Why take the Sonic canon seriously at all? It's a huge pile of spaghetti. Just because Iizuka said "Super Emeralds aren't canon" doesn't mean we'll never see them again, that statement came from the same guy who also said "uhh because everyone had amnesia" when asked why no one recognized Blaze in Sonic 06; he also said "uhh because the moon flipped lol" when asked why the moon was back to normal in all games after SA2. The Sonic 4 website also misinterpreted the order of events within S3&K. The Sonic series canon is a joke and at this point, whatever statements said by SEGA regarding it shouldn't be taken seriously because they don't take it seriously either. "The moon flipped."
Here's something a bit interesting (kudos to Maxtiis pointing it out at SSMB). This short animation .gif was initially posted by Max Collins on his tumblr maxjcollons, featuring Sonic fighting one of the Hard-Boiled Heavies; before he later removed it from his tumblr (though it survives in reblogged posts). Pretty cool by itself, but what's really interesting is that this Hard-Boiled Heavy looks to be the one hiding in backgrounds of Mirage Saloon (note the helmet shape and the cape), with what looks like to be his complete design; despite that boss not having been officially revealed (in full, anyway). Moreover, Collins is a storyboarder for CN and an animator for Studio Yotta according to his bio (he has a lot of sketches / animation tests for CN's upcoming show OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes). Did Collins do some guesswork / take creative liberties? Or is this animation part of something bigger yet to be revealed? May be wishful thinking, but you never know...
Please be true please be true PLEASE BE TRUE Seriously this looks beautiful. And before seeing this gif I didn't realize how much I want a Sonic CD-esq cinematic in Mania.
Whever that animation is an official part of the game of just a fan piece, it's pretty spectacular. The fact that it got deleted makes me wonder if it's for the game for sure, plus we havn't seen that Hard boiled heavy in full yet, though the rest of the design could always be gussed out too I suppose..
Mania's Jp site has been updated. *translates Mania Jp site* "Mirage Saloon This is the first stage appearing in this work. Dry Rock Desert is set on stage This bar stage will feature a bar counter and revolver gimmick reminiscent of western play! Also when you play this stage with knackles it will be different stage composition from Sonic Tails!" KNACKLES!!! Also another playthrough of GH act 2: Edit: forgot to mention, this has Tee Lopes act2 remix.
From what I could hear of it, I wasn't feeling it at first (namely the lead synth) until I realized there's a lot of busy percussion ala JP. Palmtree Panic. Looking forward to hearing the full track.
This is also the newer build that features the activated star posts. Still some awkward tiling errors unfortunately. I wonder why they get to play with this build while Sega of America continues to show off the old one?
Actually, after digging through the animation frames and comparing the boss design to the ones from that boss silhouette pic shown during HH's reveal: Here's the original: And here's what I could make out of by most notable design parts: And now by recent reveal of Mirage Saloon being the first zone in the game (Stage?), it looks like this boss is actually first one of the separate bosses featured in the game. Which more or less confirms that Max Collins is working on the cutscenes for Sonic Mania (You dun goofed with that slip-up man) Though IDK how the transition would go to the very boss itself from this possible "cutscene", unless it's featured on the beginning of the stage before we transition to Mirage Saloon. Anyway- Holy moley, that animation is juicy. Glad to see Classic Sonic-flair brought back from 1993's CD cutscenes and OVAs by amazing Studio Yotta itself. This game might bound to be a truly ambitious tribute. :v:/>
It doesn't make sense that Mirage Saloon is the first zone of the game, it has to be some kind of mistranslation or misunderstanding. The producer said in the KindaFunnyPlays video last year that it was fairly late in the game.
Looking at the BACKGROUND of the animation, we see what looks like 3 tv sets (1 stacked on top of two). I'm calling it that this animation is going to be used as a transition from Studiopolis Zone to Mirage Saloon Zone after the Studiopolis Zone Act 2 boss. Look at the pride of a job well done on Sonic's face at the beginning, only to be interrupted by the NEXT Hardboiled Heavy!....and off we go!
Ehh, not too keen on the Act 2 remix of Green Hill Zone. The lead synth is probably what it is, it doesn't fit the music.
So these cutscenes are all transitions to next stages inbetween. That's really cool! Could have bit guessed due the set of backgrounds elements next to Sonic with a sign above them (along with the TVs) that this is still set in Studiopolis Zone. Also seems to indeed confirm that Studiopolis -> Mirage Saloon. Anyway, I can only hope we get individual ones for each character (Tails, Knuckles and also one for Sonic & Tails)
