SONIC MANIA - Special Stages, Bonus, and Time Attack

[Wraith]

Our first look at the 3D special stages. The artstyle is pretty amazing. It's cool to see the team experimenting with 3D movement as well.

You can get a glimpse of what appears to be Studiopolis Act 2 and another type of returning special stage as a bonus as well.

Lastly we get a glimpse of a new type of time attack mode. You can restart your run with the press of a button

[Soniman]

Hopefully the 3D stuff can evolve into something more down the road, all these special mode look sick regardless. 

Im continually amazed by how much content this game is packed with 

[simtek34]

WOW! Loving the Special stages WAY more than Sonic CD or Sonic Heroes. And more Blue Sphere! Alright... I guess...? I found them addicting, but wasn't a huge fan of Blue Sphere. Can somebody come pare screenshots of this compared  to that image a few months ago which had Sonic Mania and Blue sphere where Taxman said "Thats not Sonic Mania" Because the layout didn't match Sonic 3. If it matches this, then that kills the hope of Sonic 3 Remastered in the near future...

[Marcello]

Special Stage doesn't look great. Just boring. Neat throwback with the Saturn-era models, though. Nice to see Blue Sphere back. I'll probably play it more than any of the previous Bonus Stages, but I do think it might be a bit too long for a Bonus Stage.

I'm not sure what's going on in the Time Attack mode.

[Feanor]

God damn I really wish I had the willpower to not click on these videos now.

BUT HOLY SHIT BLUE SPHERES YESSSSSSSSSS

[mikeblastdude]

This all looks so cool! Holy crap!

I'm glad to see that these Special Stages look enjoyable to play. I was worried about this being an auto-run at first, because I don't really like any of the other auto-running Special Stages (especially CD's).

And those bonus stages, wow! Wasn't expecting that. I wonder what you get for clearing those...

[Tracker_TD]

The Special Stages look fantastic. They look like they've got a great sense of gradual speed to them, and kinda look like a tighter controlling Sonic R... with more vaporwave. Absolutely nails the Saturn 3D aesthetic too, hot damn. 

[SweeCrue]

To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed that they brought back Blue Sphere as a Bonus Stage. Hopefully there's more than that.

 

Special Stages look really cool though.

 

 

[Jango]

Graphically, the Special Stage looks AWESOME, but I agree with @Marcello, the gameplay looks kinda... Boring? IDK, maybe it's because I'm just watching and not playing. Blue Spheres for Bonus is great too. Other than that, game's shaping up incredibly. Just a few more days.

[Diogenes]

2 minutes ago, Marcello said:

I'm not sure what's going on in the Time Attack mode.

The video description mentions reloading the stage instantly, I guess so there's no delay if you mess up and want to start over.

Anyway the special stages look pretty cool, love the aesthetic direction they went with and once you get up to speed it looks like it'll be pretty fun. I'm not really sure how to feel about the bonus stages, though, I've never been a huge fan of blue spheres, and...I'm not sure what the reward for doing them is supposed to be? We're getting the chaos emeralds from the special stages, and there's no visible powerups to collect in blue spheres besides a couple of rings. Is there some other emerald-like collectable in the game or what?

[Salamander]

Sega PR has stated what Blue Sphere gets you:

Quote

Silver Medallions are awarded to players who complete the Bonus Stage, while collecting all the blue spheres and rings awards players with a perfect score and a Gold Medallion.

Via NintendoEverything.

[Wraith]

2 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

The video description mentions reloading the stage instantly, I guess so there's no delay if you mess up and want to start over.

Anyway the special stages look pretty cool, love the aesthetic direction they went with and once you get up to speed it looks like it'll be pretty fun. I'm not really sure how to feel about the bonus stages, though, I've never been a huge fan of blue spheres, and...I'm not sure what the reward for doing them is supposed to be? We're getting the chaos emeralds from the special stages, and there's no visible powerups to collect in blue spheres besides a couple of rings. Is there some other emerald-like collectable in the game or what?

