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

To throw in my opinion on the level design style, I'd say Sonic 2 is the main influence due to the exposure to the air and long, kind of spacious runs. Soaring even, sometimes.
Sonic 3 influence is there obviously in the extra complexity and size, but Mania's paths aren't as directed/condensed as Sonic 3 imo. So I'd say Mania is like a Sonic 2 style that stepped up to Sonic 3's size and complexity... then threw in more fast sections than both really.
I could only really point to the prevalence of not-required gizmos and stuff to play with as any Sonic CD influence, and even then only in a few zones.

I think GHZ2 and SOZ1 and excellent structurally, up there with my all time favourites. Wouldn't mind something as complex as Carnival Night though.

 

So, um, should the opening animation play when I launch the game? Every time I boot it up, it goes straight to the title screen. Am I doing something wrong, or the opening animation was Youtube only?

 

It plays after a while if you stay in title screen. There's 2 versions too with the one from YouTube and another with sound effects and a different song.

 

I think the level style balance between speedy, backtrackable, multi-path and slow-platforming levels is fine. It's true that all of them incorporate speed sections here and there but, unless we're talking about automatic tubes/currents/etc, those usually allow for changing paths if you slow down and take your time, so they're nicely implemented.

By the way, I was impressed with how Flying Battery 2 turned out. Probably one of the best designed levels in the game.

There's no air control lock anymore, so the spindash is now more overpowered than ever (at least you had to wait a little for it to charge until you could release it, in Sonic CD).

I believe that the Super Peel Out was a bit nerfed in Sonic Chaos and you couldn't start rolling for a brief moment (until Sonic stopped flashing or something?). That would make a good balance between "slow charge that makes you invulnerable to enemies but makes you lose control of your jump" and "faster charge that leaves you vulnerable for a split second".

Kind of a shame that the "Sonic CD" mode has the Sonic 2 spindash in Mania, I wonder if that's an oversight.

That... sounds more frustrating than fun. =|

 

Interesting thought... likewise with the insta-shield and the non-Sonic-CD rollings jumps. I doubt they were oversights but it would have been a nice touch... though probably to a lot of complaints about a nerfed spin dash when using peel out.

Gotta agree that FBZ2 is crazy. There's so much to it. It's kind of a pity that Act 1 of a zone is often completely blown away by Act 2.

Did a full playthrough with Tails in 1 sitting, and managed to get every chaos emerald on the 1st attempt. Really, Special Stage 5 is the one that breaks you. Once you have that one down, your training is complete and suddenly everything gets pretty easy. I was initially finding these specials stages really hard but now they're actually the easiest of all the classics. (At the same time they're also still my favourite of the classics, by a long shot.)

On that note, with Sonic/Tails, are there more than 4 giant rings in GHZ?

During the Tails playthrough I was amazed at how much new stuff I was still finding. I really have no idea how long it took me to feel like I was used to everything in Sonic 3 but I feel like I'll have to play Mania for like 2 months before I know my way around everything. FBZ2 is just a giant complicated thing. Does LRZ have that secret orange pipe run that's in S&K?

 

There's five with Sonic and Tails

GH Act 1 :

-On the beginning, jump down when the two platform are crumbling, and keep going until you get to the two rings boxes and the combi-ring. Go down from here and you'll get to the underground area early. Follow the path that the rings make in the air and you'll get trough a wall and a small puddle of water with a giant ring

-Get back up and follow the middle path and you'll come across the second giant ring in a wall

GH Act 2 :

- Take the high path at the very beginning of the act and you see it eventually; jump down and to the left when you get to a crumbling platform

-Take the lowest possible path until you get in some water, then keep going right until you get out of the water from a wall : continue until you run on the ceiling to get to an area with a ring box and some spikes coming in and out of the wall. Be careful and break the ring box, then hug the wall, you'll get to a secret area with a giant ring

- Take the high path (again) until you get to an area with a bubble shield and two slopes making a hole. Don't jump into the hole, instead keep going right and you'll get into a weird-ass area with the last ring. Make sure to take this one last, because after the special stage you'll fall trough a hole and automatically end up at the boss fight


(They used to be a 6th ring in the pre-release footage, but they seem to have removed it. Oh well :v:/> )

 

I agree. I think the spheres are random generated and some of the parts lead to nowhere. When I arrive at such stage, maybe I can get pictures of the parts. Maybe some of them are not meant to be able to finish

 

Okay, since the bug report topic is not being reopened...

Bugs
-Whenever Tails flies in place for a few seconds, he'll automatically play his "bored" animation when touching the ground, as if the flight time counted as idling.
-The Insta-shield is drawn behind Sonic instead of in front of him.
-PC version: When exiting the game through the "EXIT" option, after the screen fades out, the menu will be visible again when the program is actually closing.
-GHZ: When playing as Sonic and Tails, Sonic's out of the water splash appears at the very bottom of the level:

