Sonic Mania SPOILERS/Impressions Thread

[TheOcelot]

With the Steam version of Mania you can get an extra-life for every 50,000 points like in Sonic 2&3 which you can't do in the PS4 version. Feels like the version they released on 15/8 was missing a lot of content (super transformation mapped to different button etc) including a ridiculous number of glitches. Adds to my belief more and more that the dev team were not given enough development time by SEGA/Iizuka to release a perfectly polished game with all content included (half the cutscenes/level transitions are missing etc). Had to get it rushed out before Forces.

[Sonikko]

I took my sweet time to write something, but I think I am ready now.

I am 12 hours in, on my fourth playthrough, and I'm still enjoying this game like the very first time. 

What they've done with the remixed stages to make them feel fresh and new is amazing. There's so much care and love put into this project, and it shows. The new zones are beautiful, Titan Monarch being the only exception, at least for me.

Press Garden didn't imPress (bad pun) me at first but now I love it. Studiopolis is easily the best zone in the whole game, the amount of details, the care behind it... It's just great.

I loved Chemical Plant act2 and they managed to make me love Metallic Madness which is a big accomplishment.

The bosses are fun, it's the very first Sonic game where I cared about them. The Puyo Puyo boss was my favourite, and I loved what they did with the Hydrocity act1 boss.

The Special Stages, I can't say how much I love them. They're so fun and I legit look forward to the next one every time. 

The artwork looks great all the time, everything moves so smoothly. The music is top notch. 

This game has the whole package, it's a solid 9 from me right now. Hadn't it had a bad final zone it would've been an easy 9.5/10.

My hype wasn't shattered, I feel like a kid again when I used to get my hands on the latest Sonic game and a grin was stuck on my face the whole time. 

[superman43]

4 minutes ago, Sonikko said:

I took my sweet time to write something, but I think I am ready now.

I am 12 hours in, on my fourth playthrough, and I'm still enjoying this game like the very first time. 

What they've done with the remixed stages to make them feel fresh and new is amazing. There's so much care and love put into this project, and it shows. The new zones are beautiful, Titan Monarch being the only exception, at least for me.

Press Garden didn't imPress (bad pun) me at first but now I love it. Studiopolis is easily the best zone in the whole game, the amount of details, the care behind it... It's just great.

I loved Chemical Plant act2 and they managed to make me love Metallic Madness which is a big accomplishment.

The bosses are fun, it's the very first Sonic game where I cared about them. The Puyo Puyo boss was my favourite, and I loved what they did with the Hydrocity act1 boss.

The Special Stages, I can't say how much I love them. They're so fun and I legit look forward to the next one every time. 

The artwork looks great all the time, everything moves so smoothly. The music is top notch. 

This game has the whole package, it's a solid 9 from me right now. Hadn't it had a bad final zone it would've been an easy 9.5/10.

My hype wasn't shattered, I feel like a kid again when I used to get my hands on the latest Sonic game and a grin was stuck on my face the whole time. 

I would say that Titanic Monarch definitely is not the best in the game, but I actually liked it. The Act 1 race to the top and the "Crimson Eye"... and the Act 2 4 sectors that I now know perfectly and each time I try different scheme there, in order to be not bored. 

Well, I have to say... my first run with Sonic (and Tails) was with All Emeralds, 16 done Blue Spheres (15 gold medaillons, 1 silver) and the Egg Reverie completed with 30+ rings.
At overall I would go with 9.2/10 to be exact.

[Dr. Detective]

Haven't been on for a while so I haven't gotten a chance to say this. 

I'm happy everyone is enjoying the game. I don't own it yet and I'm not sure when or if I'll get it. I'm mostly just worried I'll end up wasting my money on something I'm unable to play because of my inability to handle the old 2D Sonic games. Getting my ass kicked by Sonic 3 pretty much convinced me there's no chance when it comes to these kinds of games, which depresses the fuck out of me because I want to be apart of the in-crowd so goddamn much and it hurts still not being able to wrap my hands around it.

But the way I grew up playing games and the way I perceive them or something of that ilk just makes me unable to handle 2D Sonic. 

Observing from afar is what I'll have to do in the meantime but if I do get it, I'm going to need any and all positive energy you guys wish to supply me with for my journey. I'm 100% positive I won't be able to beat any of the special stages or unlock the super forms. That's literally impossible. But I'm sure I could at the very least, beat it. 

