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Sonic Mania |OT| Dreams Come True

Jofamo

Member
I was totally wrong about
Oil Ocean in Sonic 2
I admit.

It's clear that it does in fact take place on an oil rig at sea.

I still contest that Oil Ocean in Mania is the same one however. It makes the most sense to me that it's a new one located on Angel Island, nearby Sandopolis. I'd image that Eggman has created a similar oil refinery on land, close to his operations in Lava Reef, just as Metropolis is presumably next to Oil Ocean in Sonic 2.
 

RagnarokX

Member
I was totally wrong about
Oil Ocean in Sonic 2
I admit.

It's clear that it does in fact take place on an oil rig at sea.

I still contest that Oil Ocean in Mania is the same one however. It makes the most sense to me that it's a new one located on Angel Island, nearby Sandopolis. I'd image that Eggman has created a similar oil refinery on land, close to his operations in Lava Reef, just as Metropolis is presumably next to Oil Ocean in Sonic 2.

Well, I mean, Lava Reef is on the shore of Angel Island anyway.

VwvwrWLl.png


Oil Ocean still has its ocean theme, even moreso with the submarines in Act 2. If you're deadset on it not being near Westside Island for some reason, keep in mind that oil rigs float and can be moved. Or it could be a new one. But it's still on the ocean, and the ocean is right next to Lava Reef Zone.
 
Really enjoy the game but really don't like some of the bosses. They're either far too easy and repetitive, or obtuse to the point where it doesn't really make sense what you need to hit.

Also don't understand why using spin dash kills you if
when you're on the plane.
.
 

Jofamo

Member
Well, I mean, Lava Reef is on the shore of Angel Island anyway.

VwvwrWLl.png


Oil Ocean still has its ocean theme, even moreso with the submarines in Act 2. If you're deadset on it not being near Westside Island for some reason, keep in mind that oil rigs float and can be moved. Or it could be a new one. But it's still on the ocean, and the ocean is right next to Lava Reef Zone.

Lava Reef is inside the volcano on Angel Island, which is on the edge of the island sure, but I wouldn't exactly say it's on the shore because of that.

None the less, here's hoping some stage transitions between Hyrdocity and Mirage Saloon, and Oil Ocean and Lava Reef get patched in to clear things up. You could be totally right, I could definitely see how a transition between Oil Ocean and Lava Reef involves the use of one of those submarines. I'd like to see why we go from Hydrocity to Mirage Saloon, mainly.

Until then we could debate things forever :)
 

JackelZXA

Member
Lava Reef is inside the volcano on Angel Island, which is on the edge of the island sure, but I wouldn't exactly say it's on the shore because of that.

None the less, here's hoping some stage transitions between Hyrdocity and Mirage Saloon, and Oil Ocean and Lava Reef get patched in to clear things up. You could be totally right, I could definitely see how a transition between Oil Ocean and Lava Reef involves the use of one of those submarines. I'd like to see why we go from Hydrocity to Mirage Saloon, mainly.

Until then we could debate things forever :)

Mirage Saloon is likely sandopolis, there's no reason to put that much thought into where oil ocean is other than "sandopolis" because sandopolis leads to lava reef and it's a very simple thing. It's taking the place of the locations from the other game. Even on that sketch of the maps they didn't really draw Metropolis zone, they just drew it in a spot on the island, likely because they were trying to tie together a sense of place between time periods and the idea was to have equivalent zones shown through the sketches. Metropolis being out at sea really is a whole cloth invention. Why not put it in the center of the earth or on the moon while you're at it?
 

Hilbert

Deep into his 30th decade
I mean it's not even a matter of seeing it on the first play, or even seeing all of it at all. I've played through a good chunk of the levels atleast twice, but like I'll be trying to get up to an area, bump into an enemy, get knocked back and now I'm somewhere completely differe-- oh fuck I just hit a spring and now I'm-- oh fuck now I've got that fire power-up and now burning down this bridge and -- oh shit it's a chaos emerald minigame, I should -- oh fuck the floor collapsed


Like it just keeps going and I'm not sure how I'm supposed to react and think "okay i should not do this" because all this shit is coming at me with zero heads up.

That's what makes it great!

At least for me.
 

13ruce

Banned
Well found a cheap sonic amiibo after all in my Country so no shipping needed.

To keep it on topic for classic Sonic well time to finish those blue sphere thigs only need 5 more medals.
 

