You've got some games on floppy disks in your collection? Classy! I've jumped on the PC-wagon at the end of 90 (about 1998/99), so floppy disks were used only for "moving" some data (mostly text and graphic files) from one PC to another. But surprisingly lot of my games which I've bought in 2000 or 2001 (as well as those from later years) are still working fine (who would have thought, that CDs which are quite vulnerable for scratches can be so durable). And I'm really missing those old-style manuals! Not only due to "easthetics", but also due to the fact that they had quite often some description of the plot, quite often more detailed than stuff you've had served in game (even now I remember how many details about various characters were included in introduction to PC version of Croc: Legend of Gobbo). But getting back to the subject - I would be really happy with some proper physical release of the game on PC, but IMO chances are equal to the chances that I will see one day release of Sonic Heroes 2 :v: Spoiler Approximately 0,03%
Ahahahahahaha. No. Come on, man. Also, with commentary? Why include that at all? Just let us watch the game. People don't have to hear their comments.
Wow, every day that passes I love the game more and more... you did an amazing job, TaxStealth. I can't wait to finally play it! If we're in wishlist more, I would like to see something from the 8 bits games, specially from Sonic 1 and 2. More specific, 2. Anything from level remasters ( almost impossible, I know) to cameos, references or music remixes would be godsend. Also, about the music I would love to see the ATS team join Tee Lopes. He is already doing an incredible job, but why not make it even better with some of the best music talent we have in the community?
Can someone do me a huge solid and splice the beginning part of the trailer with the full theme of the trailer? I really like the slow medley the trailer starts off with.
Quartz Quadrant that turns into Desert Dazzle for Acts 2-3? I swore Taxman has said somewhere out there that Green Hill was the "tamest" of the original levels, so it could be a neat opportunity to have some callbacks to lost level ideas within chosen tropes for our Sonic 2, 3&K, and CD levels. Granted, 3&K doesn't really have much in the way of lost concepts, but with how damn big levels seem to be in Mania we could still see multiple acts including multiple levels or at least multiple tropes. I'd love to see them get real wild and weird with it if SEGA will allow it. Mish mash Carnival Night from Sonic 3 and heavy Marina Madness influences from Chaotix to make a carnival by the bay kind of zone and tie in some Knuckles Chaotix, or maybe instead have the Flying Battery crashing into Ice Cap at the end of the first act to have some cool frozen-tech aesthetics. Maybe have Hill Top fully erupt and have a lava level or go deeper into the forest for some Wood Zone fun, there's still a lot of cool possibilities with even the older levels, I just hope SEGA gives them enough free reign to really twist things up!
Does anyone know when Sonic Mania actually began development? I seem to remember Taxman, or maybe it was Stealth, talking about how they would love to make a new game for Sega, but that Sega had not contacted them regarding anything like that. Thing is, unless I'm wrong, this was like... only a few months ago? Maybe I'm wrong on the timeline?
The video is direct feed footage from the game, and shows the game running in HD and 60fps. Most existing footage of the game as it currently stands are off-screen recordings, so if you're looking for high-qualityraw game footage for Mania, the publisher / uploader who provides it should be kinda irrelevant. And if you don't want to listen to the commentary, you could just watch the video with the sound off.
Many of my old floppies work, but even if they don't work it doesn't matter, as I backed them up into much less volatile mediums ages ago. And I have that xwing book, too, lol. The entire Xwing package was great.
My guess would be sometime in 2015, presumably after the Sega restructuring and the SoA relocation. With the previous state of Sega, I doubt Mania (as it currently exists) would even be a thing before then otherwise. If I'm correct, I think that gives Mania roughly a year and a half of development time if it makes its Spring 2017 release. ...and speaking of that Spring 2017 release period, what are the odds Sega may invoke Sonic 3's release date, and the game will see a Groundhog Hedgehog Day release? :v:
It would be neat to find out about how this game came to be. Did Taxman and Stealth pitch it to Sega or did Sega reach out to them? Where did the idea of new stages and old stages come from? How did Sonic Team get involved? I think once Stealth said after the restructuring, many of their contacts at Sega had moved on, so how did they reconnect? It would make a very interesting story!
Anyway, I can't wait to see the game cover! I'm really hoping for a Megadrive / Saturn vibe, but I trust you to make something awesome. God, I wish it will eventually end on a physical release.
I've been lurking here since about 2000/2001....I rarely post, but I have to give major props to Tax and Stealth. This is amazing to see. Congrats guys. You've come a very long way.
It's a shame PagodaWest doesn't seem to get much of the same lauding Tax and Stealth do. Still, more coverage is better.
A couple of aesthetic oddities that kind of bother me about Green Hill Zone: 1. The floating landmass that makes up the new upper route looks incongruous. Sonic 1 had the little floating platforms, but the actual landmass all connected to the ground. On the other hand, Sonic 2's Emerald Hill Zone had floating land, so it might just be that I'm not used to seeing that design choice applied to Green Hill Zone. The same thing bugged me a little in the iOS Sonic 1, where Tails and Knuckles' extra route had lava and caverns above ground level. 2. The mini-boss arena doesn't make sense to me. The backgound is a cavern, but the foreground has palm trees and flowers and grass. So is Sonic inside the cavern or not? It's especially weird since both Generations and Sonic 1 8-bit had watery caverns without trees or flowers. I really do love that they're attempting these kinds of transitions though. Sonic Advance's Neo Green Hill Zone did a great job with this, starting off on the beach/boardwalk, then beach/road, then tropical paradise, then forest, then road and finally a big steel bridge with the boss fight. (It's a shame Dimps didn't really do that again.)
This is pretty much the way I feel about it. I'm confident it's going to be great, and it's probably going to go towards the top of the list as far as "favourite Sonic games" go, but even watching the videos I can see areas of level design that should immediately scream "nope" to anyone familiar with how these games work. On top of that, there are some things that seem like obvious omissions given how much people talk about what their "Sonic 4" would include and/or complaints about the classic games; elemental shields overwriting non-shield abilities was a common one and yet it happens again here; and given the heavy CD style it feels odd to not have a Peelout. Will it be the best official 2D Sonic game since Sonic Advance? Very probably. But I think there's still more to improve. (And hey, it's several months away from release, so who knows?)