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

[Blue Blood]

2 hours ago, SaberX said:

Its funny though that Advanced 2 is praised by some and the game has a bunch of cheap deaths here and there. The Knuckles boss even has an instant dead, no matter how many rings you have.

Praising a game doesn't mean saying that it has no faults. You're not making any point at all.

[Lord-Dreamerz]

I enjoyed all the bosses in Sonic Mania, and have very few nitpicks with them. Sure I think some of them need little fixing up such as showing the player somehow they can spindash the Silver Sonics into Metal. But I didn't have huge problems with any boss and found them all easy enough including the final "Oil Ocean Boss." The whole game was very good, but I think the boss battles were my fave part and I didn't really find them annoying whatsoever, I respect and give a thumbs up to how different, whimsical & tricky they were compared to the old classic games which boss fights were much more bland and boring overall in comparison to the ones in Mania.

[Blue Blood]

4 minutes ago, SaberX said:

Praised by some in the sense of just looking to it and not actually acknowledge the bad aspects of the game. It also includes bosses who are repetitive yet are not a major complain from those who like it(I have yet to find a fan of Advance 2 who thinks the way you described). But I believe you have a point.

I'm a fan of Advance 2 and think exactly the way that JezMM described.

But all of that is irrelevant. Just because people could potentially have issues with the bosses in both games doesn't mean that it would hinder their opinions in the same way. They're two entirely different games. Stop trying to force that people have some bizarre double standard. You're not making a lick of sense.

[Eurisko]

For those in the UK Sonic Mania Plus is up for Pre-Order now on Amazon. There's no new info in the product description from what I could tell anyway.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SEGA-SEGA20-UK-22ST-Sonic-Mania-Plus/dp/B07BTNCHMK/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1522859610&sr=8-14&keywords=sonic+mania

[Mew]

21 hours ago, Eurisko said:

For those in the UK Sonic Mania Plus is up for Pre-Order now on Amazon. There's no new info in the product description from what I could tell anyway.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SEGA-SEGA20-UK-22ST-Sonic-Mania-Plus/dp/B07BTNCHMK/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1522859610&sr=8-14&keywords=sonic+mania

Thanks! I was able to pre-order mine!

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

1 hour ago, Mew said:

Thanks! I was able to pre-order mine!

Serious question:

Can I catch you?

[Mew]

27 minutes ago, UpCDownCLeftCRightC said:

Serious question:

Can I catch you?

Depends if you go by the games standards or the anime. lol err I mean "mew!" *Mew Fled*

[Ryannumber1gamer]

In terms of changes, I want bosses readjusted to better fit the characters and their abilities. Bosses like Oil Ocean Act 2 is a total nightmare with Knuckles because his reduced jump height makes it incredible difficult to recover.

[Blue Blood]

21 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

In terms of changes, I want bosses readjusted to better fit the characters and their abilities. Bosses like Oil Ocean Act 2 is a total nightmare with Knuckles because his reduced jump height makes it incredible difficult to recover.

Yeah. It's not impossible to jump back up as Knuckles, but it's really difficult and worsened by the risk of getting crushed. The entire boss fight is basically hard mode of the original S2 OOZ boss, which is cool and something I can definitely appreciate. It could do with some adjustments though. It's just feels unfair at times.

I'd actually really like a boss rush mode. The bosses in Mania are a lot of fun.

[JezMM]

Oh one random little thing is I wish they had put in that "total time" feature from the remasters.  I love seeing a time record for the entire game that's made out of adding up your records from every stage.  A boss rush time attack would definitely be appreciated too.

[Eurisko]

13 hours ago, JezMM said:

Oh one random little thing is I wish they had put in that "total time" feature from the remasters.  I love seeing a time record for the entire game that's made out of adding up your records from every stage.  A boss rush time attack would definitely be appreciated too.

Total time is a great idea. They could have an online leaderboard for that too. Surly it wouldnt be that hard to implement would it? 

