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

[Amalgamous]

Quick question: can you charge a Spin Dash with a single button a la Generations (when stationary) or is crouching and pressing X/ A the only way?

Also, was the Lightning Shield changed in any way? I remember hearing (either from GameXplain or Cobani) that the Fire Shield was now a Homing Attack.

[Tara]

I'm going to assume that in the interest of simplicity, they kept it as close to the Genesis controls as possible.  Meaning probably crouch + jump for Spin Dash, per the usual routine.

[E-122-Psi]

The shields being boosted to take advantage of environment and momentum is a nice plus and really helps Sonic get more even manoeuvrability with Tails and Knuckles. They seem to have put some decent thought into how these will be played and exploited (and almost certainly spammed) by some gamers.

The only thing that could perfect this is giving some sort of monitor management system like Mighty's in Megamix, so you can better choose which power to take advantage of.

Has anything been said about possible multiplayer yet?

[Dantemustdie00]

I'm sure their will be a Sonic & Tails Mode, no idea for other combination like in Advance three like Sonic & Knux's and Tails and Knux's,

I do hope for Sonic 2 & 3 2 player races through.

[Osmium]

If anyone cares I've managed to make a quite crude map of Studiopolis zone if you've been wondering of it's overall layout so far. 

It's a bit hard to follow at points and there is one area where it doesn't line up perfectly (notice the huge A, that's where the two parts connect) but this is the overall layout of it based on the footage we've gotten to see. There seems to be 3 main paths you can take from the beginning area. One involves the first van that beems you up to an area that is completely unknown so far, you can go on the upper platforms and bypass that part, go through some loops and land at the A. The third way is to hit a spring and get shot way down on a lower path that trundles below everything else until you go into one of the popcorn makers and that shoots you up to A, which is where it meets with the second path. Then when you get to the second giant camera area, you can ride the platforms and go on an upper path, or ignore all that and go down again and they eventually meet up at the area adjacent to those three jagged platforms you break through. That's basically the gist of those two paths, I know nothing about the upper path that the first van takes you to since we've seen nothing of that. I'm sure there are also more paths that obviously haven't been explored in present footage. Hopefully we'll see more of it in future footage. 

[molul]

11 hours ago, Amalgamous said:

Quick question: can you charge a Spin Dash with a single button a la Generations (when stationary) or is crouching and pressing X/ A the only way?

I hope they keep the one-button gameplay, which would be really good if they ever port Sonic Mania to mobile. However, with the drop dash, super sonic transformation and elemental shields power they have a small puzzle to solve (not very difficult if they use combinations of up or down + jump button).

[Marcello]

Drop Dash isn't usable with the elemental shields, so that's not a problem.

[molul]

5 minutes ago, Marcello said:

Drop Dash isn't usable with the elemental shields, so that's not a problem.

Yes, I heard that in a gameplay, and I'd really wish that was sorted. It's such a useful move, and having to choose between shield or drop dash... I'd rather not to. It could be sorted if drop dash was done by holding down+jump after jumping, and not only holding jump.

Also, turning into Super Sonic could be done by pressing up+jump after jumping, and the same to turn back to normal Sonic (well, in this case it could be done if you're on the ground as well).

[Marcello]

I don't see them changing that. It's the same as with the Insta-Shield. The shields are there to protect you and change your ability.

[molul]

Well, to me it makes sense that an elemental shield replaces a insta-shield. It's an improvement, an upgrade. But it's not the same case with drop dash: it's removing a really useful ability. Imagine that it was spin dash instead. Would it make sense having to choose between shields and spin dash? In my opinion it makes no sense.

It wouldn't be the end of the world if they don't change that, but it would be easy to do and nice to have.

[Jango]

Speaking of shields, someone said that the fire shield now gives Sonic the... homing attack? I'm not trying to sound like a modern hater or anything, but that decision concerns me. The fire shield dash is great to gain speed and also avoid danger. But what if I just want to dash forward and end up homing a nearby badnik I didn't wanted? ?

[expansivelovestories]

18 minutes ago, Jango said:

Speaking of shields, someone said that the fire shield now gives Sonic the... homing attack? I'm not trying to sound like a modern hater or anything, but that decision concerns me. The fire shield dash is great to gain speed and also avoid danger. But what if I just want to dash forward and end up homing a nearby badnik I didn't wanted? ?

