You're right. Sonic Mania needs more segments where you just hold left while cheaply placed enemies snipe at you.
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Sonic Mania |OT| Dreams Come True
- Thread starter Hot Coldman
- Start date
You're right. Sonic Mania needs more segments where you just hold left while cheaply placed enemies snipe at you.
Labrynian Rebel
Member
Just finished the game and it's hands-down the best Sonic game I've ever played. Only negative is that I wish the ending had a nice cinematic just like the opening.
Mania's levels have 3&K's level of complexity, which is more complex than 2's. I have no idea how you think it's simple.
Green Hill Act 1 is the only level that I would call simple and that's because it's an intentional callback to Sonic 1.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
I know you're getting dogpiled already but...whaaaaaat?
The only interesting zones in that game are Hill-Top, Aquatic Ruin, Chemical Plant, and Oil Ocean. Even then, Sonic Mania smokes them entirely.
Itchy//Tasty
Member
I just made the connection, is Titanic Monarch the giant 3D statue in the bg of the Stardust Speedway boss? Or is it a different thing, lol.
Different thing, the 3D Statue in Stardust Speedway is its own callback to the original level.
SkylineRKR
Member
Sonic 2 levels took like 2 minutes on average. When i played 3 during the heyday, I immediately noticed the huge improvement in level design and verticality. Those stages were bigger. I think Sonic 3 alone took me longer to beat than Sonic 2.
Itchy//Tasty
Member
Different thing, the 3D Statue in Stardust Speedway is its own callback to the original level.
Got it, cheers!
Sir Abacus
Member
I can sort of see it. The level design is essentially an bunch of single area that have multiple routes through them. The multiple routes have convergence points where the areas merge, you go on to the next area , there's something you need to do to hit other routes in those areas. There's multiple places where you can't backtrack in all the levels. Those points are where the paths merge and spread out again.
It becomes incredibly obvious once you figure it out and kind of disappointing but the replay value is still there I guess. But you can't explore a whole zone back to front like you could the Genesis titles.
SkylineRKR
Member
Mania might go a tad back and forth too much. The time limit should've been increased also.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
Not that many zones in the Genesis games actually allow for that though. Once you get past the early zones at least. Most of the time, you're locked into a route, and there aren't really any opportunities to go backwards and try an alternate path. Plus, in regards to Sonic 3&K, there's the time-limit to consider. No way will anyone see the entirety of Carnival Night act 2 in less than 10 minutes.
Although, exploration was very possible in Sonic CD. Shame it never caught on.
balladofwindfishes
Member
It's pretty cool to see a more 3K style of the CD levels. I'm not a huge fan of CD's design at all, but Mechanical Madness in Mania is a pretty good stage
I honestly thought TMZ was just a callback to nonsense Zone names like Genocide City lol.
I've always liked CD's levels' aesthetics and music the most out of the classic series, so seeing them remixed with a more Sonic 3 oriented style in Mania has been a treat. Stardust Speedway Act 1 is amazing.
I've always liked CD's levels' aesthetics and music the most out of the classic series, so seeing them remixed with a more Sonic 3 oriented style in Mania has been a treat. Stardust Speedway Act 1 is amazing.
Diablohead
Member
Did anybody else thinklooked a lot likeTitanic Monarch Act 1Chrome Gadget from Sonic 3?
They have the sameMetropolis bouncy pads, brown and green floor made of wires and metal, and blue night time cityscape background.
The only thing I dislike is the shade of red they chose, it feels weird to me.
Supaidaman
Member
Did anybody else thinklooked a lot likeTitanic Monarch Act 1Chrome Gadget from Sonic 3?
They have the sameMetropolis bouncy pads, brown and green floor made of wires and metal, and blue night time cityscape background.
It looks like a 2D version of the Egg Carrier for me.
Maybe it's because I'm from the Capcom/Nintendo school of fair game design and I'm not really used to 2D Sonic games, but I find this game really unfairly frustrating at times, especially since you get so few lives to start with (why do you get a game over on losing Live x1 instead of Live x0? I could swear older Sonic games did that, but maybe I'm wrong) and you have to start from Act 1 of a zone if you get a game over.
I've just been trying to beat the Act 2 boss of Oil Zone (the octopus) and I keep dying because I sometimes die instantly when I fall into the oil. And even if I don't, it's hard to get your rings back if you get hit, and hard to avoid all the bullets once you're down to 0 rings. Sometimes I get hit because there's an enemy or spikes I can't even hope to avoid unless I already know they're gonna be there. Or I die because I'm on an elevator and I get 2 seconds to move away from the edge of the platform lest the wall/ceiling instantly crush me to death. I don't know, it's so cheap, and it's reminding me why I never really got into Sonic games in the first place. Compound this frustration with the blue sphere bonus level, or the fact that sometimes you see the giant 3D rings but it's too late, you can't go back to get it, and it just becomes anger-inducing. Yesterday I kept dying on the plane section at the beginning of Mirage Saloon Act 1, because somehow if you're on the right side of the screen once the train rides by you you just fall to your death.
