Time Travel Decomfirmed for Mania

[Wraith]

Honestly would not be surprised if they managed to sneak the other versions of the level in somehow anyway tbh

[Tenko]

Act 1 to Act 2 transition via cutscene seems likely. Tho I do remember Taxman saying he had devised a way for the "true final boss" to have instant warps during the fight, perhaps that could be used in the level if it's built in segments rather than whole differing zones. Or could be utilized in the Act 1 boss so the player feels they have warped back from the past rather than it being done for them in a cutscene.

[Jango]

I think Act 1 is set in the past, and after beating the boss, the time "breaks" and bring Sonic to the good future or present. Perhaps the boss could be someone / something controling time with some device or even the Time Stones.

[Zippo]

If the second act is in the present or future, I wonder if they'll even bother touching the American soundtrack. Probably not, I would guess. 

[Tenko]

I must admit while I'm an avid believer that the Japanese/Euro soundtrack is the better of the two. (Even tho I originally had the PC version that used the USA soundtrack and didn't get the Mega CD version until later). There are a couple tracks in the American version that while I wouldn't go so far as to say were better, they are still catchy and suit the level. Stardust Speedway is one of those, so if they choose one over the other or a remix including bits from both tracks it wouldn't bother me at all.

[Salamander]

I had the PC version as a child, so all my nostalgia is for the US soundtrack and I only ever heard the JP/EU music later.  So for me, I definitely hope they'll find some way to integrate both.

[Semi-colon e]

I just want the Good Future. That stage is so pretty, and they missed out on doing an optional "skin" for it for the Metal Sonic boss in Generations.

Also I want a remix of the US Good Future music, but I doubt it'll happen. I'd be pretty disappointed if it was just the Past version of the stage, as that was my least favourite of the lot.

[Jango]

I do like the US version of Stardust Good Future... I just don't like it more than the japanese one [emoji14]

[Tenko]

Speaking of Sonic CD, I'm wondering why more people haven't been scrutinizing this piece of Eggman art released along with the new press releases and interviews. He seems to be juggling different cut gems ala the original Sonic's bad ending, but there is definite differences between most of them.

Is the 3rd from the right a Time Stone? The first on the right looks like the original shape from the first game, the 2nd on the right looks a lot like the ones in Sonic 2. Could the 4th and 5th represent Sonic 3, while the 6th and 7th represent Sonic & Knuckles?

If so is that a hint at the amount of returning levels from each game? Or give a hint to the story, that Eggman is collecting gems from each location, giving Sonic the reason to travel to each plave? But then what about the "new item" that was mentioned to be the focus? Any ideas?

[NegaMix]

Pretty sure they're all the Chaos Emeralds, just seen from different angles. They all appear to have a hexagonal shape when seen from above (looking like they did in the original trilogy) but have their more modern appearance when seen from the side. The only one that looks a little 'off' is the cyan one, but I think it's supposed to be upside-down.

[Diogenes]

Yeah they're all the same modern-Chaos-Emerald style cut, it's just that a few of them are at weird angles and with the semitransparencies and reflections it's easy to lose track of the exact shape.