Sonic Mania (August 15th 2017, Christian Whitehead, PS4, Xbox One, PC, Switch) - The New Classic

[Chris Knopps]

Just now, Kintor said:

The final boss of Sonic Chaos has already got you covered:

...Bah crap. Touche...

[Multikaris]

4 hours ago, Kintor said:

The final boss of Sonic Chaos has already got you covered:

Finally some Game Gear content.

[Maxtiis]

12 hours ago, FFWF said:

I don't think you'll have to worry about that.  The details we've heard about what is almost certainly the Green Hill Zone boss make it sound quite different - a "giant walking contraption" in a boss room with "handy undulations" in the floor - and while the miniboss is clearly referencing the original boss, the execution has evolved considerably.  So it's quite possible for reimagined zones that they're reworking the original boss concepts into new minibosses, while the new bosses have license to do something even more radical.

Huh. And here I'd thought I'd read up on all we know about Sonic Mania. Thanks for sharing that, it just makes my anticipation soar even higher.

And since we're still talking about bosses, who wants to bet that we're going to get a new robotic doppelgänger for Sonic? Every classic Sonic game has a robot Sonic in it with the exception of Sonic 1. It'd be nice to see the tradition continue. Hell, they might just use Metal Sonic; I'm sure Sega has it mandated somewhere that he's the only robot duplicate allowed now.

[Diogenes]

The series doesn't need an entirely new robot Sonic, that's just character clutter. If they want a new design, they can just say it's Metal Sonic with some upgrades. Though honestly, if they choose to use him, I'd rather they keep his usual design; a consistent identity is something this series desperately needs.

[Psychicmoose103]

53 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

The series doesn't need an entirely new robot Sonic, that's just character clutter. If they want a new design, they can just say it's Metal Sonic with some upgrades. Though honestly, if they choose to use him, I'd rather they keep his usual design; a consistent identity is something this series desperately needs.

If they are gonna have a sonic robot with a ton of upgraded equipment, they should totally make it Mecha sonic.

It would be awesome if Metal Sonic is in Sonics game, and Mecha Sonic + Egg Robo are back for Knuckles? That would be really cool!

[TheOcelot]

15 minutes ago, Psychicmoose103 said:

If they are gonna have a sonic robot with a ton of upgraded equipment, they should totally make it Mecha sonic.

It would be awesome if Metal Sonic is in Sonics game, and Mecha Sonic + Egg Robo are back for Knuckles? That would be really cool!

Perhaps another epic boss battle between Knuckles and Metal Sonic Kai!

The final boss fight against Kai in Chaotix wasn't exactly creative, it pretty much just copies the giant Egg-Robot boss fight in S&K's Death Egg zone, but I really like Kai's design.

[Mark1]

Had a thought. What're the odds of this being shown as part of the Nintendo Switch Indie presentation next week? 

Technically this game is classified as an indie title too...(?)

[Tracker_TD]

10 minutes ago, Mark1 said:

Had a thought. What're the odds of this being shown as part of the Nintendo Switch Indie presentation next week? 

Technically this game is classified as an indie title too...(?)

Nah.

It's a SEGA title, innit. Regardless of who's developing, SEGA's the one bankrolling; else I guess Sonic Boom's technically indie. 

[Milo]

3 hours ago, Diogenes said:

The series doesn't need an entirely new robot Sonic, that's just character clutter. If they want a new design, they can just say it's Metal Sonic with some upgrades. Though honestly, if they choose to use him, I'd rather they keep his usual design; a consistent identity is something this series desperately needs.

Ironically enough, it could actually be said that Metal Sonic has actually changed the least throughout all the years (Kai and Neo forms notwithstanding). The most he got with the Adventure refresh and Boom spinoff were modified proportions.

[FReaK]

thinking about it, a new metal sonic revision to fight in mania would be pretty nice.

[Maxtiis]

I never really saw the other robot duplicates aside from Metal Sonic as separate characters, just bosses to fight. It just seemed like a neat idea to see a new machine, as if Eggman was making new iterations on old hardware in an attempt to improve where the old designs failed.

Plus Mecha Sonic from Sonic 3 just looks so badass.

