Sonic Mania

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Here is my newest world record run!


Green Hill Act 1 - 30"20 (World Record PSN)


You know, I was wondering why I wanted the WR for this so bad...Story drop time...from the age of 5-10, Sonic 2 was the only game I owned. I would play it all the time with my dad, who would always let me play Sky Chase Zone - it was my favorite stage. The music was my favorite part. I remember my dad had a cabinet where he kept a list that detailed Silver Sonic's attack patterns. I remember staying up late and playing with my brothers, when we were supposed to be asleep.

I remember always wondering what Sonic 1 was like. When I was very young, my dad had bought a Genesis that came packaged with Sonic 1, but the game was lost during a move. I spent so much time imagining the stages and music from Sonic 1. My older brother found a MIDI of Green Hill Zone online, and I listened to it every day....

Then one day, around the age of 10, I finally got a copy of Sonic 1, and played through that a countless number of times. I loved Green Hill Zone, and it was my favorite game. My dad was so excited to get to play through Star Light Zone again, because he had loved the stage. Even now, when I visit, I'll sometimes play through Sonic 1, and my dad will ask to play through Star Light when I get there, even after all those years.
I wanted to see if all that love for Sonic would still be useful in Sonic's most recent revival. Seems it still is.
 
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After playing the first three zones, I'm really disappointed in the game. It sure feels like the Genesis games, yeah, to a fault; there are a ton of minor flaws in the engine (like getting crushed between two corners of moving blocks) that could've been easily fixed but weren't. I'd hold left skidding and expect to turn when I went to spindash, for instance, which is far from game-breaking, but it would've been simple to turn Sonic around after a skid. The designers seemed too preoccupied with replicating every small thing to a tee, instead of looking at what could've been tweaked slightly for small gains.

If it was just that I'd be more than happy to overlook it, but the level design is what really let me down. I know the game shouldn't be too difficult in the first quarter, but I went through 90% of Chemical Plant and Studiopolis by holding a roll after a spring and watching a series of twenty-second roller coasters interspersed with simple gimmicks that ultimately boiled down to "touch object, go where the camera points maybe, and keep going". That kind of thing's fine for an act or so, but the third one in a row gets really boring. It's worse when almost every attempt to do something else felt like I had to fight with the level design to reach it, either through a weird slope jump or some other ledge that was just barely reachable.

The bosses tend to alternate between radical gameplay departures that have to be a snorefest in difficulty (or else they'd risk being an unfun wall to people who don't enjoy the different mechanics), and more normal bosses that, while fun, tended to get monotonous once you figured out the pattern. But then, I've never liked a boss in a Sonic game (or in most games), so I'd chalk that up to taste.

The special stages are really fun though, even if I don't quite have the controls figured out. Blue Sphere can bite me, though; the third time I ran straight into a red sphere from hitting the turn button a frame too late I gave up even bothering with them.

(Also the game's a glitchy mess. I haven't experienced too much of it myself, but my little brother's had a handful of softlocks and clipping through a platform to his death just from playing through the game normally.)

Like, I'll admit that part of my opinion is reactionary to the "first good Sonic game in 20 years" garbage floating around the internet and that I went into the game with a bit of a sour attitude from elsewhere. But I have yet to enjoy myself after the first three zones, so I don't see much point trying to finish the game to see what changes.
 
I will officially say that Sonic Mania is one of my top favorite Sonic games I ever played. Also, game of the year for me. I'll give it a 8.9/10. Just playing this makes me give no fucks about Sonic Forces even more.
 
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I'm trying to finish the game 100% (with trophies etc.). I've done Sonic & Tails w/ all Chaos Emeralds and I'm currently doing the same with Tails (and I plan on finishing it with Knuckles and Sonic alone as well). Really fun!

Oh also, am I the only one whose connecting to online leaderboards just crashes the game? I'm on PS4.
 
I'm trying to finish the game 100% (with trophies etc.)Oh also, am I the only one whose connecting to online leaderboards just crashes the game? I'm on PS4.

Nope, you're not the only one. It's been happening since day one, and we haven't heard anything from the developers.
 
犬夜叉;795171 said:
This game is dumb.

(I mean that in the most affectionate way possible.)

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So after playing the game on PC finally, I can say that mania was OUTSTANDING. The music was amazing, the bosses were great fun, the new stages and overall art style of the game were just beautiful, the special stages, while hard IMO, are still fun to play, everything was just a blast. Everything is animated so smoothly and the countless number of references to other sonic games really put a smile on my face. My only real nitpick with mania is that sometimes the game felt a little too familiar as in some parts of levels (especially the old ones) it felt like I was actually playing them instead of mania. This isn't really a problem for people who are new to sonic or don't really care but I just didn't like how with some areas I knew EXACTLY what to do, with old gimmicks and set pieces, rather than be challenged with all new ones. Though this IS just a nitpick and I absolutely adore this game and think anyone who is a fan of platforming should give it a try.
 
