Something that made me take a double take today... Apparently the Blue Spheres stages sometimes have more Blue Spheres than you actually require to beat them, unless it was a glitch... There was a row of 7 spheres ahead of me and I only needed one more.
Yep. It's a glitch caused by certain formations of spheres and how you collect them. People managed to find the exact cause a few pages back.
I don't know what translation you read but I can tell you as someone who reads Japanese that it says he's from "the world of another dimension" and that he came to this world via Eggman's influence. It does also say he teamed up with this world's Sonic in the past so it would probably mean that the other dimension is an alternate timeline.
Although I'm pretty indifferent to Sonic 4 and whether people want to consider it canon or not, I always felt this elevator argument was probably one of the weaker ones personally. - The usual counter-argument: CD isn't on the list, yet clearly is still included in Mania. I feel this gives the elevator numbers even less meaning. - In a game that's celebrating the 16-bit classic era of Sonic, the idea of there even being a Modern Sonic game from 2010 included wouldn't make much sense at all. I mean, taking Sonic 4's quality off the table, even if it were a 10/10 masterpiece, it's not really what Mania is about, and having a 4 on the elevator would only confuse a fuckton of people. - if we're taking the elevator buttons as some sort of chronlogy, right from the get-go I always saw Mania as sitting between Sonic 3K and Sonic 4, in the same way that CD is generally considered to go in betwen Sonic 1 and Sonic 2. Of course we know now that Mania seems to be starting it's own timeline so that's not even an issue any more. To me, Sonic 4 (despite what Sega wanted it to be) is just another pre-Adventure Sonic game in the same vein as 3D Blast, R and Fighters. All take place after Sonic 3, and none of them are really effected by Mania existing. As mentioned above by others, I think people sometimes give too much weight to the marketing and not to what's actually shown in game by the actual developers.
If Sonic 4 wasn't a failure, Sonic Mania wouldn't have had a chance. It just worked out that the S3K remaster was given the boot during a time in which people were still fuming over Sonic 4's failures. The perfect time for a redeemer and we ended up with a different type of remaster with a new story and some new levels.
Quite a lot points /> Starting with the upper path - I liked the model implemented in older parts (in fact, even present in such games like Sonic Heroes, which are relatively far from the "md classics"), where it was harder to keep, but much faster and usually rewarding with additional stuff part. In mania - I can't find it anymore. This is at least impression which I had after finishing game with Sonic (and due to save game after zone, not level, I had to repeat some levels, so I could experience it even more). Which is connected with another thing - length of levels. Basing on my experience on Sonic 1-3, I've spent about 3-4 minutes on every level. In Mania - about 5 minutes was in fact the "bottom line", some of them I've finished in 7 or even 8 minutes. Even with the fact, that I'm playing in levels with new design, it's IMO a bit too much. About "great come back thing" - basing on my personal feeling - I've feel charmed with its graphic appearence, fluid animation... But I can't tell the same thing about "pure" gameplay. In fact, I feel that I get a bit tired after (approximately) 2/3 of the game. I could understand if game had it's weak points, but it's not the thing in my case. Regarding level design - I admit that I'm not analysing design too diligently, I'm trying different paths etc, but definitelly not trying to get to every possible corner. And basing on that - I can't say that I'm impressed with stuff received in Mania. Especially when I've tried to finish level as fast as possible - I had impression that game was intentionally dragging me up and down, left right and again left, just to not let me too quickly get to the finish. I had strong impression, that game is artificially trying to keep me on current level longer thant it's necessary. Aside from the fact if they're indeed constructed in such way, or just made some "False impression" in this aspect - I don't like such tricks. So far I didn't play too much on special stages (those where you're chasing ufo, not those taken from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, they're much easier to "get in"), they've been really hidden when I was playing with Sonic, fortunately I have more luck with playing as Knuckles (found only one in first zone, zero in second, but