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

[CleverSonicUsername]

Given some of the things Aaron has said over the last few days, I can totally see that.

[TheOcelot]

56 minutes ago, Sonicfan7 said:

I'm pretty certain we aren't getting this thing until June at the earliest at this point.

Don't forget June is still within the Spring release window, so a June release date wouldn't surprise me.

1 hour ago, CleverSonicUsername said:

"We haven't talked about the price yet, but we'll probably talk about it in the coming months."

Yeah, starting to think more and more we're not getting a release date on the 16th.

Aaron also said the original classic games ran at 30fps (they actually ran at 60fps). Don't believe everything he says 

I agree there's no guarantee a release date will be announced at the SXSW conference. I'm kind of expecting them to either show-off the Eggman boss in Green Hill act2 or the Studiopolis mid-zone Heavy Gunner boss.

 

The reveal of GH act2 a few days ago actually makes me more confident they are on track for a release in the next few months. If they had instead revealed a new zone (which really isn't necessary) then you could interpret that as trying to keep the fanbase happy whilst confirming a delay.

[Sonicfan7]

12 minutes ago, TailsBot said:

Don't forget June is still within the Spring release window, so a June release date wouldn't surprise me.

Right. I'm just saying people with wishful thinking Mania can still make next month or even May might want to settle their expectations down a bit.

But hey, I hope I'm wrong.

[FReaK]

 

that's all I say regarding that. let's just wait until the panel on thursday.

[TheOcelot]

One of the playthroughs uploaded a few days ago (which includes act1 & 2) answered my question as to whether there is a second high-up exit in act1. The area where I was thinking there might be another exit is actually just a dead-end with an extra-life box.

 

[Chris Knopps]

Another idea in mind...

A snowboarding boss, with Eggman creating ice ramps haphazardly while trying to attack/trip you up for you to do tricks on to attack him...

[StaticMania]

Just now, TailsBot said:

One of the playthroughs uploaded a few days ago (which includes act1 & 2) answered my question as to whether there is a second high-up exit in act1. The area where I was thinking there might be another exit is actually just a dead-end with an extra-life box.

 

That part of the level was already shown in a really early video...a dead-end and the player had to backtrack because of it.

[CleverSonicUsername]

Something I do think is funny is how Aaron has mentioned a few times that Act 2 is ALL NEW, and even points to specific places while saying "this wasn't in the original" when there's a ton of stuff lifted from Act 3 of OG Green Hill. Like I'm fine with it, I don't mind copy/pasted nods to sections of a level so long as the bulk is original (which is holding true so far.)

Oh, Webber~

[Chris Knopps]

21 minutes ago, CleverSonicUsername said:

Something I do think is funny is how Aaron has mentioned a few times that Act 2 is ALL NEW, and even points to specific places while saying "this wasn't in the original" when there's a ton of stuff lifted from Act 3 of OG Green Hill. Like I'm fine with it, I don't mind copy/pasted nods to sections of a level so long as the bulk is original (which is holding true so far.)

Oh, Webber~

Keep in mind there HAS been backlash, PLENTY of it, for Mania having more old content than new, and ever since that backlash the team have been constantly doing any and everything possible to emphasize what's "seemingly" new/original by and large.

[CleverSonicUsername]

Oh I know. I just think it's funny when he says something like "this right here is entirely new" while in a section that's 1:1 with GHZ Act 3.

Aaron is such a scamp, a real card, this guy.

[Chris Knopps]

1 minute ago, CleverSonicUsername said:

Oh I know. I just think it's funny when he says something like "this right here is entirely new" while in a section that's 1:1 with GHZ Act 3.

Aaron is such a scamp, a real card, this guy.

Well, they tried to do the same for Mirage Saloon at first until folks called BS and pointed it out as the scrapped stuff from S2 and/or CD kind of combined in a way. XD

I'll admit, it has been fun to see them fondling the word "new" so much since the game was revealed. lol

[Remy]

I'm pretty interested in that we've only seen 3 zones out of what I presume will be at least six, probably more around 8. Is GHZ gonna be the only throw back?