I mean, on their own, each of these problems is not a huge deal, but once you put them all together it makes you think "were the old games that poorly designed?" These are the kind of faults I'd expect from your average, run-of-the-mill 16-bit platformer, not what's supposedly the next best thing since Super Mario World. I have a hard time articulating in a few simple words what is bad about this game (and possibly the series, if this episode is anything to go by), but it's just not as tight as, say, a Capcom platformer. Not by a mile. Too many oversights resulting in unfair deaths, long stretches of repeat gameplay, and overall frustration at things that are outside of your control. It's a shame, because there is so much to like about this.
I'll still finish it of course. I don't think there are many more zones left. But this is not a game I'll go back to any time soon, not even to get all the chaos emeralds.
I've just been trying to beat the Act 2 boss of Oil Zone (the octopus) and I keep dying because I sometimes die instantly when I fall into the oil. And even if I don't, it's hard to get your rings back if you get hit, and hard to avoid all the bullets once you're down to 0 rings. Sometimes I get hit because there's an enemy or spikes I can't even hope to avoid unless I already know they're gonna be there. Or I die because I'm on an elevator and I get 2 seconds to move away from the edge of the platform lest the wall/ceiling instantly crush me to death. I don't know, it's so cheap, and it's reminding me why I never really got into Sonic games in the first place. Compound this frustration with the blue sphere bonus level, or the fact that sometimes you see the giant 3D rings but it's too late, you can't go back to get it, and it just becomes anger-inducing. Yesterday I kept dying on the plane section at the beginning of Mirage Saloon Act 1, because somehow if you're on the right side of the screen once the train rides by you you just fall to your death.
I mean, on their own, each of these problems is not a huge deal, but once you put them all together it makes you think "were the old games that poorly designed?" These are the kind of faults I'd expect from your average, run-of-the-mill 16-bit platformer, not what's supposedly the next best thing since Super Mario World. I have a hard time articulating in a few simple words what is bad about this game (and possibly the series, if this episode is anything to go by), but it's just not as tight as, say, a Capcom platformer. Not by a mile. Too many oversights resulting in unfair deaths, long stretches of repeat gameplay, and overall frustration at things that are outside of your control. It's a shame, because there is so much to like about this.
I'll still finish it of course. I don't think there are many more zones left. But this is not a game I'll go back to any time soon, not even to get all the chaos emeralds.
supermarioworldE
Banned
Very true. I liked the new mechanics in act 2. It's like Wacky Workbench but with restraint. It's just that I'm personally tired of the visuals and music. I get that nostalgia is a big selling point for the game, but I would've preferred all the zones to be new. But hey, that's entirely possible for a sequel, so it's, at best, a minor nitpick on my part.
theaffection
Member
Is there any way to get the red fish in HCZ off of you?! What a fucking terrible enemy
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
Game started to click A little with me today. Seems 'gotta go fast' is the way I should play, previously I was trying to explore and go slow and found that boring. Speed seems to get me to more places
I want to say mash left & right to "shake" it off.
Ruh-roh, I started taking screenshots of this game. I'm already addicted to how pretty look all the colors look in my Switch album. :-O
Oh yeah, I saw those guys in Flying Battery
RecRoulette
Member
It's easily the best original song in the game. Like a fully realized version of the Sonic 3 miniboss music.
Wowfunhappy
Member
It's such a tiny thing, but I wish you got a new life after 50 rings, instead of 100.
100 makes sense in games like Mario where your coin count keeps going up and up. In Sonic you have to do it while not getting hit.
(In other news, I'm still pissed at the fact that I had 99 coins on the train to work this morning, and then I got hit and they all fell in the ocean)
It took awhile but;
I got all the Chaos Emerald, the 5th and 6th one were by far the hardest to do with five being hard because the stage just doesn't flow well to nab rings and orbs.
Now to play the game from Green Hill zone and work my way up to the final level and take on the true boss.
I got all the Chaos Emerald, the 5th and 6th one were by far the hardest to do with five being hard because the stage just doesn't flow well to nab rings and orbs.
Now to play the game from Green Hill zone and work my way up to the final level and take on the true boss.
Kor of Memory
Member
FYI, if you ever get hit, you'll never be able to catch more than 20 rings back (unless you have a blue ring). If you have 20 or more rings and get hit, only 20 rings max will fly away from Sonic to be able to be picked up. There are a few other rings that are shown being scattered, but they instantly fall off screen before they are able to be picked back up.
