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Sonic Mania Plus (Consoles Physical; PC Digital) - Non-Leaks Thread

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Chris Highwind, Mar 16, 2018.

  1. Ravenfreak

    Ravenfreak

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    I don't know if it's been mentioned yet but Walmart is now advertising Mania Plus in store on the display TVs in Electronics. I seen the ad yesterday after I got off work, it's cool seeing an ad for a Sonic game in store!
     
  2. Prototype

    Prototype

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    So, has it been stated anywhere how Sonic Team responded to the success of Mania? I know that Iizuka had input into the game, but did it take ST by surprise? Is there that sort of tight-lipped acknowledgment of it doing well, and "wow, we're glad it's a success" business-speak, while on the whole being rather confused by it all?

    The image I get from Sonic Team, and admittedly it's not based on much, is that they're a bit out-of-touch and burned out with Sonic, so there isn't that passion and excitement that there was in the early days (not to mention that very few of the original team are still around) and that they've been trying to reinvent the wheel so often that they're now at a stage where they're wondering why the cart won't roll with square wheels. (Rolling... hm, maybe this shitty metaphor was more apt than I thought).

    Would it have rekindled some semblance of direction for them post-Forces, or is it sort of regarded by them as a side-project albeit a begrudgingly successful one?

    At the very least, SEGA seems to have taken notice of the success. Do you guys think that this could cause a bit of a shake-up at Sonic Team, or even the dissolution of the marketing forces that resulted in them even keeping the ST name?
     
  3. Laughingcow

    Laughingcow

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    https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-10-23-sonic-mania-and-its-impact-on-the-future-of-the-sonic-series

    Basically just corporate speak. Shun Nakamura is off working on Valkyria Chronicles now (as he was only brought back for Forces). This won't amount to anything as Forces did sell "Strongly" as they put it. Nothing to see here.
     
  4. Prototype

    Prototype

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    The corporate speak is painful. It's like there's so many words being said without much meaning. I mean, I entirely get it. They're never going to be objective when they're involved in the creation and marketing of a project, and I'm sure that a lot of talented people worked on these games and they're never going to be thrown under a bus.

    It's weird, it's like they're going to keep churning out Sonic titles because of brand recognition, but from what I've read, ST members only seem to get a bit more enthusiastic and excited about other non-Sonic projects that they're working on. It's like they're painted into a corner, like they're locked into this weird cycle. They keep making Sonic games because they're Sonic Team, and they remain Sonic Team because they keep making Sonic games. but at the core of it there's very little understanding of the appeal of the character or any understanding about fun gameplay.

    But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe they just do think the Modern gameplay is superior, and much like "Boost Sonic" itself, they're going to keep moving forward in their chosen direction without any real reflection on whether they should or why.

    I think that Mania is an interesting case, because it's not just "By the Mania for the Mania". It's "By Gamers for Gamers". It feels like the brand needs this Mania refresh, even if it means going back to the beginning to find what worked, because it ultimately feels like the people working at Sonic Team stopped playing games a long time ago, and are so deep into corporate culture and weathered by it that they can't look at a game for it's gameplay anymore.

    Thoughts?

    EDIT: Upon re-reading the interview, one can easily read disdain in Nakamura's comments. It seems like such a strange thing to imply that the 2D games are simpler to get the hang of or easier to play than the modern 3D titles, as I've found that it's exactly the opposite. The 3D games have nowhere near the same amount of complexity as the 2D games. Every time you play the 2D games, you discover a new way to play, or you find that you navigate levels differently based on your understanding of the physics, whereas the 3D games seem to be little more than boosting and scripted elements with the occasional very basic platform engine with a veneer of Sonic-ness slapped on top.

    They seem to be stuck in that weird late '90s mindset of "3D is inherently better because it's 3D" without actually analyzing what works and what doesn't. It amuses me that they can both show a level of disdain for the 2D titles, while at the same time acknowledging that the success of Mania made them sit down and think about what they could take from Mania to improve their 3D titles. Which is probably just more emphasis on the veneer of Sonic, which was exactly what Classic Sonic in Forces was.
     
  5. Beltway

    Beltway

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    Sega's Q2 reports came out today. Video game revenue was stagnant, namely due to losses in the digital games sector. Sega blamed the losses on delays of games that were due for release in the first half of the fiscal year, and said they hoped for things to improve for the second half (in which they have various releases planned).

    In the meantime, however, Sega's unit sales of packaged games increased from the previous year, rising from 8.6M for Q2 last year up to 11.18M for Q2 this year. The rise was credited to sales of catalog titles released during the quarter, which included the highlighted performances of Sonic Mania Plus, Ryu ga Gotoku 3 (the Yakuza 3 remaster), and the Shenmue I & II re-release.
     
  6. Overlord

    Overlord

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    Oh my god that whole discussion about fangame "theft" was so retarded. Let's not do that again, please.
     
