Mania Plus I know was physically released overseas, as I imported a JP copy for the soundtrack inside, but I don't recall ever seeing either base or plus as physical copies on shelves here ahahahah, didn't seem all that common...
Frankly, yes. I actually think platformer bosses, 2D or 3D, are nigh-universally Not Fun unless the game has in-depth combat mechanics. Being stuck in a room with a big enemy is just never fun. In a character action game or an RPG bosses can be really fun but platformer bosses are like 99% either "jump on/attack them a specified number of times" or "solve a puzzle that is either braindead simple or insufferably tedious".
The ma An impetus for me asking is to gauge whether or not it will become a collectors item, primarily a sealed copy, years down the line. It isn't difficult to get a copy; I just want to estimate its future as a physical media item.
This is why I think Freedom Planet was the first time I felt so deeply engaged with bosses in a Sonic-like context; all of the characters have quite a few combat options, and the bosses tended to be great spectacles with lots of neat patterns. Having more than just one button to push changed everything! Meanwhile, I liked Mania's bosses well enough. I felt like Taxman and friends achieved as much as they could with the intense limitation of a character who can only attack by jumping; they tried their best to make Sonic bosses more engaging and succeeded in some cases. The only times I felt seriously frustrated were certain bosses that have timed phases, where you're not allowed to attack. (Such as Studiopolis Zone 1's boss.) Long stretches where you have no options beyond self-defense get so tiring, especially in a platformer where attacking is already fairly slow. (Ala needing to take the time to land on an enemy's head, like you said.) 3D Sonic games fair better on paper in this regard if only because Sonic and friends have more combat options in those cases.
I think going forward all bosses 2D or 3D should take notes from the sonic 2 CNZ boss, here sonic is given multiple ways to attack the boss flippers, bumpers or using momentum. What also helps is robotnik's attack patern is dynamic to your location, with him dropping bombs and electrocuting sonic if he is on the flippers too long. This boss is always my favourite because of this and I think it's stupid that no other boss has attempted to use momentum and bumpers like this (out side of sonic CD's pinball boss).
My biggest problem with Lava Reef 2's boss is that the background hurts my eyes to look at. The platforming is decent and I think it's a good obstacle-course boss but the fire shield right by the arena totally cheapens it.
This. The opening of the fight is a really annoying autoscroller, and the actual fight is very tedious platforming on small platforms whilst the boss kills itself. Like Studiopolis 1, the boss will still kill itself if you turn super and just go idle. That's the basically fastest way to beat these bosses. And just for comparison, Sandopolis 1 is no better, arguably even worse.
I just don't get why that boss takes 12 or so hits as opposed to 8. It's the only boss that requires that many hits and it's the biggest slog of them all. If it was 8 hits then it'd be fine.
14, actually. And me neither. I could see them trying to induce fear with an "invincible" boss, but again, that's something that only works once.
I think the autoscrolling part and the waterfall descent are fine, but yeah the last phase is a complete slog on replays. It takes forever for the boss to kill itself, and if you're Super/Hyper you don't even have to bother avoiding the lava and mines, leaving you with nothing to do.
Thank God 3 AIR made it an option to change the number of hits for the LRZ boss to 8 lol But on a serious note, regarding Mania I never had any problems with the bosses: creative and noteworthy but easy to fight and beat (yes I beat them quite comfortably on my first try), even the challenging ones (TMZ specifically unless you have the lightning shield) And Blue Spheres never bothered me, it was fun and the last few stages were challenging.. was very happy for the addition of the pinball bonus stage since it was definitely needed for getting shields and missing characters.
Does SLZ's boss count? Also HCZ1 maybe counts for Knuckles? I don't remember if Knux can normally hit Eggman without using the wall or not.
yeah Sandopolis is worse because the boss becomes unkillable if you're Super Tails, and have to wait til your rings run out (the flickies repeatedly attack the damn boss, so it can't jump into the sand pit and kill itself)
IIRC you can avoid that problem by getting the boss to face right (easiest way is standing to its right when it spawns), so that the flickies knock it into the quicksand.
Doesn't change the fact that it's a crap boss that you typically beat by just standing on the left hand side of the screen and jumping like a mad man as he kills himself though. Not saying you said that that makes it better. Just... Bad boss is bad. You know what boss in Mania I really like? Heavy Shinobi. You can't just mercilessly wail on him because he'll freeze you, but being frozen doesn't actually cause you to take any damage. You just have to time you hits properly for when he's jumping around. He throws more and more Asterons as the fight goes on, and they're the biggest threat. It's a little unclear and confusing that you can destroy them after they land and before they explode (they look like they're sharp and have different rules to S2), but when you realise that's possible you have a lot to juggle for the fight. And you can use being frozen defensively; you'll either safely destroy Asterons you bump into or won't take damage from their explosions. I dunno. It's just a fun fight. I think it's really good.
