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

[Salamander]

Very interesting.

It looks like the bottom-left finger-snapping Heavy has a really long... quiff?  Tentacle?  Flowing appendage pouring from its head, anyway.  Top-left top hat Heavy more visibly appears to be wearing a long coat or jacket; it's a snappy dresser.  Is there something wrong with its hand?  The positioning of those three appendages looks strange for fingers, as the silhouette already appears to have a clenched fist.  Does it have weird knuckledusters or something clenched between its fingers?  As for the top-right ball-and-chain Heavy, there's something odd going on at the bottom-right of its silhouette; I wonder if it's whirling around another weapon in its unseen other hand?

[Ratcicle King]

31 minutes ago, FFWF said:

Very interesting.

It looks like the bottom-left finger-snapping Heavy has a really long... quiff?  Tentacle?  Flowing appendage pouring from its head, anyway. 

I think it has a long ponytail or something of the sort.

Also I don't think it's snapping it's finger, could be holding a ninja star?

[molul]

 

54 minutes ago, FFWF said:

Very interesting.

It looks like the bottom-left finger-snapping Heavy has a really long... quiff?  Tentacle?  Flowing appendage pouring from its head, anyway.  Top-left top hat Heavy more visibly appears to be wearing a long coat or jacket; it's a snappy dresser.  Is there something wrong with its hand?  The positioning of those three appendages looks strange for fingers, as the silhouette already appears to have a clenched fist.  Does it have weird knuckledusters or something clenched between its fingers?  As for the top-right ball-and-chain Heavy, there's something odd going on at the bottom-right of its silhouette; I wonder if it's whirling around another weapon in its unseen other hand?

That looks like a female hard-boiled heavy.

[HywelAtTheMoon]

It's probably a scarf. A little homage to the Shinobi series. 

[TB100]

Wow it looks really good so far, and I definitely can't wait to see more of it.

What? you were expecting a massive freak out, hah hah, not happening.

As you can see, I'm as chill as the eye could see.

Spoiler

THIS LOOKS SO FLIPPING BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!! SURPRISE STARDUST SPEEDWAY!!!!! 2D SONIC CD STYLE ANIMATION!!!!!!! THAT SWITCH TO COLOR AT END WITH MY BOYS!!!!!!!!! ALL COMBINED WITH AWESOME MUSIC BY HYPER POTIONS AS THE CHERRY ON TOP!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU TAXMAN, STEALTH AND PAGODAWEST GAMES!!!!! AND THANK YOU SEGA FOR MAKING THIS DREAM GAME BE A REALITY!!!!!!!!! *Cough* *Cough* Okay got that out of the way, but seriously, this game just looks glorious, and even now, a year after it's reveal, I still can not believe that this is a reality now, that this is an actual game we're getting in a couple months, the game, that years back was simply only a dream for fans of Classic Sonic, and now, here we are, this is a real thing, a real fucking thing *tears up* it's just, I don't know what else to say besides thank you Sega, and thank you Taxman, Stealth and Pagodawest games for making this dream a reality, and I can't wait to play this glorious game when it comes out this august.

 

[Zippo]

3 hours ago, andrew2 said:

 

This says a lot. 

Firstly, there's definitely going to be 5 HBH going by that silhouette. That means there's going to be 5 new zones, one for each of them, plus one new final zone for Eggman presumably, meaning there are at least 7 classic stages in the game, that is also almost complete confirmation that at least one of the classic games will be represented with more than one zone. 

[Ratcicle King]

3 minutes ago, Zippo said:

that is also almost complete confirmation that at least one of the classic games will be represented with more than one zone. 

Would be cool if they had another Sonic 1 stage so that a stage that ISN'T Green Hill could have some love.

[Jango]

If there are 9 classic (Sonic 3 and S&K gets only one each) and 8 new, that would be the dream. THE DREAM.

But yeah, I see the ratio being 7/6. Which is also great.

 

 

[Zippo]

Do the math, tally up the numbers along with what we currently know, and that's 13 zones at the very least. This game is going to be HUGE, guys. 

