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

[Diogenes]

The whole point of setting AIZ on fire was to shake up the series' usual first level trope. The first level had always been some sort of nice tropical area, so they pulled a bait-and-switch and firebombed it just as you were settling into the routine. I don't really see the appeal of just playing it straight, especially since they haven't exactly shied away from that trope since then either.

[JezMM]

If they did use Angel Island again, it'd make sense to have it a desolate burned down landscape (the fire had to stop eventually right?), or at the very least an area struggling to regain it's life.  Honestly though I'm not sure what fun or interesting level you could make out of that so prolly better to keep away from that zone (headcanon-wise I find it easy to imagine "the restored master emerald helped speed up the recovery and cause the forest to flourish again in a matter of months" than assuming Angel Island still has a huge depressing burned down area).

[Salamander]

Mania is being presented as a sequel, so I would expect revisited zones to reflect any differences which would plausibly have taken place as a result of the story; hence Green Hill Zone is not a straight remake, it's got new routes and new elements.  Angel Island Zone as a whole now being in recovery from its previous incineration seems like exactly the sort of thing Taxman has been indicating that they would do, from what I've heard; that the reimagining process will be more dramatic for later zones.  I would also throw in suggestions like Marble Garden Zone showing the effects of its drilling-induced earthquakes, Launch Base Zone being abandoned after the launch of the Death Egg... Flying Battery having flat-out crashed.

With that said, I think we can probably rule out a lot of levels based on similarity to other levels already in the game; I don't think we'll be getting any revisits that would veer too closely towards Green Hill or Studiopolis territory, so, burnt or not, I think Angel Island is probably out.

[Marcello]

I don't think I've ever said which stages I'd like from the series.

Sonic 2: Oil Ocean; This is a stage that gets very little attention, so it'd be cool to see again. Mstic Cave would be cool, too, and I'd be fine with Hill Top.

Sonic 3: Marble Garden; Aesthetically and musically one of my favorite Zones in the series.

Sonic & Knuckles: I really don't know. I love Lava Reef, but I'd kind of like to see something new with the fire theme. Mushroom Hill is great, too, but we already have Green Hill. The ruins of Flying Battery or the Death Egg would be neat.

Sonic CD: I don't know again. I'm not really a CD fan. Maybe Quartz Quadrant or Collision Chaos.

In addition to that, I'd like a new city stage. We've had cities in the background in the Classics, but we've never been smack-dab in the middle of one.

9 hours ago, Wing said:

I was thinking mania was a reimagined genesis story, thats all really, is the plans for the game confirmed? I was told no details were given

It's a new story. Sonic is for whatever reason revisiting these places.

[Wing]

10 minutes ago, Marcello said:

I don't think I've ever said which stages I'd like from the series.

Sonic 2: Oil Ocean; This is a stage that gets very little attention, so it'd be cool to see again. Mstic Cave would be cool, too, and I'd be fine with Hill Top.

Sonic 3: Marble Garden; Aesthetically and musically one of my favorite Zones in the series.

Sonic & Knuckles: I really don't know. I love Lava Reef, but I'd kind of like to see something new with the fire theme. Mushroom Hill is great, too, but we already have Green Hill. The ruins of Flying Battery or the Death Egg would be neat.

Sonic CD: I don't know again. I'm not really a CD fan. Maybe Quartz Quadrant or Collision Chaos.

In addition to that, I'd like a new city stage. We've had cities in the background in the Classics, but we've never been smack-dab in the middle of one.

It's a new story. Sonic is for whatever reason revisiting these places.

I usually feel like the only one who loves Marble Garden Zone most from that game, I'd like to see it too

[YuTwo]

I already know that its been acknowledged that the TVs in Studiopolis have the Game Gear logo on it but I believe there is yet another reference in it as well.

The top of the television has an antenna on it with the letters TV in green. Well I think its referencing the Game Gear TV Tuner.

    

The accessory even has the color green on it as well. Studiopolis is chock full of Sega references and I'm really liking that a lot. 

 

[expansivelovestories]

Regarding Angel Island possibilities, there is a small (but not impossible) chance that, what is after the bridge?  Could there be a new zone on the floating island alongside two revisited ones? ^__^

There must be something there above Hydrocity!!  

[Manticore]

I'd be surprised if they include Angel Island Zone, even though I adore that zone when I played Sonic 3 when I was a kid.

Ice Cap is almost certainly going to be the Sonic 3 representation.

[Ajavalo]

Some people in the more recent comments of this video have wished for a bonus zone like this in Sonic Mania:

 

[G-Force]

16 hours ago, Diogenes said:

The whole point of setting AIZ on fire was to shake up the series' usual first level trope. The first level had always been some sort of nice tropical area, so they pulled a bait-and-switch and firebombed it just as you were settling into the routine. I don't really see the appeal of just playing it straight, especially since they haven't exactly shied away from that trope since then either.

Being a twist on the established formula was entirely relevant 20 years ago when the Zone was new, but right now, in 2016, we'd only really be looking at it as "Angel Island Zone" and thus only really be comparing it to its previous incarnation.  Since Angel Island Zone has always been known as a burning jungle, doing more with the regular jungle aspect of it would qualify as a twist because it's different from what Angel Island Zone has always been, regardless of the fact that it would technically be a more generic stage theme.

And, for the record, I'm not even trying to rule out lighting the jungle on fire, or doing some other thing with it.  I'm just saying there's room for some interesting change ups here.

12 hours ago, JezMM said:

If they did use Angel Island again, it'd make sense to have it a desolate burned down landscape (the fire had to stop eventually right?), or at the very least an area struggling to regain it's life.  Honestly though I'm not sure what fun or interesting level you could make out of that so prolly better to keep away from that zone (headcanon-wise I find it easy to imagine "the restored master emerald helped speed up the recovery and cause the forest to flourish again in a matter of months" than assuming Angel Island still has a huge depressing burned down area).

Truth be told, I actually did think of the possibility of a scorched Angel Island, but I chose to skip over it because, well, I live in an area that's prone to wildfires, and scorched earth is not exactly an awesome thing to look at.  They could very easily create a unique stage with that idea, but... yeah.

[Diogenes]

I don't think that "nothing happens" is actually an interesting twist, though.

[Marcello]

You could just have it be a burned down jungle. That's what it'd be right now. I don't think enough time has gone by for much to change.

Edit: Wait, it wasn't burned down in Knuckles story, which takes place after Sonic's. :-/

[Sean]

Maybe they could, like... add heavy rainfall for AIZ. Or make it snow over

[Bowbowis]

I think it'd be pretty neat if they remade some post-Classic levels too. I'd love to see stages like Metal Harbor, Hang Castle, or White Acropolis get remixed. Of course that's never going to happen, Mania is clearly intended to cater to die-hard Classic fans above all else, which obviously that means they won't risk alienating Classic purists by referencing stuff from the quote unquote "bad half" of the franchise, however cool it may be. 

[Wraith]

4 minutes ago, Bowbowis said:

I think it'd be pretty neat if they remade some post-Classic levels too. I'd love to see stages like Metal Harbor, Hang Castle, or White Acropolis get remixed. Of course that's never going to happen, Mania is clearly intended to cater to die-hard Classic fans above all else, which obviously that means they won't risk alienating Classic purists by referencing stuff from the quote unquote "bad half" of the franchise, however cool it may be. 

It's probably more that the game is being made on a low budget and picking Genesis levels allows them to reuse assets like the clearly did with Green Hill Zone, instead of another weird conspiracy thing. :U

[Bowbowis]

3 minutes ago, Wraith said:

It's probably more that the game is being made on a low budget and picking Genesis levels allows them to reuse assets like the clearly did with Green Hill Zone, instead of another weird conspiracy thing. :U

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say there's some anti-Adventure/Modern conspiracy at work here (after all Sonic '17 looks like it's at least trying to appease Adventure and Modern fans) and I'm sure asset reuse is at least part of the reason for remixing classic stages. I'm simply saying that Mania is intended to cater to Classic fans above all else and thus is highly unlikely to incorporate elements from the later games. It's not like I'm upset about it, you don't even have to leave this forum to find people who would blow a gasket over elements from Adventure onward "tainting" Mania, I can't fault SEGA for not wanting to take that risk.

Although I must admit at least a part of me now wants it to happen, if only to make up for me having to put up with Classic Sonic in Project 2017.

[ChikoLad]

I'm really hoping they make a full zone out of Hidden Palace from Sonic & Knuckles. Maybe fuse it with elements of the Sonic 2 version.

