Sonic Mania: Version 1.04 and Plus DLC PS4 Leaks (SPOILERS)

[superman43]

9 minutes ago, JosepHenry said:

Aaron told us on stream that a Mania Plus trailer with release date is coming soon!

 

I suspect either middle of June or middle of August.

[TheOcelot]

As promised; my Knuckles playthrough:

Full playthrough with Knuckles (& Knuckles mode enabled). All new transitions & the revised Metal Sonic Boss are included.

In this playthrough I enabled debug-mode. I use it to enter an inaccesible route in Lava Reef act1. The reason you don't see the transition between act 1&2 of LR is because I used debug-mode (using debug-mode stops the end-cutscene for the act being played for some reason).

In the original version of Mania this extra route in LR act1 is also included, but you need to use debug mode to access it and it's very incomplete with no enemies or fire-balls etc. The route (which caught my attention when I first played the new 1.04 version of Mania) is also inaccessible in the new version. However, I used debug mode to access it (1:31:03) and whilst there are now more objects (enemies, fire balls and spikes) it's still a pretty pointless-uninteresting smaller route which soon rejoins the normal route (at 1:31:45). Perhaps it will be accessible in Mania Plus.

The transition cutscene between Green Hill and Chemical Plant doesn't play because I enabled debug-mode in act2 of GH by mistake. Don't worry, that cutscene is still in the game.

If you hit the spikes with Knuckles in Oil Ocean's act1 boss you still get insta-killed, whereas you no longer get insta-killed in the new version of Mania with Sonic & Tails when hitting the spikes in this boss fight.

[A super No.1 washedupgamer]

1 hour ago, TheOcelot said:

As promised; my Knuckles playthrough:

Just like why sonic is in a car, 

Why is knuckles using a hang glider when he can already oh, I don't know, glide? 

[Jango]

Because why drive if I can walk? 

[Potada]

Interesting. It sounds like with the OO sub-boss, the spikes are small enough to fit Sonic and Tails, but not Knuckles. I thought I remember hearing something about how Knuckles being taller than Sonic was reflected in his hitbox in the classic games.

[BlueFlare]

Thanks @TheOcelot! It seems Knuckles' transition from LRZ to MMZ is the same it was before and doesn't make much sense to me. 

[superman43]

So, all changes so far:

General: New Super Sonic sprites, Knuckles´ hitbox adjusted according to the fact Knuckles is slightly taller than Sonic
 

Zone Specific: 

Chemical Plant - Tails´ sprite, resembling the unused one, albeit a bit different

Flying Battery - Hang Glider transition to Press Garden added

Stardust Speedway - Metal Sonic - Phase 1 unchanged; Phase 2 - destroying Silver Sonic ejects 4 projectiles that can hurt Metal Sonic, one hit less needed to progress further; after Phase 2 - the segment same as Phase 1 shortened to a loop, checkpoint and Phase 3 begins, that sees Eggman throwing the Phantom Ruby to Metal Sonic, sound effect of the Bug Badnik from Titanic Monarch plays, Metal Sonic changes to Kai from Chaotix, albeit blue, roars and the fight begins.

Metal Sonic roars again and uses laser resembling Sonic Time Twisted battle before Attraction Attack act 2. Or he ejects bombs from the neck. 

Hydrocity - Slides now FIXED. End of act 2 now has some ruined parts, that essentially make a passage that acts as a transition to Mirage Saloon.

Oil Ocean - Act 1 boss spikes are either smaller or they are more upwards, therefore only part of them is visible. Only Knuckles will be killed by hitting them. Act 2 is softened, with rings being in oil for a while (not instantly sinking) and the projectiles of boss no longer fire towards the player. Flying submarine takes Sonic and co. to Lava Reef.

Lava Reef - Unused act 1 route remains unused, albeit with more objects. Heavy Rider fight now takes place over the Lava Reef, with Little Planet in the background (essentially looking like reversed Launch Base boss). Sonic and co. look behind on the Little Planet and the adventure progresses to Metallic Madness. Knuckles´ transition remains intact.

Metallic Madness - After freeing animals in act 2, Metallic Madness rans out of juice. Only to reveal the huge robot Eggman built nearby. When playing as Tails, he gets freaked out twice.

 

Tell me if I missed something.

 

[TheOcelot]

2 hours ago, superman43 said:

So, all changes so far:

Excellent summary.

 

Also note that:

When you damage the Eggman boss in act2 of Titanic Monarch the first two arms that will be destroyed are now the top two arms. So unless you have the lightning shield equipped (to protect you) the fight will go on longer. In the original version one of the lower and high arms would be destroyed first.

I think (could be wrong) that the frequency in which rings appear when fighting Egg Reverie has been slightly increased. In my Knuckles playthrough, despite being hit several times I had 70 rings at the end, which is way more than I normally manage against this boss.

In Special Stage 3 which was a SS you could beat super fast (in less than one lap), the UFO now takes the short-cut route every-time (which it didn't before) so it now takes quite a bit longer to beat. There have been some minor background visual changes (I think) in SS4 &6.

An additional bubble shield has been added next to an extra life box near the end of Studiopolis act2, (the extra life box was in the original version).

Here's a random screenshot I took showing that the timer does go over 10 minutes if you choose the option in the main menu to turn-off the timer:

 

Super Sonic now has a full set of sprites.

 

Will let you know if I find anything else.

[BlueFlare]

Was it already pointed out that OOZ Act 2 Boss fires two laser beams now and three in the original?

[superman43]

Overall, the bosses are more mellow with the exception of Metal Sonic (emphasized mid-game climax) and the final boss. But true final boss was made easier, hm.

I have only one more thing I don't know. If you hit Robotnik the maximum amount of times possible (with Super Sonic or lighting shield), does it still skip the Heavies as it does in the original release ?

[TheOcelot]

39 minutes ago, superman43 said:

I have only one more thing I don't know. If you hit Robotnik the maximum amount of times possible (with Super Sonic or lighting shield), does it still skip the Heavies as it does in the original release ?

Every-time I've tried the new version with Super forms or the lightning shield, I can only get a max of five hits in each time against Eggman and end up having to playthrough the first Heavy sequence (Heavy Gunner) before I beat Eggman. 

 

For the Egg Reverie fight, Knuckles seems to attract rings a little more frequently than Sonic does. Actually, this is probably no different from the original version.

 

1 hour ago, BlueFlare said:

Was it already pointed out that OOZ Act 2 Boss fires two laser beams now and three in the original?

Yep. Only two lasers are now fired when playing with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles.

[superman43]

26 minutes ago, TheOcelot said:

Every-time I've tried the new version with Super forms or the lightning shield, I can only get a max of five hits in each time against Eggman and end up having to playthrough the first Heavy sequence (Heavy Gunner) before I beat Eggman. 

Ok, so this is fixed as well. I can still beat Eggman in like 40 seconds or so  That won´t be possible anymore.

[Sonikko]

Did they fix the issues with Tails in Flying Battery Zone?

[Sean]

That's been fixed for a while.

[superman43]

55 minutes ago, Sonikko said:

Did they fix the issues with Tails in Flying Battery Zone?

That was fixed with the first update, last year.

[TheOcelot]

I've done a video which is a much more thorough look at the menus:

 

[Jango]

Looks like they've added even more languages, wow. Still no brazilian portuguese tho', despite Sonic having a huge fan base around here... Not even european portuguese, I mean, Tee Lopes is from Portugal! Anyways.

It's cool that you can now choose the 4:3 aspect ratio screen layout in the competition mode, but this could and should only be an option for the 3 or 4 players Vs. That's because the stretched screen for 2 Vs. is... Well, terrible. It shouldn't even be an option TBH. 

It would sincerely break the game if they give each screen a wider horizontal field of view instead of stretching the 16:9 ratio? 

[TheOcelot]

10 hours ago, Jango said:

Looks like they've added even more languages, wow. Still no brazilian portuguese tho', despite Sonic having a huge fan base around here... Not even european portuguese, I mean, Tee Lopes is from Portugal! Anyways.

