Superstar series

The Superstar series (スーパースター) is a series of video games by Multisoft starring its mascot, Billy Scotch. It follows a colorful cast of characters and their adventures in Stellar City. Such characters include Buster, a grumpy dog owned by Billy, and Kelly Valentine, a pink-haired girl with a tomboyish personality. The first game was released in 1992, around the time Multisoft (Gamesoft) began to feel comfortable in making games. The majority of the games is action-adventure based, with three racing games, two sports games, a party game, and an RPG for the spinoffs.

Setting
The majority of the Superstar games takes place in Stellar City, a city located on the Land of the Sky. Most of the locations are nods to video game references, such as Quarters County, a place run by arcade owners, Cartridge Sea, the ocean where game cartridges (possibly obsolete ones) are seen in a shipwrecked position, and Game Over Underground, a low-level town where the injured, deceased, and retired reside. Outside of Stellar City is the Miasma Fortress, home of the evil Demon Prince Draco. There is also the Sol Mansion, residence of Kylee Hens.

Characters
Billy Scotch - the main protagonist and mascot of the series. He is a good-willed human who is clad in a blue shirt and jeans. He has to deal with the challenges of Draco, the machinations of evil Lord Needel, and the advances of crazed and dippy scientist Alex Dawn. Like Kelly, he will do anything worth ending his boredom, though he is marginally more sane and calm than his female friend. He has access to a variety of power ups, most of which he use to take down the fiercest villains. Starting with Superstar Adventures, Billy is voiced by Tom Kenny.

Kelly Valentine - a female companion of Billy. Like him, Kelly is usually willing to go out of her way for her friends. She is sometimes depicted as the "damsel in distress" type of character, something which mentally annoys her. Even though Bailey impersonates or parodies many different video game characters, one of the most notable characters that she parodies is Samus Aran of Nintendo's Metroid series. In addition, she wields a large kendama. As of Superstar Adventures, she is voiced by Tress MacNeille.

Buster - an anthropomorphic dog with a grumpy personality. He would care less about what his owner Billy does, always stating that he is always "an arrogant idiot." He is one of the alternate characters for Billy in the second game, where he would touch the Switch Star item to switch with him, Mac, or Drews. In the Unity series, Buster finds himself traveling with Billy and Mac, though the three managed to remain friends and he occasionally displays a sense of loyalty to his partner and his friend. Starting with Superstar Adventures, Buster is voiced by John DiMaggio.

Drew Baker - a dark-skinned man and arguably the fourth main protagonist. He is a slick trickster who loves pulling off tricks to almost everyone in Stellar City. Whenever someone knows about his pranks, he usually lies and gets away with it. Despite his tricks, he can be trusted by Billy and his friends on some situations. In the second game, he is one of the alternate characters for Billy in the second game if he touches the Switch Star item to switch with him, Mac, or Buster. In Superstar Adventures, Drew is voiced by Phil Lamarr.

Mac Arnold Ronee - a young blonde boy who is mild-mannered and shy. Often teased because of his name and tendency to stutter, he never truly socializes with anyone. He would pitch into anyone's conversations, but only to listen. But after a few attempts, he learned how to befriend Billy, Kelly, and other people. He is one of the three sidekicks for Billy in the second game, next to Buster and Drew. Plus, he is part of the threesome of protagonists in the Unity series. Mac was originally voiced by Pamela Adlon until Superstar Universe, where he was then voiced by Rob Paulsen.

Alex Dawn - a young girl who is obsessed with science and history, even chasing after ancient artifacts that are worth experimenting on, knowing little of the consequences. She is one of the reoccurring antagonists of the series starting with the second game. Alex accidentally summoned Needel while doing research on a relic she found underground. She was not sure why she summoned him, but she was known as his master regardless. Alex has been voiced by Cree Summer in Superstar Adventures, and by Grey DeLisle starting with Superstar Heroes.