 

i think there is a moment or two in some of the gameplay videos where it may have looked that way to people, simply due to how the forward momentum boost helped impact the badniks quickly and accurately! 

it doesn't seem like something that the developers would have chosen to do!    if anything maybe the homing shield from 3d blast is hidden, unlockable, or just rare somewhere in the game?   

[Milo]

22 minutes ago, Jango said:

Speaking of shields, someone said that the fire shield now gives Sonic the... homing attack? I'm not trying to sound like a modern hater or anything, but that decision concerns me. The fire shield dash is great to gain speed and also avoid danger. But what if I just want to dash forward and end up homing a nearby badnik I didn't wanted? ?

I'm pretty sure they're confusing the fire shield's air dash with homing attack. Really doubt the HA has been implemented in this game; and unless they retool it so that it doesn't rewrite the gameplay like in Sonic 4, I prefer it to stay that way.

[Tara]

I'm thinking that there was a miscommunication on the part of whoever said there was a homing attack.  None of the gameplay footage we've seen show any such thing.

[___-_]

22 hours ago, StaticMania said:

I'm not really sure how useful the increased severity of the bounce's ricochet would be. This just seems like a convenient thing if used accidentally, but doesn't have any real use...but it can be also be seen as an inconvenience for the same reason. It's nice as an attention to detail, I guess.

For Sonic's bread and butter whenever he gets the bubble shield,  I can see him doing a perfect spin dash -> immediate bubble bounce onto slopes to gain incredible amounts of speed, possibly even surpassing his top running speed.

I don't really see this as an inconvenience, but more of a logical step forward. Practice make perfection, and understanding the level layout before wildly bouncing off of every slope a person finds to their doom brings more power to the player.

[Dizcrybe]

I'm still not sure how the drop dash works.

[Clewis]

Just now, Dizcrybe said:

I'm still not sure how the drop dash works.

You press the jump button and then while you're in the air you press it again and hold it until you touch the ground.

[Dizcrybe]

2 hours ago, Clewis said:

You press the jump button and then while you're in the air you press it again and hold it until you touch the ground.

And, what, you dash towards the ground and begin rolling?

[Diogenes]

It's like charging a spindash in midair and releasing it when you hit the ground.

[PickleBrows]

You hit the jump button, then press it a second time in the air and keep it pressed down the second time. Sonic will complete his normal jump arc like he always would and when you hit the ground you'll dash either left or right depending on which direction you were facing when you landed.

Basically, a normal jump and a jump that's setting up a drop dash are identical when in the air, no effects come into it until you've hit the ground.

[StaticMania]

Sonic's spinning sprite does change slightly when you do it, he stays a solid ball while a little wave goes around him and the little highlight on him turns into a sparkle.

[Dizcrybe]

5 hours ago, Diogenes said:

It's like charging a spindash in midair and releasing it when you hit the ground.

Hmm, sounds interesting.

So far the mechanics in this game sound like a speedrunner's wet dream.

[G-Force]

14 hours ago, molul said:

Yes, I heard that in a gameplay, and I'd really wish that was sorted. It's such a useful move, and having to choose between shield or drop dash... I'd rather not to. It could be sorted if drop dash was done by holding down+jump after jumping, and not only holding jump.

Also, turning into Super Sonic could be done by pressing up+jump after jumping, and the same to turn back to normal Sonic (well, in this case it could be done if you're on the ground as well).

Actually, you don't really have to choose.  While it is true that the Fire, Lightning, and Bubble Shields replace the Drop Dash with a new move, they've also brought the original, non-elemental shield from Sonic 1 and 2, and that shield doesn't replace the Drop Dash with anything.

[Sonictrainer]

A fan named sasi_sage created a Modern Version of the Title Screen animation

 

[Mr. Armstrong]

On 28/7/2016 at 5:48 PM, Kabalni said:

*Video is about the history of Taxman and Stealth but the intro is about the Sonic Cycle and how Mania is the exception to it, pretending Colors and Generations weren't well-received*

Yeah, gonna have to pass on that. I'm sure the history lesson part was perfectly fine but that intro was a turnoff and has no real purpose but just to beat a dead horse again. I mean, if he just took that intro away; it wouldn't have affected the video in a major way.

But in other news, YAY sign juggling is back! w00t!

 

George is not talking about the quality of the games he talking about circle of pessimism that exists outside of the fanbase.

An example of this is GameSpot in one of his videos he said Project 2017 is crap without haver seen gameplay video, people outside fanbase usually relate classic sonic with quality.