Sonic Mania Plus: Official Reveal (Coming July 17th) - NO SPOILERS

[molul]

21 minutes ago, TheBlueGuardian said:

And here comes the fans complaints towards this.

Actually I can understand it's not free. Super Sonic DLC made no sense, but this content does. I just hope it's not more than 5€.

[superman43]

3 minutes ago, molul said:

Actually I can understand it's not free. Super Sonic DLC made no sense, but this content does. I just hope it's not more than 5€.

I believe it will be 100% less than $/€10, 99% sure it will be less than $/€5. Soft spot for $/€2.99. That times at least 1/4 the amount of downloads of original Mania means very good profit.

[Fletch]

Well, I'm pretty excited for this. Mania was a fantastic Sonic game and deserves to get extra content. I can understand the disappointment for not having Any playable more than Metal Sonic since she's a classic character that I think could have worked well like she did in the Advance games, but having Mighty and Ray is something I would take over a playable Amy. Just mostly because these two characters have been dead within the game side for ages now, and it's really nice to have them playable with more than likely original movesets. 

Curious about what encore mode is. I was hoping with this announcement that we would get a few new original stages (Maybe one or two at best), but it's fine. And while I know that the Plus DLC will arrive for us vanilla Mania users, I'm still going to buy a physical copy of Plus on Switch and PS4. It's pretty stupid because I own Mania digitally for both systems, but darn it, I just want to support Mania as much as possible.  

So that's mean I'd have bought 5 times:

PC digitally, PS4 physically/digitally, and Switch physically digitally. <3

(When's that Mania 2?)

[Multikaris]

1 hour ago, molul said:

Actually I can understand it's not free. Super Sonic DLC made no sense, but this content does. I just hope it's not more than 5€.

It still made sense, because there were no chaos emeralds involved in the story.

[Sonicka]

2 hours ago, superman43 said:

1. Phantom Ruby warped to the universe of Generations´ Classic Sonic

2. Angel Island fell from the sky

3. Eggman found the signal of Ruby and sent Eggrobos to get it

4. Tails got the signal as well and he went with Sonic to Angel Island

5. Mania Angel Island -----> Green Hill Cutscene

What's wrong with it ?

Apart from points 1 & 2 being completely absent or having no explanation or reference to in-game... nothings wrong. Clears it up for me now though.

So cool. Cheers.

[superman43]

40 minutes ago, Son-icka said:

Apart from points 1 & 2 being completely absent or having no explanation or reference to in-game... nothings wrong. Clears it up for me now though.

So cool. Cheers.

1 and 2 was basically said by Iizuka or Webber, I think.

[Cuz]

Curious, and a little a apprehensive about Ray. If his personality even comes out in the gameplay, I hope Mania doesn’t canonize the meek little guy Archie popularized, never really liked that characterization, and game!Ray doesn’t have that “trapped in a time warp for a decade” baggage that warrants it. The blue shoes are a nice touch but please don’t take anything else from them (Okay, maybe his bromance with Mighty).

[Sonicka]

Interestingly, for me it was only Mighty who was slightly more popularised on my side of the water with STC and the Chaotix Crew origins - considering in that version Nack (or Fang, I guess...) was also team member until he betrayed them. Its gunna be quite fun putting the smack down on fake nack for the HBH fight as Mighty - feels more personal for that character to me, as it did with Knuckles too.

Not that any of it were ever really canon in-game - but because STC did apply some pretty faithful adaptions to the 16 bit games in its time, and for my 10 year old mind at the time... this plugged and filled some nice little story holes up.

[Cuz]

Conversely I’m all for finally confirming Mighty’s super strength in game. 

[Tracker_TD]

4 hours ago, Son-icka said:

Maybe we’ll be lead to an explanation of why Angel Island fell out of the sky again. Was that actually ever explained?

 

 

Given the presence of at least two giant waterfalls on Angel Island (with water run-off in Adventure's CG depiction), couldn't it just be assumed the ocean they fly over to get to the island was one on the actual island itself? 

[Tenko]

I do hope they fix the missing transitions and the much mentioned missing story elements to tie it all together.

I mean you can kind of headcannon certain zone changes yourself, Flying Battery crashing near Press Garden. Returning to Angel Island (Stardust Speedway to Hydrocity) to get the Tornado, how tho I don't know, is it chained to Lava Reef at this point, could you jump down? Collecting the Tornado at the end of Hydrocity to chase Eggman and ending up in Mirage Saloon. Following the pipes from Oil Ocean to Lava Reef. Climbing the (for some reason the removed from the Heavy Rider boss battle) large chains tethering Little Planet to Lava Reef to get to Metallic Madness. And finally Titanic Monarch being built in or near Metallic Madness. 

It's even imagined the intro a little different, I mean it's assumed the Phantom Ruby was buried on the island, with the HBH's unearthing it as seen in the intro. I personally could see a short in game sprite animated intro scene prior to the normal opening with a portal opening above Angel Island and the Phantom Ruby shooting through it, like a meteor, and coming down crashing into the island, burying itself. Which then sets off Eggman's energy radar and Tails too. Would explain how it got there, rather than said powerful item having just been there all along. Not saying Plus needs that, it's kinda just how I imagined it opening myself.