All this aside, I'd be fine if they decided to use Metal Sonic for Mania or just come up with completely unique enemy concepts. I'm not picky about my bosses as long as they're fun to fight.

[JezMM]

I'm not expecting to see Metal in Mania since I do feel SEGA considers him a "character" and they've said that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Eggman are the only "characters" in Mania.  But that's exactly what you'd say to hide a surprise so who knows.  Despite everything though I don't really want Mania messing with the canon that Sonic 4 established.  I know I know, I'm just saying from a lore basis it'd bother me personally to throw yet ANOTHER hiccup into the series chronology.  But we'll see.

Of course, no harm would be done if Stardust Speedway is a returning level and we fight him exactly there again.

 

 

Honestly though, a new model of Silver Sonic or Mecha Sonic would be pretty darn neato too.

[Salamander]

Thinking about it, time was that they'd redesign (or design a new) Metal Sonic every time he showed up, but at some point they seem to have decided that there was only one Metal Sonic allowed - no more Mecha, Rocket, Neo, etc.  It's kind of a shame.  I'd like to have seen his design be constantly tinkered with and upgraded each game to show that Eggman was still working on him after each defeat.

[molul]

If Fang is in,  Metal Sonic is too

[Jango]

So guys, how would you feel if the level list is the following:

- Green Hill;

- New Zone (ruins/ancient trope)

- Oil Ocean (with clean water on the bottom and the only oil will be running on pipes aka not f***ing the environment. The place became a water park/level basically);

- Mirage Saloon;

- Launch Base (full of snow, malfunctioning elevators/alarms/those spinning things, frozen water and such);

- Studiopolis;

- Quartz Quadrant (will be set on the present, with more sections underground, now with LAVA, as if the quartz caves were near a volcano);

- New Zone (haunted valley, similar to the likes of Pumpkin Hill, but with a different color palette, less orange, more grey/purple/green);

- Mushroom Hill (during SPRING, much more colors, plants and different mushrooms);

- Hidden Palace S3&K (for plot, fight with Mecha Sonic);

- New Zone (a futuristic city inside a dome, underwater, which is this game's Eggman's base);

- The Dead Egg (as it turns out, the Death Egg fell into the ocean, and Eggman build the underwater base/city around it, and not just that, the fallen station is this new base's energy supply, as it still has some "juice" thanks to the Master Emerald exposure in S3&K);

- Boss Fight inside the Dead Egg against Eggman (no Super Sonic);

- Final Boss (Super Sonic only): Eggman escapes the underwater base in a serpent (or hydra) like robot. Super Sonic goes after him (Tails and Knuckles get into an emergency escape pod and are launched out of the ocean). Super Sonic fights the Eggman robot above the surface of the ocean).

He wins, Eggman sinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Betz]

 

5 minutes ago, Jango said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So guys, how would you feel if the level list is the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Green Hill;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- New Zone (ruins/ancient trope)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Oil Ocean (with clean water on the bottom and the only oil will be running on pipes aka not f***ing the environment. The place became a water park/level basically);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Mirage Saloon;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Launch Base (full of snow, malfunctioning elevators/alarms/those spinning things, frozen water and such);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Studiopolis;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Quartz Quadrant (will be set on the present, with more sections underground, now with LAVA, as if the quartz caves were near a volcano);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- New Zone (haunted valley, similar to the likes of Pumpkin Hill, but with a different color palette, less orange, more grey/purple/green);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Mushroom Hill (during SPRING, much more colors, plants and different mushrooms);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Hidden Palace S3&K (for plot, fight with Mecha Sonic);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- New Zone (a futuristic city inside a dome, underwater, which is this game's Eggman's base);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- The Dead Egg (as it turns out, the Death Egg fell into the ocean, and Eggman build the underwater base/city around it, and not just that, the fallen station is this new base's energy supply, as it still has some "juice" thanks to the Master Emerald exposure in S3&K);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Boss Fight inside the Dead Egg against Eggman (no Super Sonic);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Final Boss (Super Sonic only): Eggman escapes the underwater base in a serpent (or hydra) like robot. Super Sonic goes after him (Tails and Knuckles get into an emergency escape pod and are launched out of the ocean). Super Sonic fights the Eggman robot above the surface of the ocean).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He wins, Eggman sinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not gonna lie, that'd be lit. Dead Egg Zone sounds really awesome.

