Sonic Mania (August 15th 2017, Christian Whitehead, PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch) - The New Classic

[Blitz 'n Burst]

no act 2 remixes? that's pretty disappointing tbh

[Jango]

Uh-oh! Spoiler alert! Run!

[Tracker_TD]

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/sonic_mania/b/playstation4/archive/2017/03/10/classic-sonic-with-a-new-spin.aspx

Ladies and Gentlemen; THE HARD-BOILED HEAVIES.

This is Heavy Gunner, the boss of Studiopolis Act 1.

[PC the Hedgehog]

Aww yeah, customized Egg robo bosses! I love it!

Ending that gameplay footage right before the boss of Green Hill is evil. Evil evil Sega.

[FriendBot]

And here's the commentary video with Webber and stuff.

And dude, those Heavies look dope as FUUUUUUUCKKKK!

Who would've thought the Egg Robos were going to come back?!

THIS GAME!

[DarkRula]

Looks cool. A lot of new stuff within the level making it look a lot more fun to run through.

For some reason I'm reminded of the E-Series robots from Adventure with the Hard Boiled Heavies reveal.

[Radiant Hero Ike]

15 minutes ago, Blitz 'n Burst said:

no act 2 remixes? that's pretty disappointing tbh

Oh, about that.

Must be saving it for later.

[Lord-Dreamerz]

New Eggrobos! Cool. Hohoo me and the other guy called it! I knew it was extremely doubtful it was Metal's leg.

Hmm still wondering what the Eggman boss fights are like in this game... We haven't seen a living lick of him anywhere. But I'm assuming he's in it still.

[FReaK]

16 minutes ago, Tracker_TD said:

http://www.gameinformer.com/games/sonic_mania/b/playstation4/archive/2017/03/10/classic-sonic-with-a-new-spin.aspx

 

Ladies and Gentlemen; THE HARD-BOILED HEAVIES.

This is Heavy Gunner, the boss of Studiopolis Act 1.

looks like they changed knuckles route for studiopolis 1. Also, Eggrobo in the Eggmobile. looks like knux gets tricked again.

[FriendBot]

 

Seems like we're gonna get some livestream coverage of Mania later today, we're probably going to see more of Green Hill Act 2 and the Heavy Gunner bossfight.

[Gemster312]

Even more footage of Act 2

 

[Cyrus]

Damn, that illustration looks straight out of the 90's. EVERYTHING in this game is so beautifully accurate to the classic era! This really is Sonic 4.

[Tracker_TD]

Ahahahaha

God I love this game

[Heckboy]

The whole Hard-Boiled Heavies thing seems cool. I guess the robot from Mirage Saloon is supposed to be one of them?

[Jango]

HOLY SHIT ONE OF THE EGGROBOS IS HOLDING A BAT! He's hungry for some knuckle sandwich!

[mikeblastdude]

As much as I would have loved to see Metal Sonic, I'm not disappointed at all because Heavy Gunner looks like an awesome new villain that fits the visual style of the classics perfectly (as I'm sure the rest of the Heavies will).

As for Green Hill Act 2, wow. The background just looks beautiful, and the mountains are an awesome nod to the early Sonic 1 prototype. Can't wait to hear what the remixed version of the song ends up being like.

[Milo]

Guys, did you notice how near the end of the Act 2 playthrough, the level actually had pools of water? This means Sonic levels in this game can have water in them  without requiring global water settings. This wasn't possible in previous classic Sonic games, levels with water usually had a set water level that spanned the entire act (and made any portion of level design covering it underwater), and at best could only be altered in its height (like the switches in Angel Island Act 2 and a large portion of Carnival Night Act 2).

Also, it was hinted at earlier in the PS Magazine interview, but after Sonic got the fire shield and ran across the rotating log of spikes, the log ended up burning down, which revealed it to be covering another path hidden below. So elemental shields can now cause physical changes to the environment. There was also a hidden tunnel path inside the wall not placed on the ground, that Sonic was able to bust through with the fire shield's double jump air dash move.