[TailsTellsTales]

I am hoping Sonic Mania Plus fixes this by adding this missing animation to Chemical Plant.

[Cuz]

2 hours ago, Son-icka said:

Its gunna be quite fun putting the smack down on fake nack for the HBH fight as Mighty - feels more personal for that character to me, as it did with Knuckles too.

Yeah, that boss fight just got kind of surreal, with nothing but a full cast of classic locked characters on screen. xD

[Pengi]

2 hours ago, Tracker_TD said:

Given the presence of at least two giant waterfalls on Angel Island (with water run-off in Adventure's CG depiction), couldn't it just be assumed the ocean they fly over to get to the island was one on the actual island itself? 

 

That wasn't the intention in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. When playing as Knuckles in Angel Island Zone, the ocean is removed from the background (since his story takes place after Sonic's, when the island is in the sky again).

[MainJP]

15 hours ago, TheOcelot said:

Just saw this interesting post on Retro:

They could be right. Perhaps Team Mania did want to include Ray and Mighty in last years release.

They changed it on TCRF and now suggest that it's an "R":

https://tcrf.net/Sonic_Mania/Unused_Graphics

I guess this really was planned all along which means they probably had a lot of time to work on them. 

It really REALLY looked like a capital "A". 

[TheOcelot]

5 hours ago, MainJP said:

They changed it on TCRF and now suggest that it's an "R":

https://tcrf.net/Sonic_Mania/Unused_Graphics

I guess this really was planned all along which means they probably had a lot of time to work on them. 

It really REALLY looked like a capital "A". 

They must have considered adding Amy as a playable character, but I guess Team Mania were keen to stick to characters who had been playable in 2d or isometric platformers in the early-to-mid 1990's.  SEGASonic the Hedgehog 1993 (which features Sonic, Ray and Mighty) was an isometric game. Whilst Amy was playable in the following spin-off games; Sonic Drift 1994, Sonic Drift 2 1995, Sonic The Hedgehog's Gameworld 1994 and Sonic R 1997). Amy wasn't given gameplay as a playable character similar to Sonic's until 1998 with Sonic Adventure.

I don't think it would be too hard to implement Amy's Advance gameplay into a game like Mania. Amy would probably need to be able to curl into a ball and given a spin-dash, but they could still map her hammer ability to a different button.

If we do get a Mania 2 one day, then Amy without a doubt should be a playable character.

7 hours ago, TailsTellsTales said:

I am hoping Sonic Mania Plus fixes this by adding this missing animation to Chemical Plant.

Good spot, I totally forgot about this. Yes, I'm confident this will be fixed. It's an adorable animation.

Also, in Metallic Madness (when playing with Sonic and Tails AI), mini-Tails cannot carry mini-Sonic. It was originally planned and got cut. Hence these unused mini-Tails Sonic-carrying sprites:

 

I'm hoping this will be added in Mania Plus.

I wonder what other unused sprites in the original version they'll implement this time? Maybe the scrapped love-tester machine in Studiopolis could be brought back.

 

A random thought; "Hyper"   is an unused sprite in Mania. If my theory of Encore mode being a kind of  New-Game Plus mode is correct, then maybe NGP will feature Hyper forms?! 

 

[BlueFlare]

11 hours ago, molul said:

Actually I can understand it's not free. Super Sonic DLC made no sense, but this content does. I just hope it's not more than 5€.

That'd be a fair price for it, not more if you have the digital copy already. I myself don't mind if I have to pay for Mania content if it means we'll see a proper sequel some day. 

[Sonicka]

8 hours ago, Cuz said:

Conversely I’m all for finally confirming Mighty’s super strength in game. 

I imagine they will. But I also hope they go a bit beyond Mighty being Knuckles without gliding or climbing, and Ray being Tails without the ability to lift other characters.

Hopefully they’ll incorporate Mighty’s wall jump or some sort or static wall grab for elevation and maybe a double damage factor (so, Easy mode).

And for Ray make his flight ability a little more trickier to control than tails flight - perhaps something akin to the Cape for Super Mario World (and hey, maybe half his damage hit - so, Hard mode).

[HywelAtTheMoon]

47 minutes ago, TheOcelot said:

They must have considered adding Amy as a playable character, but I guess Team Mania were keen to stick to characters who had been playable in 2d or isometric platformers in the early-to-mid 1990's.  SEGASonic the Hedgehog 1993 (which features Sonic, Ray and Mighty) was an isometric game. Whilst Amy was playable in the following spin-off games; Sonic Drift 1994, Sonic Drift 2 1995, Sonic The Hedgehog's Gameworld 1994 and Sonic R 1997). Amy wasn't given gameplay as a playable character similar to Sonic's until 1998 with Sonic Adventure.

