That he did! On NeoGAF I believe in the Sonic Mania announcement thread. You're right - a 32X would probably struggle to run this but it might be possible! I wasn't being entirely serious. I'm happy to play this on PC via Steam providing I can get a hold of a decent control pad.
It's been hard to tell for sure because finding direct capture screenshots for Mania has been hard, but I'm fairly certain it's using 24-bit color and displaying more than 255 colors on screen at once in some parts. That would make it beyond the 32X's capabilities, which can only work full screen in a 256 color mode - at true color mode, it is limited to ~200 vertical resolution. It's worked with all the other Taxman ports, on both android and PC. There are plenty of Saturn->PC controller converters that are recognized as HID.
Despite that, the port still runs really, really well. It rarely goes above 6% CPU usage on my laptop running Intel hardware. (Unless it's playing a video file.) Any toaster not on Windows 98 can run it, probably. I was a bit frustrated about controller support myself, though. Thankfully, x360ce had me covered on that front, so I can play it with my SNES controller just fine. (Blasphemy, I know. :v: ) It's a nice app and means I don't have to fiddle with Joy2Key anymore. Both Shantae games on Steam, Sonic CD, Hyper Light Drifter, the works.
Interesting to read! So Mania would be beyond the 32X? I guess that makes sense. Although it's a retro throwback game it's still a modern game produced on modern hardware. I guess this might be why Taxman stated on NeoGAF that Mania is Saturn inspired more than anything as opposed to the 32X which he didn't mention. Do you think Mania could run on a Saturn? Just interested because the Saturn has infamously proficient and exceptional 2D capabilities being primarily built as a 2D machine.
I would've assumed by default that Mania simply wouldn't work on the 32x, thanks to the fact it'd have to be 100% soft-rendered. The SH-2 pair can only go so fast.
I've been playing Knuckles Chaotix to tide me over until Mania and the 32X has difficulty playing it. It slows down whenever I start going fast and if there are too many loops on the power ring then it will crash. That being said I have serious doubts that the 32X could even remotely play Sonic Mania.
Doesn't Chaotix mostly run off the 68k? I think Mania would work on the 32X with slightly reduced resolution and colour depth.
Would you WANT it on 32X though? The system was dead inside 6 months, Saturn would have been where a Sonic 4 in the 1990s would have ended up, not the mushroom.
+ - My relevant comment got trashed....why? I'll be honest with you Overlord. I don't like anything 2D that was on the Saturn, visually speaking. Anything. Same goes for Playstation. So I would want to see something like that. I'd want something like that Super Mario 3D World-esque fangame on the Saturn, if anything. Or Sonic X-treme.
Sonic CD 2? That'd be an interesting project. As was mentioned a little earlier, I am curious about what they'll do with the story in this game. Sonic 4 was bland, utterly bland in all aspects. Even bringing up Metal Sonic in episode 2 was more of a demonstration how they're relying on nostalgia and icons instead of good level design and minimalist themes. The question with Sonic Mania, is whether they'll play it totally safe and limit plot to, "beat up Eggman in spectacular levels," or if they'll try to emulate Sonic3&Knuckles' level of story. I would like the latter, as minimalist though it was I considered it a very interesting story. Knuckles appearing in the levels and transitioning you to the next ones? I love something like that to recur. Something like the very subtle story arc with Mecha Sonic would also be good. I could talk at length about the subject, but I figure everyone here either gets what I'm saying already, or hasn't a bleeding clue what I'm yammering about :specialed:.
Yeah the story is something I'm wondering about too. Considering there's apparently a reason we're going back to these old zones I wonder what the hell the old Doctor Eggman has up his sleeve for this game. I do hope there's at least visual cutscenes ala S&K even if the plot is bare, those were always charming and conveyed the point without text or dialogue.
- No loading times - robust cartridge media - no scratched discs - original mega drive controllers - No loading times - 32X would have lasted longer than 6 months - No loading times
Just noticed the balloon-type bumpers in Studiopolis bear a heavy resemblance to some unused artwork found in Chaotix. It's not the exact same graphic, but given that Stealth and Taxman are behind this game I'd be very surprised if it wasn't an intentional reference, similar to objects resembling the prototype Marble Zone "UFOs" appearing inside the Zone's street lamps. (EDIT: Need to read the topic more thoroughly when catching up on it - just realised the above observation re: the bumpers was mentioned a page or two back. Ah, well! Good to know it's not just me, anyway. = P) And while we're on the subject of references - forgive me if this has been pointed out here previously, but saw this additional reference pointed out on Twitter re: Sonic's end-of-act pose. Pretty cool stuff! I'd previously wondered why he had that toothy grin, as I thought it felt more like something associated with Modern Sonic - turns out it's referencing something right from his beginnings, so shows what I know...! = P If what we've seen so far is any indication, hunting down all the little easter eggs and references they're sneaking into this game looks like it'll be a mammoth task, haha. XD
It's pretty hard to overstate the sheer amount of effort that's been pumped into the tiniest little parts of this game. I didn't recognise that particular pose more the bumper, but the resemblance are undeniable and it would surprise me if they weren't intentional considering everything else. Mania is a real love letter of a game.
Just in Studiopolis alone really, it's crazy. However, this may be a somewhat polarizing opinion, but I kind of hope the other levels aren't hammered in with so much nostalgia, if only because it'd be nice to see some levels that are completely original. I mean the whole game is a love letter to the fans, hell it almost seems like a love letter specifically to the fans from this website with all the references. It doesn't need to shove nostalgia down our throat to achieve that, the game speaks for itself. Like Sonic 3 for example didn't have too many throwbacks to Sonic 1 and 2. The only time it did that IIRC was in Sky Sanctuary with the Mecha Sonic mini bosses and then loosely with the Death Egg I suppose. Then Sonic 4 came along and instead of being a sequel it was a "Hey remember that thing and that thing and that thing? (And then oddly used the same two boss fights from Sky Sanctuary)." This game looks good enough that it doesn't need that all the time.
How big do you think something like Sonic Mania could possibly be at the biggest? Couple of hundred Megabytes? You can let the entire thing reside in memory upon boot, there will likely be no loading times in Sonic Mania once it begins running. Sonic Mania is a digital download, no disc to be scratched I can use that on my pc. naw, it wouldn't have.