[Irish David]

I've preordered my copy on PS4 since i got the collector's edition for PS4. I will download the extras for my Switch when it comes out because I want it for on the go. Looking forward to playing as Mighty and Ray for the first time and all the extras they have in store for us. Glad they decided to go for a physical version as well 

[Tenko]

Managed to pre-order via EB Games here in NZ finally. I'll update my Steam version with the DLC and have my fresh new pre-order copy physical for the PS4.

So since the Adventures animated shorts are meant to take us up to the release of the game, are we assuming either a July/August release since there's 5 episodes, 1 a month, and they started at the end of March?

[TheOcelot]

DLC for Sonic Mania was added to Steam two days ago. This surely is related to the new Mania Plus version.

Also interesting to note is that Stealth is now back working on his HCGE engine. Which likely implies that his work on Mania Plus is now finished. So perhaps we could be getting Mania Plus earlier in the Summer release window than first thought?

Stealth has also updated his site.

[Sonic Fan J]

I'll probably get Plus for the PS4 when it comes out.

 

On the topic of new content though too an extent I'm kind of glad they haven't introduced Amy yet as I feel she needs a lot more work than people think. As I'm not of the camp of Adv.1 ftw I actually think experimenting with a new moveset with Ray is a good starting point. As the game is a celebration of the original formula that includes the design concept that resulted in even the character of Sonic himself, or in other words a character who rolls into a ball. As Amy only had her hammer in one game pre-Adventure and the gameplay affiliated with it does not match the original design concept which is part of what I feel like Mania celebrates,  I feel like she would have to be built up from scratch to fit. That's not to say that my anti-hammer bias should exclude the hammer if it is truly a feasible thing to still add, but sticking to the original design concept I can't see it as anything more than an over-sized instant shield. I'd rather play her up like a Sonic clone but with the ability to swim while underwater (hedgehogs are pretty descent swimmers supposedly) with the ability to use the elemental shields but with different effects (e.g. Lightning Shield has homing attack).

[expansivelovestories]

Elemental shields (and eventually, new items that may appear in the monitors!) could interact with the Piko Piko in unique ways! 

Much more generally, I think that Knuckles' Mirage Saloon act 1 is a very good sign for any new characters, including Amy! 

 

[Sonic Fan J]

4 minutes ago, expansivelovestories said:

Elemental shields (and eventually, new items that may appear in the monitors!) could interact with the Piko Piko in unique ways! 

Much more generally, I think that Knuckles' Mirage Saloon act 1 is a very good sign for any new characters, including Amy! 

 

Elemental Shields are easily the most underused component that could be used for differentiating characters in a series that has a very distinct gameplay style that can be lost very easily with even the slightest variation; e.g. Amy's hammer gameplay.

 

On the topic of Amy's hammer gamplay, outside of the popularity of the Advance series and the Amy in Sonic 1-3&K hacks I'd like to ask why choose it for her classic iteration which has no true hammer based gameplay? Is it just because of affiliation or is there some other deep-seated reason that I'm missing? Perhaps I'm being too pigheaded due to my bias against it but outside of a massive amount of fan affiliation Amy's hammer is only affiliated with her pre-Adventure in Sonic the Fighters for a couple of attacks and a throw against her unless you consider Mega Drive a pre-Adventure work (it really can't be since that came out over 15 years later as a celebration of Sonic's anniversary and roots which makes Amy's use of the Hammer even more perplexing to me).

[PickleBrows]

I'll edit in a screenshot soon but I think Mania just updated by mistake on PS4, the menu has been redesigned and there's a listing for the Mania Plus DLC stating "available now" but it's broken.

Hang on I'll get working on this.

Spoiler

Plus DLC is now listed but the link to the store doesn't work yet.

You now have the option to select the "secrets" outside of no-save mode

Nothing new added here but I tested the insta-shield on an existing file and yes it works!

