Sonic Mania: Version 1.04 and Plus DLC PS4 Leaks (SPOILERS)

[Detective Kaito]

I happen to have Sonic Mania v1.04, so could someone please tell me how to perform the glitch?

EDIT: Nevermind I figured it out.

[superman43]

It seems like the all zones have very subtle changes to the layout (with the earliest = Green Hill and Chemical Plant having by far the least worthy ones).

 

I hope there is much more meat to the zones that are not in Ocelot´s video. Studiopolis looks like a good step though. 

Plus nothing new (like bosses, to have a different storyline) seems like something very fishy. Not that I hoped for something more for 5 bucks, but still... looks odd.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Considering Encore mode is a huge part of the DLC...yeah this is not good for SEGA whatsoever.

[superman43]

1 minute ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Considering Encore mode is a huge part of the DLC...yeah this is not good for SEGA whatsoever.

Encore mode IS DLC. Far more than a "huge part" of it.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 minute ago, superman43 said:

Encore mode IS DLC. Far more than a "huge part" of it.

Either way, they've more or less released the DLC for free due to the Debug mode glitch. It might be on a rough state, but if you can arguably play massive portions of it, well that's not good for SEGA.

[Tracker_TD]

I'm not too worried about it affecting sales - it's relatively obscure and somewhat annoying to pull off glitch, pretty limited (AIZ is broken, can only be done with no save mode, cutscenes break it, Special Stages reset the game etc), and is missing two key components (Mighty and Ray, and the team swap mechanic). 

[superman43]

3 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Either way, they've more or less released the DLC for free due to the Debug mode glitch. It might be on a rough state, but if you can arguably play massive portions of it, well that's not good for SEGA.

I think that something different is not good for SEGA. Information for customers that the level structure itself is untouched (adding specific Mighty and Ray routes don´t really count).

[Psychicmoose103]

32 minutes ago, superman43 said:

It seems like the all zones have very subtle changes to the layout (with the earliest = Green Hill and Chemical Plant having by far the least worthy ones).

 

I hope there is much more meat to the zones that are not in Ocelot´s video. Studiopolis looks like a good step though. 

Plus nothing new (like bosses, to have a different storyline) seems like something very fishy. Not that I hoped for something more for 5 bucks, but still... looks odd.

I doubt things like new bosses, new story segments, etc would be put in an early update. Its probably just the skins and level design. The new characters are also not in, so anything new that had to be programmed besides Angel Island is not implemented yet.

[Tracker_TD]

2 minutes ago, superman43 said:

I think that something different is not good for SEGA. Information for customers that the level structure itself is untouched (adding specific Mighty and Ray routes don´t really count).

The level structure isn't untouched though. For instance I noticed during my CPZ run that some sections involving the moving blocks had been replaced with spike traps, to encourage more careful jumping and navigation. In addition the water climb segment has been made potentially easier, and most Special Stage rings have been completely re-located.

...there's also an entirely new MSZ Act 1, so uh

[superman43]

Just now, Tracker_TD said:

The level structure isn't untouched though. For instance I noticed during my CPZ run that some sections involving the moving blocks had been replaced with spike traps, to encourage more careful jumping and navigation. In addition the water climb segment has been made potentially easier, and most Special Stage rings have been completely re-located.

Yeah but it´s a little touch, still.

1 minute ago, Tracker_TD said:

...there's also an entirely new MSZ Act 1, so uh

Okay, I forgot that. But that´s basically a given, we might say ? Or at least a bit.

[Tracker_TD]

2 minutes ago, superman43 said:

Yeah but it´s a little touch, still.

I mean... we could've inferred it would be that from the trailers and what we were told in general. I don't think anyone was expecting huge level overhauls, particularly after the release date trailer suggested it was gonna be smaller tweaks. 

Quote

Okay, I forgot that. But that´s basically a given, we might say ? Or at least a bit.

It really wasn't, honestly.

[superman43]

3 minutes ago, Tracker_TD said:

I mean... we could've inferred it would be that from the trailers and what we were told in general. I don't think anyone was expecting huge level overhauls, particularly after the release date trailer suggested it was gonna be smaller tweaks. 

I wasn´t expecting that either. I just wonder... minor touches are a bit too little. Or even if there weren´t any differences in the main layout, there could have been done something on top of some levels.

[Tracker_TD]

Just now, superman43 said:

I wasn´t expecting that either. I just wonder... minor touches are a bit too little. Or even if there weren´t, but there could have been done something on top of some levels.

For what it's worth, there's also the matter of the story - it seems there's gonna new cutscenes involved (since the Mania Mode ones that play in the leak break the glitch and return it to the regular mode) and there's the whole Tag Team gimmick on top of the whole thing. Plus the two new characters.

If they were gonna make huge new levels I'd have rather they just expend that on a sequel, which is why I'm fine with the tweaks made. They're enough to make it not just another run-through of Mania mode (in addition to all the other new features) without going overboard.

[superman43]

4 minutes ago, Tracker_TD said:

For what it's worth, there's also the matter of the story - it seems there's gonna new cutscenes involved (since the Mania Mode ones that play in the leak break the glitch and return it to the regular mode) and there's the whole Tag Team gimmick on top of the whole thing. Plus the two new characters.

If they were gonna make huge new levels I'd have rather they just expend that on a sequel, which is why I'm fine with the tweaks made. They're enough to make it not just another run-through of Mania mode (in addition to all the other new features) without going overboard.

I don´t want them to go overboard. But some parts feel like a missed opportunity (like in Ocelot´s video - in Studiopolis Act 2, very beginning - film tape... I thought there will be a very small additional route that will end up on the top route).