MrBadger

Member
With so few pixels to represent that zone, I guess that was the single thing they could show as that zone. Title screen for Sonic & Knuckles shows a bit more:

skmap0.png

That title screen also puts into context why
Lava Reef
in Mania is
a giant crater instead of an underground cave.
 

Bauer91

Member
Replayed the last zone after collecting all the Chaos Emeralds
to get to the bonus fight and ending
and it was so much easier compared to the first time.

The more you play, the more you get used to the physics and the boss mechanics, making it possible to do well even if you don't know the classic Sonic games inside out. Who could've known!
 

alf717

Member
Not sure if this is known or not but when playing Chemical Plant Zone 1 on Switch If you beat the boss and get the goal post to pop up the bubble shield. As soon as you get control of Sonic for Zone 2 if you do the bubble hop it crashes the game. Odd bug but I got it to happen twice in a row. Still love the game though. =D
 

Bauer91

Member
I got all the trophies except the Blue Spheres Bonus stages. Not sure if I should even go for that, only got two silver medals and zero gold during my playthrough so I'm sure it's frustratingly hard.

Oh and speaking of crashes, every time I try to access the leaderboards on PS4 the game crashes. Tried five times so far, works well otherwise.
 
Finished Sonic Mania, and while it’s incredibly good, I feel like it’s not quite perfect, as it has some weird hiccups.

The stage design drops the ball on last level. Namely crush deaths. I got embarrassingly large amount of crush deaths and most of them from last level. A lot of people hated that Sonic 4 had death pits, but I seriously got annoyed by these crushing bits. Also, the game became bit more automated during last sections.

Mirage Saloon Act 1 reference was also not that good. I’m not sure why that trope gets returned often. Also it glitched out a bit and got weird deaths.

Zone transitions also dropped the ball by… dropping out literally. Development changes and slight rushing maybe? All current transitions were good so it feels weird.

I also discovered that they kept very archaic “you die in 10 minutes”. I don’t think that’s a good stage mentality these days, as it limits explorations.

Minor nitpicks, the Intro trailer wasn’t used at beginning, but I don’t see why. Too large Space maybe but this game is already below 1 GB so… I wonder why it wasn’t used, it was pretty good.

Other thing is, while I absolutely love that Sonic 3 got stage representation (seriously, S1 and S2 get almost all references and all S3&K are often from K part),
I found HydroCity weird here. Not even remotely bad, it just felt… weird. Maybe because it was early stage used as late game level?

This game does get major credit for fixing bosses. Especially S1 and S2 had almost very bad bosses all around, while this game had way more good bosses than bad. Kudos.

Regardless this game is almost perfection. Small fixes would have made it GOAT.
 

Guess Who

Banned
Minor nitpicks, the Intro trailer wasn’t used at beginning, but I don’t see why. Too large Space maybe but this game is already below 1 GB so… I wonder why it wasn’t used, it was pretty good.

It plays if you let the game sit on the title screen, like Sonic CD. If you let it play a second time, it even uses a different song.
 
It plays if you let the game sit on the title screen, like Sonic CD. If you let it play a second time, it even uses a different song.


Uhhh what

Umm... okay... weird call back... but I stand corrected.

I guess thats better than wasting a second to skip it in multiple play sessions?
 
Not feeling the game to be honest. Is anybody without nostalgia for Sonic adoring it like the fans do? I have a hard to adjusting to the controls and the level design. Feels like flipper with occasional jumps. I'm in the 6th zone and I can't be arsed to play on. Honestly one of the least enjoyable 2D games I've played in a while. :/

Might just not be for me. I'm not even close to getting how I'm supposed to have fun with this.
 
Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks
New Monarch Zone
is completely horrible...

I feel like it’s the worst of the new stages, especially with so many unfair crushing deaths. It’s not too bad, but it’s frustrating.

Not feeling the game to be honest. Is anybody without nostalgia for Sonic adoring it like the fans do? I have a hard to adjusting to the controls and the level design. Feels like flipper with occasional jumps. I'm in the 6th zone and I can't be arsed to play on. Honestly one of the least enjoyable 2D games I've played in a while. :/

Might just not be for me. I'm not even close to getting how I'm supposed to have fun with this.

I dunno, I started playing Sonic games late, in 2010s and Mania is still quite good aside from few archaic choices.
 
I thought the last zone was pretty great!
It is great! Complaining about dying in sonic by getting crushed is like... that's Sonic god damn it! You just laugh it off and try again until you beat that motherfucker!

