If they do that too many times though it starts to lose it's magic. That's why GHZ is so dull at this point.
That's still something to go off. And who knows what SEGA still has in their vault that this team may have been given access to? But ultimately that's entirely beside the point. Ignore that I even mentioned R2. Would you rather see more zones that are totally original ala Studiopolis, or revived and redesigned scrapped levels like Mirage Saloon? MS looks like a really fantastic level, it has to be said. One revival is enough for this game though in my opinion, especially when there are other Classic levels getting a new coat of paint.
I wouldn't worry too much since it's not like we've seen scrapped zones confirmed yet (besides Desert Dazzle but I figure we're talking about cut content from the original games). The statement more likely refers to simple graphic elements, enemies etc. rather than trying to finish entire levels that were half-baked.
Sounds like he's just misinformed. At first I thought he was talking about Megamix, with Stealth's involvement in that, and confusing Tee Lope's involvement with Sonic 2 HD. The ports on mobile are certainly not modded ROM versions though :P
Taxman did say Mirage Saloon (aka Desert Dazzle) is the only scrapped-zone which will appear. This doesn't mean we won't see other cut-content; they could include references to objects/designs/bosses from other scrapped-levels in the other new stages, much like the references so streets of rage & the SEGA popcorn machine in Studiopolis.
I don't think Mirage Saloon is using graphics from the original Scrapped R2, wasn't it just a custom level he did for his release of Sonic CD that was scrapped? Would really be nice if Taxman would chime in someday and reveal if any assets were taken from the original R2 for use in Mania. but from my understanding, only badniks and a boss were recovered and I don't see any of them used in Mirage Saloon.
Nobody said that, just that Mirage Saloon was based on scrapped content. Which it actually is because Desert Dazzle was also based in Dust Hill.
We are talking old school cut zones as in Sonic 1-3K...I'm not counting Sonic CD's rebirth in 2011. The original Dust Hill was probably boring af as well as "Winter Zone"...those concepts themselves which have been retooled multiple times by now. I'm ready for something NEW but nostalgic. I know Mania will deliver. It's that Sonic 32X game/2nd Sega CD Sonic game we never got....with higher quality music. Wood Zone served no purpose after the finalization of Sonic 2 as time travel was long scrapped. Mushroom Hill sends its thanks though. Space Battle with Death Egg mk whatever is pretty much a given....but I'm open to glorious surprises. I still need to get myself a controller for my laptop.
You know, Sonic Retro may have seen too many Wood Zone "remakes/reworks" (even though I would argue that none of them to date presented a version that really seemed complete), but I believe that for most of the audience out there, the concept of playing a level that wasn't released in the final version may sound interesting. At the very least, it has journalistic appeal, I can see several sites commenting on it: "look, look Sonic Mania brings back levels that Sega has never released". And since it's a Sonic-birthday-game, I think it's perfectly acceptable. After all, if the choices are to see a remake of a level that we actually already have a full version in an older game, or one of a level that was never released, the second option certainly sounds more interesting. Now in an hipotetic upcoming game, yes, I think the team deserves the chance to launch a 100% original game, exploring their own ideas and concepts.
I'd argue that for the average Jo a potential Wood Zone, or Genocide City or R2 or whatever means precisely the same as Studiopolis or Mirage Saloon: "Do I know this stage? No. Ok, is it good?" Since this bloke was referring to the ports of CD/1/2 as "ROM" versions, chances are the comment about unreleased content was referring to Hidden Palace in Sonic 2.
For Wood Zone, I feel more like we haven't seen enough good, ambitious attemts to make it into a zone. I remember Sonic XG had a level where it took Wood Zone and turned it into a full blown saw mill. That was a fantastic evolution of the basic concept of the level.
I don't think that Wood Zone would work without a TON of work going into it beyond just the level design. I mean, yes, the classic Sonic games were all 2D sprite-based games. They still had a bit of perspective to them. When you ran around a loop, the outer part of the loop looked like it had some depth. The same goes for the walls and everything. Every time that I've seen Wood Zone being remade, it just looks like they cut the appropriate shape out of a single flat piece. The trees and platforms have no depth, no sense of where the tree trunks curve. The doors and openings look like they're angled toward the camera instead of toward Sonic. If they're going to get Wood Zone up to the same standards as the other Zones that they've done, they're going to need to add a LOT of additional artwork. All of that for a rebuilt Zone that nobody's going to recognize because they never saw the original? I can see them more likely sticking to finished Zones that have a full set of artwork to build off of than having to make everything from scratch for a "revisit", and save the total construction for the new Zones.
It'd be better to just do a completely new forest-themed level with a possible small nod to some quirks of Wood Zone. Hidden Palace Zone really only worked because the assets were mostly finished.
I wouldn't go so far as to say Labyrinth Zone is confirmed, just that he probably recently worked on the drowning jingle. That said, if it IS Labyrinth Zone, that confirms 2 zones per classic game, which would probably bring the count to 8 (or 10 if they count S&K as its own entity... which they probably won't) classic remakes. If there are something like 6 custom zones, that'd bring Mania to a sizeable 14 zones, which is a pretty comfy number to me.
Let's not jump to any conclusions - if they announced Labryinth Zone was featuring, all it would mean for sure would be that two Sonic 1 zones would be included, not that two zones would definitely be included from each classic game featured.
I don't think that means anything, at least I hope not, because Labyrinth sucks. Seriously why pick any other water level besides Hydrocity, it's the same thing but 10 times better.
Came to basically post this. Labrinyth Zone is outclassed by Hydrocity Zone which is the best water zone of the Classics. Makes far more sense to include Hydrocity Zone. It's not exact confirmation but I'd say that image heavily implies Labrinyth Zone will be included as it seems as though Tee Lopes is producing a track for it. A little bit disappointing to be honest. There are better zone choices out there. Still excited for Mania regardless.
Clearly this is Tee Lopes' way of announcing, via the 5 in the picture, that the game has been renamed to Sonic 5 :specialed:
