Sonic Mania Plus SPOILER THREAD with UNMARKED spoilers!

I still can't get over the fact that they changed the grass in angel island for no reason

 

But of course! The world needs more self-playing stuff like Forces! Doing what works simply isn't the Sonic Team way. :specialed:/>
Iizuka just pisses me off the more I hear from him.

 

Big change, but the original grass was a mess... all AI's tiles were really. All texture up the wazoo. Personally I like the cleaner look, keeping in touch with the striped stylings of the past.

 

Yes, it's pretty clear the Mania team were trying to bring some level of consistency to the redone level art, given that the original games all differed a fair bit - the difference in style would have been particularly noticeable here, especially as Angel Island transitions directly into Green Hill. Looks like they decided the Sonic 1 styled route - i.e. all grass is the same striped style - was the way they wanted to go, which fits with the more Sonic 1 inspired animations etc. for Sonic himself. I'm betting if we'd seen more grassy stages they would have been given similar treatment.

 

It's likely that Encore mode takes place after the events of Mania mode, much like Knuckles story in 3K takes place after the main story.



I'm guessing this screenshot is Sonic arriving back on Angel Island after the events of Sonic Forces:




Sonic returns to Angel Island which leads him to rescuing Ray and Mighty:



They then confront Heavy Magician, who using the Phantom Ruby then revives the other Heavies and uses the Ruby to change the appearance of all 12 zones (the color palette changes and route changes to compliment Ray and Mighty's movesets) and forces Sonic, Tails, Knuckles (and Ray and Mighty) to play through all 12 zones again.



Of course you could argue that the events in those screenshot are encountered the other way round:
1) Sonic rescues Ray and mightys
2) Confronts Heavy Magician (who is above the scrap-heap of other Heavies)
3) The Heavy Magician uses the Phantom Ruby to revive the other Heavies, then uses the Ruby to warp Sonic to Green Hill again (using that purple portal) and thus you have to play through all 12 zones with the color palette changes.


Edit: In todays Sonic stream, Aaron confirmed that Ray is vulnerable when in flight. Will curl up into a ball when coming out of flight.

 

I just noticed on Heavy Magicians profile:

She's described as "Getting the band back together." Sure enough, look what she's up to in Encore.

 

Hehehehehehehehe



This isnt Sonic coming back from Forces. He's coming back from the ending scene in Mania.

WE CAN RETCON SONIC FORCES MWAHAHAHAHAHA

 

I know this was mostly meant as a joke but. . . .
oh my word we actually CAN retcon Forces. . .

 

That was the first thing I thought when I saw that screenshot, though I've been doing that in my head the whole time since you never see where Sonic winds up in during the original ending.

I guess Mania Adventures is an alternate continuity.

 

Modern Sonic timeline
Classic Sonic timeline
Mania Classic Sonic timeline
Mania Adventures Classic Sonic timeline.

All of them are going to show up for Sonic Generations 2 in 2021.

 

What if... what if he goes into another portal at the end of Adventures and that's the one we're seeing here?

 

Or what if the portal we're seeing there isn't one that Sonic's come out of, but one that the Heavy Magician is about to appear through? Alternatively, the Phantom Ruby also seems to be floating independently above the capsule Mighty and Ray are imprisoned in, so could the Ruby itself be what's coming through the portal?

Simply going on these three screenshots with no idea as to what order they should go in isn't going to get us anywhere. Since the Adventures shorts are promoting Mania Plus, I'd be surprised if they'd specifically chosen to link them back to the ending of Forces if the game's Encore Mode plot also links to that event.

 

Now somebody just has to edit out Sonic waving goodbye in the first scene of Mania Adventures and we'll be all set to forget about Forces.

 

I took this to mean she brought Team Hooligan together, as she brings them back in illusion form via the hat.

 

Well likely that's what they meant, but it works in both situations.

 

Well, that'd be the best of both worlds. You could include and ignore whatever you wanted.

On a different note, it only just hit me that this is a new Sonic game that has Fang, Bean, Bark, Silver Sonic, Mighty, and Ray all at once. I never thought I'd see any of those characters return, let alone in the same game.

 

It is really amazing. Outside of the Chaotix (which get enough screen time anyway these days) this touches on pretty much every significant character of the era (Amy had a minor appearance at least). I swear everyday I am just so happy that this game exists.

 

So, according to this track listing for the physical OST included in the Japanese version of Mania Plus, it seems we can look forward to the expansion adding the following new music tracks:

• "Double Take", a new Save Select theme for Encore Mode
• "Trap Tower", listed as the theme for a new Pinball Bonus Stage(?!). Likely a remix of the theme from the SegaSonic the Hedgehog stage of the same name, though whether the Bonus Stage itself will take any visual cues from said stage will remain to be seen. (I think I'm right in saying this is also the first mention of said Bonus Stage's existence?)
• "Back in Action", a new theme to accompany Mighty & Ray's introductory cutscene
• Angel Island Zone - I think everyone saw this one coming, but nice to have it confirmed. The presence of only one track seems to confirm speculation that it'll be a single-Act tutorial stage of some kind. Interestingly, the original truncated "cutscene" version is still present too, rather than being replaced with the full version as previously speculated.

Also, even the physical soundtrack is missing the six remixed Nakamura tracks (Green Hill Zone/Chemical Plant Zone/Oil Ocean Zone). = (

 

Yessss please give me something other than blue spheres to play so I actually have some incentive to revisit the bonus stages.

But what will that mean for blue spheres? Maybe the bonus stage is encore mode exclusive?

 

Very possible - it's listed specifically as a Mania Plus track and sounds like it'll use music referencing SegaSonic the Hedgehog, the game from which both the expansion's additional characters originate.

Guessing we won't know either way until more details emerge - if the new one is something more akin to the Sonic 3 & Knuckles Bonus Stages (in terms of being something quick which allows you to grab some rings and power-ups before returning to the stage), then I wouldn't be too cut up if it replaced Blue Sphere entirely as the de facto Star Post Bonus Stage, leaving Blue Sphere simply as an additional mode you can use to unlock the various extras. Blue Sphere's great fun and a good challenge, but does break the flow of the game somewhat as a mid-level Bonus Stage!