[Will Connor]

24 minutes ago, Tracker_TD said:

I'm not too worried about it affecting sales - it's relatively obscure and somewhat annoying to pull off glitch, pretty limited (AIZ is broken, can only be done with no save mode, cutscenes break it, Special Stages reset the game etc), and is missing two key components (Mighty and Ray, and the team swap mechanic). 

Completely agreed with this. Also this accidentally-pushed-way-too-early patch was restricted to one platform in one region and was live for only a few hours, meaning the amount of people that have it should be relatively low. Way bigger problem would be if the final 1.04 build shipped on July 17th and the ability to access all the Encore mode zones without having made the $4.99 DLC transaction was still intact--that woulda been a catastrophe. This all seems like a huge blessing in disguise if the devs didn't already know it was possible to do this with just the 1.04 patch; now they definitely do and can fix the digital versions of the final 1.04 so that nothing from Encore/Plus can be accessed until the $4.99 transaction is made.

(Of course none of this affects the physical copies--they could not bother including the fix with those versions if they can't have it ready by the time those discs and cartridges are being manufactured, which should be very soon if not already.)

[Detective Kaito]

So I played Green Hill, Chemical Plant, and a bit of Studiopolis and I won't play further. It's really meh, the level design remains mostly unchanged, I heard that later stages change more so we'll see.

[superman43]

I wonder, does anyone else see Wacky Workbench Bad Future palette in Encore Studiopolis Act 2 ? The very top.

Plus... Sweep used in Angel Island.

[Gemster312]

1 hour ago, Gemster312 said:

Screenshots from Encore Mode (sorry the video is down so i only got crappy lil screen grabs)

Green Hill Zone

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Chemical Plant

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Studiopolis

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Flying Battery

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Press Garden

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Stardust Speedway

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Hydrocity

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Mirage Saloon

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Oil Ocean

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Lava Reef

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At Act 2 of Lava Reef the stream was killed and no further content has been seen.

Enjoy

From the looks of the video (and these screenshots) there was a good chunk of changed content.

About 90% of it is nearly identical, but then the changes come in bursts rather than scattered throughout.

My favourite of the pallete swaps that we've seen so far has got to be Chemical Plant, Hydrocity, and Oil Ocean.

[superman43]

36 minutes ago, Tracker_TD said:

It really wasn't, honestly.

Well, they definitely heard the fact we kind of hate Mania Mode Sonic and Tails MSZ Act 1. In connection with that I was expecting a new MSZ Act 1 for Encore. Seems kinda reasonable.

[Jango]

Oil Ocean's new pallete is the only I can easily swallow. I'd say I like it better than the original even haha. The others just don't... Match, it's not good to look at. There's a reason colors are picked the way they are in the first place. Color contrast and these stuff. Some shades of orange don't go well with green, for example, that's why Green Hill Encore looks kinda iffy, it's not pleasant to the eye. It feels like they just shifted the hues around instead of re-working the sprites to make it properly look like Green Hill during the sunset, if that's their intention. I am fully aware that this would require more effort, more time, more money and all that. As it is now, these are just pallete swap, kinda like in fighting games. 

But Mighty and Ray, the new you know what in that zone, the level transitions, new music, new cutscenes and half AIZ are worth the price of 5 bucks. 

Frankly, I would totally buy the 29,99 physical edition without all these changes to the game alone. Vanilla Mania was already a great game, I want to have it in my hands. Plus the artbook, obviously.

[Multikaris]

1 hour ago, Tracker_TD said:

I'm not too worried about it affecting sales - it's relatively obscure and somewhat annoying to pull off glitch, pretty limited (AIZ is broken, can only be done with no save mode, cutscenes break it, Special Stages reset the game etc), and is missing two key components (Mighty and Ray, and the team swap mechanic). 

Overall the levels seem unfinished, as well. Not much different beyond the color changes. If this is what Encore looks like, color me dissapointed unless the big changes come in at the eleventh hour.

[TheOcelot]

I've now done a full playthrough of all Encore zones in Mania. I will upload my playthrough tomorrow. I didn't do the special stages because it sometimes causes the game to reset when exciting. 

As I've said before, this leaked version 1.04 still feels unfinished and the same can be said for Encore mode, because I think some color palettes still need tweaking. The level design feels more remixed in some levels compared to others, which I don't mind too much. Some of the new level-layouts are cleaver-well thought out. Most of the special stage rings are now hidden in new locations, and I found quite a few by exploring.

The new layout for Mirage Saloon act1 (which I assume Mighty & Ray will also have access to in Mania mode), is certainly very interesting. It's clearly a heavily modified version of Knuckles route (also including a bit of the train from Sonic & Tails route) and is decent for the most part.

The finished version of Encore mode with Mighty & Ray will be a lot more fun due to their unique movesets. Oh and playing through Angel Island is so freaking cool!

As for my favorite new color palette? I really like the "bad future" visuals in act2 of Stardust Speedway <3

[MainJP]

2 hours ago, BlueFlare said:

Nice to hear full Angel Island theme. Also, I feel so bad seeing the snowy mountains (Ice Cap) in the horizon. That made me dream of Sonic 3 but with Mania engine.

Too fluffy to be mountains. I’m fairly certain those are just cumulus clouds, they were in Sonic 3:

[superman43]

At Dawn ?

1 minute ago, MainJP said:

Too fluffy to be mountains. I’m fairly certain those are just cumulus clouds, they were in Sonic 3:

Yes, they are clouds. I wonder what all that Ice Cap crap came up from.  

[MainJP]

50 minutes ago, superman43 said:

Yes, they are clouds. I wonder what all that Ice Cap crap came up from.  

 

They don't look like mountains even, I've seen people on YouTube and Twitter say "is that Ice Cap?" "That's Ice Cap in the distance".

Those clouds don't even look like the mountains in Ice Cap.