[Polkadi~☆]

Okay, let me give y'all the lowdown.

I'm throwing money at the screen.

Beat that, Sonic Team, if you dare.

 

"But lemme just say one thing to the developers. If you fuck this up... I will fuck you up." ~ videogamedunkey on Sonic Mania

[Red Hot Jack]

Speculation time: I rewatched the silhouette of the Hard Boiled Heavies... they are definitely 5, 4 at the sides and the main one at the center, which means there are 5 new zones, and since the new and old zones ratio is 40% - 60%, there will be 7 old zones, 12 zones in total like S3&K.

Now, even though we saw the main Hard Boiled Heavy in Mirage Saloon, I doubt you'll fight it there, but in the last zone, which may be a base/showdown stage, the wizard heavy will be fought in that mansion/cathedral stage, the ninja heavy will be fought in an oriental zone, which leaves the other one for Mirage Saloon. That's my theory.

As for the old zones, my final prediction:

Sonic 1 - Green Hill, Scrap Brain (I wanted to say Starlight but there's already Stardust Speedway, so...)

Sonic 2 - Casino Night, Aquatic Ruin (obligatory water zone)

Sonic 3 - Ice Cap (remember that snowboarding sprite in an old trailer?)

Sonic & Knuckles - Flying Battery

Sonic CD - Stardust Speedway

[Blue Blood]

Collector's Edition is coming to Switch in Europe. It was confirmed for North America a while ago, but it's only just been confirmed for Europe now.

Quote

Sonic Mania Speeds Into The World August 15^th! 

Nintendo Switch Collector’s Edition Announced 

Sonic Mania is almost here! Today, SEGA® unveiled a brand-new trailer featuring sketch animation to announce that the game will launch on August 15^th – check it out here. Fans can pre-order the game digitally now for Sony PlayStation 4, Microsoft Xbox One, and PC here. 

The Sonic Mania Collector’s Edition for Nintendo Switch will also be available to pre-order exclusively through Amazon*, available while stock last. The Collector’s Edition for Sonic Mania on Nintendo Switch will include a deluxe "SEGA Mega Drive" style collector's box, 12" Classic Sonic Statue featuring SEGA Mega Drive Base which plays the "SEEGAA" startup audio, and a SEGA cartridge cast with golden ring. 

To check out the new trailer, key art, and additional assets, speed on over here and enjoy. An image of the Collector’s Edition and its contents is attached.
Developed by Christian Whitehead, Headcannon, and PagodaWest Games in collaboration with SEGA of America, Sonic Mania celebrates the best of Classic Sonic, pushing the envelope forward with stunning 60 FPS gameplay and pixel-perfect physics. Play as Sonic, Tails and Knuckles as you race through all-new Zones and fully re-imagined classics, each filled with exciting surprises and powerful bosses. Harness Sonic's new drop dash, Tails' flight, and Knuckles' climbing abilities to overcome the evil Dr. Eggman's robots. Discover a myriad of never-before-seen hidden paths and secrets. Welcome to the next level for the world's fastest blue hedgehog! 

The previously announced versions of the Collector’s Edition of Sonic Mania can be pre-ordered here for a limited time. To stay current on Sonic the Hedgehog news, follow Sonic on Twitter and Instagram, like him on Facebook, and subscribe to the Twitch channel and the YouTube channel.

*Only available on amazon.co.uk, amazon.es, amazon.fr and amazon.de

 

(Press Email)

Don't bother following the links in the email, as the site is only set up for North American customers. Amazon has yet to update, but here are the relevant pages for UK, France and Germany. Still no listing for Spain, and the Collector's Edition seemingly won't be coming to PC at all in Europe. 

[Dejimon11]

6 hours ago, Ratcicle King said:

So right now Mania is the around number 12 on the worldwide most sold Steam games. Which is amazing since not only the game isn't even OUT yet, but it's not even been 24 hours since the preorder began.

Wait really? Please give me a link for that. 

