes the Chaos Emeralds highly plot-relevant, gathering them all is part of the game's main gameplay loop. However, where many fans were probably expecting to gather the Emeralds slowly as they play, within the first few hours of Frontiers, they'll find themselves gathering all seven right away to defeat the titan of Kronos Island.
It's rather surprising to have all seven at the very start of a Sonic game, but it's ultimately worth it once fans get a taste of the first boss fight against Giganto. Playing as Super Sonic in Frontiers has the same freedom as the regular combat, which means everything is fair game. Players are encouraged to mix and match combos to unleash a flurry of attacks against the enemy. It's done in such a way that reminds players of just how powerful Super Sonic is after years of the form being just a given part of each title.
How Sonic Frontiers Emphasizes Super Sonic
One of the biggest parts that make it clear that Super Sonic is a force to be reckoned with is how Sonic Frontiers showcases his size against the titans. Sonic is a tiny speck on players' screens up against these titans, and the scale of the enemies is meant to intimidate players and make them feel like they might still have trouble even with the Emeralds. Yet, despite how small Sonic is, once fans start using what they gained from Frontiers' Skill Tree, the smacks that come out of the robots as they recoil is incredibly satisfying. Fans can also be thrown far across the fighting areas if players don't dodge, and the bosses also have certain quick time events that show Sonic blocking laser beams twice his size and more.
The cinematic QTEs in Sonic Frontiers tells fans this is par for the course when it comes to Sonic's power with the Chaos Emeralds. Against the third titan, Sonic not only can stop the enemy's blade, but wield it as his own as a powerful finishing move. Every finisher and dramatic moment of these fights looks like it's freshly out of an anime, which is great considering Super Sonic's Dragon Ball Z inspirations.
In exchange for Sonic's newfound power, the battles are given a time limit in the form of the player losing rings every second. It adds another layer to the fight because if Sonic goes Super, there's no other way to get rings. Fans are left feeling tense as they know their time to defeat the boss is numbered, which helps get players immersed.
Not only is it refreshing for the game's usual combat, but it raises the bar for Super Sonic fights across the entire franchise. These battles also use their scope to their advantage, as fights like Wyvern use the set pieces surrounding the boss arena to elevate the presentation and make the strength of Super Sonic even more clear in player's minds. For the first time in years, the form isn't just another Sonic boss battle tradition. There's now a weight to why it's seen as so all-powerful after fans have been allowed to take control and feel what it means to go Super Sonic.
Sonic Frontiers is out now for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch, and PC.