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Sonic Mania |OT| Dreams Come True

Sciz

Member
Pits are scarce enough in this game that I don't think it would take all that much more design effort to eliminate them entirely. It's not that they're really a problem, only that the Sonic 3 level design formula encourages checking out every little nook and cranny and consequently it's jarring when you do that and there's just nothing there. If it's supposed to be lethal, line it with hazards. If it's a case like Flying Battery where there obviously shouldn't be anything off the bottom, at least go the Sky Sanctuary route and pad the lower edge with wind.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
Yeah, this is what's really confusing me. It's subtle, sure, but the camera ends up at a different position if you're literally at the bottom of the map. And if you're in doubt, you can try moving the camera downwards by holding Down for a bit. There's even a bit in Hydrocity where this is done automatically for cutscene purposes (though I sort of wish there was a separate looking-down animation for that because as it is you just sort of inexplicably crouch for no reason).

To be absolutely pedantic it's not always 'at the bottom of the map' (see: Green Hill 1's Sonic route where you can go to the bottom route, head left and then die to a pit, but a bug lets you fall further to Knuckles route.

Nevertheless, you're right. The camera does make it reasonably clear when you're at a 'pls don't fall here' section.
 
To be absolutely pedantic it's not always 'at the bottom of the map' (see: Green Hill 1's Sonic route where you can go to the bottom route, head left and then die to a pit, but a bug lets you fall further to Knuckles route.

Nevertheless, you're right. The camera does make it reasonably clear when you're at a 'pls don't fall here' section.

iirc that route is also blocked off by a line of spikes, so you really have to go out of your way to jump into it. Chances are, you'll only die to it if you're trying to glitch into Knuckles' route.
 
I don't find Titanic Monarch zone very fun at all. I've run out of time on several occasions and it's not clear at all where to go. Level is too busy and trying to be too clever.
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
Apparently I forgot how to play classic (best) Sonic and I'm not playing right/having fun as much as I should I think?

Should I slowly explore the levels, in an almost Mario-like 2D adventure or I should be as fast as possible while trying to reach the end with as many rings as possible?
 
Apparently I forgot how to play classic (best) Sonic and I'm not playing right/having fun as much as I should I think?

Should I slowly explore the levels, in an almost Mario-like 2D adventure or I should be as fast as possible while trying to reach the end with as many rings as possible?

Try to get to the end as fast as possible, that's what I always do. If you feel like exploring save it for after you beat the game because the levels may be designed for it, but the rest of the game isn't (the timer)
 
Titanic Monarch is perhaps the most linear stage in the game.

It's not that I got lost, more that I found the layout of the level confusing. Anyway, I didn't find it enjoyable and overall I have mixed feelings about this game. Sometimes I really enjoy it and sometimes I find it rather annoying to play.
 
Got my Data Disc soundtrack in the mail today

I bought it for collection purposes only so it's not the end of the world, but it is a bit disappointing to see they only included the new tracks. No remixes
 
Just caved and bought this for my new Switch.

This is what Sonic should always be. No chaos, no cutscenes with voice acting, no tweeny rock music. This is actually a Sonic game, one that makes me grin from ear to ear as I run round Chemical Plant Zone.

Can't wait to get home from work tonight and play some more!

Can I ask, what are the medals you get from the Blue Sphere special stages?
 
Just caved and bought this for my new Switch.

This is what Sonic should always be. No chaos, no cutscenes with voice acting, no tweeny rock music. This is actually a Sonic game, one that makes me grin from ear to ear as I run round Chemical Plant Zone.

Can't wait to get home from work tonight and play some more!

Can I ask, what are the medals you get from the Blue Sphere special stages?

You get a silver for completing it, gold for getting a perfect (all rings).

Getting medals unlock various abilities in no save runs (like the Sonic 3 instashield) and various other unlockables.
 

Dash Kappei

Not actually that important
Try to get to the end as fast as possible, that's what I always do. If you feel like exploring save it for after you beat the game because the levels may be designed for it, but the rest of the game isn't (the timer)

Makes sense, thanks.
Too bad the levels' layout make me feel as if I'm playing the game wrong by skipping the exploration and all the different paths
 

NoName999

Member
Shower thought: In Sonic 3 & K, the Act 1s, with a few exceptions, had the better zone theme.

Now in Mania, it's Act 2, with once again a few exceptions.

COINCIDENCE?

yes lol
 

clav

Member
^ Eh, that's just an opinion. I like the Act 1 tracks in this game more than Act 2's.

Titanic Monarch's Act 1 has a better arrangement than Act 2's. Busy with a harpsichord with hints of a 56K modem connecting in the background + a Sonic 1 Scrap Brain percussion + Final Theme mix.
 

