Yeah but thats Friday The 13th, that game came out as a total buggy mess it's understandable why they chose to combine the bug fix patch with their content update patch. So it all boils down to does SEGA feel Mania is 'complete' enough to drop support both in bug fixes and content support (like new content was ever an option but still) the rest of the fixes and improvements we want may have to come from us, the community, if SEGA has already dropped Mania support like a lead weight. Unless everything is hard coded ala Sonic 4 and Lost World, then were fucked out of luck. :specialed:
You know, seeing the recent repurpose of the Sonic emblems for the 3D Blast "director's cut" mod makes me think that just scattering the medals across this game's levels may have worked better than the "beat 32 Blue Spheres stages" approach, making the process more fluid, encouraging the use of all the routes and the discovery of secret paths and just adding replay value that doesn't feel like "work" since you're actually seeing new stuff. Plus, it would have been a nod of sorts to Pocket Adventure, I guess.
I wouldn't have any problem with medals if they weren't at expense of bonus stages. I loved those in sonic 3 and absence of bonus stages of any king was a huge let down.
People hated it in SAdv2 because you had to do it all on the same run AND then beat a special stage as well. In SAdv3 the hidden Chao only had to be collected once and then were saved forever, there was much less complaining about that.
People also hated it in Advance 2 because they were clearly more of an afterthought when you factor in the pacing / structure of Advance 2's levels and its gameplay overall. Getting all seven medals for the special stages were highly dependent on trial-and-error gameplay because you had to plan the hell out of your route (and in some cases, make use of the secondary characters mechanics you probably forgot even existed in the game) in order to remember where each medal was placed and how to get each one. Despite Advance 2 sporting multilayered levels and routes, the exploration elements take a distant backseat to its very high focus on speed(running). There's also the bit that you needed to beat all of the Special Stages/get all of the Chaos Emeralds with all four characters (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Cream) just to unlock Amy as well.
Having 5 Red Star Rings in each Act would have been fun. Or better yet, they could be character specific. Blue Star Rings for Sonic, Red Star Rings for Knuckles and Orange Star Rings for Tails, all in different locations. It's definitely something I'd like to see in a sequel.
Yeaaaah, no on the idea of having the medals scattered through levels. There's a reason I never got 'em all in Advance 2, never bothered with Red Star Rings in Colors, never got all the puzzle pieces in Pocket Adventure, and never particularly liked Yoshi's Island, although at least in that case, the gameplay style is DESIGNED around collecting a bunch of doo-dads. I understand it would appeal to those who enjoy exploration in their Sonic levels, and would incentivise seeking out multiple routes, but tying a bonus to that and making the player break their flow to get 'em always felt like a hindrance to me.
You're acting like the medals were a contractual requirement, and that they designed the Blue Sphere bonus stages around them.
I'm acting like I think the in-level collectible approach may have worked better and would have also allowed to keep the Bonus Stage mechanics for this game.
No we have to wait for the physical release to come out, then we have to give them the proper window because they already know of all the bugs and they're working on fixing them. Let's wait for 4 more patches to come out first :v:
I don't even own a Switch (yet), and I'm still incredibly excited by this news. The game deserves it, imagine how many more sales this will get them. Now I just need to buy a Switch and Mania and then I won't have to deal with fucking Denuvo trying to murder my laptop anymore :D
Well, this is certainly promising. I would love a physical release as much as the next person, and had all but given up any hope. But, this may lead to something, so I'm optimistic again. Also, regarding this: I have asked a few times about this in this very thread, but never received an answer publicly. However, I was told through a PM that it was an Administrator's call as to whether or not to re-open the thread. There are still a few issues that are potentially game breaking that I haven't devolved yet and, as previously stated, think it's better to have this information in one place, as opposed to splintered throughout this thread.
Oooh, this has me interested. I'd certainly be up for triple-dipping for a physical copy. I mean, I doubt I'll be picking up Sonic Forces anytime soon, and a physical copy would be a great way to show support to the awesome work the devs have done with Mania. Are Switch gamecarts region free by any chance?
