Just a small thing I noticed with the release windows.

[SatAMhog]

Sonic 3 Release Date: Feb 1994

Sonic and Knuckles Release Date: Oct 1994

Sonic Mania Release Date: (Originally intended) March 2017(really August 2017)

Sonic Forces:November 2017

Remember how Sonic 3 was originally intended to be one game but got split into two that we ended up paying $120 for(thankfully, I just rented Sonic 3 and used my birthday money to get S and K...big family! I was 10 years old then! I remember telling the man at Costco that I wanted to get Sonic and Knuckles, then he rolled his eyes and went off to the caged off area to get the game...I don't know what that guy's problem was.  Anyway, back on topic...)?  Well, a lot of fans say how and Sonic 3 and Knuckles were their favorite games.  Sonic Mania, as long as a game that was, felt just like Sonic 3 to me with how small scale the final fight was(and probably because we ended with the Phantom Ruby being sucked up into space).  If you want to get technical, you could say that Sonic Mania had 12 levels(with two acts) just like Sonic 3 had 12 Acts(which could be considered individual levels).

My point is two things...they're charging a total of $60 for both games...$100-$120 if you get the Collector's Edition of Sonic Mania., but otherwise...$20 for Mania and $40 for Forces.  So, with $60 it's like they're charging us for one game which is awesome which didn't happen with the original duo of games.   Second, Sonic Forces is the second piece of this equation...the "& Knuckles" portion of this game.  The game's plot continues straight into Sonic Forces, telling us the ultimate outcome of Classic Sonic's fight with the Phantom Ruby.  So, instead of chasing a round Eggman into Mushroom Hill, he chasing's a rocky Phantom Ruby into a destroyed(by the way, don't some sections of the Desert Green Hill remind you of Mushroom Hill's seasonal effects?) city.

Now, I'm not saying that Mania and Forces were meant to be one game but I just find it kind of funny that they share these similarities with their plot and release dates which is welcome because to be honest, that was when Sonic at his utmost...SatAM and Adventures was going strong at the time,  Sonic got a happy meal and Sonic was being recognized as a gaming icon. I've been rewatching SatAM and Adventures episodes as a result and I appreciate the callback from Sega.   Now, if only Forces had a feature where you could merge both games and play through as all five characters(Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Modern Sonic, and Avatar)from Mania to the end of Forces, that'd be AWESOME.x_x   Then they could claim Sonic Forces has a lock on feature! 

 

[Blue Blood]

Considering that Mania alone is about the same size as 3&K together, and that Forces is a piece of trash an entirely different game altogether that simply has a story connection (just like everything from S3K to ShTH), this is really grasping at straws.

Harmless fun, but still straw-grasping.

[Mr Loopone]

No. Sonic Mania and Forces are two different games. They might have some loose connections for marketing reasons like Sega saying Sonic CD and Sonic 4 are linked because they were released at the same time, well the Taxman version of Sonic CD not the original. Speaking of the original, Tails appears in a secret picture in Sonic CD saying "See You Next Game" with a car but are Sonic CD and Sonic Drift connected? No they are not. They are usually included to say the next game is coming out soon, go buy it! I suspect that's the link between Mania and Forces. Besides how can you lock on games that used two different gaming engines? Sonic 3&K ran on the same engine (and so does Sonic 1 and 2 which is why you got Knuckles in Sonic 2) so lock on was possible, any other game would have either booted up a Blue Sphere level or just Sonic & Knuckles. You might get an extra costume with a Sonic Mania save like some games have extras if you have another game but that's at the most.

For the prices it is because Sonic Mania is a downloadable game and anymore than $20 (€20/£15) might seem too much for a downloadable only platformer. Sonic Forces is that price because it is either a short game or because it is very hard for people to buy games any more than that price point for a platformer (we won't know for sure until release). Only Mario really gets away with $60 platformers.

As for the release dates, it is because many companies that release games normally choose those months for maximum money opportunities. They put the big releases between September to November because the publishers know that money will be made whether they are Christmas presents, birthday presents, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, etc. Not just games but also music and books do this technique as well. On the other side, sometimes companies release games in March and April because that's where the financial year lies and sometimes sneak some not so good stuff/rushed stuff around that time just to make any money or to cut some losses. There are also summer releases that companies are starting to do, in the past they are considered risky because they thought sales be low due to children are more likely to be outside than inside and older people would watch sporting events but some release games for the children to play while they are out of school (e.g. LEGO games, Crash N.Sane trilogy, Splatoon, even Sonic 1 could have been considered one of the first) and Sony have released games because they know that there isn't as much competition and doing well out of it (e.g. The Last of Us, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy).