Sonic Mania Adventures

[TheOcelot]

The Big-Arm remix is lovely and really helped create the dramatic atmosphere for the showdown. Super Metal Sonic looked so rad! I like how Sonic, Mighty, Tails and Ray worked together to try and stop Metal. 

Knuckles once again had me laughing out loud. Sonic's perplexed look at the seemingly oblivious Knuckles at the end is pure gold

Have a gif:

What a great little series!

[Milo]

I really enjoyed this series, the only fault I'd really knock it for is its shorts not being long enough to flesh out a more-developed narrative. It was overall sublime otherwise.

Massive props to Knuckles just running in to sock the shit out of Metal Sonic (+ Eggman) and leave with his emerald without even looking at the rest of the cast. You could even interpret that Knuckles didn't even know that was Metal Sonic on his emerald and he thought he punched the real Sonic. :v

Also super pleased with Part 5 giving Metal Sonic a Super form in all but name--they even gave him an eye color change, going from red to yellow!

[The Deleter]

Man, this series as a whole was great fun. The way they executed so many aspects of the characters, especially Metal Sonic, gave me a hankering for something a little meatier than what we got overall, but looking back, these shorts were just overall a really great time. So many great character moments, so many great animations, hilarious expressions, gags, and pacing, and even some great fight scenes /w a side of badass for Metal Sonic. Basically everything I was hoping for, with near flawless execution. Crazy enjoyable series, and I'm really glad the team got the chance to make something like this. It really does feel like something special.

 

Also, as a side note, it seems like the compilation of all the episodes have received an extra layer of polish since the originals.

Almost like a Mania Adventures Plus, if you would :V

[DabigRG]

What a odd, if somewhat humorous way to end this.

Kinda expected a fight with Eggman and Super Sonic.

I'll admit that Metal's force-tile-things and the idea of him using the emeralds was neat. 

Not entirely sure why Mighty and Ray were in this one, a punch and some awkward stares aside. 

[Blue Blood]

I don't agree with the notion that the finale was an anticlimax at all. Mania Adventures is comedy first, action second. The action shown in this episode was great, and without forgetting its personality, it ended in an incredibly funny note. Knuckles' portrayal throughout the Mania series as a bit of a ham with a hot temper is great. I just love the way that every character has been portrayed here actually. Even Metal Sonic gets done proper personality to make him seem like a threat rather than just another badnik.

Mania has gone out on a high. 

[superman43]

25 minutes ago, The Deleter said:

Man, this series as a whole was great fun. The way they executed so many aspects of the characters, especially Metal Sonic, gave me a hankering for something a little meatier than what we got overall, but looking back, these shorts were just overall a really great time. So many great character moments, so many great animations, hilarious expressions, gags, and pacing, and even some great fight scenes /w a side of badass for Metal Sonic. Basically everything I was hoping for, with near flawless execution. Crazy enjoyable series, and I'm really glad the team got the chance to make something like this. It really does feel like something special.

 

Also, as a side note, it seems like the compilation of all the episodes have received an extra layer of polish since the originals.

Almost like a Mania Adventures Plus, if you would :V

Yeah, that was the first thing I noticed.

[Ashwalking Bat]

12 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Not entirely sure why Mighty and Ray were in this one, a punch and some awkward stares aside. 

Unless I am remembering it wrong, Mighty and Ray being in this was not accidental. At the end of Part 4 Ray sees Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all converging to go to Eggman's lair. Ray points it out and they decide to go the same way.

Though the ackward stares did serve as a bit of a funny break from the action.

On a personal note of my own. I actually had a bit of Sonic OVA feeling seeing Tails use the device Sonic got from Eggman, to fuck with Eggman's machinery and catch Metal Sonic in the Force Tile Cube. The end result was actually pretty funny. Especially with that 'oh shit' look on Metal Sonic's face.

[The Deleter]

The awkward stares were the only beat in this episode I feel we could have done without. Simply cutting to Mighty and Ray standing there, and Mighty subsequentially socking Metal in the jaw would have helped the fight flow a lot better. But it's pretty inoffensive in the context of the entire series, so eh

Also I dunno why I passed it up during my first time watching these, but Sonic and Tails' interactions are A+. Both of them goofing with the emeralds was great, and the rest of the interactions really reinforce the idea that they're best friends, better than anything we've seen in the series before has imo. This may be my favorite take on those two tbh

[Ryannumber1gamer]

As a Knuckles fan, this has to be one of the best uses of him.

Spoiler

When I saw that Knuckles wasn't there by the half-way mark, I was expecting something stupid like "oh lol he didn't get there in time and the fight's done by that stage" or "oh, time for sonic vs knuckles!". But not only to they use him to an insanely funny effect, they made him effective too. You could argue that he didn't care if it was Metal or the real Sonic on the Master Emerald, and that adds an additional layer of comedy but to carry on from Episode 3 giving him a fair reason to blame Sonic, once he takes back the Master Emerald, he doesn't even share a second glance at Sonic and his crew. If it were anywhere else, I'd fully expect Eggman to shout "he stole your emerald" despite the obvious fact he didn't and then we'd have a Sonic VS Knuckles fight for the fiftieth time but it didn't go down like that for once and that was great to see. Turning Knuckles' goofiness and paranoia into effective fighting action just makes it all the more funnier. Especially when he still retains a stupidly over the top expression after punching Metal. 

 

[Dash Speed]

God will we ever see modern characters re imagined with this s tier treatment? Not even the comics reach this level of quality and love with the modern characters.

[Kellan]

You know, I kinda thought that a Super Metal Sonic would be a much, much, much bigger threat than what he actually ended up being. I get that they had a very limited runtime to work with, so maybe they should’ve just used regular Metal Sonic. I feel like he’s a big enough threat on his own to be menacing, and that would leave Super Metal Sonic to potentially be used in another story where the concept can be explored further.

Though I suppose they could always just bring Super Metal Sonic back. I hope they do, it’s too cool a concept to not use again.

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

6 minutes ago, Dash Speed said:

God will we ever see modern characters re imagined with this s tier treatment? Not even the comics reach this level of quality and love with the modern characters.

Honestly doubt it. Characters like Shadow and Silver have backstories that conflict hard with the basic Sonic narrative. Shadow and Silver in particular have had a rather pointless existence outside of their own games but because they have cool character designs some fans demand they stick around. Understandable but still problematic since they don't mesh with the identity of the series much. 

You'd have to fundamentally change the characters for them to be relevant alongside the main cast. Sonic and Tails don't generally get into the whole government conspiracy, revenge for an innocent child AIDS victim thing.

(If it were up to me) I'd write them into a separate spin off comic type deal for the fans that love them and then bring them into the main series on the occasion that it actually worked tonally.

[The Deleter]

Characters like Silver and Shadow can work. The Archie comics are proof of that. They just require a slightly different direction to shine; it's not that far removed from what Sonic is like in the first place, though. Their backstories don't even need to be changed, imo. Just paint them with a new tone and focus, and they can fit into the series just fine. Focus on what works with the Sonic series, and leave the rest up to character bios to cover. Sonic 3 & K didn't focus heavily on, say, Knuckles being the last of his kind, and the story/possible angst revolving around that, despite that backstory being present in the manual. Just the fact that he was the last of his kind, which was enough for his character to work with at the end of the day.

Whether anyone ever pulls them off right, like the Mania team has done with this group of characters, though, is another matter entirely, unfortunately :L

[Jambone]

Tyson confirmed on Retro that Knuckles thought it was the real Sonic he decked and there was a scene (cut for time) of him stopping, looking at the real Sonic and having a moment of "Wait, then who...?"

Lovely ending to the series, was actually more climactic than I was expecting.  We got as close to giving a character an official Super state as Sega or Sonic Team could possibly allow, more wonderful animation, and great music.  I hope this isn't the last we see from these folks, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.  How much love Metal Sonic and Knuckles got in this series (and, well, Mania as a whole) is wonderful.  My two favorites always seem to get the short end of the stick, but not here.

[Cuz]

That "Shadow or Silver can't work with the rest of the series" comes out in the same breath we just praised motiveless murder-bot Mark II's portrayal is just a little hilarious.

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

17 minutes ago, Cuz said:

That Shadow or Silver can't work with the rest of the series comes out in the same breath we just praised motiveless murder-bot Mark II's portrayal is just a little hilarious.

No it isnt? Murder bot is part of the general narrative of nature vs machine that the series has always had, and works for his robot master as a rival to the main character hes directly created to oppose.

Certainly a far cry from 11 yr old girl with aids get shot amidst a govt conspiracy, not to mention the rest of the backstory which has very little to do with the titular character. 