Also, the game's soundtrack is superb from what I've heard. Not a dud to be found. If they had gotten the same people to do Classic Sonic's music in Forces, I might have something I could look forward to when it comes to his part in that game. 

[superman43]

So, I did another run through the first 5 zones and decided to make one big change.

At Flying Battery Act 2 I fell through the first bunch of scrapped badnik to find a completely new route. It resembles Wacky Workbench so much as there are literally tons of that electricized mines. At least they are destroyable in Mania. I really enjoyed the stage again.

And one funny moment with transition from Press Garden Act 1 to Act 2. After defeating the mini-boss I let the signpost to fall at the left part of the arena and I moved with Tails to the right, to the edge of the screen and pressed left (facing the signpost). And Tails moonwalked (to Act 2), so MJ lives in Mania.

[Forte-Metallix]

So now that I'm back and have been playing Mania for weeks, I figured I'd throw my two Rings in.

*deep inhale*

This is everything I wanted and more. Every single boss and Zone is a delightful surprise. Best Special Stages in the whole series, and now I want Christian and his team to make a new Sonic R-esque game. Soundtrack is godly, my favorites being Mirage Saloon Act 1 and all of Stardust Speedway. The new Zones are so unique and don't feel like rehashes. The returning ones feel familiar, yet fresh, with new gimmicks like the new chemicals in Chemical Plant, the toxic fumes in Oil Ocean, and Metallic Madness going all Donkey Kong Country Returns on us by letting us switch between the fore- and backgrounds.

I managed to come into this game knowing nothing that wasn't made public knowledge by either this forum of Sonic's YouTube channel, so many things caught me completely off guard, like Oil Ocean, the Hydro City bosses, and of course, Metal Sonic's surprise appearance. (I squeed like an anime schoolgirl when he showed up on Eggman's monitor at the end of Press Garden.) And for the first time since I first became a Sonic fan, I had no idea what to expect from the final boss! (It was really clever for them to subvert the cliche' of Eggman being hijacked by the new villain- and vice versa!

The Extra modes are cool, too: Blue Spheres are as fun and frantic as ever, Mean Bean's a nice change of pace (Despite the severe lack of AoStH characters), getting to play with Sonic's Insta-Shield and Super Peel-Out is a nice compromise for fans of those moves, Debug Mode is as game-breakingly fun as ever, and of course, giving the most memetic Sonic character his time in the spotlight with & Knuckles mode! We all suspected this was a prequel to Forces, but it's actually leading into Sega's other upcoming masterpiece:

Spoiler

My only major critique with Mania is that there are too few original Zones, something that I'm sure will be resolved in the inevitable sequel.

Sonic Mania is what happens when you give a beloved franchise to people who know it better than anyone- even its creators. Between Christian Whitehead's excellent programming and level design and Tee Lopes's legendary musical talents, Sonic Mania is truly a game made by fans, for fans. As far as Classic Sonic is concerned, this is his new peak.

Now if only his next adventure looked as promising.

[Johnny Boy]

7 hours ago, Ming Ming Hatsune said:

Dear Sega,

Now, can we have a Mania version of Adventure 1 please?

Thanks. =)

And have the dev team also consist of ascended fanboys? A guy can dream.

[Your Vest Friend]

2 hours ago, Forte-Metallix said:

 

Now if only his next adventure looked as promising.

Oh, not seen this screenshot before, that looks really pretty!

...that wasn't your point was it

[The Deleter]

2 hours ago, Forte-Metallix said:

 

Now if only his next adventure looked as promising.

Wait how did you get the image to be so big without the forum resizing it

When I post it it looks like this?

[Dr. Detective]

I was actually afraid of saying that I thought that image looked great because I'm in the Mania thread. I feel a bit silly.

It's odd though. I don't remember the Green Hill from Forces looking like that.

[TheOcelot]

Just finished collecting all 32 gold medallions in the Steam version of Mania. Which means I've now collected them all in the PS4 & Steam versions!!!

 

[Jango]

Well, SEGA is confident. Haven't seem one of these since... Sonic Colors, I think?

[CleverSonicUsername]

On 8/31/2017 at 0:18 PM, TheOcelot said:

With the Steam version of Mania you can get an extra-life for every 50,000 points like in Sonic 2&3 which you can't do in the PS4 version. Feels like the version they released on 15/8 was missing a lot of content (super transformation mapped to different button etc) including a ridiculous number of glitches. Adds to my belief more and more that the dev team were not given enough development time by SEGA/Iizuka to release a perfectly polished game with all content included (half the cutscenes/level transitions are missing etc). Had to get it rushed out before Forces.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what a Sonic Mania uninhibited by corporate restrains and a need to connect it to a pending title would look like. Still love Mania, even if it's clear that time constraints impacted content and stability in some unfortunate ways.