[CleverSonicUsername]

10 minutes ago, Remy said:

I'm pretty interested in that we've only seen 3 zones out of what I presume will be at least six, probably more around 8. Is GHZ gonna be the only throw back?

Only throwback from Sonic 1? Maybe. In general, no. They said Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3, and Knuckles will get representation. S&K and 3 are being treated as separate games by the dev team, so at least five remixed classic stages. We only know there will be less all new stages, but not how many.

Edit: I think bare minimum we get 9. 5 remixed stages, 4 all new. They said the remaining all new stages will have original gimmicks. Plural, so there's at least more than one. They also said it'll be longer than Generations. Whether that means playtime or total zone count is unclear, but assuming the latter, then Generations has 9, so Mania would need to exceed that.

Edit 2: A SEGA rep also told Destructoid that the game is 60% remixing classic content and 40% new, which I at least read as a zone ratio  - although how clued in that rep is, who can say. So I think 9 or 10 minimum, 16 maximum. Money on the table, that's my guess.

[Chris Knopps]

Being honest, the only way I think this game can be considered "long" is if it has as many zones, if not MORE than S3&K when combined. Longer than Generations isn't saying much at all.

(Wait... Did I say that already? Sorry if I did, can't remember.)

[Zippo]

2 hours ago, CleverSonicUsername said:

Only throwback from Sonic 1? Maybe. In general, no. They said Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3, and Knuckles will get representation. S&K and 3 are being treated as separate games by the dev team, so at least five remixed classic stages. We only know there will be less all new stages, but not how many.

Edit: I think bare minimum we get 9. 5 remixed stages, 4 all new. They said the remaining all new stages will have original gimmicks. Plural, so there's at least more than one. They also said it'll be longer than Generations. Whether that means playtime or total zone count is unclear, but assuming the latter, then Generations has 9, so Mania would need to exceed that.

Edit 2: A SEGA rep also told Destructoid that the game is 60% remixing classic content and 40% new, which I at least read as a zone ratio  - although how clued in that rep is, who can say. So I think 9 or 10 minimum, 16 maximum. Money on the table, that's my guess.

Is there a source for that Destructoid article? First i'm hearing of that. My guess is, there will be at least more zones than Sonic 3&K. I'm guessing 16-17. I think they're keeping way more levels close to their chests than people think.

Also, I'm at SXSW for the next two days! If you see a tall Asian guy (6'4) wearing a Sonic or Nintendo Switch shirt, feel free to say hi! SSMB meetups are cool. I'll try to pester Aaron or Mike with an SSMB shoutout tomorrow or something, haha.

[CleverSonicUsername]

1 minute ago, Zippo said:

Is there a source for that Destructoid article?

https://www.destructoid.com/sonic-mania-is-still-great-tails-continues-to-suck-423927.phtml

"The Sega rep told us that the game is about 60 percent remixing levels from past Sonic games and about 40 percent using ideas that are new or that were never implemented back then."

There's two ways I can see that taken: a hint at the zone ratio, or balancing content in a more general sense. I tend to lean towards the former since it's easier to quantify and boil down into a talking point, and even old levels are going to have so much new about them. The main thing to consider is that Destructoid is citing an unspecified SEGA rep, so who knows how much they actually know about the final game's content.

[Psychicmoose103]

9 hours ago, Remy said:

I'm pretty interested in that we've only seen 3 zones out of what I presume will be at least six, probably more around 8. Is GHZ gonna be the only throw back?

I highly doubt we will only get around 8 zones, in expecting 14 or more, since this is longer than generations, and I'm pretty sure 3&K was shorter, (or maybe even). Plus, at least 1 remixed level is coming from each of the 5 games, and there are already 2 new levels. I'm expecting manye around 14-18 zones. If it's 16, they could have 9 remixed (maybe 2 from sonic 2, 3 and K, and 2 or 1 from either Sonic 1 or Sonic CD. Then there would also probably be 7 original zones, which is a big amount. This is what I think atleast least

7 hours ago, Zippo said:

Is there a source for that Destructoid article? First i'm hearing of that. My guess is, there will be at least more zones than Sonic 3&K. I'm guessing 16-17. I think they're keeping way more levels close to their chests than people think.