[Marcello]

20 minutes ago, Jango said:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So guys, how would you feel if the level list is the following:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Green Hill;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- New Zone (ruins/ancient trope)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Oil Ocean (with clean water on the bottom and the only oil will be running on pipes aka not f***ing the environment. The place became a water park/level basically);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Mirage Saloon;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Launch Base (full of snow, malfunctioning elevators/alarms/those spinning things, frozen water and such);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Studiopolis;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Quartz Quadrant (will be set on the present, with more sections underground, now with LAVA, as if the quartz caves were near a volcano);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- New Zone (haunted valley, similar to the likes of Pumpkin Hill, but with a different color palette, less orange, more grey/purple/green);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Mushroom Hill (during SPRING, much more colors, plants and different mushrooms);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Hidden Palace S3&K (for plot, fight with Mecha Sonic);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- New Zone (a futuristic city inside a dome, underwater, which is this game's Eggman's base);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- The Dead Egg (as it turns out, the Death Egg fell into the ocean, and Eggman build the underwater base/city around it, and not just that, the fallen station is this new base's energy supply, as it still has some "juice" thanks to the Master Emerald exposure in S3&K);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Boss Fight inside the Dead Egg against Eggman (no Super Sonic);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Final Boss (Super Sonic only): Eggman escapes the underwater base in a serpent (or hydra) like robot. Super Sonic goes after him (Tails and Knuckles get into an emergency escape pod and are launched out of the ocean). Super Sonic fights the Eggman robot above the surface of the ocean).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He wins, Eggman sinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3

Why are you spacing your post out like that? It's annoying.

I'd hope for a few more stages than that.

[Chris Knopps]

I really, REALLY hope not ALL bosses are confined to an "arena" or "room" so to speak.

I would be absolutely THRILLED if bosses are focused on fast side-scrolling action. This is one feature that might make Freedom Planet possibly surpass Mania as far as boss/action quality goes.

[Marcello]

15 minutes ago, Chris Knopps said:

I really, REALLY hope not ALL bosses are confined to an "arena" or "room" so to speak.

I would be absolutely THRILLED if bosses are focused on fast side-scrolling action. This is one feature that might make Freedom Planet possibly surpass Mania as far as boss/action quality goes.

Oh God, I would not like that. I hated when Sonic Advance 2 did it. One boss like that is acceptable, but not all of them.

[Chris Knopps]

Just now, Marcello said:

Oh God, I would not like that. I hated when Sonic Advance 2 did it. One boss like that is acceptable, but not all of them.

I'm not saying ALL of them mind you but it will be bad if every boss in the game sticks to the typical confinement of a tiny area. I love being on the move ala the Freedom Planet and, as you mentioned, Advance 2 bosses, it feels more adrenaline pumping to me.

[Gemster312]

16 minutes ago, Chris Knopps said:

I really, REALLY hope not ALL bosses are confined to an "arena" or "room" so to speak.

I would be absolutely THRILLED if bosses are focused on fast side-scrolling action. This is one feature that might make Freedom Planet possibly surpass Mania as far as boss/action quality goes.

Although the Freedom Planet bosses that are side-scrolling like that are cool, I personally never enjoyed those in Sonic games. Such as the Advance series, where you run to chase down the boss.

It's a cool concept that makes sense, you're a fast character, why not run and kill the boss that way. But it's not really on-par with what the identity of a boss battle in the classic Sonic games is. In those "hold right and jump" boss battles, as cool as they look, in all honesty they are pretty boring to me. You really just hold right, and at the right time jump to ensure you hit eggman. Also, if you get hit and lose rings, they go BYE-BYE. It's more creative if the boss is more focused on the whole "platforming" and strategy part. The whole stage is about going fast. Now it's a battle, get strategic: Dodge bullets, figure out the right positioning, run to the left, run to the right, stop early, don't run into that. It's more diverse, and personally feels like that "Boss" room is more intense. If you're just running a long line, i don't care about the scenario where I am at. If it's locked into a single location, i feel like the particular room/location im in has more meaning.