[Blue Blood]

53 minutes ago, Jango said:

Well, SEGA is confident. Haven't seem one of these since... Sonic Colors, I think?

And you won't be seeing another one for any more Sonic games this year. 

[Jango]

3 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

And you won't be seeing another one for any more Sonic games this year. 

Nah, they  can make another. Just change the quotes:

"MOST AVERAGE SONIC GAME EVER"

"SONIC IS BACK TO SUCKING"

"ONE OF THE WORST GAMES OF THE YEAR"

"THE SONIC GAME FANS DIDN'T ASKED FOR"

"SONIC IS PURE SHIT"

"...still, buy now... Maybe?".

 

 

 

[Indigo Rush]

3 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

And you won't be seeing another one for any more Sonic games this year. 

I'm tired of this rhetoric

 

 

 

 

I have absolute faith in Big's Big Fishing Adventure 3's critical success

[Tails spin]

Reposting an expanding from my status.

I've made it to Hydrocity zone.

I found the first act that I dislike in this game and hopefully it's the only one: Press Garden Act 1. I love act 2 though.

I was annoyed at first with Metal Sonic's fight especially when it was releasing Silver Sonic's. But once the fight ended I loved the fight.

Also is it me or is Stardust speedway act 2 short? Could be it be cuz the boss battle takes alot of the stage to do?

[TheOcelot]

Lol, I didn't know this!

If you have a lightning shield in Titanic Monarch try using it on the electric hazards and it acts like an elevator!

 

[superman43]

14 minutes ago, TheOcelot said:

Lol, I didn't know this!

If you have a lightning shield in Titanic Monarch try using it on the electric hazards and it acts like an elevator!

 

Partially... I remember that when I got lighting shield in Titanic Monarch the electric hazards catched the character. But I didn´t know that it can take you all the way up when you find one like that ! Brilliant.

[HywelAtTheMoon]

7 hours ago, Tails spin said:

Reposting an expanding from my status.

I've made it to Hydrocity zone.

I found the first act that I dislike in this game and hopefully it's the only one: Press Garden Act 1. I love act 2 though.

I was annoyed at first with Metal Sonic's fight especially when it was releasing Silver Sonic's. But once the fight ended I loved the fight.

Also is it me or is Stardust speedway act 2 short? Could be it be cuz the boss battle takes alot of the stage to do?

I didn't think much of Press Garden 1 at first, but once I went back to search for special stage rings, that's when I warmed to it. It's set up more for exploration than speed. 

[superman43]

Press Garden 1 is super, mainly when you get a water or fire shield. On the other hand with either of those shields you might be doomed during the mini-boss.

[BlueFlare]

I love Press Garden, such beautiful scenery in that zone, its atmoshphere is very special. Studiopolis still has the top spot on my favorite zone list.

[Blue Blood]

1 hour ago, TheOcelot said:

Lol, I didn't know this!

If you have a lightning shield in Titanic Monarch try using it on the electric hazards and it acts like an elevator!

 

Lightningvator? It's obviously an electrivator omg get your facts straight.

1 hour ago, superman43 said:

Press Garden 1 is super, mainly when you get a water or fire shield. On the other hand with either of those shields you might be doomed during the mini-boss.

Ever tried getting the boss to destroy all the crates without actually attacking him back? He also stuns himself if he attacks the walls at either side of the arena, so you're never going to get locked into an unwinnable situation.

[superman43]

2 hours ago, Blue Blood said:

Ever tried getting the boss to destroy all the crates without actually attacking him back? He also stuns himself if he attacks the walls at either side of the arena, so you're never going to get locked into an unwinnable situation.

Now that´s a thing I really never found out. Or never needed to  But actually... do you think that someone will find it out by himself if needed ? I don´t think so.

[Jango]

Speaking of Press Garden, there's a damaged box with a monitor inside right at the beginning of Act 1, but no character's attack can break it (Knuckles' fists, Sonic's drop dash)... But a fire shield can break these boxes. Problem is, there's any untill very far on the stage. Am I supposed to backtrack this much JUST for a single monitor? Is it an easter egg, tho'?