two in the Studiopolis, so I have here some progress, although IMO finding secrets with Knuckles was always easier, even in Sonic 3 & Knuckles). It's a nice concept, graphically appealing, but it's just an addition. More than "re-hashing" itself, it bothers me that choice of levels/elements almost completely missed my preferences, and took things which I didn't like in previous Sonic games. Even from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which is probably my favourite part in terms of "liking" most of the levels. Comparing it with hype, which I initially felt, when I've learned about this game - brutal reality has verified my expectations. Ouch, didn't check it on my own, what a shame. Hey, I didn't tell that :v: (probably some error in quoting)
It's hard to understand your thoughts about a level keeping you from reaching the end longer than necessary, since a level's job is pretty much to be something to do instead of getting to the end, and nothing is necessary. Perhaps your play style is just to prefer blazing through levels, so you feel some levels out-stay their welcome. Interesting to me because I think I either like a level or I don't. I don't think I've ever really felt "Ok, wish I'd find the end about now"; I either want a stage to go forever or I don't play it. For example, I will probably play Oil Ocean and Metallic Madness maybe 4 times again ever. Sonic 3 in particular defies a few things you say you prefer. Ant colonies instead of layered paths... running left, right, up, down... that's what Sonic 3 does most, no? And size. We'd probably have to ask the jury on that one but I know new players can time out on Carnival Night, Sandopolis, and Lava Reef; I really think Mania doesn't out-size Sonic 3 at its peak. I hear you about the revisited levels. Every revisited level is a roll of the dice with vet players, especially when most the Act 1s are little more than a reshaping. (Who selected OOZ anyway, Team Mania?) Oh yeah... regarding the level designs. There are definitely some places in Mania's levels where you really do run right, run down, run left, run up, run right. Paths that send you hurtling one way not to gain ground that way, but just to reach the thing that sends you hurtling back. It's a bit busy-work. LRZ2 has a big chunk near the end that does this, CPZ has a few occurrences too. S3&K surely does it too but I found myself seeing it more noticeably in Mania. The identifying factors being that a path crosses itself (in a way you can't exploit) rather than another path, and the 'hoop' has very little exploration if any. I'd prefer it if such cases had at least 1 visible & usable junction to break the hoop, in a way that took some platforming/timing/skill and was not encouraged on the surface, and at least one path that came off the hoop, even if only a 1-way bonus room back to an earlier path.
Fun bug I just ran into. While doing 2P Competitions, if you time over in Studiopolis Act 1 after the other player has finished while as a radio wave, you "die", but still continue and spawn at the tv, allowing you to finish the level while the timer is showing 0.
I don't want to distract much from talks of Mania's gems and flaws. This is the kind of discussion I wish could have happened upon the PC version's launch, instead of, well, Denuvo crashing the party. And I'll let it go on while I lurk it for good posts, since I don't consider myself knowledgeable enough about Sonic stage design to add anything of substance to the conversation. Although, is it just me, or did the options menu get fixed in the newest update on the PC version? It's sort of unclear without a changelog. Either way, the Vsync option appears to be working for me now, so the "Off" switch for Vsync works. CPU usage currently varies from 5% to 33%, no matter what resolution I'm using. (The 33% is seemingly at random, so I'll assume VMProtect 3 Denuvo kicks in at certain points.) My laptop's usage is anywhere from 25% to 67% as well, instead of reaching 70-85%. No more heat problems! The game very distinctly doesn't want much of my resources. While I'd prefer Denuvo to hit the road altogether, this is a "livable" compromise that lets me enjoy the game in the meantime. I can play it on the TV or anywhere else I want from my laptop now. It's still not as battery-friendly as other 2D games, but I think if this patch was in the game we got on launch, my salt would have been very minimal. I might've calmly lamented the DRM's inclusion on principle, instead of getting kinda angry that a light 2D game was unplayable on my laptop. (It took me the afternoon to settle down, dumb human emotions, I tell ya. :v: Then, I was able to have fun with Mania in the evening on my desktop.)
