Sonic Mania (Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC...Netflix?)

Personally I'm more than happy to just fire up the game on my laptop. I played the original trilogy on like a 14 inch CRT back in the day as a child so my laptop screen is sufficient for me. Don't really have the money to get an Xbox One or PS4 though then again I should get a cash injection at Christmas so I suppose I could get one to play Mania in all of its widescreen glory. I don't know. Just happy playing games on my PC. I played Sonic Axiom on this machine and that was fun. Mania should be the same.

 

As much as the Wii U is a dead horse and it's a huge misfire of a console by Nintendo, I'm still rather disappointed Mania's not coming to it. Part of it is because I own one myself, and part of it is that it kinda sucks none of the Sonic games that came directly to the Wii U will be anything to write home about in quality. (Well, none except for RoL, but for the wrong reasons... :v).

Not interested in an Xbone and my interest in a PS4 has been severely drained over the years (largely due to design choices done with the console by Sony I'm not happy with), so as it stands I'm hoping it gets announced for the upcoming Switch (especially since Sonic 2017 has been announced for it). That or I'll just have to look towards opening a Steam account, as outside of Sonic ROM hacks / fangames I rarely use my laptop for games.

 

I was surprised as much as everyone else to see that it wasn't going to be playable on Wii U. I imagine the decision to not release it on Nintendo wasn't made lightly, given the strong connection between Nintendo fans and higher Sonic sales. If I had to guess, the reason they didn't want to port it was either: the Wii U architecture was too time-intensive to port to, or the poor Sonic Boom sales scared SEGA execs away and they decided to focus more on the other systems.

That being said, I think it's very unlikely that we will see a Switch port, unless the game does well and we get it later down the line. Simply put, the Sonic Mania team don't rank high enough to have access to the Switch dev kits, especially with SEGA focusing its development efforts on Sonic 2017.

 

SEGA focusing on whatever doesn't make it not behind Sonic Mania. They'll no doubt be getting Switch DKs and sending them to the Sonic Mania team should be trivial (I think?).

 

Eh, it makes sense. The Wii U damn-near exclusively sold to diehard Nintendo fans. We're all getting a Switch, anyway.

 

By that logic the PC version is the first portable version because laptops and Surface.

 

Am I the only one who wants to see an iOS/Android version? I know it's probably not going to happen but it'd be handy to play on the go, and we've seen the Retro Engine run on it before with Sonic 1 & 2.

 

I don't see why not. It'd be great to have that option, serving as a great contemporary example of quality traditional gameplay on a touch-based platform.

 

Well I think there's probably a reason to have it console exclusive.
Maybe some parts are too intense for mobile devices?

Idk, maybe they plan to release it for mobile like a month later to get us to buy it twice.
I probably would anyway though.

 

Unless at one point it switches into a full 3D physics simulator with thousands of objects bouncing around everywhere, it'll run on a mobile.

It's more likely that testing for mobiles is more expensive (due to there being a larger range of mobile devices than consoles), and they've crunched the numbers and decided they won't make as much back on sales; or they've decided they'll make more on sales if they wait and release it later, after everyone's already bought it on console.

 

Hell, if the engine is known to run on platforms as ancient as a K6-2 CPU?...

It's almost a shame there'll be a lot of modern OS dependencies. I'dve loved to run this game on my K6-2 98SE machine. If not just to see it run on the same machine the Sonic and Knuckles Collection was marketed at.

 

I just thought of something, Does anyone think Knuckles will be able to go super in this game?

 

Yes, I think so. You can turn into Super Knuckles in Sonic 2 Remastered (just like you could in "Knuckles in Sonic 2"). So I think Knuckles is guaranteed a super form in Mania.

However, I'm not convinced Tails will have one. He didn't have a super form in Sonic 2 Remastered (you can only access this through debug-mode) as per the canon of the original Sonic 2. I suspect Sonic Team will ask them to keep to the original canon where Tails only got a super form when he collected the super emeralds in 3&K.

I do hope you can be Super Tails in Mania. I see no reason why he shouldn't. I want to see his flicky army of death again :v:

 

Do you think the Super Emeralds/14 special stages will return then? Or will they devise some new way to become Super Knuckles?

 

Don't forget, Knuckles only needed the chaos emeralds to go Super in Sonic 2&3. It's Tails who needed the super emeralds to go Super.

I'd imagine Sonic and Knuckles will both access the exact same special stages in Mania to get the chaos emeralds.

It could be interesting if the special stages were unique to both characters if they were designed around their individual abilities. For example; a special stage for Knuckles designed specifically around his gliding and climbing and maybe a special stage for Sonic designed around his new drop-dash move?

 

'Sup, marks. Been workin' in Japan for the last 10 days. Leaving in the morning. 

Rode the Sonic 25 subway train in Tokyo to start the trip and soaking in all the Sonic Mania advertising. It's a physical hype train:
https://twitter.com/bradflick55/status/802350948567814144
https://twitter.com/bradflick55/status/802351816432201728
https://twitter.com/bradflick55/status/804688678186405890

Yesterday, we went to the opening of the Sonic 25th anniversary pop-up cafe that had Mania advertisements and a sweet merch table. Never before have I been emotionally moved by an overpriced food court:
https://twitter.com/bradflick55/status/804715751521144836
https://twitter.com/bradflick55/status/804690635361918976
https://twitter.com/bradflick55/status/804689033360084993
https://twitter.com/bradflick55/status/804711295538737152

Japan is p tight. Why it has all this advertising and sweet merch when Sonic is infinitely more popular in the West is beyond me.

 

Japan's "the one that got away." Sega's the awkward ex attempting to win her back with fine dining and writing confession of love messages in public.