 

Well theres your answer as of literally a minute ago!

[Meta77]

Noppp. I've always hated the spheres lol lord why. But nice to see sonic r get a sequel.  work it out lol looks like sonic r

[Diogenes]

5 minutes ago, FFWF said:

Sega PR has stated what Blue Sphere gets you:

Via NintendoEverything.

4 minutes ago, Josh said:

Well theres your answer as of literally a minute ago!

Well, that's like, half an answer. But that doesn't tell me anything about the functional reward, so... :|

[Red Hot Jack]

I guess I will suck at the bonus stages then. Special stages look awesome though, I like the details like the birds, the columns, and the different environments, gameplay wise there's a lot going on.

[Marcello]

11 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

The video description mentions reloading the stage instantly, I guess so there's no delay if you mess up and want to start over.

 

Oh, that's a cool idea for Speedrunners.

10 minutes ago, FFWF said:

Sega PR has stated what Blue Sphere gets you:

Via NintendoEverything.

But what are they for? 

[Sonicfan7]

So awesome. Blue Spheres is probably my favorite bonus stage, and those special stages with the UFO look fun. 

 

12 days to go, boys and girls!

[Indigo Rush]

It baffles me how this game manages to look better and better. I won't need to play anything else once this releases.

[Auroxen]

This game is incredible

The special stages look awesome, best special stages of the classic games

More blue spheres are always welcome

I can't believe the game is going to be released very soon

[Rusty Spy]

Personally I'd have preferred if they went with more traditional bonus stages like Sonic 3.

I always liked the small break in the middle of the level as well as all the goodies you get.

[Sonicfan7]

 

[Detective Kaito]

Damn, Sonic Mania has more 3D than Sonic Forces!

Honestly, this looks great. I was fighting the temptation to click on the video to avoid spoilers, but obviously, I've failed. I was hoping they'd announce something like split-screen multiplayer or something, but oh well.

About Blue Sphere, I'm actually a fan of these simply cause they're the best special stages in any Sonic game, and maybe they're not the only Bonus Stages cause Sonic 3K had 3 types of bonus stages, so we'll see. I'm also not bothered that they're using the same layout, cause if you remember, the game Blue Sphere (when you used lock-on with Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 1) has over 1 million stages, IIRC. Reusing layouts makes sense for this one.

[TheOcelot]

MY BODY IS SO HARD RIGHT NOW

Mania's special stages look so fucking good. They look like a fun, adrenaline-pumping challenge. The 3d Saturn-esque visuals looks stunning.

Here's some gif's

 

As for Blue sphere (or "Blue Sphere 2" - no doubt adapted from the 3&K proof of concept) returning as a bonus stage. I fucking called it! Soon as Mania was announced I knew they'd add them. Very cool! I hope there are other bonus stages. 

 

As for the time-attack, it looks fun. Did anyone notice they used the Sonic 2 two-player "change-place item box sound effect" when they were showing the time-trials?. Was that a subtle hint at Sonic 2 two-player mode returning? YES PLEASE!

 

Oh and the Studiopolis act2 footage looks rad!

 

You know what, I'm going to say it:

Sonic Mania is going to surpass Sonic 3&K!

 

[Spooky Mulder]

So collecting blue spheres increases your speed. I wonder how high it goes?

Also looks like your rings drop as you go similar to playing as Super Sonic. I'm assuming that means when your rings hit zero, you lose? To me it looks like your ring countdown speeds up when you hit Mach 2 but I can't tell for sure.

[Heckboy]

This looks damn cool. I love the surreal look of the special stages, and I'm digging the cute Sonic R-esque character models. The other bonus stages are pretty interesting as well. Can't say I've ever been a particularly big fan of the Sonic 3 special stages, but it's fine, and I'm curious about what those medallions do.

The 15th can't come soon enough!