Both have dark elements but the latter far more convoluted, with barely any relation to sonic and his general narrative. It works only if you rewrite the entire narrative to fit it as a ongoing story. 

[Marco9966]

2 hours ago, Dash Speed said:

God will we ever see modern characters re imagined with this s tier treatment? Not even the comics reach this level of quality and love with the modern characters.

The comics do reach this level of quality!! I don't understand your claims.

[Sonictrainer]

Quote

Must have Sonic Mania Plus SEGA Caps and Slammer Set!

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Have you seen Mighty? This must have Exclusive Sonic Mania Adventures Mighty Poster featuring Mighty the Armadillo.

There's also a bunch of Sonic Mania Plus stuff

[Tenko]

I will be getting that poster, the glow-in-the-dark one...No.. the Mighty one...No BOTH!! Those pogs tho, they remind me of that set they licenced way back in the day. Still got mine, and the shiny slammers and cases they came in.

As for Tails at the end, as I said on Twitter which Aaron agreed with, I like to think it's a nod to him and his constant claims "Tails will die at the end of <insert product here>", and he did say he would die at the end of Mania Adventures not that long ago. He did, by choking!

[TheOcelot]

Edit: ignore this post.

[Dr. Detective]

That smash-cut to the ending with the stage results music playing fucking killed me. They used it like you would use some wa-wa music or something. Excellent comedic timing. 

I love that so much. This whole thing was proof that Sonic's still got an action-adventure spark with a dash of comedy in him somewhere. It exists. Just gotta get the 3D games there and I'm golden. There's only so much I can rely on comics.

[DabigRG]

2 hours ago, Cuz said:

That Shadow or Silver can't work with the rest of the series comes out in the same breath we just praised motiveless murder-bot Mark II's portrayal is just a little hilarious.

You know, at face value, yeah, it is a little odd.

But ultimately, the robot version of the main hero is a general enough trope to warrant using him whenever they actually feel like it and him looking scary is kind of a given.

1 hour ago, UpCDownCLeftCRightC said:

11 yr old girl with aids get shot amidst a govt conspiracy

Dude, I was about to say, what the FoCK are you talkin about?!  

1 hour ago, Sonictrainer said:

 

Boy, I gotta tell ya, Ray's face and that accompanying image is givin me a weird vibe.

52 minutes ago, Tenko said:

 

As for Tails at the end, as I said on Twitter which Aaron agreed with, I like to think it's a nod to him and his constant claims "Tails will die at the end of <insert product here>", and he did say he would die at the end of Mania Adventures not that long ago. He did, by choking!

Oh, is that what it is? Huh.

Guess that was neat brick joke for the ones who got it.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

2 hours ago, Jambone said:

Tyson confirmed on Retro that Knuckles thought it was the real Sonic he decked and there was a scene (cut for time) of him stopping, looking at the real Sonic and having a moment of "Wait, then who...?"

While it sounds like it would've been a funnily goofy moment, I think it's ultimately better they left it out. It could possibly kill the joke if they further explain Knuckles believed it was the real Sonic, while it remains funnier when it's left ambiguous and Knuckles doesn't give half a shit about the rest of the crew as soon as he gets the emerald back. 

[Cuz]

7 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

But ultimately, the robot version of the main hero is a general enough trope to warrant using him whenever they actually feel like it and him looking scary is kind of a given.

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 @UpCDownCLeftCRightC : Murder bot is part of the general narrative of nature vs machine that the series has always had,

 

and cloning isn't?

Because when you break him down to themes Shadow is just that, bio-engineering run-a-mack, which fits nature vs machine perfectly fine and isn't that far off the mad scientist wheelhouse as robotics run-a-muck. See Frankenstein or Mewtwo...

[MetalSkulkBane]

I found the ending slightly anti-climatic.

Not the Knuckles part. That was brilliant. If they must keep Knuckles as idiot, at least make him ass-kicking idiot, who can save ME by himself.

It's just that everything else is a long fight that ultimately leads to nothing. Anticlimax on purpose is still anticlimax. Someone said before "Mania is comedy first" and I don't think this entry was that funny. Sure, Metal is cool, Tails is useful, Sonic makes got attitude, But I don't giving points for being more competent than current game writers.

I suspect know  that I'm minority on this was, but I won't cry over Mania Adventures ending. It was cute, amazingly animated, but just bunch of funny videos. In some weeeird way I still liked Forces story more. (aaand I just lost any chances for getting likes to this post)