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

[JezMM]

54 minutes ago, Sonicfan287 said:

I for one would love to see even a short appearance from Nack the weasel. I've always felt that as a character he's a real wild card and never used. While he's evil he doesn't always work for Robotnik per se. He's kind of a renegade which makes him a fun character. I'd love to see him in Mania and some references to Sonic Triple Trouble (an underrated game imo) kinda doubting it though 

Iizuka already 100% confirmed that Nack won't appear in Sonic Mania, but if Mania gets any sequels, it's possible he could be used again.

[Milo]

9 hours ago, Tracker_TD said:

Somehow, I think we're going to be fine, especially since the level design thus far is particularly evocative of 3&K anyway.

Eh, I don't want to come off as discrediting Iizuka for his role in the classic titles; but I'd say his influence on the level design for Sonic 3&K is a bit overestimated. Iizuka and Yoshida were working under Yasuhara, who was the lead game designer/director for Sonic 3&K as well as the game planner/director for the preceding Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 (when Iizuka wasn't present/only recently got started). Later Sonic games he did direct/make the level design for (Adventure 1 & 2/Heroes/Shadow the Hedgehog), as well as the level design for Sonic 4 (which he produced); are relatively different beasts compared to the level design from the Yasuhara-directed/designed classic Sonic games (which also include playfield/map design design for 3D: Flickies Island and Sonic R).

[Spooky Mulder]

3 hours ago, Sonicfan287 said:

I for one would love to see even a short appearance from Nack the weasel. I've always felt that as a character he's a real wild card and never used. While he's evil he doesn't always work for Robotnik per se. He's kind of a renegade which makes him a fun character. I'd love to see him in Mania and some references to Sonic Triple Trouble (an underrated game imo) kinda doubting it though 

Triple Trouble was my very first Sonic game. Literally nothing would get me more nostalgic than if we finally got some proper Triple Trouble throwbacks.

Ugh, what I wouldn't do to see Sunset Park and that music reimagined for Sonic Mania...

[Your Vest Friend]

Speaking of, it seems the whole thing has been translated now. This is the point on the cameos. 

“There's also Bean and Bark. They don’t appear in the Classic Sonic series, but they were in the stage when I noticed. *lol* Everyone in the dev team love Sonic too much, and they put these kind of Easter Eggs in every place possible. For example in Studiopolis, a sign on the building in background looks like Club SEGA. *laughs*"

So it seems, just like in Generations, the cameos were added by the Western staff (like how the posters in Generations were Kevin) and Sonic Team allowed them to stay as they weren't obtrusive cameos.

And again, him saying that they don't appear in the Classic Sonic series sounds like they wouldn't even consider them for Mania sequels, in the same way he said there were enough ports already when at least one of the games in question (S3&K) has different reasons why it wouldn't be considered. 

[Jango]

I was playing Sonic & Knuckles this morning, and now I wonder if the Mania version of Flying Battery act 2 will have that part near the end when the ground starts to rise and you must run like hell and time your jumps to not get crushed. That shit is tense.

[TheOcelot]

54 minutes ago, Jango said:

I was playing Sonic & Knuckles this morning, and now I wonder if the Mania version of Flying Battery act 2 will have that part near the end when the ground starts to rise and you must run like hell and time your jumps to not get crushed.

Nah, needs to be something new. It's definitely a cool sequence but it was more relevant to S3&K's plot, and just repeating the same sequence would likely feel out-of-place in Mania and come across as unnecessary rehashing.

Mania's FB design should be almost completely new. I want to be surprised, to expect the unexpected. Perhaps in act2 the Flying Battery will crash-land in the ocean. Maybe Eggman could use the piles of scrap badniks (we saw in the reveal of the stage) against Sonic in the boss fight.

10 hours ago, VEDJ-F said:

And again, him saying that they don't appear in the Classic Sonic series sounds like they wouldn't even consider them for Mania sequels, in the same way he said there were enough ports already when at least one of the games in question (S3&K) has different reasons why it wouldn't be considered. 

I think a cameo (for Bean, Bark & Fang) is enough of a reference for Mania. I much prefer the idea of bringing in new characters like the Hard Boiled Heavies, which feels appropriate because they are the next generation Egg-Robo. Mind you I'd also like to see Mecha & Metal make an appearance. This would be justified as they were more relevant to the Mega-Drive (& Mega CD) games. I'd also argue MS is way more popular than characters like Fang (which of course isn't surprising with having Metal been in so many more games).

