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

No you're not; this is one thing I would've fixed about S3K (along with removing the point value from badniks and destructible objects if you've already destroyed them once that game) to make a highscore run equivalent to a style run, instead of being "who can grind the longest".

Since the Adventure games required it for unlocking content, I guess.

Just because it wasn't important then, doesn't mean it must be unimportant now. If everything's made up and the points don't matter, then why have points at all? Why not just remove the score?

And remove the lives while you're at it, they're not important either.

Bearing in mind they probably made the bumpers do it for the same reason, this makes most sense to me.

 

I see zero problem with the sign bouncing. It's a harmless end-of-level challenge. It's fun to see how long you can bounce it. If you want to spend minutes at a time bouncing a sign instead of playing the rest of the game, I don't see any reason to stop you. It's just like one of the bonus stages that you hop into

Just have a Score Attack mode that removes the feature. Or don't. It's not like everyone and their mother is capable of bouncing it forever. If someone gits gud, then they deserve more reward. Let it be toggle-able, and have a separate leaderboard?

 

I've always liked the sign post juggle. And lives...

If they can make the signpost harder to hit as it goes on, that'd be fine. Either way, it won't really bother me. If there are online leaderboards they will immediately be ruined anyway, like in all Sega games.

 

Can't say I've ever thought about it, nor do I really care. The signpost is fun to bounce. Why not make it a challenge? Each successive hit is harder to pull off because the sign increases in speed, but additionally each hit could also award more points. Gives an incentive to juggle then.

Or just make it stop giving points after Xmas number of hits. Or just leave it the way it is cause it's a super not big deal.

 

That's exactly what I did in my fangame actually. Because I do care about a broken mechanic being broken.

 

I do like the idea of a Sonic game playing more towards the pinball element, i.e. having a greater focus on point scoring (or at least doing something with the numbers), but I would expect Sonic Mania is a bit too far along the development pipeline to see that sort of thing take effect. Online leaderboards are a thing now, while they weren't in 1991.

However, that's not to say score was always redundant - it's one of the factors in Sonic 2's two-player mode (which I've always admired because it plays to an understanding of the entire game, not just how quickly you can beat a level).



Truth be told Sonic games never really paid much attention to score (even in Sonic Spinball... the most pinbally game of them all). IIRC there's a few cases where points are awarded incorrectly (usually involving AI-controlled Tails) and there's ring and time bonuses that are impossible to get through normal play.

Tedious fact - speedrunners are best completing a level in 31 seconds than 30, because the time taken to award the 30 seconds or less time bonus is greater than one second.

 

Why not just make it stop giving points altogether? The appeal for me in 3&K is that you might get an item-box if it lands on the ground in the right place. If I haven't got an item-box after a few hits of keeping the sign-post in the air, then I just lose interest and move onto the next stage.

When I play the classics my satisfaction doesn't really come from getting a good score. For me it's about getting as many extra lifes as possible and finishing with as any rings in each act (not getting hit & don't lose any lives etc). By playing the game like this I know I've played it well and this garantees a good score anyway.

 

I'm honestly kind of surprised at everyone's attitude about this sign post thing. Just because you don't care about the score doesn't mean nobody does.

This is something that can be fixed by the devs with a trivial amount of effort. Why shouldn't it be fixed? Why would you take the time to argue that it doesn't matter?

 

Because it's inconsequential. Also consider the fact you would have to spend hours and possibly days getting a really high score by just that method. You need a serious level of autism to do that. And anyway, grinding points for hours bouncing the sign post is a challenge in itself.

 

Just because it's "inconsequential" doesn't mean it shouldn't be fixed. It's an incredibly easy fix; there's no reason NOT to fix it.

 

Are you serious? Last time I checked Sonic Mania is a brand new game and not a Sonic 3 addon.

 

I agree with Felik. I think it's funny to see people to vehemently defend the sign bouncing mechanic while ignoring the obvious implication of a never-ending score bug. It doesn't matter score was inconsequential in the older Sonic games, if it's true that this game is gonna have leaderboards, its gonna suck big time to have the first 100 slots taken up by people who got really really good at bouncing the sign for an hour.

 

How about releasing the game with 3 hypothetical play modes:

Standard - with signpost juggling intact
Time Attack - high score table reflecting times, for speedrunners and the like. Signpost juggling is enabled, but inconsequential for speedrunners.
Score Attack - high score table reflecting the points you rack up, in this mode signpost juggling is disabled, it simply just drops at end of act, no popup monitors, nothing but the end of level tally.

Would this please folk?

 

Well aren't you the edgiest comedian.

Also, its easier to rack up a high score than you might think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tsMQCUcWXA

 

Comparing LBZ enemy spawn mechanic to keeping the sign post airborn. Poor comparison you have there.

 

Removing the scoring aspect from the sign bouncing doesn't stop you from bouncing it.

Bouncing it forever is easy and tedious. It shouldn't be a way of getting high scores, and certainly isn't a case of "git gud for more score".

It's not inconsequential - people want to compare their run with others. Time is one way, score is another. Why remove one option for the sake of a bouncing signpost at the end of a level?

Why are people arguing that comparing score is inconsequential, but not that a bouncing signpost is inconsequential?

Also, it's a challenge in the same way as throwing a ball up in the air and catching it for hours is a challenge. And you know people will do it, because people play Desert Bus to get a high score.

It'd be unecessary. There's no need to disable signpost juggling or popup monitors. The only thing that needs to be taken out (or alternatively, limited) is the points earned when juggling the signpost. That's it.


Nobody wants to take the signpost juggling away.

 

Couldn't they just limit the amount of times you get points from bouncing the sign post like the bumpers in the original games? Like no more points after you hit it 5-10 times.

 

Or just don't count points accumulated via sign post bouncing and re spawning enemies to the final leader board score.

For example LBZ, that enemy must be marked in the code to re spawn when the sensors go off, award 100 points for the first enemy the sensor spawns and stop after that (in case there are exploitable re-spawning enemies).

Honestly I wouldn't be so worried about this, I reckon if Tax/Stealth took out a remastered Sonic 3 they would change the code specifically to stop shit like this happening, I don't see why Mania would be any different.

 

If you say so.

That said, as long the monitors could still pop up I really wouldn't care about not racking up score.

I think this would actually be the best solution.

 

New interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5ah_XGdobM