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, and a party game 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 bear who is clad in a blue shirt and jeans. He has to deal with the challenges of Drac, the machinations of evil demon Chernobog, 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. His favorite gaming genre are 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. 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, Snail, or Drews. Buster also sometimes find himself traveling with Billy, though the two managed to remain friends and he occasionally displays a sense of loyalty to his partner. Starting with Superstar Adventures, Buster is voiced by John DiMaggio.

Drew Baker - an African-American man and arguably the fourth main protagonist. He is a slick trickster who loves pulling off tricks to almost everyone in Toon 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, Snail, or Buster. In Superstar Adventures, Drew is voiced by Phil Lamarr.

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. Along with Buster and Drew, he is one of the alternate characters of Billy in the second game if he touches a Switch Star. 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 gaming universe." Snail has been voiced by Jon St. John since Superstar Adventures.

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 Chernobog 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 Lisa Ortiz starting with Superstar Heroes.

Demon Prince Draco - an evil demon prince and one of the series' major antagonists. He is an only child of a powerful family of demons 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. Starting with Superstar Adventures, 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 Chernobog. 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 Chernobog, 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 Lex Lang.

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 Generations.

Dr. Bryant Genius - a human mad scientist and one of the series' major antagonists, making appearances since Billy Bear's Game Adventure. Once a certified bioengineer, he is now classified as a certified quack. He was kicked out of the Mega Drive Industry of Science for his animal mutation experiments, but now spends his time at his secret hideout, continuing his animal mutations. Billy was sent to stop him and rescue the animals, but in order to get his friends to come along, he tricks them by telling them they're going to "make a new game for the Sega Saturn." Since his first failure, he vows to finally conquer Toon City. He was voiced by Alan Tudyk since The Toon Story.

Mango Mongoose - an orange mongoose who is Dr. Genius' assistant. Although he did not stand in the way of the doctor's ambitions, he still played a part in some situations, such as hypnotizing the Toons to work for Dr. Genius. In The Toon Story, it was revealed that Mango was injured from an attack from a monster, and that Dr. Genius has fixed him up and remade him into a mutant. Ever since the doctor was fired from the Mega Drive Industry of Science, Mango was the only one who stood for him. Beginning with The Toon Story, he has been voiced by Frank Welker.

Lord Needel - the supreme leader of the extraterrestrial organization called the Y-Bites and is the secondary antagonist of The Sequel to Their Toon Story. He learns of the Judgment Queen buried beneath Spadetown from the Shadow Spirits and soon begins his plans to find the Sacred Cartridges and use them to revive the Queen in order to conquer the world. He also learns that a pure soul is needed to act as a host for the Judgment Queen, so he sent his minions to kidnaps Bailey (much to her chagrin). He was voiced by Jim Cummings.

Kylee Drews - a human teenage girl who makes her first appearance in Save the World. 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 Bailey 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.