Hermii

Member
Why do I collect rings in this game? No matter how many I manage to rack up, I lose almost all of them if I get hit once and its almost impossible to me at least to get through a level without getting hit. The only reason I found is that I can survive a hit, but thats the same wether I have 10 or 200.
 

Sayad

Member
Why do I collect rings in this game? No matter how many I manage to rack up, I lose almost all of them if I get hit once and its almost impossible to me at least to get through a level without getting hit. The only reason I found is that I can survive a hit, but thats the same wether I have 10 or 200.
Extra life for each 100 rings + 20 rings(I think!) for bonus stage at check points. If you're losing rings that much, try to take things slower, it's easy to get up 100 rings even in the later stages.
 
Why do I collect rings in this game? No matter how many I manage to rack up, I lose almost all of them if I get hit once and its almost impossible to me at least to get through a level without getting hit. The only reason I found is that I can survive a hit, but thats the same wether I have 10 or 200.

100 rings = extra life.

And rings allow you to brute force some areas. If you have one or three rings, it's easier to lose them all. If you have a bunch, especially with a blue ring box that allows you to collect bigger rings that are worth way more rings, it's easier to regain them. And I think I've gotten additional lives after losing 200 rings but gaining 100 back using that method,
 

TheOGB

Banned
Why do I collect rings in this game? No matter how many I manage to rack up, I lose almost all of them if I get hit once and its almost impossible to me at least to get through a level without getting hit. The only reason I found is that I can survive a hit, but thats the same wether I have 10 or 200.
100 rings = extra life, 25 rings at a checkpoint lets you subject yourself to Blue Sphere stages, and really, the more the merrier. You get more bonus points at the end of a level the more you have (and every 50,000 points also gets you an extra life). They're easier to pick up if you get hit while carrying a lot of em.

Classic Sonic is pretty arcade-y, and the mindset behind them is usually that players will replay levels, learn layouts, and get a little better each time. Mania even has a Cool Bonus now that starts at 10,000 points at the beginning of every level. Getting hit takes off 1,000 points and dying zeroes it out.

So just think of it as an arcade game, bigger numbers are nicer just 'cause. If you're just trying to get to the end and be done, they don't matter too much, but they're nicer to have than not. You don't have to go out of your way to grab every ring you see, but they can also clue you in on alternate routes. If you're worried about losing them all, keep an eye out for the Blue Ring item box. They make it so the rings you lose on hit are huge and worth 20 apiece.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
Metallic Madness is excellent. I love the gimmicks. In Act 1, you shrink by going into the background. In Act 2, you shrink...literally, which lets you move through certain paths. That's perfectly clever.
 
Just bought this game this Monday. At Hydrocity but just died to Act 2's boss but I'm having some fun with this game. Definitely feel like one of those games where you keep retrying and see yourself get better in controls and navigating the level design.

If there is one complaint I have so far is that some of the bosses weaknesses aren't so obvious at first. And if you only have 1 live left while finally getting to Act 2's boss, its kind of annoying to die without figuring how to win. So far it's not a big issue since the levels are fun enough to replay them quickly to get back to the bosses, but I think its a flaw worth mentioning especially to people new to 2D Sonic like me (only played Sonic 1 and Rush from DS).

Music is really great though. Worth mentioning that the Switch port suffered an audio black out in second Act of the snow level before I reached the boss fight.
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Just noticed that version 1.03 downloaded on my PS4. Though looking at the update history, it just says "general bug fixes & stability improvements", so guess it's not the one with the separate Super button.
 

Shadio

Member
Just noticed that version 1.03 downloaded on my PS4. Though looking at the update history, it just says "general bug fixes & stability improvements", so guess it's not the one with the separate Super button.

It does add the super button (triangle).
Crashing leaderboards have also been fixed.

The screen also shakes when Super Sonic does a drop dash. Did that always happen?
 

Rlan

Member
From the Steamworld Dig pages:

US
DKiMfUpUEAAu8gy.jpg:small

EU
DKiMfukUMAE8WoX.jpg:small


More than a month later, still a top download on the Switch. Must be doing extremely well.
 

Tailzo

Member
Just noticed that version 1.03 downloaded on my PS4. Though looking at the update history, it just says "general bug fixes & stability improvements", so guess it's not the one with the separate Super button.

Interesting. I am guessing a Switch patch might come soon too then.
 

Paragon

Member
They just put out a patch for the game on Steam too, but it looks like it only adds Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean localization.
Still uses Denuvo and doesn't go wider than 16:9.
 
What's a "super sonic button"? Are they removing double jump as the activator and moving it to a dedicated button?

Yes, it's exactly that. The PC version already has it. I'm not sure if you have to jump to use it or you can activate it while standing, someone with the PC version can fill that bit in.
 
Yes, it's exactly that. The PC version already has it. I'm not sure if you have to jump to use it or you can activate it while standing, someone with the PC version can fill that bit in.