If not that then I really want Lava Reef Zone.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

I honestly don't think that making the game only contain elements from the classic era of the series must be chalked up to being solely an attempt to appease "die-hard purists", and thus be seen as an inherently negative thing; sure, that may be a factor, but it can also be a perfectly legitimate stylistic choice. There's honestly nothing wrong with it. It's not as though the very fact that it's not incorporating modern elements means that they're shunning those elements. This game is meant to be a tribute to a certain era of Sonic; it's pretty logical to concentrate all the references on that particular era (even if it's not absolutely necessary or anythig).

Personally, I think it would be rather fun if some references to stuff from more recent eras of Sonic were featured in hidden bonuses and unlockables, but as a (very decidedly non-purist) classic fan I do appreciate what they're trying to do in terms of capturing a particular era, and I don't think there's anything intrinsically modern-Sonic-demeaning about it. I mean, you can go ahead and interpret it that way, but I don't see why not to assume the best.

[G-Force]

10 hours ago, Bowbowis said:

I think it'd be pretty neat if they remade some post-Classic levels too. I'd love to see stages like Metal Harbor, Hang Castle, or White Acropolis get remixed. Of course that's never going to happen, Mania is clearly intended to cater to die-hard Classic fans above all else, which obviously that means they won't risk alienating Classic purists by referencing stuff from the quote unquote "bad half" of the franchise, however cool it may be. 

While it does go without saying that there are asshole purists who would absolutely hate this, I'd like to believe that most Classic fans, like myself, would be totally down for it as long as the levels were well made and fun.

I'd like to believe it, but who knows if I'd actually be right to.

[Salamander]

I think the biggest objection to the idea of Classicifying non-Classic stages is that Mania cannot have an unlimited number of levels; the more remake stages there are, the less likely it is that there'll be parity between remade and entirely new stages.  It's an idea, like several others, that I would save for a potential Mania 2; good, but not essential.

[Marcello]

If there's a Mania 2, I want absolutely no old stages. It's bad enough we're getting them here.

[JingleBoy]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before, but did they ever mention if there'll be a 2 player co-op with Tails like the old days? It would seem like a huge oversight to not have Tails follow Sonic.

[ChikoLad]

10 minutes ago, JingleBoy said:

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before, but did they ever mention if there'll be a 2 player co-op with Tails like the old days? It would seem like a huge oversight to not have Tails follow Sonic.

They haven't said anything about it.

However, both the Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 remakes by Taxman had this feature, so Taxman and his team are technically capable of doing it. It's just a matter of whether or not they want to or are allowed to. Given they were allowed to put it in Sonic 1 though, I don't see an issue there. They even had a special title screen for the mode and everything.

[JezMM]

13 hours ago, Bowbowis said:

I think it'd be pretty neat if they remade some post-Classic levels too. I'd love to see stages like Metal Harbor, Hang Castle, or White Acropolis get remixed. Of course that's never going to happen, Mania is clearly intended to cater to die-hard Classic fans above all else, which obviously that means they won't risk alienating Classic purists by referencing stuff from the quote unquote "bad half" of the franchise, however cool it may be. 

It'd be neat as bonus content, but I can't see them making entire zones that are optional other than a secret last stage + final boss or whatever maybe.  I imagine the biggest reason they wouldn't do this is that the fact Sonic is revisiting these areas is explained in the storyline.  This is presumebly set either before or after Sonic 4 in the canon (if they still care about that), he can't revisit areas he hasn't been to yet.

15 hours ago, Marcello said:

Edit: Wait, it wasn't burned down in Knuckles story, which takes place after Sonic's. :-/

Oh I forgot this, adds to my headcanon that the master emerald's power helped quickly restore the damaged areas of the island.

(And adds an amusing thought of Knuckles being like "REALLY!?  THESE PLANTS JUST FINISHED REGROWING!" when Egg Robo returns to mess with the island again).

[JingleBoy]

2 hours ago, ChikoLad said:

They haven't said anything about it.

However, both the Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 remakes by Taxman had this feature, so Taxman and his team are technically capable of doing it. It's just a matter of whether or not they want to or are allowed to. Given they were allowed to put it in Sonic 1 though, I don't see an issue there. They even had a special title screen for the mode and everything.

That's cool. I'd personally be really disappointed if they left out any sort of 2 player co-op mode but I have so much faith in these guys.