I don't think it would be too hard to implement Amy's Advance gameplay into a game like Mania. Amy would probably need to be able to curl into a ball and given a spin-dash, but they could still map her hammer ability to a different button.

If we do get a Mania 2 one day, then Amy without a doubt should be a playable character.

Good spot, I totally forgot about this. Yes, I'm confident this will be fixed. It's an adorable animation.

Also, in Metallic Madness (when playing with Sonic and Tails AI), mini-Tails cannot carry mini-Sonic. It was originally planned and got cut. Hence these unused mini-Tails Sonic-carrying sprites:

 

I'm hoping this will be added in Mania Plus.

I wonder what other unused sprites in the original version they'll implement this time? Maybe the scrapped love-tester machine in Studiopolis could be brought back.

 

A random thought; "Hyper"   is an unused sprite in Mania. If my theory of Encore mode being a kind of  New-Game Plus mode is correct, then maybe NGP will feature Hyper forms?! 

 

Another bit that got cut was where you had to escape from the UFO after you grabbed the emerald. Maybe part of the Encore mode? 

[JezMM]

11 hours ago, Miragnarok said:

It still made sense, because there were no chaos emeralds involved in the story.

I mean we've been over this enough times but... Colours and Lost World also have Super Sonic despite no emeralds in the story and he was a standard unlockable there.

7 hours ago, TailsTellsTales said:

I am hoping Sonic Mania Plus fixes this by adding this missing animation to Chemical Plant.

I wouldn't expect TOO much like this.  Fans tend to clamour to get their hands on any cut content they can find without consideration for the fact that there are often reasons things get cut beyond time restraints.  Honestly I love the Tails animation as do many, but it DOES seem like the sort of thing Sonic Team might've stepped in on and said "no that's a bit too silly, Tails wouldn't use his tails like that".

Likewise while Hyper forms could be a neat addition to make Encore Mode a bit more special, it's possible Sonic Team might want to stick to their guns on keeping them in the past so we don't have a fresh revival of people expecting them in every game again.

[Red Hot Jack]

Mighty may have the insta-shield perhaps, since his armadillo back works as a good shell? Plus, I want him to have the wall jump like he did in Chaotix. As for Ray, he can't have more than hover like Knuckles, but it may work a bit differently, like, slower, I think.

Also, I'm really hoping that "Encore Mode" is a different campaign like "Mania Mode" is, for example: it adds a different storyline, perhaps a follow up to the Mania -Forces -Mania Adventures saga, Mighty and Ray have a different campaign like Knuckles does, new level design with Hard Mode basically, as well as a couple of brand new zones, like 1 or 2. I would be extremely happy with that!

I hope this is the case because the promo picture released at the panel says Encore Mode is "all-new" and, according to Sonic News Network, it will "remix the zones with visual changes", so perhaps like Sonic Megamix? It would be cool but I'm not sure where they got that quote, is it from the event?

[Sonikko]

I believe Ray might play similar to the Flying Squirrel powerup in NSMBU 

Would be kind of cool actually!

Also, I'd love for all those unused animations to be implemented, the Tails one in Chemical Plant especially, love that.

[Pawn]

5 hours ago, TheOcelot said:

They must have considered adding Amy as a playable character, but I guess Team Mania were keen to stick to characters who had been playable in 2d or isometric platformers in the early-to-mid 1990's.  SEGASonic the Hedgehog 1993 (which features Sonic, Ray and Mighty) was an isometric game. Whilst Amy was playable in the following spin-off games; Sonic Drift 1994, Sonic Drift 2 1995, Sonic The Hedgehog's Gameworld 1994 and Sonic R 1997). Amy wasn't given gameplay as a playable character similar to Sonic's until 1998 with Sonic Adventure.

I imagine the reason for Amy's exclusion is simply that Mighty and Ray are more straightforward to implement. Kicking off walls and some kind of gliding/flying mechanic don't really require changes to the level design, while Amy deserves a little more development due to her more unique abilities.

[Salamander]

3 hours ago, Jack of Tangles said:

Also, I'm really hoping that "Encore Mode" is a different campaign like "Mania Mode" is, for example: it adds a different storyline, perhaps a follow up to the Mania -Forces -Mania Adventures saga, Mighty and Ray have a different campaign like Knuckles does, new level design with Hard Mode basically, as well as a couple of brand new zones, like 1 or 2. I would be extremely happy with that!

The major thing I'm expecting from Encore Mode is for there to be routes exclusive to Mighty and Ray's abilities; difficult to say if a full campaign with cutscenes is realistic, certainly I think new zones are unlikely or they'd have mentioned them already - though maybe one really-final-final might just be conceivable...  But generally it sounds like it'll be a sort of New Game+.  That's more or less what's implied by the "encore" name.

[StaticMania]

Level compromise isn't necessary for Amy Rose the Hedgehog. Seriously, just make it so she needs to do the insta-shield with her plinko plinko hammer to attack enemies and she can only do the super peel-out...it's not that hard.

Her two other abilities aren't necessary for a classic style game and nobody needs to get extra work figuring out how she should be playable.