Also, I'm at SXSW for the next two days! If you see a tall Asian guy (6'4) wearing a Sonic or Nintendo Switch shirt, feel free to say hi! SSMB meetups are cool. I'll try to pester Aaron or Mike with an SSMB shoutout tomorrow or something, haha.

This is actually supported by Taxman saying how big Mania is, and lopes saying that we know nothing. I defintally think we will be getting as much if not more than 3&K

[molul]

This (the total number of zones ) would be a welcome announcement for tomorrow. 

[Salamander]

I do think they should put at least a ballpark figure out there before release.  Whether we'll get it tomorrow or not, though...

[Gemster312]

Another hint may have been dropped towards the release date. Tin foil hats, engage!

Something to note that was posted yesterday on the Sonic social media pages.

Originally i thought whatever its a fun lil thing where it shows sonic rolling a pi length.

Then I noticed the tags for it on tumblr. (Heres the link to the animation if wanted http://sonicthehedgehog.tumblr.com/post/158400005413/to-make-pi-from-scratch-you-must-first-unroll-the)

It's talking about hidden things in the numbers, and about the event tomorrow.

Is it possible the release date that they may reveal tomorrow might be hidden somewhere inside this animation?

Like, there are 4 sonic circles first shown (April), and then you can only see Sonic's face in the frames when he is on the numbers 1 and 3.

April 13th? That's a thursday, which yes, isn't a Tuesday, but honestly not too bad of a guess.

What do you guys think?

It's also important to note that sonic has 2 frames of rotation ONLY when he reaches #3. Why does he stagger at #3 for 1 more frame than the rest, and his face is visible in both of those frames?

I just think its exciting and fun to speculate random dates, as Aaron did say he keeps hiding details in these posts.

[Chris Knopps]

4 minutes ago, Gemster312 said:

Another hint may have been dropped towards the release date. Tin foil hats, engage!

Something to note that was posted yesterday on the Sonic social media pages.

Originally i thought whatever its a fun lil thing where it shows sonic rolling a pi length.

Then I noticed the tags for it on tumblr. (Heres the link to the animation if wanted http://sonicthehedgehog.tumblr.com/post/158400005413/to-make-pi-from-scratch-you-must-first-unroll-the)

It's talking about hidden things in the numbers, and about the event tomorrow.

Is it possible the release date that they may reveal tomorrow might be hidden somewhere inside this animation?

Like, there are 4 sonic circles first shown (April), and then you can only see Sonic's face in the frames when he is on the numbers 1 and 3.

April 13th? That's a thursday, which yes, isn't a Tuesday, but honestly not too bad of a guess.

What do you guys think?

It's also important to note that sonic has 2 frames of rotation ONLY when he reaches #3. Why does he stagger at #3 for 1 more frame than the rest, and his face is visible in both of those frames?

I just think its exciting and fun to speculate random dates, as Aaron did say he keeps hiding details in these posts.

(Holds up a cross)

Bad number... BAD!! Never release a game on the 13th...

[Sonicfan287]

1 hour ago, molul said:

This (the total number of zones ) would be a welcome announcement for tomorrow. 

I'm kinda torn on this to be honest. 

On one hand, I wouldn't be against knowing how many zones there are. But then again, it would make it kind of an interesting surprise if we didn't have the exact number. Because it'd be kinda fun to just play the game, not knowing how many zones until the end and keep being surprised to find out there are more zones. I realize I could just not look at the number of zones if they reveal it... but I've been pretty bad at resisting information spoilers to this point. 

[Gemster312]

4 minutes ago, Sonicfan287 said:

I'm kinda torn on this to be honest. 

On one hand, I wouldn't be against knowing how many zones there are. But then again, it would make it kind of an interesting surprise if we didn't have the exact number. Because it'd be kinda fun to just play the game, not knowing how many zones until the end and keep being surprised to find out there are more zones. I realize I could just not look at the number of zones if they reveal it... but I've been pretty bad at resisting information spoilers to this point. 

Personally I hate it when i don't know how close i am to the end of the game. Even if i'm enjoying it.

