Sonic Mania Adventures

[Forte-Metallix]

I just realized: Remember how a lot of us were wondering why Angel Island was still in the ocean in Episode 1? Well, this episode's stinger actually explains that:

Spoiler

The Master Emerald isn't on its alter, since Knuckles is taking it with him for whatever reason.

But yeah- This was pretty fun. Love the silent interactions between Sonic and Tails, having Rings pop out of Sonic was a nice callback to Archie's Mega Drive, and the pseudo-3D animation on Eggman's drill-mech was impressive! And I'm fine with Metal not showing up yet as long as he gets a good scene later. And something just occurred to me: Since this series will inevitably end with Sonic getting all the Chaos Emeralds and going Super, what if Tails and Knuckles do, too? And I'm sharing @Ryannumber1gamer's sentiments that including Mighty and Ray would be an amazing tie-in to Plus.

So yeah, this episodic adventure continues to hit all the right notes for me. It's been ten years since Night of the Werehog, but we finally got more tie-in cartoon shorts! Let's hope this isn't the last time it happens.

[Razule]

 

Spoiler

Tol fox, small heart

This was cute, cool seeing Tails do things again, (but I'm also tired of people saying this every time Tails does something for the first time ever again). Wish these were longer..

[dbzfan7]

31 minutes ago, Razule said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I swear whoever made that render hated Tails. It captures nothing about him at all XD, or at bare minimum his worst qualities.

[Tenko]

3 hours ago, Forte-Metallix said:

I just realized: Remember how a lot of us were wondering why Angel Island was still in the ocean in Episode 1? Well, this episode's stinger actually explains that:

  Hide contents

The Master Emerald isn't on its alter, since Knuckles is taking it with him for whatever reason.

 

It may convienantly explain why it's still in the ocean during the events of Mania Adventures, but I'm still hoping something explains why it's in the ocean in the first place at the start of Mania. Considering it's in it's underground alter in Hidden Palace during the entire events of the game. 

[Marco9966]

This episode reminded me a bit of IDW Sonic issue 1. This episode is great but...

Why do people say it's fantastic, while at the same time are cold towards IDW Sonic 1? Both this episode and that issue had the same structure, Sonic needs to defeat an enemy, Tails helps him.

I'm all in for criticism, but both deserve the praise! I have no bias towards Classic or Modern, as long as it's Sonic, either Modern (IDW) or Classic (Mania Adventures), I like it.

[MetalSkulkBane]

16 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

This episode reminded me a bit of IDW Sonic issue 1. This episode is great but...

Why do people say it's fantastic, while at the same time are cold towards IDW Sonic 1? Both this episode and that issue had the same structure, Sonic needs to defeat an enemy, Tails helps him.

I'm all in for criticism, but both deserve the praise! I have no bias towards Classic or Modern, as long as it's Sonic, either Modern (IDW) or Classic (Mania Adventures), I like it.

I guess it's expectations.

This is 5 episodes, each for few minutes, no dialogue, aimed to please classic fans. So everyone expects a cute animation and anything beyond that (characterization, jokes) is a bonus. If I complained at lack of sophisticated plot I would be laughed at.

Meanwhile, IDW should be picking a slack for games storytelling. It prepares a ground for Archie Universe 2.0 (or rather 3.0). Animation is usually better for cute messing around, from comics I expect arcs, characters, continuity.

I mean, Mania Adventures is cute and Archie's "Mega Drive" was cute. But (despite what some people claim here) I wouldn't want them to be a full-blown series (at least not without some changes). They just lack substances for it.

[Marco9966]

So if both products have similar qualities, one gets praised and other bashed because the other has higher expectations.

No wonder Classic Sonic is so universally loved with such a low threshold of quality to reach!

If issue of IDW had the classic designs, it would be universally praised as breaking new grounds with Sonic, but with Modern we say pfft not enough lore...

[MetalSkulkBane]

18 minutes ago, Marco9966 said:

So if both products have similar qualities, one gets praised and other bashed because the other has higher expectations.

No wonder Classic Sonic is so universally loved with such a low threshold of quality to reach!

If issue of IDW had the classic designs, it would be universally praised as breaking new grounds with Sonic, but with Modern we say pfft not enough lore...

No, no, no, no... okay sorta yes.

For starters, this is why I'm Adventure fan. Becuase Sonic all this is all cute and well, but I require something more.

Secondly, let's see if Mania Adventures survives the test of time. Will people talk about it a year later? There are really funny videos on the internet that I watched once and never again. Ben 10 cartoon is seriously flawed, stays in my head years after I watched it.

And lastly (to be fair to Classic), gameplay is more important than the story (at least when we're talking about Sonic games). At the end of a day Mania is more fun to play than most (arguably all) modern titles, even if I enjoy some stories more.

[Sega DogTagz]

In this case, it has less to do with the classic/modern split and more to due with the inherent medium involved. A comic series just has a much heavier demand for story-telling than a 5 min, 5 episode toon series. Particularly so when the comic has ambition to stretch out much farther beyond 5 issues.

 

The animation in the cartoon just has to be cute charming and entertaining to be a success. The comic has to instill the desire for you to come back and demand issue 10, 20, 50, ect. Plus you have to actually pay for that too, which raises the ceiling that much higher.

[Sonic Fan J]

I'm with @Dr. Detective Mike that I didn't expect so much negativity against this particular episode (to be fair it's just most not finding the episode as funny as the prior). I honestly enjoyed this episode more than the prior simply because Sonic had someone else to play off. I also enjoyed getting to see some Sonic style action instead of a comedy routine with the comedy being more short lived and spontaneous. For me the single most enjoyable scene was watching Sonic get smacked back to the start and losing all of his rings. It was like he lost a life to Eggman and had to start the level over and I just found that utterly entertaining for some reason especially since when he went back with Tails it was like cheesing the bosses in Sonic 2 and 3 with Tails able to double the hits scored. I'm very much looking forward to the next one and seeing what Knuckles does to keep the Master Emerald safe.