These tiny little touches are just incredible. We really haven't seen stuff like this in a Sonic game for a looooooooooong time.

The level design overall looks great. Looks very reminiscent of the more open-ended "playground"  designs of Sonic 2 that you IMO don't see much in Sonic 3&K.

The Hard-Boiled Heavies (that name, reference to the Heavy badnik from Chaotix?) also look great, can't wait to see a Studipolis Act 1 boss of that Heavy Gunner in action. Really digging the new artwork in particular, it fits right alongside artwork from the Genesis era. I really hope we'll see more artwork for Mania in that vein from the artist.
 

[Detective Kaito]

Every little detail about this game is just perfect. Can't wait to play it on my PS4!

[Salamander]

Very interesting!  From this, I'm guessing that the Hard-Boiled Heavies will be the minibosses of all the new zones, with original minibosses for the returning zones.  The portrait HBH from Mirage Saloon, judging from his crown motif and more Eggman-like appearance, I imagine is the leader of the HBH unit.

[TheOcelot]

52 minutes ago, Gemster312 said:

Even more footage of Act 2

 

Looks fantastic. I like how they incorporated a lot of GH's act 3 design from the original game and the addition of the under water areas. The animation when the fire shield breaks the bridge looks so cool.

Fucking hell this game is gonna be awesome. What an epic boss fight this looks like!

[gato]

1 hour ago, Radiant Hero Ike said:

 

Who wants some GHZ Act 2 gameplay?

 

Really digging how the elemental shields affect the environment, but they might want to fix whatever happened at 1:18.

[TheOcelot]

7 hours ago, Gabe said:

The level design overall looks great. Looks very reminiscent of the more open-ended "playground"  designs of Sonic 2 that you IMO don't see much in Sonic 3&K.

Agreed. Based on the gameplay we've seen (and what I played) whilst the stages are clearly vast-reminiscent of the scale of 3&K, the actual level design is more reminiscent of Sonic 2 and Sonic CD. The levels appear very fluid and with lots of places to go fast. There are also loads of mutilple routes often positioned very close together in act2 which is very Sonic CD esque, just like Palmtree Panic.

Also, did you notice there were a lot of enemies close together near the start of act2? This is also reminiscent of Sonic CD's design.

I find the idea of a fusion of Sonic 2 & CD level design fascinating.

Quote

The Hard-Boiled Heavies (that name, reference to the Heavy badnik from Chaotix?) also look great, can't wait to see a Studipolis Act 1 boss of that Heavy Gunner in action. Really digging the new artwork in particular, it fits right alongside artwork from the Genesis era. I really hope we'll see more artwork for Mania in that vein from the artist.
 

You mean the playable character from Chaotix? 

Yeah it could be a reference to him.

We already knew Tax, Stealth & PWG are putting a massive effort into Mania, but I'm just so impressed with some of the concepts they've come up with.

Mecha & Metal will both appear. Calling it now!

I'm so hyped!

[molul]

One more time, great job "Sonic Retro Team"!!

[PC the Hedgehog]

6 minutes ago, TailsBot said:

Mecha & Metal will both appear. Calling it now!

I'm so hyped!

Oooh, could you imagine a DUAL boss fight? Or perhaps the two Sonics merging together into some kind of super-armored Metal Sonic...thing? The possibilities!

[Psychicmoose103]

45 minutes ago, TailsBot said:

Looks fantastic. I like how they incorporated a lot of GH's act 3 design from the original game and the addition of the under water areas. The animation when the fire shield breaks the bridge looks so cool.

Fucking hell this game is gonna be awesome. What an epic boss fight this looks like!

OHMYGOD KNUCKLES FIGHTS EGG ROBO

IS THAT A COP EGG ROBO!
WHAT!!!!!!!!!