I have had so many games where i feel obligated to continue playing well into the night (when i should be studying) just because i think "the end is right around the corner". Or sometimes i stop, then pick up the next day and finish the game in under 20 minutes. If i had known i was that close to the end, i would have just finished it the last time i played.

Having an "unknown" length of the game makes it difficult to plan your day around, as you don't know whether you'll get 2 hours of playtime, or 8 hours.
After going through 7 zones, I usually can't tell if im half way through the game yet or not. If I know the final length, I can feel like im progressing. I can slowly anticipate events in the game to unfold. I can build hype. But if 9 zones in i still am just doing random zones, I have no idea when the shits gonna get real and it feels like filler space. IF i know i'm more than half way there, hype begins to build.

Additionally, if theres only 9 zones total, but since i didn't know that i expected a much bigger experience, it'll be such a let-down when playing the game to get the Credits so soon. If i knew this ahead of time, I would be well prepared to not expect a 5-hour long playthrough.

Yes, there is a nice "surprise" factor to the length of the game, but it then can build false hope, make progress between levels feel anti-climactic, feel like progress is unknown, and difficult to schedule around. Dunno, personally, I hate it when i don't know how long the full project will take to complete.

[Sonicfan287]

7 minutes ago, Gemster312 said:

Personally I hate it when i don't know how close i am to the end of the game. Even if i'm enjoying it.

I have had so many games where i feel obligated to continue playing well into the night (when i should be studying) just because i think "the end is right around the corner". Or sometimes i stop, then pick up the next day and finish the game in under 20 minutes. If i had known i was that close to the end, i would have just finished it the last time i played.

Having an "unknown" length of the game makes it difficult to plan your day around, as you don't know whether you'll get 2 hours of playtime, or 8 hours.
After going through 7 zones, I usually can't tell if im half way through the game yet or not. If I know the final length, I can feel like im progressing. I can slowly anticipate events in the game to unfold. I can build hype. But if 9 zones in i still am just doing random zones, I have no idea when the shits gonna get real and it feels like filler space. IF i know i'm more than half way there, hype begins to build.

Additionally, if theres only 9 zones total, but since i didn't know that i expected a much bigger experience, it'll be such a let-down when playing the game to get the Credits so soon. If i knew this ahead of time, I would be well prepared to not expect a 5-hour long playthrough.

Yes, there is a nice "surprise" factor to the length of the game, but it then can build false hope, make progress between levels feel anti-climactic, feel like progress is unknown, and difficult to schedule around. Dunno, personally, I hate it when i don't know how long the full project will take to complete.

I can see your point, but at the same time, how long is any classic Sonic 2D game? Unless you're going for all the chaos emeralds your first run through, you could conceivably beat S3&K in an hour and a half. I can't think of any Sonic game that really takes much longer than a few hours to beat and that's only because of the cutscenes in the 3D games. I mean, that doesn't include beating every little thing but just getting through the main game (I'm assuming there'll be an extra 'Doomsday' type level if you get all the emeralds). 

 

I mean, I'm hoping this will be a 5 hour long 2D Sonic game because that would be an incredible number of zones. 

[Gemster312]

1 minute ago, Sonicfan287 said:

I can see your point, but at the same time, how long is any classic Sonic 2D game? Unless you're going for all the chaos emeralds your first run through, you could conceivably beat S3&K in an hour and a half. I can't think of any Sonic game that really takes much longer than a few hours to beat and that's only because of the cutscenes in the 3D games. I mean, that doesn't include beating every little thing but just getting through the main game (I'm assuming there'll be an extra 'Doomsday' type level if you get all the emeralds). 

 

I mean, I'm hoping this will be a 5 hour long 2D Sonic game because that would be an incredible number of zones. 

Fair points

I'm trying to decide whether to call out of work the day it launches and then just staying up all night playing through it or not and want to know whether this will be a 1.5 hour adventure, or 5 hour adventure xD

Also, as said before, I like to start to hype up right before the "shit gets real". If i keep going zone to zone each time thinking "is this where everything goes down"? It'll lose its hype after 10 zones. I also don't want to expect such a long title and get disappointed with fewer zones than anticipated. But that's just my personal opinion and I just am glad that this game is even real.

However much content there will be, i won't complain