 

 

[Diogenes]

Just now, Sonic Fan J said:

On the topic of Amy's hammer gamplay, outside of the popularity of the Advance series and the Amy in Sonic 1-3&K hacks I'd like to ask why choose it for her classic iteration which has no true hammer based gameplay?

Well she didn't really do much else in the classic era. Aside from Fighters she was only playable in a couple of racing games, and a car wouldn't exactly be an easy gimmick to work with. Every character should have something unique to them, so if not this, then what?

[Jango]

2 hours ago, The Loudest Loud said:

I'll edit in a screenshot soon but I think Mania just updated by mistake on PS4, the menu has been redesigned and there's a listing for the Mania Plus DLC stating "available now" but it's broken.Hang on I'll get working on this.

Spoiler

Plus DLC is now listed but the link to the store doesn't work yet.

You now have the option to select the "secrets" outside of no-save mode

Nothing new added here but I tested the insta-shield on an existing file and yes it works!

 

 

Ohhhhh that's nice!!! Hey, no Time Limit mode, yes!! They've listened!

[Sonic Fan J]

10 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

Well she didn't really do much else in the classic era. Aside from Fighters she was only playable in a couple of racing games, and a car wouldn't exactly be an easy gimmick to work with. Every character should have something unique to them, so if not this, then what?

Admittedly beyond my Shield Ability and being able to swim suggestions I don't really have much at this time which should not be surprising since I have nothing against reskins and clone characters and since Amy is a pink Sonic to an extent making her a reskin with different shield abilities and acceleration, jump height, and weight is enough for me. Conversely, I hypocritically see settling for something because it already exists to be kind of disappointing. I know Sonic Team isn't a font of confidence in their execution of new ideas but I just disagree with taking something from Amy's radically different Adventure on design and slapping it onto her classic design which did not have any major attachment to the Piko Piko Hammer and saying it's fine. If she is so radically different between representations then I say we should run with and see what we can end up with. I'm sure as an imaginative fan base we should be able to even if Amy's hammer is nearly loved as much as she is (to the point that I remember Drawloverlala actually made a comic where Amy's hammer was it's own character).

[TheOcelot]

2 hours ago, The Loudest Loud said:

I'll edit in a screenshot soon but I think Mania just updated by mistake on PS4, the menu has been redesigned and there's a listing for the Mania Plus DLC stating "available now" but it's broken.Hang on I'll get working on this.

Spoiler

Plus DLC is now listed but the link to the store doesn't work yet.

You now have the option to select the "secrets" outside of no-save mode

Nothing new added here but I tested the insta-shield on an existing file and yes it works!

 

 

Yeah, you're right! Just uploaded a quick video:

Unfortunately I recently deleted my save-file and uninstalled the game on PS4 (don't ask why), so I can't show-off every option. Gonna replay and unlock everything again now...

[PickleBrows]

One other thing I found is that they've added in an option to partially delete data. So if you want to wipe just your medals or time attack scores so you can redo them then have at it!

I'm running through Stardust Speedway on the very unlikely chance there's some new transitions in here.

[Diogenes]

1 minute ago, Sonic Fan J said:

but I just disagree with taking something from Amy's radically different Adventure on design and slapping it onto her classic design which did not have any major attachment to the Piko Piko Hammer and saying it's fine.

...but that's not what's happening. The hammer isn't "from" the modern era, it was introduced in Fighters. It wasn't a major or essential part of her character in the classics, but nothing you could use as a game mechanic was, because she was only playable in a couple of spinoffs and she wasn't even much of an active character otherwise. People associate classic Amy with using a hammer because it's one of the most memorable things that classic Amy did.

[PickleBrows]

 

Spoiler

GUYSSS!!! Take my word on it for now but the metal Sonic fight has had it's 3rd phase completely reworked! Eggman throws him the phantom ruby and he turns into what seems to me to be a blue version of the final Chaotix fight!