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

I don't know if anyone else here is interested in an informal Time Attack competition between ourselves, but I've been trying to get decent runs of the first six zones as Sonic (so far) and wouldn't mind seeing the times other people have achieved, if only so I know where I most need to improve. I can't compete with the actually-good-at-speedrunning-Sonic crowd because I'm not even close to that level and never will be, and the official leaderboards are already flooded with garbage (the first 24 records for Sonic's GHZ1 on PC are under a second as of writing) so they're not much use either.

If no-one else is interested, let this post rot in Trash. Anyway, here's what I've got so far:

Spoiler

Playing as Sonic:
GHZ1: 00'33"24, GHZ2: 00'35"35
CPZ1: 00'46"50, CPZ2: 01'45"44
SPZ1: 00'55"32, SPZ2: 01'29"00
FBZ1: 01'42"99, FBZ2: 02'39"37
PGZ1: 01'47"52, PGZ2: 01'13"46
SSZ1: 01'36"25, SSZ2: 00'46"82

 

I am totally down, been wanting to do something like that. Leaderboards are less fun than with a community... even if they weren't broken.

GHZ2 is fantastic for fast runs. I wish SSZ2 was longer. I imagine Studiopolis 1 is great fun too.


A time attack thread would be good, perhaps if it starts to take off a bit. Mania's time attack is a sigh of relief after all the classics Sonics are so prime for it, but never really implemented it well.

 

I dunno if I can be bothered to try all the stages, but I recorded runs of FBZ1 and SSZ2, 1'19"03 in the former and 0'30"80 in the latter. Videos in the spoiler tag below:

Spoiler

http://youtu.be/e0fVDh5LQpU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slmc1gY8IW0

 

I have 40 secs on SS2 and 2:49 on LR1

I actually love time attack mode in this game, it's great.

 

Did this boss:

Spoiler

happen to remind anyone of this?

Spoiler

Would be nice to get confirmation from the developers as to whether or not this was intentional, if possible.

 

Haven't quite broken your GHZ2, Apocalyptic.

GHZ2: 00'36"00

It's neat that there are a few paths so close in time to each other. While still around 35 - 38 seconds you can stuff up, change path, and still pull off a PB.

 

I want to play Time Attack mode more, but currently the only options I have for time attack are the PS4, where I cannot access most of the leaderboards as the game will crash, or the PC, which has been hacked to death.

Soooo I'm going to wait until they patch the PS4 version :specialed:

 

Is there anything special with playing as Tails like there is with Knuckles? YouTube spoiled me that it's worth getting the emeralds. Anything else? If not, I may wait on beating the game as Tails as I'm Mania'd out. Beat the game like ... 4-5 times already. SO replayable. Thank the heavens. And Mean Bean is the greatest unlock in a Sonic game since SA2's Green Hill Zone.

Edit: Also, I must add -- I just beat the game as Knuckles. While the ending was a let down since nothing special happened, the extra stuff Knuckles got was awesome. I loved his unique bosses, level additions, and even and new level entirely to explore with new music. PLEASE do more stuff like that with playable characters, it makes the game just that much better. Personally, I'd rather Hydrocity be cut (that level just ruins my mood when it pops up), and all that energy being added to make the 3 playable characters even more special with their level and boss differences. Give them their stories that adds up to the end.

 

So a patch landed for the PC version of Mania. Has anyone else lost their save file after updating?

 

Did it? I haven't received any updates.

 

There was a 30MBish update waiting when I turned on Steam this morning. After it downloaded I went to play Mania, and I had no save data anymore

 

Oh that came out a few days ago, it was meant to make the game playable offline. But I didn't lose any save data as a result.

 

I haven't lost any saves either, but I have noticed the game wants to sync after it closes. That better not be Denuvo phoning home, because it's definitely not the Steam Cloud; Steam Cloud support is surprisingly absent.

Knuckles gets an entirely new level to himself? Looks like I'll have to replay the game as Knuckles after all, more so if it's a new original level. Mania is unfortunately skimpier on original levels than I thought it would be, so I'll take what I can get.

Like, if the new gimmicks in Metallic Madness weren't so good, I would have legit hated seeing that level again. The background/foreground assets of the zone are sorely bland compared to all the other stages in Mania. Would've preferred Whacky Workbench to that.

 

That one flew over my head. If that's what they were going for, then that was a great reference. (I do miss Panzer Dragoon...)

 

I was thinking more of the marble garden zone boss, but I wasn't aware of that boss.

 

Looks more like this to me:

Spoiler

 

It's the Act 1 of Mirage Saloon, he is knocked off the plane and falls on the Desert below.

And the boss is actually this one:

 

I just found that myself in-game. :specialed: Wow, that was a nice exclusive level for Knuckles; I don't have to wonder where Act 1 of Mirage Saloon went! Loved the music too.

Knuckles path through the game so far really does feel like a different game. I've got 10 hours clocked in Sonic Mania now, and I'm still finding new stuff to do. This is great.

I agree, once you're through with the fifth stage, everything else feels relatively easy. While running through the special stages as Knuckles, I got the first four like it was a cakewalk. (When, initially, that was hard for me to do.) I'm expecting the fifth emerald to test me again, though.

 

It's a shame the PC version got it's leaderboards filled with cheaters, but I guess that's what leaderboards like speedrun.com's are for.

On that topic, man I am bad at speedrunning Sonic levels, or so I've learned. I really want to get better at it, but it's super frustrating. Yet part of me still yearns to be fast, even though I'm taking routes that really don't allow me to be fast.

Some day I'll get a good time on Hydrocity 1. Some day...

 

I guess we're not reopening the bug reporting topic? OK. I'll just post my playthrough here, with timestamps.
http://youtu.be/e5cMR4klYms

Spoiler

16:37 Tails won't stop rolling.
25:59 Tails should fly down to get Sonic after he drowns.
33:39 Blue Sphere counter is off by 1.
43:47 Kicked to desktop twice for no reason, causing me to lose Blue Sphere.
57:31 Tails gets stuck in floor, but pushes his way out.
01:04:30 Clipped audio playback.
01:25:36 Wrong Blue Sphere ? Ring behavior.
01:34:24 Moonwalk to PGZ2.
1:59:24-02:00:11 Surprise water after skipping bubble section.
02:05:43 Blue Sphere counter off by 2.
02:07:17 Can run off Act 1 end, forced back at start of act 2.
02:11:13 No slide animation on waterslides.
02:15:03 Can't recollect rings at all in this section.
02:16:11 Turbine just disappears.
02:22:37 Tails isn't on the crashing Tornado with Sonic.
02:29:25 Tails isn't in gun with Sonic, seen in distance going to Oil Ocean anyway.
02:34:48 Can start moving right away in Act 2 before the title card is off-screen.
02:48:53 Tails doesn't normally come with you to the background layer in MMZ1. When he does, he's promptly deleted.
02:51:25 Act 1 run-off and force-back again.
02:54:00 Tails getting with the program.
02:54:20 Tails getting trapped in a door.
02:54:26 No BGM after 1-UP. Returns after second 1-UP.
02:54:50 "NNNYYEEEEEEH SHUTUP TAILS!!!"
03:01:16 Weird layer detection.