Considering that none of the levels shown so far have any considerable Knuckles-specific areas (if any at all, correct me if I'm wrong) I wouldn't be so optimistic about that. Edit: Knuckles did have a different starting point in Mirage Saloon though so who knows.
They kept the grey ish light black on the foreground from Sonic 3&K rather than using (or adding) true black that they are using (like Sonic 2/2). That's why it looks so off.
Okay, question time. Seeming as there will be no Collector's edition on PC for us Europeans (what the hell?), I'm stuck between 2 choices: a) Pre-order Sonic Mania Collector's edition on PC from Amazon.com (USA) and get it 4 days after release date (and pray it's not region locked) for £109 ($138). or b) Pre-order Sonic Mania Collector's edition on Xbox One from Amazon.co.uk (UK) for £79 ($98) and get it on release day, then buy Sonic Mania alone from Steam UK (I'm going to guess it'll be around £30 [$37]), and then sell the Xbox One key from the collector's edition on eBay? What would you guys recommend? Or better yet, what have you PC European gamers decided to do? I'm sorry if this has already been covered, but I'm not going through 247 pages =P
The flying battery Zones new background reminds me of .... RANGER X's Stage 5 boss fight! @ 22:54 ! https://youtu.be/6GbuW1bZquQ?t=22m54s
@redhotsonic I am from the UK and I am not bothering with the collector's edition. It doesn't offer anything interesting, especially for the price. However, if I was in your position, I'd get the console version and buy the Steam key separately. That way, you don't have to worry about getting stung by customs, you'll get everything much quicker and you can sell the console key to make some extra money (although, I'd personally keep it as part of the set). It'll probably work out a little cheaper then getting the US version (especially as there will be no customs charges).
Customs charges are already included when ordering from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?ie=UTF8&pop-up=1&nodeId=201117970&ref=amazon_global_shipmsg_viewed_help For example, this is for the Sonic Mania CE:
Oh, that's good to know. I've actually been avoiding Amazon for a while, as I got stung in the past! Although if I was ordering the Collector's Edition, I'd probably still go for the Uk one and then get the key from Steam, as I'd imagine it would come quicker and it doesn't seem to be much more expensive (especially if you sell the Xbox key).
My plan is to follow through with my PS4 pre-order of the Collectors Edition, and also buy a regular copy on Switch. Then I will sell the PS4 key, if possible. This is because I was able to get the PS4 Collectors pre-order, but not one for Switch. Really, I just want the figure that comes with the Collector's Edition, but I'm worried the figure is going to be hollow, with sharp seams, and imprecise paint.
Go with option two - I'm sure you can probably find a fellow member on here who's planning on getting the game for XB1 and isn't getting the CE. You could sell them the code.
Now I have to admit that I initially thought the clouds in the background were? mountains similar to the ones in Icecap Zone. Still, with Flying Battery Zone and Icecap Zone being two of the most popular stages in S&K and S3 respectively it seems like too good of an opportunity not to bring them together ESPECIALLY when you get to include major nod to their scrapped stage transition.
In case anyone wants some temporary album art for this game that fits a 1:1 ratio, I whipped this together: I have to say I'm loving the art they're making for this game
Woop Ta muchly. It's pretty gorgeous art. The only thing that I don't like about it is that I won't get to see it on any official game cases.
Yeah, that's beautiful. Someone compared it to the Sonic Heroes boxart, but I think this is better because it looks like one cohesive artwork. In Sonic Heroes, the 3 characters and the background all look like separate pieces crappily slapped together.
The Art's good, but I can't help but be irked by Sonic and Knuckles having a near identical U-bend on their knees. It's just... weird and odd.
https://youtu.be/a_jSHvGZSfA?t=1h58m54s EDIT: Actually turns out this guy doesn't seem to know what he's talking about, see Taxman's and Stealth's posts after this.
Well, remember when the Sonic 3 special stage was spotted and Taxman said we hadn't seen the proper special stage yet. Guessing that old classic special stages might be bonus stages.
You know, I really like the half-pipe. For me, it was the best special stage in the series... But it's not like I'm saying that this is a great achievement, because really, the bar is very low. :v: