Sonic Mania Plus SPOILER THREAD with UNMARKED spoilers!

The actual code is 1 9 7 9 0 8 1 1, which is apparently Stealth's birthday according to his Twitter profile, and apparently his fursona is a squirrel, so that might have something to do with the result of the code. All the codes have been added to the appropriate wiki page.

 

Silly question... How did you get that SEGA copyright to show up in the corner?

Also, was that required by SEGA in order to upload Sonic Mania footage to YouTube?

 

I think that's pasted automatically when you share or record things with a PS4.

 

Also happens on Switch too.

 

Yeah, I just found out about that. I was messing with the codes in different orders, and I must have made a mistake at some point and assumed it would only work the way I posted.

I actually found this out hoping one of these codes restored the original Metal Sonic fight. I went to fight him and wasn't expecting all the squirrels there.

 

Since the Plus/Encore update on Steam, I've had some serious lag on the Time Attack screen, the game crash (once) after beating Crimson Eye as Mighty, and videos playing in black and white. I'm running a laptop with an i7-7700HQ, GTX 1050Ti, and 16GB of RAM. Fucking outstanding.
And from picking up the Switch version and running through that, I found that the "blue sphere miscount" bug still hasn't been fixed. Come on, guys.

On the whole, Encore is growing on me, including the new palettes I thought I'd dislike when they were first revealed/leaked. Yes, even Titanic Monarch 1.

 

I don't see it on my switch recordings.

 

Definitely doesn't happen on Switch. Not sure about XB1, but I thought it was a PS4 specific 'feature'.

 

Watched/listened to all of Axanery's playthrough of the "Vaporwave Mode" (where the music tracks playback at 0.75% their original speed). Neat mode--seems like the exact sort of thing that should be one of the recently revealed cheat codes you could enable. But CodenameGamma and Axanery are saying the mode went completely unused due to the team not being able to get it to work on the console versions--would be fascinating to know what the technical limitation there is. Couldn't they have just included 0.75% speed ogg files of the music (slightly increasing the download size) that would only playback in the "Vaporwave Mode"?

In any case, like I said, neat mode. My favorite of the slowed-down tracks are Chemical Plant Act 1, Flying Battery Act 1, Stardust Speedway Act 1 and 2, Hydrocity Act 2, Mirage Saloon Act 2, Lava Reef Act 2, Metallic Madness Act 1 and 2, Titanic Monarch Act 1, and the end credits song.

I still think CodenameGamma's "SegaSonic" Mania mode with Sonic+Mighty+Ray (3 characters on screen; two AI) is the coolest thing I've seen recently, though. I know it's a modification and not something that went unused, but the video of GHZ Act 1 and 2 being played through makes it seem like something that could be officially possible. Like I said before, if there ever is a sequel to "Mania," Sonic+Tails+Knuckles and Sonic+Mighty+Ray would be very nice additions.

 

Yeah I'm kinda in love with Mania Plus? I knew I was gonna enjoy playing as Ray and Mighty but they're just so fun to experience the game with, even in Mania Mode. Their unique attributes really shine through when exploring the levels. I also really really love their animations. I know some have had problems with the way Ray looks; personally I think that he looks fine in general, though something about his "hurt" animation (& related ones like dying, drowning, etc.) looks a little off to me. Really can't put my finger on it. But I do love them overall.

Also, the new cheats are so fun! I did notice that if you activate a cheat (at least, with ERZ flight & no Super music), return to the Save Select menu, and go to a save file with debug mode still enabled, you can use the cheat in the save file! Pretty neat, though unfortunately the Max Control code doesn't seem to work. I think the deal is that cheats that conflict with Game Options and Save File data like Sonic ability, continues, and Chaos Emerald progress might be overwritten by what's already there, though I haven't been able to test it that thoroughly yet. But it is also cool that the cheats let you use debug in Encore Mode!

 

So while I've enjoyed most everything about all the new stuff Plus added, I'm not really that much of a fan of the Metal Sonic Kai fight, and I think I know why. My main problem is that, if you hit him from the left, you're pretty much doomed to fall in the pit. I think it's because that, unlike other bosses that force you to move in one direction like MHZ2, the Death Egg Robot in GHZ1 and the other Death Egg Robot in DEZ2, you don't get launched to the direction of safety. If they can patch that in somehow, I think the fight would be better off for it.

As far as the stuff I liked, the new Mirage Saloon act 1 for Encore Mode is great and Ray's an absolute blast to play as. The special stages are also pretty challenging and I like the addition of new level transitions. Can't wait for new level mods that can let us take advantage of Mighty and Ray's abilities!

 

Been enough time now. So... what's with that Encore Mode ending?

Spoiler

Eggman got sucked into the Phantom Ruby?
No fight with the Heavy King?
Heavy King brings Nachos?

 

I'm loving Mania Plus as well. I've got it on Switch and PS4, and I'm playing the PS4 version at the moment.

Funny thing about the cheats running on save files, the save file I already had established with Knuckles on the regular Sonic Mania still wont activate the cheats. Don't know if it's because it's an old Sonic Mania file or cheats won't work if you start the save file without them? (I'm about half way though with Knuckles on the old save file.)

I've also noticed other small idiosyncrasies within the game. Some areas have been patched and fixed up a bit, and even some enemies like Splats from PGZ, which is a bit more difficult to cheese and try and get extra lives out of.

 

A couple of fun videos regarding the new pinball bonus stage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1aMkKvgZ4A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CjbBxNMXUA
I ended up falling straight through a flipper, too.

 

In order for Classic Sonic to return to his world in Forces, they had to destroy the Phantom Ruby. So... why does the ruby fly out of the portal with him?

 

What is this "Forces" thing you speak of?
(Seriously though, I get the feeling the beginning of Encore Mode encourages you to ignore Forces if you so desire. I know I do!)

 

Actually, that's a good point. Encore Mode follows on perfectly from the Egg Reverie ending without the ambiguity and confusing plot points of Forces every coming into the equation (like what the Ruby is and where it even came from).

Sod Forces.

 

So, I was watching the credits on the PC version, and the screen became darker all of a sudden, until I pressed a button. Is it some kind of sleep mode ? That wasn't in the original release, right ?

 

This is kind of what I was hoping, but it looks like the Story in the digital manual wants to make absolute sure that you haven't forgotten Forces.

Thankfully 'Forces 2: Shorter Levels Edition' will explain why the Ruby is still in Encore Mode, don't you worry :v:

 

Eh, well much like how Sonic the Fighters can be considered the conclusion to Sonic 4, we can say that Encore mode takes place right after Mania mode :v:

Forces didn't happen. It was a fever dream Sonic had after eating some bad chili dogs.