It has absolutely, positively no chance of catching Player Unknown's Battlegrounds. 5 million sales in 3 months.
Probably something only the dev team could answer, but I will say I'm interested to see Digital Foundry's video coverage of this game. (They did just a quick 5 minute video about how they thought it looked great right after it was announced last year.) Linemann did that original video and seems pretty interested in the game, and Richard Leadbetter reviewed the first game on Mega Drive (Genesis) for Mean Machines in 1991, particularly praising the visuals/technical aspects of it. If anyone in the general games press is going to do any sort of more technical deep-dive on the game, it would be them. We'll see.
Oh yeah, I actually used to talk to John a while back when he first started launching his Digital Foundry Retro reviews. Dude knows a lot, but when it comes to nitty gritty like this regarding retro machines, I think that might be beyond his reporting. Unless he gets an interview with Tax or something, which would rule.
THE SPECIAL STAGE WOW Honestly, I don't think I could have predicted a move like this, even though it makes so much sense. It's cool that the Mania team is experimenting with Saturn-esque visuals, almost as if Mania is attempting to emulate what a classic sonic experience would be like on the Saturn. Not fully of course, we're still getting our fancy modern visuals and all of that, but still kind of a poetic move! We haven't even seen the actual gameplay of the stages and the hype is already real, that's testament to something
Yeah it would be rad if Linnemann and Leadbetter got to talk with Taxman, Stealth, and Hunter about the technical aspects of the game. Also humble reminder that Leadbetter was the editor-in-chief of Sega Magazine and then Sega Saturn Magazine from 1994-1998 and did several in-depth interviews with Saturn developers about their work at the time. He seems like the most and probably only qualified person in the entire games press to cover in a more technical way a game released in 2017 that is trying to be like a Saturn game. (Obviously former Saturn developers could speak authoritatively about it too but that was at the time and especially today a pretty select field.) But yeah no idea how much Digital Foundry is interested in devoting into their coverage of it--they might just do a basic comparison with the classic games, framerate anaylsis, etc., and like you said seems like it could result in a DF Retro episode about just the classic games. We'll see!
So a bit late to the party but all the stuff that was revealed yesterday was brilliant! Just a few thoughts: Special Stage The theme is amazing and I really think Mania is going to be up there with the best of them as one of the greatest OST's in the franchise. I also love the concept for the special stage, it's not the usual half-pipe stage and blends the 3&K/CD special stages enough that it feels refreshing and exciting, it gives off Heroes vibes but in a good way. I cannot wait to see it in motion, especially that old school chunky Jam-esque Sonic. Story Concepts Eggman having depression after being defeated in Sonic 3&K didn't sound appealing to me until they mentioned he would revert back to his pajamas, that would have been hilarious to see and I am sure he would have rejoined the fight later on. At this point I have so much faith in the guys making Mania that they could suggest the craziest concepts and I would still believe they will make it enjoyable. Spoiler Regarding the story details in the manual given out, I am happy to see that the Chaos Emeralds aren't the driving point for the story as they usually are. The race to find the mysterious power sounds fun! My only concern here is that the mysterious energy is somehow linked to Forces/Infinite. We know that Forces' Classic Sonic is able to perform the Drop Dash and is stated to be from another dimension, I really hope Mania isn't linked to Forces in that way, or at least not that on the nose! Other Game Details So happy that this is confirmed to be around the same length as Sonic 3K, it's been quite vague up until now but actually having it stated has put my mind at ease. I am not surprised at the lack of Super Emeralds, they always felt quite out of place in the originals. In the manual there seems to be an original ice stage teased where they mentioned a Sonic ice cube, I guess that makes Ice Caps inclusion less likely? Also animated intro by Tyson Hesse! (weeps with uncontrollable joy) EDIT: It was confirmed to be Hesse wasn't it? Hopefully I haven't just made that up haha I am still jealous of all the stuff being given out at these events, the posters and the manual are beautiful and I wish they were included in the Collectors Edition (at the very least the manual!) but at least we were able to pre-order the vinyl. Either way, I don't think I have ever been this hyped for a Sonic game. I know a lot of the team and others working on this read this forum so just want to say a huge thank you to everyone! 22 Days to go and counting!
I don't get why everyone are shocked about an opening confirmed in mania since this was already leaked months ago : [Spoil] http://imgur.com/62sTH59 [Spoil]
All I'm imagining now is the Sonic Boom episode where this very thing happens. Eggman loses motivation and binge watches TV in his pajamas. To have a scene like that in Mania would be 10/10.
This is exactly what I was imagining too, with the Mania team's attention to detail and how they always call back to concept art/obscure references, I bet this was what they would have used. EDIT: Spoilered to reduce size It was just nice to have it confirmed really, that clip was always a good indication that we would be getting it but it could have been left over/cut from the pre-order trailer or something.
Studio Yotta seems to be helping out with the animation. They get mentioned in the special thanks found in the Sonic Mania manual.
Exactly this. The initial leak was cool, but without knowing the nature of it, it was hard to get too locked in. It could have been a "This cool thing was going to happen but had to be scrapped" idea that we've seen many times in the past. Of course when the Pre-order trailer landed it became a bit more of a certainty, but it was nice to go from 99% sure to a confirmed 100% sure. I'm rock solid hyped I tells ya
I'll be honest, I'm glad that the trophies/achievements haven't leaked yet. Generations' trophies leaked about a month or so before release. Same thing with Crash Bandicoot. Perhaps it's different for games with physical releases. This'll be the one time I refrain from looking at the trophy lists in the eventuality that it leaks.
Here's a clean screenshot of the special stage: Lookin spiffy. We know what must be done though. Rip that model along with the inevitable Tails and Knuckles ones and port them over to Generations/Forces :v: Also on a side note, very glad they didn't use the half pipe again. I had faith they wouldn't but still.
I still can't get over how good this looks and definitely agree with you about the half pipe! I can't wait to see it in action, I wonder how fast we will gotta go in order to catch the UFO? I always found CD to have the hardest special stages so I may struggle with these haha Yeah I think that is the case, if I remember right with Xbox achievements they usually release just a couple of days beforehand for digital titles. I'm torn, with only a few days to go I would rather leave them and not get spoiled, but the achievement whore in me is already wanting to scour the entire list.
re: Robotnik's outfit That was my first thought, too. Considering the amount of references to older (and unused) content, I wouldn't be surprised at all if that was the case. I wonder if Madonna will be in the game, too.
re: special stage Looks to me like CD x 3D (Saturn) x 3K, with some visual aesthetics based around Chaotix and Sonic 1. Loving what I've seen so far.
Loving the clearer Special Stage screenshot - now that we have it in good quality, you can make out a giant UFO-catcher style grabber on the bottom of the the UFO that's holding the yellow emerald. = O