Prince Draco - an evil prince and one of the series' major antagonists. He is an only child of a powerful family of vampires who sought to claim the light of the land and lives by himself in a large fortress on the edge of Stellar City. Draco possesses a chilling personality and a very short temper, and uses his minions for his own amusement, often to the discomfort or belittlement of them. In addition, he is skilled with magic and weaponry. In some of the early video games, Draco's plans involve him capturing Kelly, in order to lure Billy into a trap. But in certain games he is depicted helping the heroes in certain situations, to the point where he became his own protagonist in Superstar Trinity. Starting with Superstar Adventures 2, his voice actor was Eric Stuart.

Ricky Rhinoceros - a rhinoceros clad in red swim trunks. He claims to be the leader and founder of the Starbright Detective Agency, with its only members being Steve, Kim, and Spinner. He originally appeared in Drew's Starbright Battle, as one of the unlucky ones brainwashed by Alex and Needel. After destroying the helmet that was brainwashing him, Ricky helped Drew defeat the two villains. He is voiced by Patrick Warburton since Superstar Heroes.

Steve Brown - a young man who works as a soldier for the Stellar Force. He also works with Ricky, Kim, and Spinner as part of the Starbright Detective Agency. In Drew's Starbright Battle, he was the first victim to be brainwashed by Alex and Needel, but was freed by Drew. While independent and reliant on his duties as a soldier, unfortunately he has a tendency to act scared in dire situations. In Superstar Heroes, he is voiced by Jeff Bennett.

Kim Shells - a young clairvoyant woman with a mask who runs a pinball-based casino in Quarters County. She is also a part of the Starbright Detective Agency with Steve and Ricky. She has an interest in pinball machines, video games, comic books, and (not revealed until Shen's Revenge) anime. In addition, she was the star of the pinball game Kim and Till, along with her sister Till Shells. In Superstar Heroes, Kim was voiced by Gail Matthius, and she is now voiced by Colleen Villard in Superstar Universe.

Spinner Rotop - a robot with the torso of a spinning top who is the fourth member of the Starbright Detective Agency. He tried to fight Alex and Lord Needel, but dismantled himself in the process. He was lucky enough to be rebuilt by Ricky, and he gained enough trust to join the Agency. Prior to the events of Superstar Heroes, Spinner disappeared to take care of important matters. This mysterious disappearance was discovered in Superstar Duality, where he was settling the score with his evil twin brother, Twister Rotop.

Lord Needel - the supreme leader of the extraterrestrial colony and one of the series' major antagonists. Since his resurrection by Alex Dawn, he has posed a serious threat towards Billy and his friends, especially compared to Draco. While mostly serving as Alex's obedient and silent enforcer, Lord Needel is an intelligent organism with a very dark side. A cold-hearted, aggressive and ruthless killer, he is obsessed with proving his superiority to the world and eliminating everyone for good to the point where he has rebelled against his master more than once to achieve his goal. He has been voiced by Jim Cummings since Superstar Heroes.

Marsh - a Quarian born to the royal family in Quarium Kingdom. As he was an egg, he was washed ashore towards Rasp Jungle and adopted by Chief Palmate, growing up to believe he is a lizard. Billy first met Marsh when he was being robbed of his belonging by Gado and since retrieving it back from the thief, he was Billy's first partner. He learned later from Chief Palmate that he was never a lizard to begin with, making Marsh begin his journey to find his family in the sea. He was also involved in saving the World of the Stars from Zagato by collecting the 10 star shards.

Maya - the "heroine of the stars" and one of the playable characters in Superstar Quest. She has been sent by a "divine entity" to restore peace to the Land of the Sky, taking the form of a doll in the process. She joins Billy, Buster, Marsh, Kelly, and Draco on their quest to stop Zagato from shattering the World of the Stars with his alchemy. After collecting the 10 star shards, Maya leaves her doll body and sacrifices herself to defeat Zagato, bringing peace back to both the World of the Stars and the Land of the Sky.

Snail Sloth - a lazy sloth who is one of the most recurring characters. Usually sleepy, he tries to find a peaceful area to sleep. When he does sleep, any type of loud noise would barely wake him up unless he feels like it. As a homage to his name, he has a love for snails, even keeps one of them as a temporary pet. He is one of the 6 playable characters of Superstar Adventures. Although Snail is sometimes viewed as an annoyance to the other characters, there are times that he is the antagonist. In addition, he is the star of his own spinoff, where he is searching for ingredients for "the greatest pie in the universe." Snail has been voiced by Jon St. John since Superstar Adventures.

Meteo - a golem monster known as the God of Destruction 500 years in the past, as well as the antagonist of Superstar Unity. According to historical sources, Meteo was the cause of how the Land of the Sky became what it is today. But the tribespeople, overcome with greed upon conquering the land, caused Meteo to become furious and, as a result, destroyed parts of the Land of the Sky. Luckily, he was sealed into the Terra Jasper by the chieftain's daughter Katou, who also sealed herself in the relic. 500 years later, Alex summons Meteo by destroying the Terra Jasper into pieces, having him assist her in her latest experiment: to create a new utopia on the Land of Darkness, but she was betrayed by him after absorbing the shards of the Terra Jasper to unleash his true power. He was calmed by Billy and Katou, ending the destruction of the Land of the Sky.

Katou - the daughter of the Land of the Sky's chieftain. She foresees a positive future of the land her people have claimed in the past. She even sees Meteo, the God of Destruction, as her closest friend. But when her tribe became greedy upon ruling over the Land of the Sky, she witnessed Meteo attacking them and went with the most life-costing approach; sacrificing herself to seal Meteo in the Terra Jasper. When Meteo was freed, Katou's spirit was freed and she sought the help of Billy, Buster, Kelly, Drew, Mac and Snail to help her. She was voiced by Lara Jill Williams in Superstar Unity.

Shen Jing - a fighter genetically-altered by Professor Cedrick Rial who wishes to avenge the death of his ex-girlfriend Yue. He was rediscovered by Alex after being locked away into an underwater base heavily guarded by the defense agency CUBE, and gains her assistance in order to activate the legendary weapon, the Surge Tower, which required the use of the Rainbow Stars. He frames Billy for stealing one of the Rainbow Stars from Stellar City, which made the two of them rivals. It is revealed that Shen was originally a bouncer who arbitrarily volunteered to enhance his body to cure all diseases, but instead was forcefully weaponized by CUBE. After some struggles against Billy and an attempt to reveal the true nature of CUBE, he sided with the heroes at that point. Even after learning that Professor C. Rial enhanced him with the DNA of the alien race of Sporetans, he still had the courage to defeat their leader, Queen Spore. He was voiced by Corey Burton from Superstar Adventures 2 to Superstar Heroes, but is now voiced by James Patrick Stuart.

Jessica Scarlett - a gambler who makes her first appearance in Superstar Adventures 2. She was hired by Alex and Shen to reactivate the ancient Surge Tower, but in the condition they have to give her money. After some time, CUBE hired her to act as a double agent, in an attempt to get Shen and the Surge Tower back fully reactivated. But during the destruction of the Surge Tower, her redemption was revealed after being saved by Drew from Prince Draco's attack, making her rethink her role in this event. Jessica still tends to her gambling business, but she does tend to woo Drew on her free time. She was voiced by Susan Eisenberg from Superstar Adventures 2 until Superstar Universe, where she was voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard.

Professor Cedrick Rial - a scientist who is the founder of Rial Industries. He was the one who genetically modified Shen Jing, among other ingenious experiments, which led to his works being under the supervision of CUBE. After a disagreement which led to a gun fight that killed Yue, Rial went into hiding, privately making gadgets instead of medicine or weapons. Some of his gadgets were discovered by Billy (the C-Horse; Superstar Vacation) and Mac (the Starduster; Mac's Underground Battle). He even had a role in making a time machine in Superstar Duality, where he finally came out of hiding. His name is a pun on "cereal," which also explains his phrases being references to certain breakfast cereals. Rial has been voiced by Frank Welker since Superstar Adventures 2.