I said "not so good", not necessarily bad. :v: Oh, you thought that because I compacted your thoughts in that sentence. I wrote that to make a smaller post and show clearly what I was highlighting. I was saying it in a bit exaggerated way to make it noticeable, looks to me like your opinion is better than the one from MartiusR, and of course better than my own. Not sure, I just notice Mania's physics and gimmicks clash with the way I learnt to play Mega Drive classics. I've had some issues when going super, but I don't know if the usual ones or some new derived from Mania's differences with the classics. I wasn't saying if it was good or bad, just a noticeable thing. While I haven't noticed the landing crouch thing explicitly, I've noticed something similar that may be another symptom of the same issue, as there are moments when Knuckles doesn't react to my controls and would have if i was playing S3&K. And, well, now you're asking, I haven't played any hack since IPS patches from 1999 or 2000, and just a couple of them back then. :v:
Just realised I haven't posted my thoughts on Mania. I know I'm treading old ground, but I feel like sticking my 2p in. If this was a game of 100% original levels, then this would be perfection. But even saying that, the classic levels still feel new with all the tweaks and redesign, it's just incredible. I sincerely hope that this outsells that glorified fanchar generator, Forces, and sends TPTB a message about what fans want and expect from Sonic. Tax, Stealth and PagodaWest all deserve the chance to create something totally original. They deserve the title of "Sonic Team" as far as I'm concerned.
I don't deliberately want Forces to fail (I couldn't care less about it, really), I just want Sega to realize that there's still a market for the classic gameplay so that they continue to release new adventures for that demographic, which doesn't necessarily overlap with modern Sonic's. There probably is a significant overlap between modern fans and classic fans, but the truth is that the modern gameplay is completely different from the classic gameplay, not a natural evolution of it, so it's no surprise that not everyone likes both styles.
In stardust speedway act 1 I found that you can skip the boss by climbing on the wall directly before it, its a cool skip and allows you to mess with the zone transition without having it disabled in debug mode.
It's more than just the gameplay at this point that's different, to be honest. Even with the attempts made to bring it closer to the Genesis games with newer games, everything that has happened following the classic era feels more akin to a reboot or a sequel series.
Drop Dash- do people not like it? I saw IGN as well as some youtube reviewers saying it's "weak". I personally love it and it makes me want to play as Sonic over Tails and Knuckles, and I used to be extremely partial to Tails. You can get some great momentum if you use it properly, maybe some people haven't mastered it.
I consume a lot of industry content and I've found that the common games media person doesn't understand Sonic enough to realize its potential. They all seem to struggle to build momentum, can't discern how jumping off angles works, refuse to learn from past mistakes in a timely manner, and don't even know how to rev the spindash. With the manual being not front and center, the game should have at least had a tutorial for movement. I'm not surprised they think the move is weak. It's an incredibly useful tool that I can't live without in my playthroughs.