But that's just my opinion

Either way, sonic can't do those attack moves like the characters from Freedom Planet that makes these boss battles feel so much more epic and interactive. Sonic can only boop eggman to crack him open

[TheOcelot]

5 hours ago, JezMM said:

 Despite everything though I don't really want Mania messing with the canon that Sonic 4 established.  I know I know, I'm just saying from a lore basis it'd bother me personally to throw yet ANOTHER hiccup into the series chronology.  But we'll see.

Of course, no harm would be done if Stardust Speedway is a returning level and we fight him exactly there again.

Oh come on, there's nothing about Sonic 4's canon worth preserving. It's messy, unfinished and quite frankly an insult to the classics. Ep1 is barely even connected to Ep2. Ep1 apparently takes place after 3&K but it could have taken place anytime and it's got virtually no cutscenes. Ep2's story feels rushed and there's no Ep3, so Little Planet is still trapped in Death Egg MkII because Sonic & Tails fucked-off and couldn't be bothered to free-it  Aside from the cutscene where Eggman revives Metal Sonic on Little Planet the canon of Sonic 4 entirely forgettable, and judging by the the fact that social media seems to be completely ignoring Sonic 4's existence I wouldn't be surprised if SEGA are more than happy to forget it exists to make way for Mania the true Sonic 4. 

Don't forget Mania will feature Sonic CD stages, so more than likely will take place on Little Planet. Therefore, contradicting Sonic 4's canon in some form is probably inevitable anyway. I don't think an appearance by Metal Sonic-even if it's just a picture cameo like Fang, Bean & Bark (although hopefully they are more than just picture cameos) could do any harm to the canon. Considering how popular MS is I think most fans would love to see him appear in Mania.

So, I'm more than happy if Mania brings in some ideas which contradict Sonic 4's canon or even Knuckles Chaotix canon. You could even argue Sonic 4's cannon contradicts Chaotix which Metal Sonic appears in, but I digress...

This is an opportunity for Mania to create a worthy story - something Sonic 4 could never do - to follow on from Sonic 3&K and maybe lay the foundation for future stories; Mania 2 & 3. I hope SEGA have given Team Mania freedom to create whatever story they want.

[JezMM]

True, I forgot about Metal Sonic being in Chaotix... I guess if I'm willing to let Sonic 4 and Sonic Heroes overwrite stuff that Knuckles' Chaotix established I can't really be precious about Sonic 4 just because I like it (I'm still bummed that we didn't get Ep 3 to be honest).

[Chris Knopps]

Isn't Sonic 4 pretty much like 06...?

That being it intended to do something with the canon, but was wiped out in the end anyways?

I doubt Sonic 4 is canon whatsoever now, it's there but in its own bubble, not part of anything anymore. It tried to be, then got... Well... Yeah.

[Gemster312]

1 minute ago, JezMM said:

True, I forgot about Metal Sonic being in Chaotix... I guess if I'm willing to let Sonic 4 and Sonic Heroes overwrite stuff that Knuckles' Chaotix established I can't really be precious about Sonic 4 just because I like it (I'm still bummed that we didn't get Ep 3 to be honest).

I personally enjoyed Sonic 4 as well, so I can understand where this is coming from, but the way the game was handled, the way it felt, and the crappy minor story it had, it didn't feel like a true Sonic classic game. Honestly I think the whole Sonic 4 Saga would have done so so so much better if it was just advertised as a "new spin-off 2D sonic game".

It doesn't feel like it should be part of that classic story chain, and thus it's actions should probably be ignored and not counted as "cannon". 

Was sonic 4 a good game? Yeah. Should it have been named as the "SEQUEL" to S3K? Hell no. Should it's story be cannon then if it's more of a spin-off than a real title? Probably not.

I do wish they just called it something other than Sonic 4, and then i think an EP3 would probably have been made (there's a source somewhere where Aaron says that it was in production but cancelled due to poor reception, but they might come back to it at some point if they feel the request is there). Which would be cool, but it should totally be read on a separate line from the classic 5.