StarCreator
Member
I freely admit to using the jump acceleration glitch to get the 5th emerald. I'm just not invested enough in doing it properly when it takes a minute and a half of setup just to get another attempt in.
Kor of Memory
Member
Learn where all the Green Hill Big Rings are (there are 5 of them. Really 6 though) and they are easy to get to once you know the path. Much faster to do the set that way instead of just doing the very first and then reloading.
There's 6 freaking rings in green hill zone? This game's level complexity is nuts, I knew where all the rings were in Sonic 3&knuckles but it's so hard to find them in Mania, mostly because the higher path -which I try to stick to- doesn't guarantee you'll find more of them, I'd bet it's probably the other way around and most of them are on the lower paths.
Yeah, 6th was definitely hardest for me. I expected the last one to be a nightmare but it was surprisingly easy.
Also you know you can just go to the last zone and you'll get the super sonic boss, right? You don't need to replay the rest.
Nothing wrong with it, I just want to make sure he's aware it's not necessary.Nothing wrong with doing a victory lap though
I went straight to the last zone once i got all the emeralds. I'm doing a second full playthrough with Knuckles instead.
Kor of Memory
Member
The real kick in the pants is the free big ring for Green Hill Act 1 is the last in the stage.
Once you learn that it's almost disheartening knowing that you missed 1 (or 2) more rings before it.
One thing I don't like about this game is how Game Overs start you at the beginning of the zone and not the act, really reduces the motivation to reattempt a boss. Not like they're too difficult in the first place, it just takes a while to get there.
But this game... yeesh. 10/10, even with the complaints that people have already brought up. My relationship with the Genesis Sonic games are weird - I was born in 1998 but used PC's since I was 3 years old, among the first games I downloaded were these prepackaged Kega Fusion emulators with the Sonic 1, 2, and 3&K roms, I loved these games so much, they got me into coding and spritework and messing with game development. I'm so happy I get to play a proper spiritual successor today. Beautiful.
But this game... yeesh. 10/10, even with the complaints that people have already brought up. My relationship with the Genesis Sonic games are weird - I was born in 1998 but used PC's since I was 3 years old, among the first games I downloaded were these prepackaged Kega Fusion emulators with the Sonic 1, 2, and 3&K roms, I loved these games so much, they got me into coding and spritework and messing with game development. I'm so happy I get to play a proper spiritual successor today. Beautiful.
What's the jump acceleration glitch? Because the way I obtain the 5th emerald was...odd.
I er... fail the last one on my first attempt. ^_^;
Kor of Memory
Member
Jumping while turning yourself sideways accelerates you faster than you would go normally. Use this with a bumper wall to proper you faster and you can basically catch the chaos emerald in the first 10 seconds.
Think of it like snaking from Mario Kart.
Any tips on the jump acceleration? I get the idea behind it (turn him one direction, then hold the other direction and press jump) but I can't get it to work like they do in the videos. Sometimes I'll get one accelerated jump, but I can't chain multiple together. Sonic always faces forward after the first jump and then I have to wait and turn again which loses momentum.
Tried it for about a half hour last night and saw no improvements at all.
Beat the game last night and really enjoyed it. I get the complaints about starting over at the beginning of the zone. I'm not even sure what the point is of having acts?
Psyrgery ES
Member
Got this game today for my birthday from my wife, managed to beat it with all the chaos emerald.
This game is magical, there's some things I did not like (such as the amount of original stages being too low for my taste and there being too many "classic" stages, which makes sense according to the story, but still)
Also, the 5th special stage can go fuck itself.
Amazed at the huge amount of references and easter eggs I managed to spot, and also how they even replicated the same location of old poweruos such as hidden lives and the like.
I am so going to 100% this sucker!!
Oh, and the most special thing to happen to me: After many years trying I wad able to lure a motobug and make him ride off a cliff!! Awesome!!!
This game is magical, there's some things I did not like (such as the amount of original stages being too low for my taste and there being too many "classic" stages, which makes sense according to the story, but still)
Also, the 5th special stage can go fuck itself.
Amazed at the huge amount of references and easter eggs I managed to spot, and also how they even replicated the same location of old poweruos such as hidden lives and the like.
I am so going to 100% this sucker!!
Oh, and the most special thing to happen to me: After many years trying I wad able to lure a motobug and make him ride off a cliff!! Awesome!!!
Skel1ingt0n
I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
Something Mania offeres that is an extension of its variety is the ability to really get you vested in the game again quickly.
