Ok, not only the melody is catchy but the song feels really solid mastering-wise. Excellent job, guys! (I do love a more 'pumping-bass' style, though, but it doesn't belong to games xD)
Just caught this recent Iizuka quotation on NeoGAF. Probably posted ages ago (this thread moves fast!) but just in case: Source (Japanese): http://dengekionline.com/elem/000/001/543/1543432/ So when Taxman stated Mania is a "big game" he really wasn't joking. Wonder whether Mania has more stages than Sonic 3K? The quotation is reassuring as it means there's still plenty of surprises in store for when we boot up Mania, particularly given we've seen so much thus far.
A physical release would not be cost effective for Mania. They're saving so much money by not having to buy discs, make the packaging, or ship them out. Plus whatever file size the game ends up being, say it's 100MB, (sorry if that's way off), it would wind up taking up such a small percent of the disc space that it's not worth it. It's a $20 indie game when it all boils down. It just doesn't make sense from a business perspective to waste so much costs on such a cheaply priced and small game.
If I didn't know any better, I'd say that the way it was worded looked like a bit of a jab at Mania's hype compared to Forces. "Yeah, you guys think it looks great, but MY Sonic games are shorter so that you're just as invested near the end as you are in the beginning. This one's way too long, and you're going to get burned out before you finish."
Possible that he could have inferred that, but I don't think he meant to convey any negative sentiment with his statement. I think it's a case of his intended meaning being lost in translation, as in the English becoming Japanese that makes his meaning a little hazy. He's a producer on Sonic Mania correct? So he probably meant that there's a metric tonne of stages, but his intention as producer on the game isn't to overwhelm gamers but to maintain their enjoyment. At least that's my interpretation of what he said. The idea that Sega might feel a little pissed that their headline Sonic game has zero buzz while their small-scale fan-created project is at maximum hype is probably real though. Forces is their Hollywood style big budget Sonic game and everyone's hating on it and looking forward to Mania instead. Like, on NeoGAF I must have read "at least we have Sonic Mania" about a hundred times in every single Forces thread. Everyone just wants Mania.
Nah. Iizuka has been involved with Mania. He is overseeing it, even if not quite as directly as Forces. If When it succeeds, it makes him look good for okaying it. I don't think he'd be passive aggressive about it like that.
The E3 aftermath of Mania making maniacs of the press continues... "...a joyful surprise that made us reluctant to leave the Sega stand." The Guardian; Sonic Mania, Super Mario Odyssey, and Sea of Thieves: the 11 Best Games of E3. "For once, it feels like the classic Sonic that many of us fell in love with decades ago is back and that's a great thing for fans and newcomers alike." Twinfinite; Twinfinite's Best E3 Games of 2017. "The original Sonic the Hedgehog games on Sega Genesis were some of the finest creations in video games. Sonic Mania feels like people who have been talking about what would make a new Sonic game in the style of the originals great for 20 years, got together and made that game." SaucyGamer, Top 20 Best E3 2017 Games Ranked. (Mania is listed at #18). "I still feel as excited by retro-throwback game Sonic Mania as I did when I wrote my eyes-bulging hands-on preview last week." Sam Machkovech for Ars Technia (UK), The 10 Best Games of E3 2017. Sam later named Mania as his personal Game of the Show. "Sega has two Sonic games coming down the pipe, but Mania is the one carrying hype for all of the right reasons." PCMag, My Favorite E3 Moments.
Glowing impressions. Thanks for the effort in posting those. Interesting to read. I see the Mania hype train continues. I don't think a Sonic game has had this much positive buzz since the nineties in all honesty. Reminds me of the positive hype that preceded Sonic 2, though I was a child at the time and barely remember it. What's interesting is that the buzz is so overwhelmingly positive, Mania is looking like a success before it's even released. It honestly wouldn't surprise me if it gets an easy 90+ Metacritic and becomes an enormous sales success right out of the gate. Just hope that it does well enough to hopefully ensure Taxman/Stealth are contracted again for a Sonic Mania 2 - which is the endgame here.
And yet, my twitter feed is full of buzz for Forces, yet I never see anybody outside of, like, TimmiT talking about Mania. Using forums/social media/etc as an eyeball test is never wise. It all depends on who is talking, and where. Besides, if NeoGAF was gospel, GTA IV would have bombed, Minecraft literally wouldn't exist, and Valve wouldn't have 3 games in development.
There tends to be much more vitriol directed towards Sonic Forces, at least in these forums and the Sonic Stadium message board, than there is towards Sonic Mania. It is a bit disappointing since it seems as if there is the general impression of only the classic games being particularly great. Sonic Mania, which appeals greatly toward that, of course gets more positive reception.
I looked at it more as "there are a lot of stages, so we don't want you to see all of them before release." Yeah, him making a jab at the game considering he's involved with it would be bizarre. Furthermore, Nakamura and Ohtani at the very least are also showing Mania love, so...?
