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

[Diogenes]

3 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

That wouldn't explain the clutter of busted up badniks and signpost though...but it would explain Death Egg style anti-grav.

I'm thinking it's a recycling plant.

[Psychicmoose103]

Just now, CleverSonicUsername said:

So cool they'll probably publish another zone because they'll have to amid the delay. Not at all what I want since avoiding spoilers in the internet age is next to impossible.

Also just color me generally unpleased with the choice of Flying Battery. My least favorite level in S&K and just an outright boring zone by any standard. Lava Reef and Death Egg would have been much better picks, but oh well.

Ah man that sucks :(. I really like Flying Battery myself. Don't get discouraged, im highly sure there is going to be another &Knuckles level in the game, as this has been stated to be a huge game (and had to be delayed!)

[G-Force]

3 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

That wouldn't explain the clutter of busted up badniks and signpost though...but it would explain Death Egg style anti-grav.

It's not anti-gravity, it's magnetism.  In fact, those are the same electromagnets that Flying Battery always had, except now the Lightning Shield allows characters to be affected by them.  It's the same idea as the Fire Shield being able to burn certain bridges in Green Hill.

[molul]

I love flying battery. I just expected a release date, a zone count, a blue spheres mode confirmed... Aaron said they were excited about March 16th announcements. I don't think it was that big

[CleverSonicUsername]

8 minutes ago, Psychicmoose103 said:

Ah man that sucks :(. I really like Flying Battery myself. Don't get discouraged, im highly sure there is going to be another &Knuckles level in the game, as this has been stated to be a huge game (and had to be delayed!)

From the start I expected a delay. Games almost never meet their first projected launch window, if anything I was getting way too hopeful by supposed release date leaks and not looking at what was being said during demonstrations, and the state of those builds, more objectively. I'm also let down by them hyping the event with "we're not going to be shy about info, we're giving a lot at this panel" and then it's just "hey it's delayed, also here's not even half a minute of Flying Battery!"

At this point I'd rather skew on the safe side and assume promises of Mania being big are overblown, over enthusiastic. "Bigger than Generations" is so non-specific, "this game is big" even less so. They're still candid on the level count, which says to me, coupled with the fact that they had to delay the game, that this may be another 2D Sonic with cut content that delivers far less than the original vision. Mind you the 2D games that did that are still great, but. Yeah.

[StaticMania]

What standard is Flying Battery being compared to? In Sonic & Knuckles...it's definitely not the most boring zone in "that" game.

Just now, G-Force said:

It's not anti-gravity, it's magnetism.  In fact, those are the same electromagnets that Flying Battery always had, except now the Lightning Shield allows characters to be affected by them.  It's the same idea as the Fire Shield being able to burn certain bridges in Green Hill.

The magnetism gives anti-gravity...basically.

[Gemster312]

in the panel they just said "they might appear in FUTURE CLASSIC SONIC GAMES".

It has just been confirmed Sonic Mania isn't the only classic game in the plans

[Badnik Mechanic]

 

o_o

0_o

._.

[molul]

I assumed Sega is considering Mania as the (re)start of a new classic branch for Sonic, but still, everything depends on Sonic Mania sales. 

Who will appear, by the way? XD

[CleverSonicUsername]

16 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

What standard is Flying Battery being compared to? In Sonic & Knuckles...it's definitely not the most boring zone in "that" game.

 

I should walk back my statement and say that this is really just my opinion, and whatever mileage you get from a stage is based on how you feel about it, but having said that, Flying Battery is still the worst on offer in S3&K in my eyes. Its visual design is bland and lacking, it repeats its gimmicks too often, those gimmicks aren't fun to engage with and often just feel clunky (corkscrew traps killing you when they shouldn't, falling through drum barrels into a bottomless pit), the level music is grating, the level layout does not provide as much freedom as other stages in the same game.

I could hear arguments that Sandopolis is the worst stage, but man I just cannot stand Flying Battery. My distaste for it extending all the way down to the aesthetics and sound of the level means I have no faith in Mania redeeming it. 

EDIT: An observation. The Mania team is clearly leaning on cut content. The original ending to Flying Battery had Sonic use the panel he breaks off as a snow board when entering Ice Cap. It's known that Sonic has some sort of surfing/boarding animation, so I think there might be a good chance the ending of Flying Battery is linked to that sprite and the following level.

[Gemster312]

2 minutes ago, CleverSonicUsername said:

I should walk back my statement and say that this is really just my opinion, and whatever mileage you get from a stage is based on how you feel about it, but having said that, Flying Battery is still the worst on offer in S3&K in my eyes. Its visual design is bland and lacking, it repeats its gimmicks too often, those gimmicks aren't fun to engage with and often just feel clunky (corkscrew traps killing you when they shouldn't, falling through drum barrels into a bottomless pit), the level music is grating, the level layout does not provide as much freedom as other stages in the same game.

I could hear arguments that Sandopolis is the worst stage, but man I just cannot stand Flying Battery. It and Aquatic Ruin were really the top two stages for me that I just didn't want to see in Mania.

Fair enough opinion (although i do not agree with it).

Just a speculation, but the original Sonic Mania trailer starts with clips of:

-Green Hill Zone (confirmed)

-Aquatic Ruin Zone

-Flying Battery Zone (confirmed)

I get the feeling that Aquatic Ruin is coming back too.

 Sorry mate

[CleverSonicUsername]

And see, Aquatic Ruin I would go so far as to say is the worst 2D level in any classic Sonic game, so that would be ~bad~

I got sniped so I'll repeat this. Mania's dev team is leaning on cut content. We know Sonic has a boarding animation, and the original ending to Flying Battery had Sonic use the panel he knocks off as a snowboard when entering Ice Cap. I think there's a good chance we'll see that restored, though what the following stage is exactly is up in the air.