-GHZ: Also, there's an error in the "behind waterfall" tiles that can be seen on the left side. The squares in the top half look bigger than they should.
-CPZ: Upside down monitors can't be destroyed with Tails' tails.
-CPZ: Tails' tails disappear while on the sticky goop elevators.
-CPZ: Tails flies underwater instead of swimming when respawning? (noted by Tee Lopes in his stream)
-CPZ: Grabber's legs don't animate when trying to catch the player. Also, they seem to be positioned too behind?
-FBZ: Tails doesn't follow the vertical tubes, he just falls down when he touches the right side.
-OOZ: Sliding animation doesn't seem to play properly? (it looks stiff for some reason)
-PGZ1: The crab badnik's saw doesn't hurt when they're juggling it to themselves, there's no visual cue that indicates this.
-PGZ1: Right before the miniboss, there's a magnetic tube that you come across by running from the left. If you keep holding Down before reaching it and while on it, Sonic will stay on top of it while curling and uncurling.
-SSZ: There's a "DK barrel" (for the lack of a proper term) placed in the ground in SS1 that briefly sinks the player (I was playing as Tails) if it's entered by walking/rolling. Works fine when entered by jumping.
-HCZ: The one slide with actual water in it doesn't make the characters slide.
-HCZ: The small round shine in the bubbles that "capture" Sonic becomes black when the game is paused.
-HCZ1: The boss ship's seat and windshield share some palette entries with the waterfalls and cycle their colors.
-HCZ: If you get hit and the character breathes air from a big bubble before hitting the ground, the breathe animation will play on loop until the ground is reached.
-HCZ: If the player drowns while charging speed in the "hand boosters", the booster will keep getting activated constantly and in a kind of glitchy way.
-HCZ1: This one's a bit tricky to explain... Before reaching the boss area, there's a place where you get launched through the air by a burst of water and you can fall on one of those conveyor belts that you grab. If you do, the next jump while on the conveyor belt will make the character fall down instead of going up first (tested with Sonic).
-HCZ: The small dragonfly badniks don't start following the nearest "mother" when theirs is destroyed, they just fly away.
-MSZ1 (ST): The small armadillos on top don't pull the lever to make the big one fire the shot.
-LRZ: Rexons respawn when leaving and coming back.
-LRZ 2 boss: The collision of the HBH's mace seems to be randomly disabled? (tested with Tails with a flame shield)
-MMZ: Knuckles can do this:

-MMZ: There seems to be a problem with the collision of the bee badnik's mace when in "far away mode", it sometimes hits the player and sometimes doesn't (tested with Tails).
-TMZ: When the player floats due to "vertical fan turtle", they (sometimes?) fall faster than they should.

Inconsistencies with the classics
-If you're facing the opposite direction you're going while rolling, you can't turn around to face the right way.
-If you charge a spindash while on a crumbling ledge, you won't get launched when touching the ground below if you release it mid-air. It used to act just like the Drop Dash.
-Sonic 2 spindash is being used in Sonic CD mode. I don't think that game's speed limits are implemented either?
-No air control lock for post-spindash jumps in Sonic 3 mode.
-1-up jingle not based on main title music.
-GHZ: Sonic can't reach the moving platforms before the first loop by jumping normally, for some reason.
-CPZ: Each segment of the goop worms plays the sound effect when appearing, instead of only the first one.
-SSZ: The Yo-yo elevators can't be latched onto while rolling.
-HCZ: You can't jump out of the boosters once the hand grabs you. Also, since the running animation uses more frames not, it doesn't look like they're running at full speed.
-HCZ: The "twisted slides" can't be entered from the top by jumping. This is more noticeable in that part with a 1-up monitor between a twisted slide (left) and a row of spikes (right).
-LRZ: Spindash elevators don't let the player keep rolling for a bit before stopping completely (tested with Tails).


*This post will be updated with new finds until the bug report topic is reopened.

 

You can glitch down to Knuckle's path in GHZ act 1 as Sonic & Tails, as shown in this video by NoctTengu. It can be done as Sonic alone as well. That makes 6.

 

The extra text is crystal clear. It's not Sonic 3 or Sonic CD mode, it's just *extra ability* Peel out or Insta shied.

Having different physics parameters is completely unecessary.

That would be bad, yes. So it'd be fine to rename the topic to 'Sonic Mania Bug Report Thread' and act like it's shark week for people posting unrelated things there. Believe me, having bug-related comments here is just useless. Taxman & crew are free to ignore that thread completely, you know!

 

Damn, one more ring and we could've pulled an Emerald Hill Zone. So close...

(Maybe that's why they removed the 6th ring)

 

...Shouldn't it say "Peel out" and 'Insta-shield", in that case?

 

It'd be better but would take more space on the menu. It's kinda self explanatory as it says 'Ability' not moveset etc. Otherwise the elemental shields would have to be disabled etc.

 

There's no reason why those would have to be disabled. Shields are their own thing that could be toggled with another option in the remakes, weren't they?

 

Then there's no need for the Sonic CD spindash with the peel-out because the CD remake defaulted to the Sonic 2 spindash.

 

I'm assuming that you're referring to the Titanic Monarch death. If so, you misinterpreted what I was saying: I wasn't complaining about the death, I was pointing out that I didn't realize that the characters' hitbox shrinks while curled. I was only able to fit in between the spikes and ceiling at that point because Sonic had become small enough to fit in between them, but as soon as he uncurled, he got crushed.

 

Noting bugs is a form of criticism. Are we not being allowed to criticise the game?

 

Not really sure why we're waiting on the bug patch to come in for consoles to reopen the thread when the Steam version already comes with it.

And some of the bugs people have been showing from day 1 are still there.

Edit: where Aaron mentions the bug fixes https://xcancel.com/RubyEclipse/status/902316193893105664