No, but seriously, I really don't get GAF sometimes with how nitpicky it is with certain things.
 
It is great! Complaining about dying in sonic by getting crushed is like... that's Sonic god damn it! You just laugh it off and try again until you beat that motherfucker!

No, but seriously, I really don't get GAF sometimes with how nitpicky it is with certain things.

To a subset of GAF, if a game doesn't "respect my time", it's bad.
 

sonto340

Member
I feel like it’s the worst of the new stages, especially with so many unfair crushing deaths. It’s not too bad, but it’s frustrating.



I dunno, I started playing Sonic games late, in 2010s and Mania is still quite good aside from few archaic choices.
I can only think of one place in the last level that is even capable of crushing you.
 

Colby

Member
Not feeling the game to be honest. Is anybody without nostalgia for Sonic adoring it like the fans do? I have a hard to adjusting to the controls and the level design. Feels like flipper with occasional jumps. I'm in the 6th zone and I can't be arsed to play on. Honestly one of the least enjoyable 2D games I've played in a while. :/

Might just not be for me. I'm not even close to getting how I'm supposed to have fun with this.
I can see how non-Sonic players might be turned off. There are multiple paths to take in each level, and the "best" path rewards you with rings, shields, lives, and speed. You also get to avoid tedious sections, such as Chemical Plant's underwater areas. The best paths require great timing and understanding of the game's physics, which new players don't know how to utilize.

It sounds like this isn't the game for you, but I bet if you put more time in, you'd like it more. Even as a pro Sonic fanboy, I didn't immediately like the Chaos Emerald levels, and I failed more than I succeeded, but now I enjoy them and can nail them on one attempt. Maybe try playing around with Knuckles or Tails, where you can usually climb or fly your way to the best path, even if you miss the original platforming path.

As for crushing deaths, doesn't that stop once you know where to watch out? Even on my first playthrough, I only got crushed twice, both times because I was going recklessly fast.
 
No, but seriously, I really don't get GAF sometimes with how nitpicky it is with certain things.

I’m on the same boat that people in general complain waaaayy too much these days… but at the same time complaining and mentioning small annoyances is something that I do as well. It’s kind of awful.

I suppose crushing deaths are worst since in this game it was my most common dying method. I got a damn game over by those and I felt embarrassed by that…

Regardless Mania is great.


I can only think of one place in the last level that is even capable of crushing you.

...I died on that one spot way too many times...
 

Opa-Pa

Member
I can only think of one place in the last level that is even capable of crushing you.

There's a handful but most of them are a repeat of the first one so they're easy to avoid if you fell for that one.

Crushing deaths are the one thing I can't stand about classic Sonic, and I was disappointed to see them back here, but there's only like 3 that you won't see coming in the entire game.
 
It is great! Complaining about dying in sonic by getting crushed is like... that's Sonic god damn it! You just laugh it off and try again until you beat that motherfucker!

No, but seriously, I really don't get GAF sometimes with how nitpicky it is with certain things.

To a subset of GAF, if a game doesn't "respect my time", it's bad.

Sonic 2 was the first game I ever played and is one of my favorite games, I've completed all of the 2D Sonic games multiple times.
That's the most aggravated I've ever been at a 2D Sonic game and it had nothing to do with crushing deaths.
 

Mark1

Member
Mirage Saloon taking place in Angel Island after
Hydrocity
would make the most sense. Especially since that was where the
Tornado
was left before Sonic and Tails were teleported to Green Hill.

Reason I say this is because
Little Planet
is also revealed to be
chained to Angel Island, as shown in Lava Reef
, my guess is Eggman realised his plan to utilise
Metal Sonic failed, so dropped them off Little Planet so more time would be spent working on Metallic Madness and Titanic Monarch
.

Think
Oil Ocean is an Eggman made factory, so it could technically be placed anywhere. This is the biggest mystery of the whole story so far, must also have been made on Angel Island since Lava Reef takes place after.

They need to elaborate this more with adding the missing scenes or whatever, but this is the best that I could come up with.
 

IrishNinja

Member
for the life of me i can't find the big ring in green hill zone act 1, it's killing me

1) what dos the blue ring thing do?

2) any good hints on chaos emerald pacing? i imagine they get tougher & take a few tries as you go, do you on average shoot for 1 each zone to comfortably get em? i wanna do this right!
 
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