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

[CleverSonicUsername]

12 hours ago, Chris Knopps said:

I think it means an ice focused zone is coming, but possibly not Ice Cap itself.

In regards to Mania, remember that they said all further original zones will feature new tropes. An ice zone would be a retread, so it's unlikely we'll just get a non-ice cap winter level.

[Jango]

I say Launch Base covered in snow could be awesome if not better than Ice Cap itself, IMO. Tho, I have a thing for frozen military bases ever since Mega Man X [emoji14]

[CleverSonicUsername]

Launch Base does start out a little snow touched. It'd be cool if the level intro were a snowboarding section that lead into Launch Base proper.

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

I keep thinking a revamped version of Ice Cap would be in Mania...

[JonoD]

Kazuyuki Hoshino just shared this picture...

I say. Does that confirm blue spheres as the special stage? That's definitely an optimised-for-widescreen version and a different shade of Sonic in that pic!

[FriendBot]

Aw geez, Jono I was gonna post that!

But yeah, that does seem like the Mania sprite so it could be possible that we will see the return of the Blue Sphere special stages which should be obvious since we've seen and heard that there'll be 2 hidden Special Stage Rings in every act. So yeah, Mania is truly continuing what 3&K ended.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Not to be a jerk, but I'd definitely be disappointed if that's the case. Not that it's a bad special stage, but it flies in the face of the idea of Mania truly being a new classic game. I was very curious and interested to see what they'd come up with, especially since a special stage can be practically anything, so it could be something totally brand-new.

I also don't think S3&K special stage should be more acceptable because Sonic Mania is based on Sonic 3 & Knuckles more than the other classics. It may be more heavily inspired by that game, but it's still a new entry into the series, not "S3&K: The Sequel". The fact that Sonic's character sprites look more like his Sonic 1 and 2 sprites than his Sonic 3 sprites should be proof enough of that.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Monkey Destruction Switch said:

Not to be a jerk, but I'd definitely be disappointed if that's the case. Not that it's a bad special stage, but it flies in the face of the idea of Mania truly being a new classic game. I was very curious and interested to see what they'd come up with, especially since a special stage can be practically anything, so it could be something totally brand-new.

I also don't think S3&K special stage should be more acceptable because Sonic Mania is based on Sonic 3 & Knuckles more than the other classics. It may be more heavily inspired by that game, but it's still a new entry into the series, not "S3&K: The Sequel". The fact that Sonic's character sprites look more like his Sonic 1 and 2 sprites than his Sonic 3 sprites should be proof enough of that.

To be fair, this already wasn't going to be a truly new classic game with it having classic zones and all. :V

[Marcello]

4 minutes ago, Monkey Destruction Switch said:

Not to be a jerk, but I'd definitely be disappointed if that's the case. Not that it's a bad special stage, but it flies in the face of the idea of Mania truly being a new classic game. I was very curious and interested to see what they'd come up with, especially since a special stage can be practically anything, so it could be something totally brand-new.

I also don't think S3&K special stage should be more acceptable because Sonic Mania is based on Sonic 3 & Knuckles more than the other classics. It may be more heavily inspired by that game, but it's still a new entry into the series, not "S3&K: The Sequel". The fact that Sonic's character sprites look more like his Sonic 1 and 2 sprites than his Sonic 3 sprites should be proof enough of that.

The returning stages already do.

And, hey, better Blue Spheres than the damn half-pipe. =P

[Guest]

http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=35709&st=3330&p=885254&#entry885254

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[FriendBot]

That's why I'm considering that Mania 2 will be much better since it's going to feature all new zones and the works since Mania is very much a testing ground to see if a retro styled Classic Sonic game would appeal to people and we all know it will. So yeah, holding out for all the new stuff in Mania 2.

OH GOD! Christian plz!

[Guest]

http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=35709&st=3330&p=885258&#entry885258

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[FriendBot]

THE PLOT THICKENS!

In that case, are we finally gonna see Blue Sphere Remastered?

[Maxtiis]

Now they're just trolling us.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Not gonna lie, I do feel relieved but not surprised. I didn't think the team would let us down

Yeah, the reused stages are one thing, but that was a Sega mandate. I would be more disappointed if the team voluntarily chose to abandon "newness". Blue Sphere could theoretically be a mandate too, but it seems less likely.

Excited to find out what the new Blue Sphere actually is for...

[Nast]

My guess is that they'll include a remastered Blue Spheres as an optional mode. If that's the case we'll probably see these implemented too:

 

[Adamabba]

Maybe it'll be something akin to the bonus stages that you could access through checkpoints in S3&K. 

[Lord-Dreamerz]

Yeah maybe it's the bonus stages... Seems little unlikely to me however... Feels like it should be a lock-on game bonus but the Sonic 1.2 & CD Remasters won't be on the same systems as Sonic Mania will they?

[SonicDude]

10 minutes ago, Adamabba said:

Maybe it'll be something akin to the bonus stages that you could access through checkpoints in S3&K. 

I think it will happen if you lock on with Sonic 1 Remastered. Taxman said "NO WAY" which could be a reference to that screen that you get if you lock on Sonic & Knuckles with Sonic 1. Less likely scenarios are it locks on with Sonic 2 or CD remastered, or that Sonic 3 & Knuckles remastered actually exists and they are planning to surprise us with a dual game launch or have it come out a bit after Mania.

 

[Maxtiis]

Are we finally getting a Sonic 3 remastered that they secretly developed on the side?

I dunno, but I can dream.

[SonicDude]

28 minutes ago, NastCF said:

My guess is that they'll include a remastered Blue Spheres as an optional mode. If that's the case we'll probably see these implemented too:

 

Hope so, looks cool.

[CleverSonicUsername]

Well I was going to say that I hope it's not the special stage. While I love Blue Spheres, I really would rather something all new. But now that Taxman has cleared up that it's probably not the Sonic Mania special stage... I dunno. A Sonic 3 remaster on PC would be amazing (it would be amazing for the Sonic 1 and 2 remasters to go on PC before Mania's release too), but those remasters take work, so it's unlikely they were just making a Sonic 3 remaster alongside Mania. Plus the sprite is too light a shade of blue.

So yeah maybe it's a bonus feature. I'd be all for that.

edit: Something I notice fan games do is take special stages from a bunch of games, so each special stage (or at least a few) are totally different. That's also something I hope Mania doesn't do, I think it's valuable to have consistency between them.

[molul]

If Taxman says it's not Sonic Mania, then it could be just the S3 remaster prototype.

Maybe S3 remastered started pre-production!

Going to bed now. Hoping to dream about that xD 

[Psychicmoose103]

1 hour ago, JonoD said:

Kazuyuki Hoshino just shared this picture...

I say. Does that confirm blue spheres as the special stage? That's definitely an optimised-for-widescreen version and a different shade of Sonic in that pic!

Blue Sphere?

BLUE SPHERE!?!!
YES!

 

If the special stage is new, this could either be a different mode, a bonus game for shields from the checkpoints (hopefully the electric ball tower from &Knuckles will return) Or a secret 3&K Remastered? 

[expansivelovestories]

The HUD and text are the same as S3K but the starting place in the stage and also the number of spheres needed are quite different!  I haven't played the extra blue spheres stages found when locking on to Sonic 1, is this one of them (although i remember reading that there are quite a few so i'm not sure who has played all of them)!