Sonic Mania (Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC...Netflix?)

That's good to hear. That still won't keep people from questioning the quality of it. You know how this fan base works.

 

Is this in Studiopolis or a different zone?

 

Almost certainly Act 2 of Studiopolis:

• The overall colour palette looks consistent with Studiopolis Act 1
• Although there's a different background, we've seen from Green Hill that backgrounds can change S3&K-style during a level, and the background here features the same test-card displaying TVs as seen in the foreground of Studiopolis Act 1
• The ground seen in the top-left corner is identical to the clapperboard/scaffolding arrangements seen in Act 1 of Studiopolis, just recoloured blue rather than orange
• Studiopolis seems to be the Casino/Pinball type stage for this game (though with a more cinema + film/tv studio twist), so a gumball/lottery mechanic would fit in nicely
• All other footage/images seen so far have been from either Studiopolis or Green Hill
• We've seen at least one screenshot that appears to be from Act 2 of Green Hill (Sonic's standing in his "ready to go" pose next to a Star Post with the cave background & a Basaran badnik visible), so it's not impossible we'd also see a glimpse of Act 2 of Studiopolis in amongst the footage/screens released

 

Maybe every stage could have its own bonus, like in... Donkey Kong Country? But honestly, kinda agree with the comment above, it sounds mostly like a "act 2" (or 3 ?) of Studiopolis.

 

Just watched the trailer again - footage at 00:58, 01:35 and 01:41 clearly all have the same background as the gumball/lottery clip. The ground tiles use the same honeycomb-pattern as seen in Studiopolis Act 1, but (yet again) recoloured blue, and the red bouncing balloon-things seen in Act 1 are also present in the final of those three snippets of footage. No doubt in my mind - definitely Studiopolis Act 2 (unless Act 3s are a thing again in Mania, anyway...). = )

Also, tiny bit of Green Hill Act 2 footage at 01:10 - you can see the cave background through the waterfalls.

 

The amusing thing to all of this is, this time around, the developers get to see all of our speculation and deductions first-hand while the game is being made.

Makes me wonder, are they laughing at how far off we are, dying to throw us a hint but aren't allowed to, or making little tweaks or stuff just to throw us off the scent?

 

I was at SoS too and got to play both stages. Man I got a really weird feeling from it: it's so perfectly like the MD games I just gelled with it instantly and didn't even have to think about it, for the first time in forever I played a Sonic game for the first time and it just clicked in a second and didn't go "oh this is new/odd/different, this is gonna take some getting used to".

Even the drop dash was pretty simple to suss out in no time and start taking advantage of, no where near as complex as some were making it out to be, just hold while in the air and let go as you land. I love the little whizzing noise it makes as you drop.

This really is the Sonic 4 we should have got on Sega Saturn. Some of the level layout in Green Hill is a little strange (lots of those tunnels in one area and some odd dead ends) but actually can get through it much quicker than I expected considering the size of it.

 

Ah man what an awesome thing to say! yes mate we can hit the beers!



It would be awesome to see Mania becoming a series (Mania 2&3)

A fun marketing campaign for this game to go alongside the current standard (gameplay vids etc) would be to have some 'fake' Mean Machines SEGA & 90s magazine features made up. Like a scan from a page... That would be so cool. Sega social media get on this!

 

You're more than welcome man! Would love to hang with you at the barcade! We should definitely hit the beers! Regarding Sonic Mania I think I speak for everyone when I say that it'd be beyond amazing for this to become a series. It's already garnered a storm of positive attention (a 50 plus page thread on NeoGAF for example compared to 12 or so pages for Project Sonic) which is a good sign that this'll sell extremely well upon release. If it sells well then Sega are almost guaranteed to green light a sequel.

Also your idea about the potential marketing campaign is awesome. Hopefully Aaron's reading this and takes your idea on-board!

 

Stealth's e01 engine dates back to 1997, almost 20 years ago :v:

 

Stealth was a code legend back in the days of Project Mettrix and Sfghq. Fangamers were pumping out primitive games in The Games Factory/Multimedia Fusion with ridiculously bad physics and overall production values whilst fangaming was in its infancy whilst Stealth produced the first accurate Genesis Sonic engine complete with quite the fantastic game behind it. He was so ahead of the curve it was ridiculous. A true prodigy if I were to ever recognise one.

As I've previously stated him and Taxman are both legends in the Sonic scene and it's amazing and wonderful that they both get to produce their own game.

 

I remember, the time I was most impressed by their efforts, was when Stealth ported Sonic 1 to the Sega CD, when Tax ported his Retro engine to The Dreamcast, and, though not part of the team, equally as impressive was when DRX ported Sonic the Hedgehog to the 32X. Above all else, those 3 feats impressed me the most. They all demonstrate a real level of mastery over the Sonic engine.

 

You guys are all making Taxman and Stealth sound ancient, haha! The fact e01 existed from '97 which means at the time I was literally 6 years old just goes how engrained some members are to this community. Pretty inspiring stuff.

 

I remember when Stealth just casually dropped Knuckles in Sonic 1 into our laps like it was no big deal. Nowadays Character in Sonic 1 hacks are pretty frequent but it was a literal game changer at the time, everyone was freaking out. It was fantastic. That was like 11 years ago, crazy how time flies.

 

Using the red from Sonic's shoe as the palette, no less

Some of us have been around for almost 20 years now. It's wild how strong this scene has been for so many decades. There are others who have been around for similarly long periods of time, like Nemesis.

I still remember the days of Oil Palace Zone, save state hacking, and Klik n Play Dust Hill Zone/HPZ recreations before Metrrix dropped.

 

I remember when Yarharhar's Sonic 2: Robotnik's Revenge was the game to watch! Demo Tubes Zone!

 

Don't forget IPS patches! :specialed:

Yeah, it really is quite something to think about how far we have come as a community.

 

Its kinda crazy how close this song syncs up with the Mania Trailer.

Just mute the video on the right.

 

I wish I could.

 

I think you doubled the wrong videos.