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

[CleverSonicUsername]

I want to add on top of it saying "years" that the delay was only a few weeks ago, and if they weren't comfortable giving a solid date beyond "Summer" then there's no way by now they would be comfortable.

 

[Psychicmoose103]

Guys in the switch gameplay for sonic mania, he jumps past a checkpoint and stars form above.

Its comfirmed

[Mark1]

Direct video here guys. Got drowned in the Sonic Forces news ?

[Psychicmoose103]

10 minutes ago, Mark1 said:

Direct video here guys. Got drowned in the Sonic Forces news ?

At least we got bonus stage confirmation for Mania

[CleverSonicUsername]

Tax said the Blue Spheres screen shot was not revealing Mania's special stage, so it's pretty much a forgone conclusion that they're used for Mania's bonus stages. Or at least one of them.

What I'm curious about is how many variants we'll get on Blue Spheres. It'd be awesome if they're procedurally generated, just swapping in different quadrants like the bonus game back in the day.

[Jango]

Oh hell to the yes if Blue Spheres is the bonus stage!

Let's just hope the actual special stage isn't a half pipe xD

[FReaK]

isnt there supposed to be a stream later tonight? I wonder if we get any new tidbits of info out of that.

[Cyrus]

Yep, I'm looking forward to it. I'm extrememly thirsty for a release date, I hope we at least get like a month or something.

[FReaK]

I doubt that we'll get a release date. But I would be fine with even the tiniest amount of new information, I dont expect anything at all out of the stream.

[TheOcelot]

9 hours ago, CleverSonicUsername said:

Tax said the Blue Spheres screen shot was not revealing Mania's special stage, so it's pretty much a forgone conclusion that they're used for Mania's bonus stages. Or at least one of them.

What I'm curious about is how many variants we'll get on Blue Spheres. It'd be awesome if they're procedurally generated, just swapping in different quadrants like the bonus game back in the day.

I think it's a good bet the "Blue Spheres 2" concept with the new colored spheres (like the purple one's that warp you to another part of the stage) which Stealth & Taxman would have included in Sonic 3 Remastered, will appear as at least one of the bonus stages for Mania. Hopefully it will be brand-new blue sphere levels like the one in the video:

Since 3&K had three bonus stages I wouldn't be surprised if Mania also has more than one. I would prefer a bonus stage with a brand new concept, although one based on the Sonic CD ufo special stages or the Chaotix hexagonal blue sphere stages would be cool. 

One thing to note is that in the GH footage Sonic had 26 rings when he touched the star-post to activate the bonus stage. Sonic needed a minimum of 20 rings in 3&K (50 in Sonic 3 alone) to access the bonus stage. So looks like the required number of rings is the same as 3&K. 

[HywelAtTheMoon]

In Sonic and Knuckles, the white stars sent you the gumball bonus stage. Maybe the gumball machine we saw in the early trailers is one of Mania's bonus stages? There could be others of course, like in S&K. 

[FReaK]

24 minutes ago, HywelAtTheMoon said:

In Sonic and Knuckles, the white stars sent you the gumball bonus stage. Maybe the gumball machine we saw in the early trailers is one of Mania's bonus stages? There could be others of course, like in S&K. 

nah, that one was probably a gimmick in studiopolis act 2.

[Gemster312]

23 minutes ago, HywelAtTheMoon said:

In Sonic and Knuckles, the white stars sent you the gumball bonus stage. Maybe the gumball machine we saw in the early trailers is one of Mania's bonus stages? There could be others of course, like in S&K. 

If i am correctly understanding you, you mean the reveal trailer right? The Lottery Balls that we see in the trailer that have yet to be shown anywhere else?

That's from Act 2 of Studiopolis (you can see the background matches the footage of other parts of Act 2 in that trailer).

Unless you found some other Gumball Machine in the trailers?

[Psychicmoose103]

What I found the sonic 2 special stages the guy claimed he found are bonus stages as well? Sonic 3&K had 3 different stages depending on your rings, so maybe sonic 3, 2, and 1/CD special stages will be transformed into bonus stages?

[Salamander]

And just to add to the barrage of questions: Does anyone know if, in the end, there was any new or interesting information about Mania in the Famitsu spread?  (If nothing else, I was kind of wondering what the Hard-Boiled Heavies are called in Japan.)

[expansivelovestories]

2 hours ago, FReaK said:

isnt there supposed to be a stream later tonight? I wonder if we get any new tidbits of info out of that.

 

2 hours ago, Cyrus said:

Yep, I'm looking forward to it. I'm extrememly thirsty for a release date, I hope we at least get like a month or something.

Reminder for this next page that there should be a stream tonight; usually the time is 5 PM (Pacific) !!

[Zippo]

23 hours ago, Fusion Ellipsis said:

So not much, but Mania began development in 2015. 

The rule for the artwork for this game was to be above the Genesis art but under Saturn's art. 

Gameplay is similar to Sonic 3, and elemental shields are returning... 

Still no release date though...

Also signposts have glowing lights in them, confirming bonus stages. That's all the new info. 

2 minutes ago, expansivelovestories said:

 

Reminder for this next page that there should be a stream tonight; usually the time is 5 PM (Pacific) !!

I really doubt it's going to have anything new, but thanks for the heads up. 

[expansivelovestories]

I didn't think so either, although I remembered that Psychicmoose posted that during the March 30th stream, it was said that Mania would be played during the stream in two weeks. 

Wonderfully enough, when visiting the twitch page, this is the title for the upcoming stream! 

Sonic Official - Apr. 13 - Sonic Mania Preview 2!

[D.K.]

4 minutes ago, expansivelovestories said:

I didn't think so either, although I remembered that Psychicmoose posted that during the March 30th stream, it was said that Mania would be played during the stream in two weeks. 

Wonderfully enough, when visiting the twitch page, this is the title for the upcoming stream! 

Sonic Official - Apr. 13 - Sonic Mania Preview 2!

Oh man, I just can't wait to see Studiopolis Act 1 again.

[TheOcelot]

The stream is go:

 

[JezMM]

I'd be really surprised if Blue Spheres is used for a bonus stage.  Blue Sphere stages are a minute or two long each which is WAY too long for a checkpoint minigame.  Those should be done and dusted in 30 seconds or less, to be honest the fact that you could spend ages in the slot machine game never quite sat right with me, I'd usually leave early on purpose because otherwise half my playtime would be spent in those things.

[Zippo]

They say they're not showing anything new today so there ya go. 

[StaticMania]

25 minutes ago, JezMM said:

I'd be really surprised if Blue Spheres is used for a bonus stage.  Blue Sphere stages are a minute or two long each which is WAY too long for a checkpoint minigame.  Those should be done and dusted in 30 seconds or less, to be honest the fact that you could spend ages in the slot machine game never quite sat right with me, I'd usually leave early on purpose because otherwise half my playtime would be spent in those things.

You could spend a pretty long time in all of them, the Slot machine just doesn't have a direct time limit...

[TheOcelot]

In the stream they played through acts 1&2 of GH with Knuckles. Good stuff.

[expansivelovestories]

Sergio and Aaron did specify later in the stream (I need to remember that it is actually 2PM PDT !  Thank you Tails/OcelotMania for posting!!) I think more directly than in the past that parts of zone layouts may be very different in the final game.  They also described the build they are playing as an alpha, which they may have done previously?

I had been wondering if for example Flying Battery may have been both a practical use of, and tribute to, alpha footage to promote a game that is a work in progress.  Without them releasing that type of footage intentionally, there would be none to archive on the different Sonic history websites.

I do think it is both at times a daunting yet very well chosen strategy to replay the zones that some of us have seen many times. 

It does allow us to scrutinize and enjoy, how these zones look to replay, which is part of why the Genesis games are so incredible.  They are filled with zones that are both very playable the first few times through, and then continue to reveal themselves in different ways over the years.  They both gradually and suddenly grow and change along with how the players respond to them.  Every playthrough will be slightly different, and the 2D environments allow this to be seen, it is easier to see that you are using different strategies in the same location, or are moving at a different speed than before!