[Ellipsis-Ultima]

This game is said to be longer than Generations right? 

Also:

19 hours ago, Ruki185 said:

So this key art for Eggman was uploaded to the European press server. Not sure if it's new, looks pretty familiar.

 

Well, I'm reminded of this taunt from the original Sonic game... What if they do the same thing here... With the new Mania Eggman sprite?

[Salamander]

6 hours ago, andrew2 said:

Don't know if anyone's mentioned this, but the JP Sonic Mania site has been updated with a new hard-boiled heavy silhouette. http://sonic.sega.jp/SonicMania/sp/index.html 

I'm looking at this again, especially in its own tab, and... there's something really weird going on with the upper-right HBH.  It's more obvious if you also compare the earlier silhouettes:

In the blue silhouette version, there's an awful lot of filled-in silhouette directly above Heavy Gunner, but it's hard to see what could actually be taking up that space.  The original black silhouette appears to depict a cape flowing in the background, but if you look at the angles from it, the cape can't all belong to the boss Heavy in the centre.  Some of it does, because the lines on the cape have retained the same orientation relative to the boss Heavy despite the other Heavies being moved around, but there's a gap beneath the boss Heavy's arm which clearly shows that there's also something large coming from the direction of the ball-and-chain Heavy.  But at the same time, the blue silhouette version also shows us that the sides of the ball-and-chain Heavy are unobstructed, and its spare arm and at least one of its legs must be pointing inwards to the centre of the image.  There's a huge, unexplained mass that's coming from the extreme lower-left of the ball-and-chain Heavy...

I'm kind of more bothered by the fact that I can't parse all these weird shapes than I am intrigued by what all the HBHs look like.  August 15th can't come soon enough.

Edit: Hold on, the JP site has yet another different orientation that reveals even more.  I'm working on it now.

Edit Again:

I now officially have no clue what the heck is going on at the bottom left of ball-and-chain Heavy's silhouette.

[Ayliffe]

oh yes

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

The heavy on the top left looks like it could be holding a stack of cards so it may be a magician. Maybe it will be at that stage that they teased with the golden looking gear. The bottom left one looks like a ninja with a scarf too.

[Meta77]

5 hours ago, FFWF said:

Very interesting.

It looks like the bottom-left finger-snapping Heavy has a really long... quiff?  Tentacle?  Flowing appendage pouring from its head, anyway.  Top-left top hat Heavy more visibly appears to be wearing a long coat or jacket; it's a snappy dresser.  Is there something wrong with its hand?  The positioning of those three appendages looks strange for fingers, as the silhouette already appears to have a clenched fist.  Does it have weird knuckledusters or something clenched between its fingers?  As for the top-right ball-and-chain Heavy, there's something odd going on at the bottom-right of its silhouette; I wonder if it's whirling around another weapon in its unseen other hand?

It's called hair. Could likely be female ninja heavy.

[JosepHenry]

Just guessing.

If one is a Ninja that means Japanese stage? It could be the cathedral-like stage, but I hope is something like Chun-Nan and Aquatic Park.

The ball and chain guy also could be from the cathedral-like stage, but maybe is from a more medieval stage.

And the one in the hat... I have no idea... Circus level?

 

So that means we have...

Sonic 1

1-Green Hill

2- ???

Sonic  2

3- ???

4- ???

Sonic 3

5- ???

6- ???

Sonic & Knuckles

7- Flying Battery

8- ???

Sonic CD

9- ???

10- Stardust Speedway

New Stages

11- Studiopolis

12- Mirage Saloon

13- Cathedral level ???

14- Medieval level ???

15- Circus level ???

16- Final Zone

 

16 stages.

Is bigger than 3&K.