It's weird that I've never actually tested this. It's just muscle memory for me to transform after jumping.
 

Shadio

Member
About the super button working while standing:
It doesn't, you can only press it after a jump

Edit: Also, while testing that, I decided to just AFK during the Green Hill Zone 2 boss to see if anything interesting happened. After about two minutes it just exploded for no reason and killed me with the bottomless pit it created. Weird
 

Zubz

Banned
About the super button working while standing:
It doesn't, you can only press it after a jump

Edit: Also, while testing that, I decided to just AFK during the Green Hill Zone 2 boss to see if anything interesting happened. After about two minutes it just exploded for no reason and killed me with the bottomless pit it created. Weird

I think that pit was always a thing, though. I guess they could only generate a certain amount of track so they put a hard cap on how far the boss would walk?
 

Dissent-

Neo Member
Today's patch removed the Dunkey Easter Egg. The sound effect was deleted and the code no longer words. (Receiving conflicting reports on this bit, someone else has said the code still works but doesn't actually change anything)

Truly a sad day for all.
 

Zubz

Banned
Today's patch removed the Dunkey Easter Egg. The sound effect was deleted and the code no longer words.

Truly a sad day for all.

Huh. That's a weird thing to cut. I wonder why? Granted, I'm still wondering why it was there in the first place, but I don't see a need to cut it now that it's there. Unless, like, Dunkey pulled a JonTron somewhere & it's just not public knowledge yet (Which wouldn't be too surprising, honestly) or if someone was up in arms about it.
 
Huh. That's a weird thing to cut. I wonder why? Granted, I'm still wondering why it was there in the first place, but I don't see a need to cut it now that it's there. Unless, like, Dunkey pulled a JonTron somewhere & it's just not public knowledge yet (Which wouldn't be too surprising, honestly) or if someone was up in arms about it.

I mean, this was the reaction to it in this very thread back when it was first discovered:

That's disheartening if true. Dunkey is a piece of shit and all this does is taint an amazing game.

Even if they chose a non-sexist/racist/homiphobic youtuber, I still wouldn't like the reference. Sonic Mania shouldn't have anything in it that isn't either new, from an existing Sonic game, or a callback to a Sega classic like Shinobi.


Youtuber references in games are the worst. Especially shitty ones, ew.

Ick..

Granted, the Sonic Mania dunkey review probably resulted in a boatload of sales.

Still though...it's just...ew.

He's said words like f*ggot and n*gger a few times in the past, more or less defended Jon Tron, and has made plenty of sexist comments. Dunkey is just a piece of shit.

There was a video of an archived stream Dunkey did where he called someone that word and then his girlfriend(?) called him out on it and he made a halfhearted apology. It was linked in a thread about Dunkey back in March I believe. He was already defending Jon Tron by then so it didn't change my perception of him much. Haven't been a fan of Dunkey every since I learned about stuff like that and I think it's a real shame he is present in any form in Mania. The game would be better if the Easter Egg was removed in it's entirety.
 

Earth

Banned
So Stealth has just revealed some more info about stuff that was data-mined from the game.
http://hcstealth.tumblr.com/#BIA-Mania

Stealth said:
Next, there are the ”SP500" printer objects, fictional upgraded relatives of the Sega SP400 ”plotter printer" for early SC computers. Incidentally, I also implemented one of those - the ink-using version. That version, in particular, has some additional functionality that I don't think anyone has worked out yet.. It's a little complicated, but I'll tell you this - it involves another one of the tile planes. To a lesser degree, there's also the ”Acetone" object which I don't think anyone has connected with this group..

Quite a bit more at the link.
 

Zubz

Banned
So Stealth has just revealed some more info about stuff that was data-mined from the game.
http://hcstealth.tumblr.com/#BIA-Mania

Quite a bit more at the link.

Huh. I wonder what boss Stealth's referring to as having been initially different. He mentioned people found the arena, & there's an empty version of the room Sonic fights Knuckles in during the Hidden Palace Zone. Was that where you fought Heavy King/Rider initially?

I still believe there was a 5th original zone we know nothing about, though. My guess is that Heavy King was supposed to be the boss of Titanic Monarch, & Heavy Rider would've been the boss of the new zone. It feels weird that the other 3 got new zones while they both got crammed into Lava Reef.
 
Today's patch removed the Dunkey Easter Egg. The sound effect was deleted and the code no longer words. (Receiving conflicting reports on this bit, someone else has said the code still works but doesn't actually change anything)

Truly a sad day for all.

Good.

Legit proud that the Mania team took the feedback and did some research in order to come to the conclusion that they originally made a mistake.

If only Gears for Breakfast, the developers for A Hate in Time, could do the same. Jontron's voice is still in that game currently and as long as it is I'm not going to buy it. I'll play it, but I'm not going to support it.
 
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