If you're coming from the perspective of a casual fan, you're not gonna be going into a series you barely understand and "get" all its nuances when you live a life of playing more games than just one. I can guarantee most "games media" personalities have one or two games they're personally dedicated to and probably good at, but generally Sonic isn't one of them. In terms of how the game rewards its players, its a niche market. Sonic is an enjoyable game and just pure fun, but getting good at the game, or finding an appreciation for it and the level of depth you can get from a friggin single player platformer, isn't something people will understand without a lot of specific, dedicated time. And, again, if your job is to review games, not just Sonic games, you're not gonna "get" it immediately. What you can take away from media outlets not clicking with the Drop Dash is that it wasn't made obvious. This is, of course, a fact; the move takes a good half second to even activate when you're holding the jump button. It has zero immediacy, unlike the Insta-Shield which comes out the very frame you press jump twice, something many game players often do when they're testing out a game (I know a few people sometimes idly button mash if they're bored in a "waiting" segment). The Insta-shield is something a player is very likely to come across by accident when playing, and it's so simple that it can register in their minds as something useful within the first 5 minutes of play; it almost feels more satisfying to hit something with the insta-shield than to just jump into it, especially since it increases your range. The drop dash, meanwhile, doesn't even show its *visibility* unless you intentionally hold the jump button, something at no point in the game does it make sense to do so, save for any "bouncing" elements (even if doing so does nothing). Unlike the insta-shield, you have to be *told* about this technique. You have to know it existed before going into the game. While the drop-dash was featured in a few trailers (or, like, one?), it's fair to say someone who just picked up Sonic Mania without hearing any press about the game wouldn't know what the drop-dash even was getting up to Titanic Monarch. You'd be hardpressed to see anyone play S3K and not even discover the insta-shield. Similarly, you'd be hardpressed to see anyone miss out on the shield abilities. They're just so instant that it registers immediately what their uses are and how to use them. A first-time player can see the benefits of a double jump, an air dash, and a bounce. A first-time player can see the benefits of an electric attack covering your body, even if they'd prefer to fly or glide or something instead. A first time player could probably understand the benefits of an aerial spindash, but likely wouldn't if they didn't see its effects ASAP. Compare this to my first impressions where I not only heard about the drop dash but heard how to do it, so the first thing I did playing Mania was drop dash every time I landed. It felt fluid to me because I got used to it, and I managed to find situations where I actually thought "oh goodness I wish this was in all the classic games." Slopes were a big one where I would land and, instead of reel back, dash forward and up a little bit, maintaining my forward movement. This was because I actively tried to use the move. TLDR media outlets aren't sonic fans, and thats ok. A lot of the meat of this game would/will/has go(ne) over the heads of non-fans, but its designed to appeal to them too. However, it seems that some of its design has too many expectations on the player, and that's lead to situations like players saying they don't think the drop dash is that powerful or useful. That might be some people's legitimate concerns including those that understood the move, but the move's also *likely to go undiscovered.* Mania doesn't exactly make everything obvious, and in some aspects of its level and BOSS design especially, this is very evident. You're going to run into the common folk that just aren't good at games to begin with and any level of skill being asked of them will be seen as... a lot, that cuphead video showing us sometimes even the most clearcut instructions can just completely go over people's faces, but I do think there is a certain point where it's not just the players, but the game too, in how information isn't immediately understood. That said I love the dropdash oh my god :v:
Is it possible to fight Heavy King as Sonic or Tails or Heavy Rider as Knuckles? I tried taking the Knuckles exclusive path as Sonic in debug mode and vice versa, but the game seems programmed to always take them to their respective fights. Is there a method to pick anything other than the first Special or Blue Sphere stage in the level select? If no to any of these, then level select is kind of a let down, especially since the player gets booted back to the SEGA logo whenever they finish a Special or Blue Sphere stage, which doesn't happen if they manually exit. Not to mention Blue Sphere's Mania mode being completely excluded. Also, I find having to watch the opening scene every time I somehow screw up the level select input to be far more infuriating than being forced to watch the scene at the start of Egg Reverie will ever have a chance to be. I love it, but I had trouble pulling it off at first. I still kinda wish it had a different input so that it could be used while equipped with shields and without sacrificing the Insta-Shield (which has inexplicably been nerfed in range). Plus, its current input makes attempting higher jumps start charging it. Wait, I'm a dumbass. Ignore that last part.
Seriously. It isn't an essential gameplay element but once you have it down it makes the game without it seem not as good. I'll always love the classic games but just having that extra boost when timed right is so cool. And like I said I was always into Tails and Knuckles more because they could so things Sonic couldn't. Now playing as them it's like, yeah they're still cool but I prefer drop dash. And I won't spoil this but I love the super upgrade as well. Holy christ, if you want to get some air... You can kind of cheese it with the shields if you hold it before hitting a shield box and touching the ground, but only for one time. And yes I feel kind of silly trying to do it when I have a shield equipped.