[Mania Pipe]

We've only seen a smidgen of it, hearing that Green Hill Zone's remake is tame in terms of level design, I wonder what will be different about Flying Battery Zone's. The second act maybe, or towards the end of the first act and beyond?

[StaticMania]

Aquatic Ruin's underwater sections can be pretty punishing if the player gets inconvenienced enough, otherwise it's pretty easy...

 

Arrows.

[TB100]

Oh my fucking god.

 

• A Vinyl Soundtrack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• FLYING BATTERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• New Classic Artwork!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• A Title for Project Sonic 2017 or as I should call it now Sonic Forces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• The Return of the Boost Gameplay with a new version of the Hedgehog Engine to boot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• NEW VOCAL THEME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CleverSonicUsername]

5 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Aquatic Ruin's underwater sections can be pretty punishing if the player gets inconvenienced enough, otherwise it's pretty easy...

 

Arrows.

Aquatic Ruin also has:

• Winding paths that are often obstructed by weeds, which have a bad habit of causing you to fly into the path of a grounder.
• Springs that pop you out of the water and directly into clusters of flies.
• Pillars that pop up and impede your progress, fucking with the overall pacing of the level.

At least some of that could be fixed, but at some point you take so much out of Aquatic Ruin that it's not even Aquatic Ruin anymore. At least the theme is dope. And if there's one hope that it's not in the game, it's that Mirage Saloon uses the whistle and it would be very strange to have those notes repeat that often in the same game.

[Gemster312]

2 minutes ago, BlueBlur91 said:

Oh my fucking god.

 

• A Physical Release!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think this was ever really announced.

They showed off the physical COLLECTORS EDITION which still had the digital download code inside.

Was it ever officially stated that a physical release is incoming? 

[Psychicmoose103]

3 minutes ago, BlueBlur91 said:

Oh my fucking god.

• A Physical Release!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• A Vinyl Soundtrack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• FLYING BATTERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• New Classic Artwork!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• A Title for Project Sonic 2017 or as I should call it now Sonic Forces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• The Return of the Boost Gameplay with a new version of the Hedgehog Engine to boot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
• NEW VOCAL THEME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wait....

PHYSICAL RELEASE?

1 minute ago, CleverSonicUsername said:

Aquatic Ruin also has:

• Winding paths that are often obstructed by weeds, which have a bad habit of causing you to fly into the path of a grounder.
• Springs that pop you out of the water and directly into clusters of flies.
• Pillars that pop up and impede your progress, fucking with the overall pacing of the level.

Don't forget the guys that pop out of the walls and make you loose your rings. I'm not a fan of Aquatic Ruin either. Rather have Mystic Cave and Hydrocity.

[TB100]

Oh I thought that was one of the things announced at the stream, (Missed a good bit of the stream.)

My mistake.

 

[CleverSonicUsername]

Quote

Don't forget the guys that pop out of the walls and make you loose your rings. I'm not a fan of Aquatic Ruin either. Rather have Mystic Cave and Hydrocity.

 

I mentioned those, first bullet. Grounders just pop out at you, but half the problem there is that the pathing tends to lead you into them with very little time to react unless you already know where they're at.

And yeah, I agree completely. Hydrocity and Mystic Cave are the inverse in that they're probably among my top favorite levels in the franchise.

[TheOcelot]

Took a few screenshots. Flying Battery points of interest:

The start:

 

New platformy sections. Are those icy mountains in the background hinting at the previous or next zone being an ice/snow stage??? 

 

Those scraps at the bottom, are they end of level sign-posts (with Eggmans face)?

 

The electric magnets which used to cause badniks to rise up to the ceiling in the original Flying Battery now attract Sonic to the ceiling and makes him turn upside!

 

Sonic slowly fulls through more badnik scraps:

Looks pretty impressive!

[Badnik Mechanic]

Just rewatched the stream.

They did NOT confirm a physical release.

They just showed a box art, which in today's world can also be applied to the box art used on digital stores.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

Aquatic Ruin is very pretty and I like the music, but gameplay-wise it wasn't really the greatest. I'd love Mystic Cave and Hydrocity, really hope those make the cut.

[Psychicmoose103]

5 minutes ago, TailsBot said:

Took a few screenshots. Flying Battery points of interest:

The start:

 

New platformy sections. Are those icy mountains in the background hinting at the previous or next zone being an ice/snow stage??? 

 

Those scraps at the bottom, are they end of level sign-posts (with Eggmans face)?

 

The electric magnets which used to cause badniks to rise up to the ceiling in the original Flying Battery now attract Sonic to the ceiling and makes him turn upside!

 

Sonic slowly fulls through more badnik scraps:

Looks pretty impressive!

I think those are clouds haha. But icecap could be near this if it returns, doesn't have to be near mushroom hill or sandopolis, as it is an airship.

7 minutes ago, CleverSonicUsername said:

 

I mentioned those, first bullet. Grounders just pop out at you, but half the problem there is that the pathing tends to lead you into them with very little time to react unless you already know where they're at.

And yeah, I agree completely. Hydrocity and Mystic Cave are the inverse in that they're probably among my top favorite levels in the franchise.

My bad, must have missed you mentioning it.

[Pawn]

8 minutes ago, TailsBot said:

Took a few screenshots. Flying Battery points of interest:

The start:

New platformy sections. Are those icy mountains in the background hinting at the previous or next zone being an ice/snow stage??? 

 

I guess that could be a reference to how Ice Cap was originally planned to come after Flying Battery, with Sonic using a piece of scrap to snowboard down a mountain.

I'd love it if Ice Cap (or more likely, a new snow level) followed it in this way.