I don't think Sonic Team or any of the Japanese staff have malice or disgust towards Mania, but I do think they're genuinely surprised. I think they thought with them going back to the well received Generations formula, prettying up the graphics, and adding in such a risque idea as an "OC Creator", Forces would have caused a huge stir with the gaming press. They have what seems to be a winning formula on their hands, with just enough stuff to shake that formula up, and it's all getting overshadowed by some small indie game. True we don't know much about Forces, but I feel like Mania was supposed to be the appetizer rather than the main course. As far as I know, the press's reaction to Forces so far even after E3 was, "Meh, it's just another Sonic game". In fact most articles regarding Forces I've seen have been in comparison to Mania. Maybe that's just because Mania is coming out sooner. I think they're just in awe that people even want this. They can't really pin it on nostalgia here since they've done this so many times before and it's only gotten the series reasonable praise at best, and absolute hatred at worst.
I would attribute Sonic Mania's positive reception almost entirely to nostalgia. It features several stages from previous games; Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are playable and are shown with their classic designs like in Sonic 3 and Knuckles; the engine used for the game is the same one that was used for the recent ports of some of the classic games; and because it is being made by people other than Sonic Team, Dimps, or any others that had worked on the recent games, hardly anybody decides to display the exceedingly high pessimism that they've constantly displayed for the games that Sonic Team made. This is not counting the general opinion of the Sonic games that is fostered even by people in the Sonic fanbase and how people tend to say that only the Adventure and Classic games were good.
I think people assume there's some bad blood between the teams because they think they must be jealous that Mania is getting people more excited, but I really don't see any of that. Even Shun Nakamura, Forces' producer, tweeted that the Mania team is super talented and that everyone reading should check it out, and they included the drop dash and the CD spring animation in Forces.
Ironically, some of the most iffy reception I've seen for Mania nowadays is due to the returning stages, either just in general or because of specific ones like Chemical Plant again.
If this were driven purely through nostalgia it would be treated just as blandly as Sonic 4 was. Even when that game was getting praise from the press it was very clear that Sonic Colors was the star attraction, in fact quite a couple of media outlets outright stated they felt Sonic Colors was the more interesting and superior title. Hell Game Scoop, which is comprised of IGN members, outright said that they thought this would be another Sonic 4. A quick cash grab to play up nostalgia. And now look at them, they consider Mania to be one of the best things at E3. Sure everyone likes a good ol' nostalgia trip, but we want a good game more. It's why even though a considerable amount of people liked Generations, and thought Classic Sonic was fun, they complain about things like level design, visuals, and controls. The proof is in the game's knockout reception so far, and the fact that it's in a way, made Sonic more relevant than he has been in years. Not to shit on Forces, but I think the only thing it would have gotten the series is more embarrassment. I have yet to see it spark the same reaction, and from that I can only assume the press doesn't care about it that much.
Yeah it's not like the previous developers have handled the classic gameplay and style terribly and Mania does it phenomenally that certainly has nothing to do with it no it's just because people are randomly pessimistic towards Sonic Team and Dimps for no reason and it's all just nostalgia even though the previous attempts at nostalgia didn't go that well and the revisited levels are the biggest point of contention in Mania.
I think the reality is that Mania is appealing to a wider base of gamers who 'never' considered any game beyond &Knuckles to be good. Chaotix, R, Adventure, all of them. I felt the franchise was (mostly) fine all the way through to Heroes before it had some serious missteps, and the last of the core Genesis members left. I enjoy both modern and classic games in different ways, but definitely prefer and get more enjoyment from the classics, nostalgia be damned. The zany artstyle, catchy music, and exploration based level design blended with momentum based speed are all an attractive package, and we haven't had a title that truly 100% recreates this since 1994. People simply want more of what they loved, and that is fine. Of course, I also enjoyed Generations, Colors, Adventure 1&2, advanced 1-3, the game gear games, and many lesser known titles like R and Fighters for different reasons. Even Sonic 4 episode 2 for me was a strong step above episode 1 and something I would've happily taken an episode III of, but this is still a much better end result.
I wouldn't say it's nostalgia either, at least not entirely - Sonic hasn't been able to effectively use nostalgia for non-Sonic fans for a while - and these were general members of the gaming press. The game is visually and audibly pleasing and the game apparently feels good to play...I think that'd get praise from anyone regardless of how much "nostalgia" it has. Re: the soundtrack...I am gonna buy the vinyl as I enjoy tangible things like that, and the concept of in the distant future possibly seeing someone do turntable DJing with freaking Sonic music tickles me quite a bit. I really hope that they release Mania's soundtrack on disc though...I want the whole thing lossless dammit.
I do see your point, obviously you've been on NeoGAF just as long as I have and they often get things wrong (the Wii U will succeed, the Switch will bomb etc.) but they're notable because they spent years shitting on pretty much every Sonic game in existence, and now they're all absolutely enamoured with Sonic Mania. Every Mania thread is a storm of positive feedback. Also the wider gamer sphere is supporting Mania over Forces. The post-E3 glowing impressions from almost every outlet is proof of that. Mania is a critical darling and it hasn't even been released yet. Yeah there's probably young fans excited for Forces on Twitter, but Mania has this glowing positive buzz everywhere and an excitement that Forces completely does not. If people are excited for both games, well that's great in itself. But I'd argue more gamers want Mania than Forces. It's all I've read since they were both announced.
