Well to me it depends on how it's done. Mania's essentially in a different league from Sonic 4 and Sonic 3 in what, where, and how these games reuse existing material. Sonic 4 (primarily Epi. I) was a case of every zone, enemy, and boss channeling something that was not only old, but something widely recognized. And in most cases, they weren't relatively different takes on the old material either; a lot of the reused badniks, level identities, and bosses were straight regurgitations of the original source material. In some cases, the reused material was actually dumbed down from its original incarnation (Bubbles being neutered of its spikes --unless they were colored red-- and free movement, existing only as static homing attack chains). Epi. II had more fresh direction at this, but not by much. Sonic & Knuckles' Sky Sanctuary boss revisits are essentially similar to the originals in how they play out, and the revisits themselves are fairly easy to point out. But the context they are used (by Mecha Sonic, and serve to slow down Sonic and co. instead of acting as actual boss fights) is different, and they are essentially the only time the game engages in throwbacks in this fashion. The rest of Sky Sanctuary could otherwise be described as relatively original. Mania's Studiopolis, for all of its references it has, are largely comprised of obscure stuff that I don't think the general public / casual gamers, or even casual Sonic fans would widely recognize. The Popcorn Shop or the aforementioned star bumpers that may be from Knuckles Chaotix I doubt most people could single out right off the bat. And a handful of it isn't even Sonic in particular, with stuff like the Daytona USA van, Game Gear TV insignia, and the Streets of Rage sign. Even then, the overall level identity/level theme is anything but familiar. Overall I'm fine with the way Studiopolis has gone with it; though I do understand and generally agree with your main point on how you want the game's other original levels to be light on the throwbacks and shout-outs.
I feel like some of your responses here miss the point of the question. The 32X is incapable of running "digital downloads", so of course doc wasn't referring to Mania only being on 32X. Is that what you thought he meant?
Also, sometimes, restoring scrapped prototype things may actually not be such a good idea when they happened to be cut in favor of the better stuff. But yeah, this is supposed to be a fanservice-centric anniversary game, so it makes sense. I just think somebody needed to point this out before a hypothetical fully-original follow up game starts development.
I think he meant it in comparison with a Saturn release. On modern platforms of course there aren't going to be any loading times since it takes a fraction of a second to decompress the art and audio, and that can be done during the splash screen. After that everything can reside in memory, like you said.
WHY do you want a disc though? It's not like this is a mobile or XBLA-exclusive title that's in danger of going away forever like Runners. The fact that it's coming to PC is proof alone that there's nothing to worry about on that front.
I just can't wait for the badassery that is Studiopolis Zone Act 2 music! I'm about to get a mini tower to hook up to my office TV, so Steam and a USB controller is in my future for this.
Perhaps to have something physical to keep with the classics? I don't own any of the current gen home consoles, only a 3ds (any idea why is not going to be released on it?) and some Android devices, so I'm going to be forced to play it on the notebook. In any case if the game is released on a physical disc I'm going to buy it that way too. I wasn't so hyped for a new Sonic game since... Sonic Advance 1. :P
It would be really cool to have a physical copy, but it's kind of understandable that it's a download title. Would be funny if Sonic 4 had a physical release and this didn't :v:
Yeah, as much as I want this, I won't buy it if I can't have a physical disc without the Steam bullshit.
You referring to the DRM? I think Steam games have an individual DRM basis. Hopefully Mania won't ship with it.
I didn't mean the DRM, I just don't want to use Steam in general. You know, when I bought a physical copy of Generations I hated how I still had to have Steam to install and play it even though I had the original disc in my hand, so I created a fake Steam account with fake data (mailinator et al) just to make Generations shut up and install like a good boy, and I downloaded a crack to play it without Steam afterwards, this is ridiculous. And I don't want to crack Mania too since it's being made by friends from here, I want to purchase a legit copy and be done with it, why Steam is necessary is beyond me.
A 32X release would be super slick and cool even just for the novelty. I'd pay a lot for a 32X cartridge of this game or even a Saturn disc version. As for Sonic 3 and Knuckles' story my childhood mind thought it was pretty epic for the time. Conveying the story with a focus on minimalism created this intriguing narrative where there were no voices or sounds but you could absorb the incredible, cinematic story through mere quick cut scenes and quite the epic tale it was for the time. Hopefully Mania follows the same format and conveys something as epic as what we experienced in 1994. If there's anything they should lift from Sonic 3 it's how the story was conveyed.
I will again echo that I would love if the story is presented similarly to Sonic 3's story. On another note, has anyone said if the music from Green Hill Zone was the same as in Sonic 1? Since old zones are being "re-imagined", I would hope that the music is also slightly re-imagined.
Yea it's slightly reimagined. Not like, drastically, but some different instrumentations and whatnot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ8EedQJk7Y You can get a taste for it and the midboss theme in that video.
Ah thanks, I hadn't seen a clear video of Green Hill Zone before. I don't think I really wanted to hear anything drastically different, but this sounds good. This game still meets and/or surpasses all my expectations. Edit: Also, this is the first time I've really noticed some badniks in Studioplois. I particularly like the flying badniks that chase Sonic.
