Has any harm actually come about to Sega or Sonic because of this? I'd assume the best way to handle it would be with cute little Social Media jabs and eventually people would forget or laugh over the whole thing. Sonic isn't a religion, Knuckles maybe if he goes green, but not Sonic. We shouldn't go to war over this, especially not in a forum topic for the best thing to ever happen for Classic Sonic fans in this decade. EDIT: Made a new topic for all of it: http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=35807
On the derailment topic of the complaints regarding the gaming press and Sonic; I will note that I'm not a fan about how some of the press like to have a go at Sonic fans simply for being fans, as well as some revisionist history arguments that Sonic was widely considered to never be good (emphasis on "widely considered"). But the way some people try and rebuke negative press reactions towards the franchise can be at best ridiculous. The frequently-suggestion notion that there exists a huge number of people that are simply wrong and hysterical, or, ultimately, crazy or evil towards Sonic; is an argument I am am heavily inclined not to accept. Going back to Sonic Mania. At the risk of coming off as pretentious, I do wonder if Taxman and Stealth have taken a glance at the criticism of classic gameplay thread Deef made. While its not necessary, it would be pretty cool to know if some of the issues people have raised there against the classic games will be addressed in Mania.
They ain't coming man, NDAs and such keep them from posting (here in this topic at least). You have better luck PMing them then waiting for an answer while we discuss Video Game Journalism™ Seriously, have we run out of stuff to talk about when it comes to Mania?
Looking at it one way, if those are the biggest problems/criticisms with Sonic Mania, then the game should be at least as good as the classics.
I don't think the game makers have to support remote play, but rather that it's an OS feature. So, my understanding is that, by default, it'll support Remote Play.
Sonic Mania is definitely an example of why Sonic the Hedgehog is still around and why Sonic isn't leaving anytime soon. Hopefully, Sonic Mania will be the start of retro Sonic throwbacks done right (I'm looking at you, Sonic 4!). I'm glad that SEGA is finally giving Christian Whitehead something he rightfully deserves - the authority to make new Sonic games without them being ports. The future of Sonic the Hedgehog is looking even brighter than ever!
This is a bad idea, please do not PM them. They're probably already being bombarded everywhere, and it doesn't change what they're allowed to talk about. You'd just be inconveniencing them, because it wastes more of their time to ignore / get rid of a PM than skimming a few threads.
So it has been some time now since the announcement and you would have thought the hype would have died down a little but I'm still super excited for this game. More than for Project Sonic at the moment. Project Sonic looks promising and cool in a Generations successor kind of way but Mania is like the dream game we've been waiting on since Sonic and Knuckles in 1994. Quick question. Do you think this'll have hefty minimum specifications for a PC to run it? I'm asking since I'm thinking of upgrading my laptop. From what I remember Taxman's Retro Sonic engine could pretty much run on a toaster. I still remember his Egg Garden demo back in the day running on Christ, I think it was a 400 Mhz Celeron with a Voodoo 3 graphics card. It's essentially the same engine from back then so I'm presuming Mania should pretty much run on anything? Maybe Stealth could chime in since he's working hard on the tech side of things. Spring 2017 can't come soon enough. Looking forward to seeing more zones in the vein of Studiopolis. Also demo when?
One of the ponderables, at least from earlier in the thread, is how much of the original games are we going to see in this. As in, both inspiration and derivation. Personally I haven't got much hope for nor inclination for Hyper Sonic/Hyper Knuckles but it would be nice to see the super forms for each of the three characters reappear. The idea of the zones having changed over time is intriguing and I'd second a vote for Launch Base Zone, or Mushroom Hill Zone. But surely the ultimate zone for a revisit would be Angel Island Zone. The destruction of the original S3 game - what has changed? Have the trees regrown and the forest returned? Maybe there's bits of the Death Egg I lying around. Or what about Scrap Brain Zone? Perhaps it's been abandoned and there's large amounts of urban decay, with damaged zombie-like Badniks moving around still. The opportunity to revisit zones in a new way is a great idea. That has piqued my interest because there's so many ways that could play out and be really interesting.
Honestly I know this is highly likely to solely be a digital download but what I want most from this is a physical release. I'd buy a boxed copy of this in a heartbeat.