I've been flying for work this week, and a few times I've been bored I struggled to grab my Switch because, I dunno, I didn't want to slog around a game and "virtually twiddle my thumbs." Even in BotW, you can launch the game and after 15 minutes realize you haven't DONE anything but run around. Mania, though? Five minutes in I've done 2-3 awesome things already and am hooked again until I have to stop.
I've been flying for work this week, and a few times I've been bored I struggled to grab my Switch because, I dunno, I didn't want to slog around a game and "virtually twiddle my thumbs." Even in BotW, you can launch the game and after 15 minutes realize you haven't DONE anything but run around. Mania, though? Five minutes in I've done 2-3 awesome things already and am hooked again until I have to stop.
Just finished last night and thought the game was great. Some random thoughts:
Not really getting the "it's too hard" complaints I've been seeing (even from my brother, who's also been playing through it). I think I only died on a couple of the bosses (Oil Ocean 2 boss was kind of frustrating), but never game over'd. Most of the bosses only take like 6-8 hits it seems like, so it was pretty easy to just burn bosses down even after you ate a hit or two.
Of the Emerald races, it was the third one that I got stuck on for awhile, because I think I was playing too conservatively. I kind of just thought if I kept going through the course and getting orbs, inevitably I would catch the UFO, which is really only the case if you never lose speed anywhere else. Once I realized I should try to cut corners and nail the shortcuts right out the gate, I one shotted all the rest of the races. Being able to jump and almost u-turn over parts of the track kind of breaks the races, haha. Ended the game missing one emerald, which I assume gives a different ending? Gonna have to go back through and do it again.
After unlocking stage select, farmed GHZ1&2 a couple times to finish getting golds on the blue spheres. Haven't tried Mania mode yet. Kind of lame that all the golds get you is an achievement I guess? Speaking of achievements, I don't think they're very good or interesting. I kind of expected more around time trials or speed running, or something. I dunno. Minor complaint, overall. Working on going back through and getting the few I'm missing now, but I don't think it will take much work.
I have no idea what that blue ring power up does.
Anyway, yeah, this is a really good Sonic game. I would love to see these guys make a wholly original "new old" Sonic next. They did a great job on this one.
Not really getting the "it's too hard" complaints I've been seeing (even from my brother, who's also been playing through it). I think I only died on a couple of the bosses (Oil Ocean 2 boss was kind of frustrating), but never game over'd. Most of the bosses only take like 6-8 hits it seems like, so it was pretty easy to just burn bosses down even after you ate a hit or two.
Of the Emerald races, it was the third one that I got stuck on for awhile, because I think I was playing too conservatively. I kind of just thought if I kept going through the course and getting orbs, inevitably I would catch the UFO, which is really only the case if you never lose speed anywhere else. Once I realized I should try to cut corners and nail the shortcuts right out the gate, I one shotted all the rest of the races. Being able to jump and almost u-turn over parts of the track kind of breaks the races, haha. Ended the game missing one emerald, which I assume gives a different ending? Gonna have to go back through and do it again.
After unlocking stage select, farmed GHZ1&2 a couple times to finish getting golds on the blue spheres. Haven't tried Mania mode yet. Kind of lame that all the golds get you is an achievement I guess? Speaking of achievements, I don't think they're very good or interesting. I kind of expected more around time trials or speed running, or something. I dunno. Minor complaint, overall. Working on going back through and getting the few I'm missing now, but I don't think it will take much work.
I have no idea what that blue ring power up does.
Anyway, yeah, this is a really good Sonic game. I would love to see these guys make a wholly original "new old" Sonic next. They did a great job on this one.
FeenixRising
Banned
I finally got all the emeralds, yay
Sonic 3 was the first game that lead me to believe this series had a problem. Sonic and Knuckles confirmed that.
This game feels better than either of those two.
Isn't Mania mode just the regular game mode? Am I doing something wrong?
valinthyne
Member
The hyper ring is kinda a safety net for ring loss. If you have one, it will equally split up all your rings when you get hit into a max of 6 over sized rings, allowing you a chance to actually recover all that you had.
NinjaCoachZ
Member
It makes it so the next time you get hit, instead of losing a ton of small rings like you usually do, you'll lose a few massive rings that are each worth about 10 rings.
Basically the point of it is that when you get hit, you end up losing fewer rings than you would normally, and have a better chance of getting them all back.
Neo-Alec
Neo Member
Looks like most people here like this game.
We wanted to have our own debate, so our youtube channel made this:
https://youtu.be/s8eLJNfrpo4
We wanted to have our own debate, so our youtube channel made this:
https://youtu.be/s8eLJNfrpo4
8 rings, not 6
The funny thing is that, if you have a massive amount of rings already, it's easy to collect a few of the big rings and get extra 1-ups.
They're each worth 1/8 of your ring count upon being hit, so you can get quite a few more than ten per ring if your ring count is well over 80.