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

There are really, really cool things going on with Sonic CD (Taxman) modding that just aren't public right now. Things that would really blow minds.

 

Color me excited! :D

 

I just want to say that it has been a real privilege to play this game. I bought it on launch day for my Switch, beat it in one sitting, and felt emotions that I never expected to feel again. When I was a kid back in the mid-90s, my best friend and I were heavily into Sonic and would play co-op all the time in Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Now I only get to see him for at most a couple of days a year, but when I do we are going to play through this like it was 1995 again and we were eight years old. Thank you, Taxman, Stealth, and all the other community members involved in the development, for giving that to me, and reminding a jaded world that Sonic is still great. I hope that this is just the first of many new retro-inspired titles that we can expect to see.

 

It's a little frustrating to see SO MANY people come out of the woodwork going, "Y'know, I never really saw the appeal of Sonic." I saw a very well-meaning person whom I like and respect decide that it all came down to nostalgia left over from the Sega vs. Nintendo rivalry. But I think even at their best, Sonic games are more niche than Mario or Kirby. Mania has seemingly proven that the classic approach carries the MOST mainstream appeal, but it's still not gonna be for everybody. And that's okay! I don't see the appeal in Kingdom Hearts or most JRPGs or Elder Scrolls or Steven Universe, but I also don't feel the need to harp on about how nostalgia-blinded people who disagree with me are.

Another analogy might be pro wrestling. I _love_ pro wrestling when it's good, and I _love_ to laugh at it when it's bad. But as a wrestling fan, the common criticism is, "But it's all fake!" To these people, wrestling might be more appealing if it was "real." But what they fail to understand is that the VERY REASON we like it is because of the qualities it takes on by being a simulation, by being theater in the round. You either get it or you don't, and either one is okay, but it reminds me a lot of that very well-done video essay where someone postulated that their idea to "fix" Sonic was to basically ruin everything that MAKES HIM WHAT HE IS. Same as I'd "fix" a JRPG by ruining what makes it a JRPG, if that's your idea, then Sonic isn't for you. And that's fine! Sonic isn't gonna be for everybody! But we've been waiting for this for A LONG TIME, and I wish more non-fans could give us this one and be happy for us. :P

 

I just want to clarify whether this is a joke? If not then that's truly amazing, if it is then duuuude... Not cool.

 

A buddy of mine got the game on Switch to play it on the go.
I was partially wondering why videos of people playing on Switch seemed so bad, but jeez, the joycons aren't made for this at all. Like, not one bit. Using the directional buttons sucked because they were split, and the analog stick felt bleh.
We were passing the game around and I beat the CPZ1 boss, and the game crashed out at the start of act 2.

 

Color me intrigued then. It's such a shame that even Sonic fucking 4 has mods unlike CD.

 

I think that a lot of people just don't understand. It's been so many years since gamers have lived this kind of experience with Sonic. Only those of us about 30+ remember what it was like in the Sega vs. Nintendo era of the 90s when Sonic was huge and in his prime. Anyone younger than that grew up with the franchise in the wilderness where it was having an identity crisis. And I suspect those games largely define their conception of what Sonic is (present younger members excluded of course). But now there's a real hope, because of Mania and how good it is, that a new generation of gamers will come to understand Sonic the way we do. And I'm willing to bet that as long as there are more titles like this going forward, there's a real chance at making a lot of new Sonic fans.

I'm still having trouble believing this is where we are now. If you had asked me 5-10 years ago if Sonic would ever return to form, I would have been quite pessimistic. But now, I'm just smiling.

 

Better do, my only option is my old 5:4 monitor.

 

I've been listening to a few tracks, mostly Mirage Saloon and Green Hill. Has Tee Lopes officially killer the "remix?" I feel that everything I've head do far is top notch and a remix would just take away from, unread of aging to the original composition. Most songs prior always left room for further arrangement, but what we have in Mania is absolutely golden outside of an 8 or 16 bit remix.

 

Real men play with a vertical 9:16 monitor. :v:

 

The truth is that even people we respect sometimes can make obvious mistakes.

Many people, even the most intelligent, sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that if they cannot see the fun/quality/motivation/etc of something, it's because it doesn't exist. So if they personally don't see Sonic as a fun game, then surely the game isn't fun: there *must* be some other reason to make so many people have such a strong reaction to it, after all, he doesn't have that reaction. We don't see that kind of thinking just about Sonic, actually. How many times in our lives have we heard advice from some well-meaning people who sounded completely bonkers to the way we see the world? People often give advice based on their own values, not on the values of the people they're talking to - that's why sometimes even advice offered with the best of intentions can be terrible for someone.

