It's not letting me link for some reason but the collectors edition for PC is available on Amazon now.
Tee Lopes just trolled all the wannabes and I LOVE it! IF this means 16-bit remixes of all levels as an option, then we have just hit a new high with this game!
I hope he happens to make 16-bit renditions of all the new stage music "for fun". :P Kinda ironic that someone who started out making remixes of the 16-bit Sonic music now makes the official soundtrack...only to convert some back into a 16-bit version. It's like a loop!
Seriously, 16-bit renditions of all the themes would make the inevitable soundtrack worth that much more.
*cough*Green Hill Paradise Act 2*cough* *cough, cough*Sonic Utopia*cough, cough* Well, actually, THERE ARE fan games that get quite close to it. Ok, GH Paradise is just a playground and feels like modern trying classic tricks, but proves that modern can do neat things with no boost skills, no boost pads, and almost no automation. Utopia demo was a playground too, but it was an early demo and it already felt a lot more classic than any other 3D game, official or not. If someone stopped adding the forward dash as a no target homing attack I would be a lot happier with these, but that would be a different topic. I really think 2D classic gameplay can be ported to 3D, and has almost been on those fan games. Sonic's real essence is having a competent team doing a quality work that follows the simple guidelines defined back in 1991. Mania team fits that criteria, current Sega and Sonic Team don't.
Green hill paradise is a clusterfuck. Utopia plays great but we've yet to see it outside of a sandbox context.
While I didn't enjoy Green Hill Paradise or Sonic Utopia, there's plenty to learn from what they did right or wrong. I wouldn't say either managed to properly bring Classic Sonic gameplay in 3D, but it teaches us a bit more of how. Also, props to Tee Lopes for featuring Sir J on his channel. That guy gets way too little exposure for what he does.
I didn't say Utopia was finished, or the porting to 3D was done with those fan games, I just said they tried and got many things right. Oh, and sorry for liking Paradise, but as I already said, I don't see it as a classic 3D, just as a better approach of 3D Sonic to a classic style. It of course needed a lot more work, since it's just an experiment without further goals, but it points in the right direction. Utopia is much better, but it also came later.
Every 3D fan game thus far concerns itself more with "momentum based player physics" than with making a fun 3D platformer. In my eye they all have the exact same problem, and have varying levels of success in masking it. The reason why Mario games are easier to pick up for people is because the skill floor is low. There isn't much to it. Sonic' skill floor has always been higher. "Bringing classic physics and playstyle to 3d" exacerbates this problem. Lange says he can crack it though so we'll wait and see. Something something Sonic Mania.
Well there is Sonic Robo Blast 2. You could argue it's a 2d game, but the way it plays you'd think it's 3d. Plus it's only just now getting slope physics. (expect to see them in use once 2.2 is out, or in some of the currently released addon levels.) in the mean time, anyone hoping we get to hear Stardust speedway's Mania music soon?
So I've been wondering... Do you guys think there's any possibility of Sega allowing Mania to have a Steam Workshop? I mean, the Genesis/MD Classics Hub literally let us put ROM hacks in, and we already know at this point that fan content is basically safe from legal action, plus I'm sure Tax and co. know people like us would foam at the mouth to get to mess around with the game's files and such. I'm sure there's going to be mod love for this game workshop or no, but eh.
I've always felt Sonic Robo Blast 2 was the most faithful classic to 3D transition we've had so far, yet it actually lacks hills and moumentum in many respects compared to the classics, yet it does classic style stage design, being a mix of both open and leniar, with true branching pathways, interconnected paths, and secrets, very, very well, while also perfectly balancing the stages for STK. I feel like this style with hills, loops and slopes (which is what the new stage designs are doing) will nail the formula correctly. Utopia gets the physics a bit better, but the stage isn't really all that fun to play. Edit: This shows that they've got the momentum physics and slopes down now, which is about the only classic element the game was lacking.
Not sure it means much, but the guys down at the local EB Games reckon there'll be some kind of news regarding a physical Switch release next week or so. Of course, it's hard to tell if corporate's making shit up, or if they're just guessing. :v:
I just preordered Sonic Mania for Steam and Xbox One. I never usually preorder games, but I can make an exception for this beauty :v:
Tax or stealth actually came on a while back when I asked a similar question and said that the game is pretty much fundamentally incapable of having traditional mods since it wasn't built for it. I'm sure savvy hackers will be able to do something, but I don't think we'll see official support unless hacks for Mania become common enough.
Going back to the topic of Super Sonic boss fights, has anyone noticed how the ones from Pocket Adventure and Advance 2 up to Rush Adventure were becoming more and more like SHMUPs that focus on dashing to evade and damaging the boss by deflecting its attacks (by flying into them at the right angle or swiping them away with Sonic's hand in Rush Adventure) and charging your own (Sonic and Eggman teamup in Advance 3 and Blaze in the Rush games)? In Rush, the Egg Salamander even had attacks that could damage the player, giving consequence to getting hit beyond simply wasting time. I'm a bit torn here. I want Mania to have a Super boss that's more in line with what the player's been doing up to that point, but, much like Kirby and Kingdom Hearts, I know a shoehorned SHMUP section is probably the closest we're gonna get to a Sonic SHMUP outside of SegaSonic Cosmo Fighter Galaxy Patrol, which is nothing like a Super Sonic boss fight.
You know, it's not a 100% guarantee that there even will be a Doomsday Zone in Mania. Out of all the classic titles, S3K was the only title to include such a level. Hell, even the deformed twins which are Sonic 4 Episodes 1 and 2 didn't have a Super Sonic boss fight and they're much more contemporary. Without word on the story or from the dev themselves, my guess is a 50-50 chance.