I don't know where I found this link but I'm pretty sure it was someone who posted it here, I just can't remember who, where, etc. sorry http://content.radiosega.net/content/podcasts/The%20SEGA%20Lounge/The%20SEGA%20Lounge%20-%20S2E01%20-%20The%20Taxman%20and%20Stealth%20and%20big_smile%20%2811%20Mar%202015%29.m4a Listen at 46:00 mark of what Taxman said he really wants to create. I'm willing to bet that Sonic Mania will be like a new Sonic Jam! Sonic inside the Mega Drive itself would explain why Sonic visits old stages. If I were a betting man, I'd also say Archie's comic will tie into this because of the Mega Drive title. But all speculation of course. Def excited for this game!
Expect a fresh batch of hands-on opinions from UK Retro members in the coming days. I've just gotten home from Summer of Sonic, after having a fantastic time, and Mania is certainly one of, if not THE highlight of the event. I only managed to play the single Studiopolis act due to the queue being insane (other Retro members did manage to play both available zones though - Orenge being one of these IIRC). The game is simply bliss. Buttery smooth visuals, plus physics as you'd imagine 'em to be - as if plucked straight from the Mega Drive Games. The only slight issue I have is that the new Drop-Spin move takes some getting used to. 2017 couldn't come fast enough!
Thanks for the impressions! Enlightening! So glad to hear the game is bliss to play. I'm still super excited for Mania so impressions are more than welcome. I look forward to hearing more!
No worries. A couple more observations for you - I purposefully stopped for a brief moment mid-play just to check out the new idle animation (due to current footage being rather obscured), wasn't disappointed at all. From the traditional foot-tap to the "ready to go!" pose, it's perfect. Lastly, it was confirmed today that one of the optional screen filters for the game is a new-fangled CRT filter, complete with scanlines.
ahhh for fucks sake, completely missed this!! Just glancing at the thread title I mistook it for the US event thread. Dammit, could have come to this as well. Winter barcade it is then
So......I had the pleasure of playing Green Hill from Sonic Mania at Summer of Sonic. A few hours later I played through Studiopolis. Soon as I sat down and put the headphones on (so that I could hear the music) I was blown away by just how good the music sounds. We all know it sounds good from the gameplay footage we've seen, but fuck me it sounds even more impressive when you are actually playing the game! This will give Sonic CD's soundtracks a run for their money! Green Hill I made sure that I tested all the moves to see how Sonic feels and performs. It took me - and I'm not even exaggerating when I say this - 10 seconds to be perfectly at home with the controls. The momentum physics are superb, spot-on just like the classics. Sonic moves fluidly both in the air and on the ground akin to how he feels in Sonic 3. The spindash works just like in Sonic 3 in how the more you rev it up the faster Sonic moves upon release. The Spindash is a bit more powerful in Mania and I loved using it. The drop-dash is very easy to use. You hold the jump-button in mid-air and keep it held down until Sonic hits the ground which then unleashes the drop-dash effect. It's a nice move (the animation kind of reminds me of the original charge-up spindash in Sonic CD). Something to note is that the drop-dash appears to release at the same speed regardless of how long you have held down the jump button whilst in the air. Green Hill's design is impressive. I made sure I explored as much as I could. I went up high and explored below where parts of the stage take designs from the underground section from act2 from Green Hill in Sonic 1. It's clear that a lot of thought has gone into making the new layout in GH as unique as possible. None of the new layout felt like a rehash. The elemental shields work as you expect. Feels like you can move with the bubble shield a bit more easily than in Sonic 3. I found a few of the hidden giant silver rings. I love the animations of the normal shield, when Sonic is invincible and the sparkles you get when Sonic collects rings. There is an invincibility box shortly before the boss fight which makes it a walk in the park. Sonic's animations; when he balances over an edge, when he looks up and the victory punch in the air when he finished the act look so cute /> The gameplay appeared to run at a rock-solid 60fps. I actually received praise from one of the staff members who was watching me. I finished the act with 289 rings (didn't get hit once) and he said I had the highest score out of anyone so far who had played GH. Wish I had taken a screenshot to show you guys my score! Studiopolis The music track in this act sounds so good. The level is very bright (has a Sonic CD good future kind of vibe). The Eggman dancing animation is really cool. There are lots of multiple routes. The stage often likes to push you through fast. I resisted the urge to just speed through and by taking my time found some high up routes which I didn't see any other players find (you can use the powerful spindash to good effect). It's got plenty of gimmicks but the stage does flow nicely. Once I beat the act (had about 140 rings) I just wanted to play more! :P Mania feels like a combination of Sonic CD/Chaotix superb visuals but with much better level design and Sonic 3's better control. I'm confident Mania's going to be an excellent game, that it will be well received. Can't wait to play the full game!