I wonder if Mania will also feature a similar cameo for the Chaotix (and Mighty)?

If Mania does lead to more 2d games then I'm all for them bringing back other characters. *imagines an epic duel between Knuckles and Fang*

[Chris Knopps]

1 hour ago, Jango said:

I was playing Sonic & Knuckles this morning, and now I wonder if the Mania version of Flying Battery act 2 will have that part near the end when the ground starts to rise and you must run like hell and time your jumps to not get crushed. That shit is tense.

Hmmm....

To put a better twist in that section of the stage, my guess is that, instead of scrolling up in the same manner, this time around the Flying Battery will start falling apart all over the place, with Eggman likely lacking time to completely fix everything on the ship.

Ruble everywhere, explosions...

Watching enemies get crushed...

s'cuse me, gotta get a glass of tea to sip.

[Psychicmoose103]

1 hour ago, Chris Knopps said:

Hmmm....

To put a better twist in that section of the stage, my guess is that, instead of scrolling up in the same manner, this time around the Flying Battery will start falling apart all over the place, with Eggman likely lacking time to completely fix everything on the ship.

Ruble everywhere, explosions...

Watching enemies get crushed...

s'cuse me, gotta get a glass of tea to sip.

This would be awesome. I also think, for act 2, the sky could get dark (reference to the beta) and there will be a thunderstorm, with flashing lightning in the sky, and maybe some stuff from Sonic 1 8-bit sky base. Also, the flying battery falling apart would be crazy. Fire could be coming out of spots, and the boss could have a time limit, you need to beat him before the ship crashes/explodes

[Chris Knopps]

1 minute ago, Psychicmoose103 said:

This would be awesome. I also think, for act 2, the sky could get dark (reference to the beta) and there will be a thunderstorm, with flashing lightning in the sky, and maybe some stuff from Sonic 1 8-bit sky base. Also, the flying battery falling apart would be crazy. Fire could be coming out of spots, and the boss could have a time limit, you need to beat him before the ship crashes/explodes

It would also make for quite a cinematic transition to the next zone, spending your time racing through Flying Battery, making your way through the clustered vents/shafts seen filled with badnik remains, then having it fall apart at the end and crash land in the next zone you're supposed to be in...

But hey, I'm not a director. lol

[Psychicmoose103]

Just now, Chris Knopps said:

It would also make for quite a cinematic transition to the next zone, spending your time racing through Flying Battery, making your way through the clustered vents/shafts seen filled with badnik remains, then having it fall apart at the end and crash land in the next zone you're supposed to be in...

But hey, I'm not a director. lol

You know what would make it even cooler? At the start of the next Zone, you can see the destroyed airship in the backround

[Your Vest Friend]

1 hour ago, OcelotBot said:

I wonder if Mania will also feature a similar cameo for the Chaotix (and Mighty)?

If Mania does lead to more 2d games then I'm all for them bringing back other characters. *imagines an epic duel between Knuckles and Fang*

The interviewer mentioned seeing an Espio poster, but I don't think anyone has seen one present yet so I don't know if they were mistaken or not. If they were right, I could see Vector and Charmy getting similar cameos. If not, I can see them justifying the Chaotix not getting cameos due to their modern counterparts existing. In either situation, Mighty (and Ray) could still get cameos. 

But definitely no cameos that have the characters present in-game; as the snippet said, they're not part of the Classic Sonic series, so they wouldn't even be eligible for it. Most old games were omitted from it.  

Metal Sonic and Mecha Sonic could because they are in the relevant titles, it's just a matter of whether they would due to the emphasis on the Hard Boiled Heavies. 

[Zippo]

An interesting tidbit I think many missed: Iizuka mentioned that as a part of the delay, Team Mania's staff rose from 6 (9 if you include Lola, Iizuka and Hoshino) to an unknown number. I wonder how many developers they added. 

[Chris Knopps]

2 minutes ago, Zippo said:

An interesting tidbit I think many missed: Iizuka mentioned that as a part of the delay, Team Mania's staff rose from 6 (9 if you include Lola, Iizuka and Hoshino) to an unknown number. I wonder how many developers they added. 

Mmm...

I think it's possible we might get an extra zone or two then, especially if the delay IS all the way into September now on top of additional staff.

[YuTwo]

Tee Lopes recently discovered that FL Studio keeps track on how long each music piece took to create:

In response somebody asked how long Studiopolis had taken to make and Tee Lopes posted that it took 7 hours and 55 minutes.