  7. 360

    360

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  8. LordOfSquad

    LordOfSquad

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    Thanks for the heads-up, I just double dipped. Time to doive on into all these mods I've been seeing~
     
  9. brainkk

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    It seems that Stealth isn't working on anything for Sega at the moment (he's livestreaming and he said that he's working on his engine made in C)

    The only one that seems to go silent is taxman, now here's my fanboy theory :v: :

    Maybe Sonic Team hired Taxman to become lead programmer/boss of a project for Sonic Team (3D Classic sonic game? :ssh: )

    OOOOOR nobody is working on any project right now because of sega being sega (still discussing about what to do after a good game, and end up doing the exact opposite)
     
  10. Felik

    Felik

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    Isn't Taxman involved with Freedom Planner 2 though?
     
  11. SuperSnoopy

    SuperSnoopy

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    Slice of life visual novel, coming soon...?
    I don't think he's on the development team or anything, iirc he just gave them a hand with the new engine they're using. (but don't quote me on that)
     
  12. Jason

    Jason

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    IIRC he did the initial porting of the FP1 engine to Unity, but I don't think he's full-time staff.

    It'd be cool if he and the rest of the Mania team came back to Retro to chat, but they've been MIA for over a year now.
     
  13. XCubed

    XCubed

    Will Someday Own a Rent-A-Center Oldbie
    Sonic Mania Plus Truffles are now a thing!

    https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1859478160815999&id=100002615001184
     
  14. Iggy for Short

    Iggy for Short

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    Make one of those with the game's logo on it and you could briefly confuse it for a Switch cart. :v:
     
  15. Beltway

    Beltway

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    (Late) minor sales update, but bad news for Mania Plus in the UK charts.

    Three weeks ago it tanked hard in the all-format charts, dropping from 26 to 38 (near bottom of the chart). Worth noting that this week was also the same week the Spyro Re-Ignited Trilogy came out (which topped the charts, and is still in the Top 10 as of this writing), so I wouldn't be surprised if Spryo stole away whatever remaining audience Mania Plus might have had.

    The game didn't recover from the drop, as it disappeared from the charts last week and didn't re-appear this week. This was pretty much the last realm of visibility the game had on any retail charts (as it has long disappeared from charts of other PAL territories, died a quick death in Japan's MSC, and never appeared in the US NPD). I haven't really counted to compare the number of weeks / months both games had, but I'm pretty confident Forces had a longer (consecutive) run on the UK charts than Mania Plus did.

    I still maintain that in light of the distribution approach they chose, Mania Plus was an attempt by Sega to sell the game to a general audience (rather than strictly targeting Sonic diehards and enthusiasts who wanted a retail version) and I think they failed on that front by not bothering to give Mania Plus any meaningful mainstream advertising (the Mania Adventures shorts and Sonic 1 throwback commercial, while brilliant, were restricted solely to Sega/Sonic-specific avenues, and only available on the internet).

    And while it is possible that Sega was presumably planning to save their marketing dollars for Team Sonic Racing this year (which ended up being delayed to 2019....oops), it's worth noting marketing for Sonic games in general during this era seems to have been severely cut down. Mania despite its digital release seemed to ultimately get more promotion than Forces, despite that game previously being touted as the major mainline Sonic release of that year and the one that had a retail presence. In light of that I'm not expecting Sega's approach to promoting Sonic games to improve much --if at all-- when TSR finally releases.

    It really says a lot as to whether Sonic can even considered a mainstream series anymore when you're more likely to see Sonic in advertisements for other products rather than advertisements for his own games. And that the last television commercial specifically about the franchise was a promo for the social media accounts that aired on the [adult swim] evening block.

     
  16. ICEknight

    ICEknight

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    So... Do we know what this is yet?
     
  17. Plorpus

    Plorpus

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    It's probably just early concept art for it.
     
  18. biggestsonicfan

    biggestsonicfan

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    I finally bought this game. It's a mixed bag. Considering the second level is akin to Chemical Plant Zone, I don't expect to progress to much farther than that, as I just game over there in Sonic 2, so I have a very limited perspective on the game. I did not enjoy the strange enhancements to Green Hill Zone, and I take an exceptional distaste to the animated cutscenes. The 3D special zones felt wrong to play and I didn't like getting coins that seemingly wouldn't affect gameplay. Felt the first boss was too difficult for a GHZ boss.

    I don't really plan to play it anymore. I guess that's all I have to say then.
     
  19. ICEknight

    ICEknight

    Researcher Researcher
    It gets better.
     
  20. Beltway

    Beltway

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    After being shuffled off of the charts, Mania Plus re-surfaced on the UK charts at the near-bottom of the list (#39) three weeks ago. It has since held the #37 spot over the past two weeks.

    Looks like the game will be able to hold onto the UK charts heading into the new year.

    Normally I'd suggest to keep playing, so you can at least give the original zones a chance (the first original zone, Studiopolis, comes after Chemical Plant)....

    ...but if you're going to start your post with "it's a mixed bag" and proceed to not say anything from the game you like(d) or found as a positive, then I doubt you'll like anything else the game will has to offer. :/