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

1 hour ago, FFWF said:

I'm looking at this again, especially in its own tab, and... there's something really weird going on with the upper-right HBH.  It's more obvious if you also compare the earlier silhouettes:

In the blue silhouette version, there's an awful lot of filled-in silhouette directly above Heavy Gunner, but it's hard to see what could actually be taking up that space.  The original black silhouette appears to depict a cape flowing in the background, but if you look at the angles from it, the cape can't all belong to the boss Heavy in the centre.  Some of it does, because the lines on the cape have retained the same orientation relative to the boss Heavy despite the other Heavies being moved around, but there's a gap beneath the boss Heavy's arm which clearly shows that there's also something large coming from the direction of the ball-and-chain Heavy.  But at the same time, the blue silhouette version also shows us that the sides of the ball-and-chain Heavy are unobstructed, and its spare arm and at least one of its legs must be pointing inwards to the centre of the image.  There's a huge, unexplained mass that's coming from the extreme lower-left of the ball-and-chain Heavy...

I'm kind of more bothered by the fact that I can't parse all these weird shapes than I am intrigued by what all the HBHs look like.  August 15th can't come soon enough.

Edit: Hold on, the JP site has yet another different orientation that reveals even more.  I'm working on it now.

Edit Again:

I now officially have no clue what the heck is going on at the bottom left of ball-and-chain Heavy's silhouette.

That looks to me like an udder on the bottom right silhouette.

[BlueFlare]

Stardust Speedway means Metal Sonic race re-imagined, right?!

[Radiant Hero Ike]

Oh, uh... Probably too late to ask this now, but is it possible to switch collector's edition versions? Like from PS4 to Switch? Or would I have to cancel and then pre-order the other version? I doubt they're still in stock, but I'm curious.

[molul]

1 minute ago, Radiant Hero Ike said:

Oh, uh... Probably too late to ask this now, but is it possible to switch collector's edition versions? Like from PS4 to Switch? Or would I have to cancel and then pre-order the other version? I doubt they're still in stock, but I'm curious.

They're different products, so... I think you can only return one and buy the other.

 

2 minutes ago, BlueFlare said:

Stardust Speedway means Metal Sonic race re-imagined, right?!

Hadn't thought about it, but hell yeah!

[Red Hot Jack]

51 minutes ago, Joseph Mello said:

Just guessing.

If one is a Ninja that means Japanese stage? It could be the cathedral-like stage, but I hope is something like Chun-Nan and Aquatic Park.

The ball and chain guy also could be from the cathedral-like stage, but maybe is from a more medieval stage.

And the one in the hat... I have no idea... Circus level?

 

So that means we have...

Sonic 1

1-Green Hill

2- ???

Sonic  2

3- ???

4- ???

Sonic 3

5- ???

6- ???

Sonic & Knuckles

7- Flying Battery

8- ???

Sonic CD

9- ???

10- Stardust Speedway

New Stages

11- Studiopolis

12- Mirage Saloon

13- Cathedral level ???

14- Medieval level ???

15- Circus level ???

16- Final Zone

 

16 stages.

Is bigger than 3&K.

Who told you there are so many stages? With the extended silhouette we can see 5 Hard Boiled Heavies, so 5 new zones, which means 7 old according to the ratio. Just like S3&K.

And I hope the race vs Metal is better than the one in Sonic 4 (which required that creepy 69 roll). Although I enjoyed the White Park boss a lot, and its music.

[Gemster312]

2 minutes ago, Chameleon94 said:

Who told you there are so many stages? With the extended silhouette we can see 5 Hard Boiled Heavies, so 5 new zones, which means 7 old according to the ratio. Just like S3&K.

No one has confirmed a stage count. This sounds just like a guesstimate.

People like to hope (including me) that each game will get equal representation. 2 Zones per Game = 10 Returning Zones.

To make that nearly a 40/60 split, there should be 6 New Zones. The sillhouette LOOKS like 5 Hard Boiled Heavies but I could see how a 6th might be there (in the messy part). Even if it is just 5, there could be 5 New zones followed up by a 6th new zone that doesn't have a hard boiled heavy (the final zone).

10 Returning
5 New w/Heavy
1 New w/out Heavy (Final Zone)

It's all speculation, and I personally hope that's the way it turns out