It's nice to learn at least a little bit on the background of the music making process especially with how long it took for an amazing track like Studiopolis to only be made in almost 8 hours basically.

[CleverSonicUsername]

7 hours ago, Chris Knopps said:

Mmm...

I think it's possible we might get an extra zone or two then, especially if the delay IS all the way into September now on top of additional staff.

Sometimes when a project is delayed, team members from other projects are reallocated to help the project hit its deadline. The article doesn't provide any detailed information on how large the staff grew, or who joined, but I'd just take it as them needing a few more hands on the game to make sure it's good to go out the door.

[Chris Knopps]

Just now, CleverSonicUsername said:

Sometimes when a project is delayed, team members from other projects are reallocated to help the project hit its deadline. The article doesn't provide any detailed information on how large the staff grew, or who joined, but I'd just take it as them needing a few more hands on the game to make sure it's good to go out the door.

I dunno, isn't collision issues pretty much all that's going on save for some loop/corkscrew issues?

That shouldn't need added staff really.

Then again, guess we've only seen a few stages, maybe other zones are being plagued even worse?

...Though that makes me start to worry, after all we've been praising Whitehead and co. as God.

Or... Has that just been me...?

Eh, whatever. I'm sure it's nothing too bad.

[CleverSonicUsername]

Just now, Chris Knopps said:

I dunno, isn't collision issues pretty much all that's going on save for some loop/corkscrew issues?

 

We don't know that, really. Keep in mind we've only seen four acts from four revealed levels, and we still don't know how many actually appear in the game. We also don't know just how complete other zones are.

I think recently they said that Taxman has concluded how many levels will be in the game, so it seems like everything they intend to do is set in stone, it just needs to be finished up.

[Chris Knopps]

14 minutes ago, CleverSonicUsername said:

We don't know that, really. Keep in mind we've only seen four acts from four revealed levels, and we still don't know how many actually appear in the game. We also don't know just how complete other zones are.

I think recently they said that Taxman has concluded how many levels will be in the game, so it seems like everything they intend to do is set in stone, it just needs to be finished up.

Just as long as they aren't screwing up their staff AGAIN by doing this, I don't care.

We don't need another 06 or BOOM year because of thin strings snapping left and right. So long as this doesn't affect Forces in any way by possibly stripping staff from THAT game to work on Mania, then I'd say all's good.

[CleverSonicUsername]

7 minutes ago, Chris Knopps said:

Just as long as they aren't screwing up their staff AGAIN by doing this, I don't care.

We don't need another 06 or BOOM year because of thin strings snapping left and right. So long as this doesn't affect Forces in any way by possibly stripping staff from THAT game to work on Mania, then I'd say all's good.

Well that's more stuff we don't really know. That staff may have been new hires, or it could be reallocated SEGA/Sonic Team staff. Still, a game the size of Mania probably doesn't necessitate enough employees that it would adversely impact another project.

In the end, we just don't know, though.

[Chris Knopps]

Just now, CleverSonicUsername said:

Well that's more stuff we don't really know. That staff may have been new hires, or it could be reallocated SEGA/Sonic Team staff. Still, a game the size of Mania probably doesn't necessitate enough employees that it would adversely impact another project.

In the end, we just don't know, though.

Not knowing is the cursed blessing of this franchise/fan base.

[Psychicmoose103]

About the time thing with Tee, I asked him how long the longest song is, and he said it has take. Him 12 hours so far.

this could mean it's an indepth song or is just a long song

[Jango]

 

4:05 - 4:06

 

When Knuckles enters the water with the electric shield on, it disappears as expected, but it doesn't flash the water killing the badniks nearby like in Sonic 3.

Hm.

[Ajavalo]

The Thunder Shield NEVER killed badniks in Sonic 3 when it shorted out in water. It was just a visual effect. That's really something they could add, but it seems it's not the case.

[Pawn]

I was going to say that I don't remember it ever doing that.

[TheOcelot]

40 minutes ago, Jango said:

 

4:05 - 4:06

 

When Knuckles enters the water with the electric shield on, it disappears as expected, but it doesn't flash the water killing the badniks nearby like in Sonic 3.

Hm.

I don't recall the lightning shield ever killing any nearby badniks when you hit underwater. Would be a neat feature to add in Mania!

...and by this logic the lightning shield would not only electrocute badniks, IT WOULD ALSO ELECTROCUTE & KILL SONIC