That's a nice way to think about the statement. I guess saying it feels like a fangame isnt always meant as a bad thing, but sadly it does discredit the entire game, because it isnt a fangame. It implies many negative things. Not to mention, most times I've heard it said its been used as a criticism.
Well even if it is a criticism the proof is right in front of them, it's a damn fine game. There's very little to discredit here that couldn't apply to any other game developer (bugs, unfinished/cut content, reused assets, etc). I hope a future game let's them escape the pixel art limitation. Let's get some Tyson Hesse drawn sprites :v:
I can't believe I'm not the only one who feels this way. I've long preferred the more expressive face, angled feet, and bigger gloves. It just feels like it has so much more personality than the others. I've been really impressed with Sonic Mania's level design. Each classic game has had its own sort of style with regards to how levels are laid out, how speed is paced, etc. From the slower pace of Sonic 1, to the faster Sonic 2, to the more exploration-oriented Sonic 3 & Knuckles, + - to the asshole douchebag Sonic CD, they each had a fairly distinct feel to each other. Mania plays a careful balancing act with the various types of design. Returning levels have been reworked to fix their weaknesses, making Sonic 1 and CD levels less tedious, making Sonic 2 levels more interesting, and making Sonic 3K levels a little more straightforward, while maintaining their strengths and keeping some recognizability. Heck, Metallic Madness still felt like Metallic Madness, but way less frustrating. And then new levels had their own identity that built off of everything that these other levels did right. Sure, the mania team added their own new weaknesses, but for the most part they were smaller than the ones they fixed, and this could well be my favorite layouts in a Sonic game. The only real major improvement I feel they could use is adding music by Crush 40 because of all the crushing less repetition of setpieces and larger design chunks, because when the level repeats itself in anything bigger than a loop it makes it harder to keep track of where you are. Sonic 2 had some of this problem also, particularly Casino Night Zone and Metropolis Zone, so it's not like this is too much of a step backwards, but it's a definite missed opportunity at improvement.
Love the idea of hand drawn sprites (actually, kind of reminds me of the fluid spritework of some of those obscure mobile games by third party devs, like Sonic Unleashed), but I'd love to see low-poly Sonic fully fleshed out into an actual game. Clearly, retro-esque sprite-based games are still popular (thanks in part to all the recent revivals, of which I'd one day love to be a part of myself, some of which I've found are genuinely worthy of praise despite knee-jerk criticism considering the apparent 'lazy lack of skill' associated with hand drawn sprites as opposed to textured polygonal models. Nevetherless, the point is that I'd just adore a true 3D classic Sonic, something I only feel has been achieved in fangames such as World/Free Runner and Sonic Utopia. Adventure's Sonic gameplay was a start IMO, though it could've done with more exploration. Gimme a full Sonic World game, dammit!
Watching MegaGWolf's playthrough of the game, I noticed you can use the Water Shield's bounce as Sonic to break the orange boxes. Not sure if there's another way to do it.
/> Noooo he looks like a gorilla Anyway: While I love Tyson's sonic, I think it would be a major negative to have it ingame in a cartoon style. It'd end up looking like warioware and that was fineeee, but it looked cheap after a while. I think a Sonic game should have a consistent style with characters and backgrounds. It could be an HD style *cough*Tom Fry is a legend at this too btw, anyone heard of S2HD?*cough* for sure but an outline cartoon style ingame would lose it's charm fast. And it's not like Tom Fry cant do Tyson style Sonic, it just wasn't a thing that ended up happening.
Agreed. Mania's sprites are great and certainly detailed, but I loved the style of 3's sprites. Even with fewer colors, they were great; a fantastic example of "doing more with less". Unfortunately, the fact is the Sonic 1/2 sprites are more iconic, so that's how Mania went.
Sonic 3k's sprites are also my favorite sprites. I was really disappointed to see a stylized S1/S2 Sonic for Mania. S3K was so expressive and gave so much character compared to S2/S1/SCD.
