Nobody's suggesting making all alternative paths like this. These are more like hidden areas or shortcuts.
This is actually already present in S3&K in case you didn't know - there's a hidden Big Ring in a room you can only reach by sinking into a sand pit.
Going back to the original example though, NSMBW wasn't the first Mario title to do that. SMB3 on NES did the same thing in the sand level of World 8. (8-2?) The general logic behind the placement of those is that they're always in tall quicksand pits, where sinking would take so long you'd usually only die to them if you were doing it on purpose.
I was a bit confused at this bit at since I saw the Giant Ring in question and the pit when looking at the level map for the zone, and I didn't see how the two were connected. But watching a Giant Ring playthrough of the zone I can definitely see what you're talking about now. Rather impressive. Sandopolis (Act 1 especially) is a zone that really continues to surprise me in its size and design; I don't think I've ever played through, let alone even found, all the routes and hidden areas within that zone. That's fair, I was only using NSMBW's iteration because that was the one that came to my mind first, and I just wanted to frame it as an stepping stone to the Sonic example I made. EDIT: Forgot to mention this discovery by Zippo (SSMB). The Sonic artwork in the Mania trailer (recycled from the JP boxart of Sonic and Tails / Sonic Chaos) also has the "neo-classic" color scheme. Guess it's safe to assume any new or repurposed artwork made for Mania will have this color scheme from here on out.
Seems that the Mania Collector's Edition is coming over to Europe (or at least, the UK) after all. The PS4 and Xbox One versions of the C.E. are now available for preorder from amazon.co.uk. Better late than never, I guess. (Credit to Joy of SSMB for the tip.)
Pre-ordered....What have I done..... I was a little annoyed at the price though. The Generations box was a similar price but you got so much more with it. You got a physical copy, a 12" statue and a ring. But as well as that you get additional download stuff, a book and a cd.
Man, glad its coming over but I can't justify £80 for what is a much smaller collectors edition than the Sonic Generations one which was the same price. The fact it's $70-80 in America too makes it a bit of a con :/
Same! Was starting to sweat a little, what with the hot topic that is the condition of the pound an' all. Thankfully 80 is a decent enough price for me right now and I least I know that's not going to jump up or down with exchange rates.
And the links are down now... Hopefully this just means that they put the pages up too early, and not that it isn't coming to Europe after all.
Hmmm.. When I click on the links Yeow posted, it says "page not found". If you do a search, the PS4 versions appears with a bonus T-Shirt, but it says "Currently unavailable". I wonder if this means if the product listing was an error or if was just simply so popular that it sold out.
The page was probably taken down because it was put-up a bit too early before SEGA could announce it's coming to UK. The other UK version on Amazon with the "bonus t-shirt" was priced at about £97. No thanks. Think I'll stick the £80 edition.
I thought it was a result of the recent Brexit. :v: Anywho, the Collector's Edition has finally been confirmed for Europe, courtesy of EU PlayStation Blog. Now's your chance to go get it!
But apparently not for PC? Only PS4/XO? While it doesn't say, "not coming for PC", nothing mentions it. Nor is there any sight of it.