Sorry SEGA, but you're 20 years too late for this customer. On my first playthrough, I often felt like I wanted to just quit and search for more Korok seeds in Breath of the Wild. I guess I'm a different kind of gamer now.

I think a good job was done with Mania, but some stuff is pretty over-the-top. Studiopolis could use a simpler background. The references to past games and with the first two levels being Green Hill and Chemical Plant, it is overt in its assertion that it's 'playing it safe'.

Tee Lopes tried too hard with the soundtrack.. his work on both Sonic 2HD and Major Magnet is much better. Most of the music sounds like he took inspiration from Sonic CD (which is no problem in itself), but then doubled the tempo. Quick, staccato trumpets pepper the songs everywhere, and once you've listened for it, you can't un-listen.

I'm up to Press Garden so far. I like the level, but upon entering it I immediately went into 'palette shock'... you've gone from a fantastic hi-color reimagining of Flying Battery (the best zone in the game so far) to something that looks like it doesn't have more than 16 colors on the screen at any one time.

Some of the Blue Sphere stages are nausea-inducing with how you have to quickly turn left-right-left-right-left-right in some areas, but I think the difficulty is fine as long as you aren't going for the gold (plus I was always good at these stages).

A few of the design choices are questionable -- the Flying Battery boss, for example, should have the spikes embedded IN the wall so you can't get crushed by them if you get flung to the side of the screen just underneath them. I also discovered that you can spindash & jump to knock the boss into the spikes, but the layout doesn't really give you much of an opportunity to do so. I think it is way too easy to accumulate hundreds of rings. Some of the stages are a bit fast--- every now and then, 'hold right to win' sometimes applies. I like seeing a bit of a slower pace in Press Garden.

Most of these issues are probably not the fault of the developers. They were probably demands put in place by SEGA, who was too scared to let some fans fully take the reins.
 
Huh. I see. Although what about the Special Stages, SSNTails? If you have managed to find them, that is.

Anyway, I got Mania for an early birthday gift, and I've given it a try. True, there's the occasional strange crushing glitch - where Sonic/Tails/Knuckles gets killed even if they are not quite crushed - and the new zones that I have played so far are about middle of the road. They are not quite the best, but done well regardless.

Although there's the special stages. Boy, the Special stages are a fun challenge, if a bit of a challenge to do. Although I did hear SS7 is a joke compared to the others - possibly, but it also has hardly any bumper walls.

Right now, I've made it to Lava Reef Zone in my Sonic/Tails playthrough. But the one thing which frustrates me - and has killed me a few times - is that the rings when dropped don't stick around for that long.
 
I'll have to post a full review later, but the only complaints I agree with are Blue Spheres and some stage and boss designs. Although it isn't mandatory, it still feels mandatory to play Blue Spheres since unlocks are hidden behind the game mode. That in itself wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't so fucking exhausting -- I mean christ, are there like 40 of these things?? I swear half of my zone playtime is just blue spheres.

The stage design on the whole is great, but the difficulty scaling is unbalanced. Reintroducing Chemical Plant's rising water section was a poor design decision, for instance, and some bosses can be a slog while the ones right after can be finished without much effort. It's a bit derivative to add so many old zones against a few new ones, but it's much less of a problem than one would think since it's really only the first act stays the same; the second act usually has so many new gimmicks and themes that I usually forget I'm playing an older zone.
 
Oh boy, that was great! I've played enough of the game to give my thoughts.

The aesthetics were gorgeous, it really hits the nail of a retro game.... so much that it seems like it is in the wrong era. Gameplay? Good overall, physics are accurate, Enemy placement is nice and not annoying execpt on the last level. BUT there was too many speed boosters even though they implemented a speed/momentum mechanic in the game so some sections i cant even back track and explore without going over the timelimit. Music was great, all the music fits nicely with all the stages. Some tracks i didnt like but thats just my personal preference. Also i am unhappy that DRM is in the game and only noticed untill it was being talked about, it sort of ruins the experience too.

Tee Lopes tried too hard with the soundtrack.. his work on both Sonic 2HD and Major Magnet is much better. Most of the music sounds like he took inspiration from Sonic CD (which is no problem in itself), but then doubled the tempo. Quick, staccato trumpets pepper the songs everywhere, and once you've listened for it, you can't un-listen.

Yeah i though the trumpets were overkill too and i cant get it out of my head ; -;
 
Some of the Blue Sphere stages are nausea-inducing with how you have to quickly turn left-right-left-right-left-right in some areas, but I think the difficulty is fine as long as you aren't going for the gold (plus I was always good at these stages).
You should see some of the blue sphere stages in the original Blue Sphere game (Sonic 1 locked on)

Some of them had sections exactly like that.
 
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