I can never understand this haha - He's extremely off model in S3. Huge hands (way too big!), tiny face, cross eyed, dodgy flat ended stumpy spike shapes, really strange mouth (just shouldnt have bothered), etc. Trace one then trace the other and you'll know which one is shaped better in all aspects. The shading is just an added minus. Sonic mania got the hands right. The 1/2 sprites are also slightly off model but they are still leaps better and I'm very glad they were used as a base in Mania.
I feel like this is more disrespectful to those who create fan-games more than I (or anyone else) insults them. They were paid to do this, fan-games aren't. Quality was definitely far better than any free fan-game. I expected this, as a lot of people got paid for it. Again, I can't help the way I feel. Had the remixed levels not been there, I would have likely not felt this way. I don't think anyone said anything about the quality. I think the reason I felt this way was due to unoriginal levels being included. Had another game came out after S3k, I don't think they would have taken this path. Maybe thats why I feel like I do. The main difference really is that there were devs paid to make this game. Fan-games are usually free work. I work a 40 + hour a week job and fan-game on the side in my leasure time. If I got to dedicate a full 8 hours a day to this, maybe things would be a lot better in quality? Who knows. Getting back on the subject though. I really like this game. Have not had a chance to play multiplayer yet with anyone, but I really look forward to the chance. If they continue with the series, I really hope the next game is all original levels.
A friend of mine got a new glitch. Against the boss in Titanic Monarch act 2, the Phantom hands grabbed Tails instead of Sonic and there was no transition to a HBH, it was stuck there.
While I prefer the 1-2 style, I can see why they prefer the 3&K sprites, and that could very well be the reason why I thought those sprites you use on your signature were the best of all: you succeeded where they failed in Sonic 3, so basically you got a great balance between both styles. About the fangame thing, well, I can't see why it's so bad to call Mania the first official fangame in Sonic's history, as it combines the best of both worlds. All in all, I think some flaws many of you commented, like unclear boss behaviors and collisions, sound more common in fan games than in official releases, but, also, we don't know how would this game have been if it had been just unofficial hombrew, so I can understand why there are different approaches to the use of the term "fan game" when referring to Mania. I would consider high budget fangames to almost everything made during Iizuka's reign, so, whatever. :v: EDIT: Quote was missing.
Xbox One. Sonic 2 feels like a watered-down, Sonic-by-numbers platformer than anything else to me. I still think it's a great game, but it rarely actually slows you down for proper platforming the way Sonic 1, Sonic 1 8-bit, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles do. There are no pushable objects, no breakable walls (except the loops in Hill Top Zone), and most of levels are two straight lines ("top path" and "bottom path") with occasional interaction between them; if any game fits the "hold right to win" meme, it's Sonic 2. Plus it has Sky Chase.
Monday's Penny Arcade strip is Mania-related, and tasteful: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2017/08/21/the-ring-within The first couple paragraphs about the comic are pretty tasteful as well.
Incredibly off topic but since it potentially concerns Mania, I can't get my Genesis controller to work for the steam version of Sonic CD. I'm using the Mayflash adapter-- I tried mapping it in Steam, and the best I can get is start and one of the buttons to register, no directional pad. Anyone have any ideas? Sorry to go off topic, but it is in prep for Sonic Mania :P
I don't know how Steam mapping works, but you can use JoyToKey to map the keyboard controls to your controller, assuming you're using Windows and have DirectX6 installed. Edit: I just realized that this has become trialware. The current version is 5.2.1. My version, 3.7.4, doesn't have this limitation. Before proceeding any further, you might wanna test your controller in the Control Panel.
Going through the four sections in any order from the main hub was a cool idea, but I think it would have been stronger if there were some in-game justification for it to make it clear to the player what's going on. Like if the hub room had four gizmos creating a barrier, and each of the four routes had a generator to destroy at the end. Then each time the player returns to the hub they realise they've accomplished something and won't feel lost or confused. As it is you just go through all four sections for some reason, each one is doored off after completion with no explanation, and after all four a portal appears for some reason.