[therealfalconpawnch77]

14 hours ago, Forte-Metallix said:

I just realized: Remember how a lot of us were wondering why Angel Island was still in the ocean in Episode 1? Well, this episode's stinger actually explains that:

  Reveal hidden contents

The Master Emerald isn't on its alter, since Knuckles is taking it with him for whatever reason.

 

Actually, Sonic 3 and Knuckles shows that the Emerald just needs to be on the Island for it to float, so no it still makes no sense for it to be in the ocean.

[tailsBOOM!]

22 hours ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

See. You can tell this isn't written by the people who normally write the games because Tails is allowed to do stuff like fight. And save Sonic. And this is actually allowed to be really good. So many things.

We need more of this in Sonic games!

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

16 minutes ago, therealfalconpawnch77 said:

Actually, Sonic 3 and Knuckles shows that the Emerald just needs to be on the Island for it to float, so no it still makes no sense for it to be in the ocean.

Not particularly. We never saw Angel Island for a good amount of time without the ME in its altar before falling. 

Besides,  Sonic Adventure later addresses that stuff too anyway. 

[Forte-Metallix]

11 hours ago, Tenko said:

It may convienantly explain why it's still in the ocean during the events of Mania Adventures, but I'm still hoping something explains why it's in the ocean in the first place at the start of Mania. Considering it's in it's underground alter in Hidden Palace during the entire events of the game. 

The official justification for that is the Phantom Ruby spontaneously appeared on the island and dragged it down to sea-level. The Master Emerald was where it belonged throughout Mania, but that doesn't mean a greater force, such as the Death Egg in 3&K, can't still weigh it down.

[tailsBOOM!]

22 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Side note: I've got a feeling that since Knuckles is introduced in Episode 3, it's possible they might introduce Mighty and Ray in Episodes 4 and 5 and tie it closer to Mania Plus.

I was also thinking this

 

16 hours ago, superman43 said:

I still wonder if 101 103 44 56 138 91 is some reference. But to what ?

Don't know, can you show us when it appears... The 91 could be the year he appeared, 

[StaticMania]

42 minutes ago, Jovahexeon Sonic Heroes said:

Not particularly. We never saw Angel Island for a good amount of time without the ME in its altar before falling. 

Not particularly? The moment Sonic and Tails drops the Emerald on AI it starts floating again...then we get the shot where it's just somewhere in the 1st level.

[superman43]

2 hours ago, StaticMania said:

Not particularly? The moment Sonic and Tails drops the Emerald on AI it starts floating again...then we get the shot where it's just somewhere in the 1st level.

Good point. Anyway, it could foreshadow that the Phantom Ruby was not destroyed. And then the Mania + will take place.

[Tenko]

I'm just loving the characterization and personality we are getting in Mania Adventures. The roughly 5mins of animation have shown more detail in this regard than the games have in the years since they had Sonic and co open their yaps.

Technology isn't an excuse anymore either, detailed models with plenty of points of articulation, capable of showing amazing facial features and expression are used by other companies. Being a toon type character with a fairly simple design I wouldnt imagine Sonic would need as much effort put in compared to some of the more realistic looking human characters out there in other games like Last of Us for example. Yet Sonic Team seem to consistantly pump out games with very stiff models with little in the way of expressive movement, even in the face where you would expect it in a toon'ish type character.

Sure you could likely debate the point and show an array of facial features from a selection of games, but that's just it, Mania Adventures has almost run the gauntlet of emotion and expression in little under 5 mins. Compared to the handful of stiff sequences expression any kind of emotion across years of gaming since Sonic entered 3D and started using rigged models.

To me Mania Adventures really shows what Sonic and crew are like, and should be more like in the games. Really getting into their personality, not through jibber jabber, but their expressions, emotions and interactions with the other characters. Its brilliant and I love it!

[StaticMania]

Sonic's ingame character models have stiff faces...

It's just to be expected...

[Sega DogTagz]

In most games sure, but if you look at games like the Original Riders, the character models can be built in a way to offer up vastly more expressive facial reactions.

 

 

 

 

 

They could up the dynamic ranges of the character models they use... they just sort of choose not too 80% of the time.

[Tenko]

30 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Sonic's ingame character models have stiff faces...

It's just to be expected...

Yes, but WHY? Sonic Adventure was quite expressive with its facials. Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, they were both expressive. These are games during the PS2, Dreamcast, Gamecube and original Xbox era. We have come a fair way since then but Sonic has gotten more stiff with each passing mainline game. We shouldn't be EXPECTING stiff facials and expressions in this day and age, all that says is we expect the games to be budget and low quality which is just plain sad and doesnf really speak much for Sonic Team.

[Razule]

1 hour ago, StaticMania said:

Sonic's ingame character models have stiff faces...

It's just to be expected...

It's to be expected because that's what they've always done, but they certainly don't have to be. They could be better.

They don't have to keep all of their emotes to their eyelids

[StaticMania]

I'm pretty sure this is why Sonic and Amy don't even wink anymore.

[Muscles Maximum]

6 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

I'm pretty sure this is why Sonic and Amy don't even wink anymore.

And in regards to Forces Sonic doesn't even blink anymore.

[Tenko]

So, what do you think the likelihood will be if Mighty & Ray appear in an episode that we may actually see some Sega Shop merch with them on it?

What's the bet also that if that happened it would sell out stupidly fast since there's like no Mighty & Ray merch at all and collectors would just have a field day.