In my experience, the ability to get away from your own values and worldview to judge something has no direct relationship to one's intelligence. It's a completely separate skill, which needs to be developed with effort if you don't possess it innately. And it's amazing how such a skill is so fundamental to so many things, it can and will affect trivial opinions about video games, but it will also affect your worldview on much more important issues.

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But, yeah. Sonic was always a niche game. It's a relatively large niche no doubt, but I'm sure it will never be and could never be as big as Super Mario. Some people will never 'get' it. People have distinct tastes, and sometimes what we enjoy will never be something really mainstream. You have no idea how many years I've been waiting for the recent rebirth of computer RPGs based on turn-based combat and isometric (or similar) camera. Even the style of choice and consequence that we see in modern RPGs was of a very different style from the classic ones (and I don't even want to get into those issues or I'll need to write an essay here). I got tired of hearing from people that modern RPGs were 'just better', and that I was stuck with a 'nostalgic' POV and that's why I couldn't accept it.

If to fix something you needed to change its nature, then the thing would turn out to be something else.

 

tbh the only reason Sonic is a niche game now is because of the huge quality dropoff when he went into 3D. Back in the day Mario and Sonic were at odds and SEGA was doing amazing in the industry because of it. The fateful events of Sonic's 3D transition dethroned him and I think the bad rep cloud stuck to the old games ever since. Can sure as heck tell you if we had a Mania-esque game following S3K and it went from there we'd be singing a different tune today. I hope that this game leads to a continuation of Classic Sonic games, at least 1-2 more. A modern day Classic Sonic trilogy would be amazing, even if the end result would be that one game has a lot of old zones and the other two are fully original =P.

I think this game is gonna reignate the fire for a lot of people. Hell it already has, it is bringing people back to this franchise. My Mother and my aunt are getting together this weekend to play this game together because it intrigues them that much, it's remarkable. They haven't played Classic Sonic in 15+ years but the minute my Mother picked up the controller and played GHZ1, she blazed through the first half of the level with riveting familiarity, and I could see how shocked she was that it controlled just like the old games but better haha. Of course once the new level design kicked in she went full tilt, but she is older than she used to be now so I understand.

 

Thanks for finding that. Any news on Heavy King theme?

 

Two random things:

1. Did anyone notice how the Amy Doll in MMZ 2 looks like an Amy version of the Tails Doll (Same creepy eyes and that antenna thing)?
2. I've been meaning to ask. What the hell is a Cool Bonus? It seems arbitrary but I can't tell what it's supposed to indicate.

 

Any chance they'll patch a bunch of the game-breaking bugs and optimize the frame-rate on Switch?

edit: it sounds like the Switch version is broken, based on the comment above. How could they release such a thing?

 

How'd my post imply anything about a broken Switch release? :v:

But yes they are working on a patch. No version is without it's gripes at the moment, but they're working on it (and that's why they delayed the PC version. If the Switch versions hiccups cause problems I can only imagine what the PC version was doing). But hey one thing I thought of. If the game came out like this (well ok it's pretty much there outside of some random bugs and a handful of potentially serious ones, but nothing that seriously takes away from liking the game), what would the game of been like had it come out in the spring as originally planned?

But why release it as is? Well for one thing they already delayed it, and for another I bet Sega didn't like the idea of this coming out at the same time as Forces as it might have resulted in less sales for both of the games right off the bat. But hey that's why patches exist.

EDIT: In other news, here's the intro running on Genesis hardware

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0p0B8OGI4M

And here it is on the Sega CD :specialed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNLu7a-9yE8

 

Act 1 hasnt been deciphered yet
Act2
"Evil doctor whos a mad genius with rad minion;
Who'll help you save the planet?;
I see you acting like you've never seen;
Im the greatest fighter thats ever been on your screen;
Im iconic, with my bionics &animatronics;
Ill crush that blue hedgehog they call sonic;
Fabled and iconic, my mustache of fire;
Welcome to this tiny world of nightmares and wire."

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI4KToC4QII

The only part I found particularly interesting about this was the Lava Reef Act 2 part that starts at around 8:30. There's some unused section of the level that looks like the area where Sonic originally fought Knuckles in Hidden Palace Zone. The background is also garbled in such a way that it looks like that Sonic vs Robotnik in the Doomsday Zone mural was supposed to make an appearance. Lava Reef is also one of those zones that doesn't have a transition scene to the next level. Was this stuff part of a scrapped transition by chance?

 

Yeah, that's interesting stuff.

I also noticed that if you place the goalpast as Sonic or Tails in Mirage Saloon Act 1 you are then transported to Knuckles' version of MS1. Clearly his level is after Sonic's in the code (or something).

Now we just need to find a way to glitch into the Angel Island zone cutscene :v:/>