Christine Ravenscroft - a kind girl who is the daughter of a famed and retired archaeologist. On a trip with her mother, they got kidnapped by a band of space pirates after her mother claimed what appears to be a map to find the 8 Eggs of Wonder. But Christine found a special type of egg which hatched into a rare creature known as a Pippy, and it transported her back to Spadetown, where she and her mother were kidnapped. There, she met Billy and asked to join him in order to find her mother, which he agreed. Christine has a sense of independence behind her polite exterior, which is why she stoop up against her mother when she was nominated as the Judgement Queen. Since Superstar Heroes, she was voiced by Lani Minella.

Laura Swift - a rollerskating girl who makes her appearance in Superstar Duality.

Kin - a male kitsune who makes his appearance in Superstar Duality.

Kylee Drews - a human teenage girl who makes her first appearance in Superstar Universe. Her family was the owners of a large business that rivals Gregory's family's. They moved to Toon City where they can spread their ideals to its residence. That was when she meets Billy and Bailey, and she began to become friendly towards the kind Toons (with the exception of a certain few). However, she was kidnapped by the Avox Emperor and his cronies, forcing Billy and Kelly to save her. Kylee has the same interests as Kim, which even includes sports such as tennis. She is voiced by Grey DeLisle.

Avox Emperor - the main antagonist of Save the World. He is the emperor of an ancient race which existed million years ago. The Avox were exterminated by mechanical giants known as Biocarts, and their civilization has been left abandoned ever since, until now. Kylee's parents found the Emperor's remains and have preserved them in a cryogenic chamber, but the remains reformed back into the Emperor himself and he began his takeover across the world, starting with kidnapping Kylee. His plan for domination by using the Biocarts, dubbed the "Odyssey," was thwarted by Billy and his friends. He was voiced by Leonard Nimoy.

Special Stage Spencer - an unknown creature from an interstellar dimension. None is known about this being other than the fact that he comes from "special stages," hence the name. It was said that he was responsible for automobile wreckages and thieving of onion rings and bananas for his amusement. He even almost destroyed Toon City by calling forth aliens. Despite these accidents, he has helped Billy in some situations, including saving his friends from Dr. Genius. He was voiced by Frank Welker starting with The Toon Story.

Games

 * Mini Toons (1992; NES)
 * Mini Toons: Bailey's Big Break (1993; Game Boy)
 * Mini Toons All-Star Sports (1993; Sega Genesis)
 * Mini Toons 2: Welcome to Gregworld! (1994; SNES)
 * Mini Toons 2: Billy Bear's Game Adventure (1995; Game Boy Color)
 * Mini Toons Mania! (1996; SNES)
 * Mini Toons: Billy's Pizza Panic! (1996; Playstation)
 * Mini Toons Racing (1997; Arcade, Nintendo 64)
 * Mini Toons: The Toon Story (1998; PlayStation, Nintendo 64)
 * Mini Toons Funfest (1999; PlayStation)
 * Mini Toons: Snail's Pie Adventure (2000; Nintendo 64)
 * Mini Toons Racing: Nitro Speed (2001; Arcade)
 * Mini Toons: Billy's Bad Dream (2003; Game Boy Advance)
 * Mini Toons 2: The Sequel to Their Toon Story (2004; Nintendo GameCube, Playstation 2)
 * Mini Toons Racing: Nitro Speed 2 (2007; Arcade)
 * Mini Toons: Save The World! (2007; Wii, PlayStation 2)
 * Mini Toons Collection (2009; Nintendo Wii)
 * Mini Toons: Return of the Toons (2017; Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4)

Trivia

 * The pinball games following Burning Streets, with the possible exception of Super Shot + and Metallic Death, are connected to the Mini Toons universe. This was evident in some games, mainly the spinoffs.
 * There is a cheat code used to unlock S.S. Spencer in Mini Toons Racing: Nitro Speed. To activate the code, the player would have to type in "SSZ0NE" (note that the number zero is used instead of the capital "O") as their ID name and once they are in the character selection screen, they would turn the steering wheel 3 times to the right and 4 times to the left; Stephen will be found next to Billy if the code is activated properly.
 * There is a similar method in the sequel, but this time the player would have to turn the steering wheel 5 times to the right and 2 to the left; Spencer will be found in Flippy's place.