Team Mania are hardcore. The amount of changes which have gone into the 1.04 version (even though I'm expecting a more updated version for Sonic Mania - eventually - to be released across all platforms) is mighty impressive. The menu design looks so much better and the more options available such as being able to use debug mode and &Knuckles mode in a save-mode, and the new option to turn-off the timer are much appreciated. As are the boss, level tweaks and new transitions.

I simply cannot wait to play the full updated version of Sonic Mania and then Mania Plus.

Sonic Mania Plus is the new "Sonic 3 Complete" XP

 

10 hours ago, Jango said:

It's cool that you can now choose the 4:3 aspect ratio screen layout in the competition mode, but this could and should only be an option for the 3 or 4 players Vs. That's because the stretched screen for 2 Vs. is... Well, terrible. It shouldn't even be an option TBH. 

It would sincerely break the game if they give each screen a wider horizontal field of view instead of stretching the 16:9 ratio? 

One of the comments on my video details the differences:

Quote

The original screen option in Mania was just as stretched as Sonic 2's (one pixel vertically for every two pixels horizontally), though the widescreen 32:9 instead of 8:3 (i.e. 24:9) does make it look even worse. This new option has nothing to do with a 4:3 aspect ratio and is not something Sonic 2 offered, instead it gives each player the correct 16:9 ratio of Mania. The total play area would have the aspect ratio 8:9, more or less.

 

[Jango]

13 minutes ago, TheOcelot said:

Team Mania are hardcore. The amount of changes which have gone into the 1.04 version (even though I'm expecting a more updated version for Sonic Mania - eventually - to be released across all platforms) is mighty impressive. The menu design looks so much better and the more options available such as being able to use debug mode and &Knuckles mode in a save-mode, and the new option to turn-off the timer are much appreciated. As are the boss, level tweaks and new transitions.

I simply cannot wait to play the full updated version of Sonic Mania and then Mania Plus.

Sonic Mania Plus is the new "Sonic 3 Complete" XP

 

One of the comments on my video details the differences:

 

I know they're putting huge ammounts of effort on this, it was more like an observartion. It still probably not 100% finished too.

 

Could you record then a 2 Vs. with the new ratio? I think I haven't seem!

[TheOcelot]

3 minutes ago, Jango said:

Could you record then a 2 Vs. with the new ratio? I think I haven't seem!

I did and posted it on the previous page on this thread.

Here you go

[Jango]

I must be getting crazy, because I saw that video, but it's only the <--> layout used instead of the <-------> ?

[superman43]

What would be a nice addition ? Story Mode. Having the story starting with both Sonic and Tails cutscene, then Knuckles cutscene, with possibility to play 1P (Sonic and Tails story only), 2P (1P - Sonic and Tails, 2P - Knuckles) or 3P. 

It could essentially work as Competition mode does. What do you think ? 

[Tenko]

I just want a version of that fan edited intro in the game. Adding the pencil part of the trailer to the actual in game intro on YouTube was genius and it needs to be in the game. I would settle for the trailer being in there as a bonus or something but that stuff needs preserved in the game rather than as a YouTube download.

 

[TheOcelot]

For those interested in HyperKinetic Studios, who are also involved in the latest version of Mania (and Mania Plus):

Their site:

https://www.hyperkineticstudios.com/

Quote

Hyperkinetic Studios LLC is a different kind of software developing agency.

Located in Los Angeles, California, our team is a diverse collective of talented individuals that possess a passion and innovation that is unmatched. With our experience extending to both the mobile and web-based worlds, we strive to accomplish the highest level of creative work across all platforms. By unifying our comprehensive and intuitive design with our unique artistry, we work to provide users with an engaging and enlightening multi-sensory experience.

 

Twitter

Hyperkinetic is also credited in the end-credits of the 1.04 version.

 

[spd12]

I find the change in Tails' 'drying' animation in Chemical Plant interesting.

To me, it speaks of a brand/portrayal issue with highers-up, as if to say at the last minute 'we don't approve of Tails doing this while holding his tails in that way,' but at that point it was too late to draw a new animation in time.

I feel that the changed animation now in play reflects this idea/gag done acceptably in the eyes of those in charge of handling this sort of thing.