• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Sonic Mania |OT| Dreams Come True

chris121580

Member
Game is phenomenal and I'm loving every minute of it. Needs some tips on
the second hydrozone boss. I'm having difficulty getting air bubbles to appear. Is there something I can do to help with this? This is the boss that's coming at you from the side and your flying backwards in the water dodging cannons.
 
Game is phenomenal and I'm loving every minute of it. Needs some tips on
the second hydrozone boss. I'm having difficulty getting air bubbles to appear. Is there something I can do to help with this? This is the boss that's coming at you from the side and your flying backwards in the water dodging cannons.

You get a bubble each time you hit him.
 

sonto340

Member
Game is phenomenal and I'm loving every minute of it. Needs some tips on
the second hydrozone boss. I'm having difficulty getting air bubbles to appear. Is there something I can do to help with this? This is the boss that's coming at you from the side and your flying backwards in the water dodging cannons.
you get a bubble every time you hit the boss. Just focus on that.
 
Just finished it with Sonic and all of the Chaos Emeralds.

Its absolutely magnificent. I can't believe how much fun it is.

Its been twenty-three years, but finally, we got a good one!
 
I love Hydrocity's different design.

Act I is full of new stuff, while Act II is basically just a remake of the original Act II, unlike the other classic levels where Act I is mostly a remake and Act II is new stuff. Even Act II's music is basically just a remix of the original Act II. Someone really liked Act II of Hydrocity!

I think arguably, Act II is the better act of the original, so this seems to work well
 

Guess Who

Banned
I love Hydrocity's different design.

Act I is full of new stuff, while Act II is basically just a remake of the original Act II, unlike the other classic levels where Act I is mostly a remake and Act II is new stuff.

I think arguably, Act II is the better act of the original, so this seems to work well

Funnily/sadly, despite basically just being more S3K Hydrocity, act 2 is better than act 1 in Mania too.

It's a bummer because I love original Hydrocity, but this feels like the only Mania level where Mania's take doesn't feel much better than the original (that, and maybe Lava Reef). I'd say act 1 is worse than original Hydrocity Act 1, even.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Using Tails in my 2nd playthrough and leisurely examine the levels this time.

Press Garden has a spellbinding feel to it. It's almost nothing like any Sonic level I've played before yet fits in so well.

Funnily/sadly, despite basically just being more S3K Hydrocity, act 2 is better than act 1 in Mania too.

It's a bummer because I love original Hydrocity, but this feels like the only Mania level where Mania's take doesn't feel much better than the original (that, and maybe Lava Reef). I'd say act 1 is worse than original Hydrocity Act 1, even.

I disagree, but I really dislike original Hydrocity and felt that it was one of the weakest water levels in the series.

I like that this incarnation actually is a water level for most of it and that they incorporated both new (variable water level) and old (Aqua Lake bubble) gimmicks.
 
Funnily/sadly, despite basically just being more S3K Hydrocity, act 2 is better than act 1 in Mania too.

It's a bummer because I love original Hydrocity, but this feels like the only Mania level where Mania's take doesn't feel much better than the original (that, and maybe Lava Reef). I'd say act 1 is worse than original Hydrocity Act 1, even.

I agree.
The bubble puzzles are too slow, for a stage that was surprisingly fast for a water level in the original
 

Guess Who

Banned
Using Tails in my 2nd playthrough and leisurely examine the levels this time.

Press Garden has a spellbinding feel to it. It's almost nothing like any Sonic level I've played before yet fits in so well.

Press Garden is really weird to me - while the other new stages go for a Sonic CDish aesthetic, Press Garden feels very Sonic 1 in a way that no Sonic stage has since, well, Sonic 1.

I disagree, but I really dislike original Hydrocity and felt that it was one of the weakest water levels in the series.

I like that this incarnation actually is a water level for most of it and that they incorporated both new (variable water level) and old (Aqua Lake bubble) gimmicks.

I think people like me who like the original Hydrocity like it precisely because you don't actually have to deal with the water very much, haha.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Press Garden is really weird to me - while the other new stages go for a Sonic CDish aesthetic, Press Garden feels very Sonic 1 in a way that no Sonic stage has since, well, Sonic 1.

Yeah, the closest archetype that it fits aesthetically is Marble Zone (spotted some familiar patterns in the background), but even then, it's really distinct and surreal.

I think people like me who like the original Hydrocity like it precisely because you don't actually have to deal with the water very much, haha.

And I wouldn't have a huge problem with that if it didn't feel like >50% of that stage was auto-pilot.
 
Stardust Speedway's boss got me like
really-sweating.gif
 
I think people like me who like the original Hydrocity like it precisely because you don't actually have to deal with the water very much, haha.

lol yea. Water in Sonic isn't really that fun, Hydrocity fixed that by having most of the water either optional, or moving along quickly due to conveyor belts or currents. Speaking of Sonic water levels...

I keep drowning in Chemical Plant zone. There's a part where you can fall and I see no way to surface I'm time...

You get to relive the thrills and excitement we all felt growing up with Chemical Plant Zone and that exact area (which was in Act II in the original, right before the boss). It killed us all at least once, don't worry
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
I keep drowning in Chemical Plant zone. There's a part where you can fall and I see no way to surface I'm time...

Is it the part w/ the rising gunk that's ripped straight from Sonic 2?

That one took me quite a long time to get a handle on when I was 8.
 

dadjumper

Member
I was avoiding coverage or getting interested in this game because The Sonic Cycle is real, but now even seeing that Giant Bomb likes the game, I'm thinking about picking it up. Gotta play something on my Switch right
 

Nydius

Member
Why do I feel like I'm getting hit by things I shouldn't be getting hit by? I have the game on both Switch and PS4 and it feels the same in both. An example would be getting hit by the red missiles from the Studiopolis Act I Boss when it's still a full Sonic length away. Or jumping over/ducking under a fired projectile and still being hit when it's a good length away or as it's going to go under or over me.

It's not gamebreaking by any stretch but it's annoying as hell. At first I was going to blame possible display lag on the PS4 version but noticed the exact same thing on Switch, both in portable and in docked mode.
 

Black_Red

Member
This is my second sonic game (first one was generations), and I'm liking the game, but I dont know if I'm really bad or if im playing it wrong.
I feel like some enemies are really hard to avoid unless you memorize the level. Also, as someone who usually tries to 100% platformers (like Mario and Donkey kong but not super meat boy) what would be the equivalent here?.
Are there standard times to beat like on DKCreturns?

I only see empty timers and the online leaderboards.
 

The Stealth Fox

Junior Member
Seeing these Sonic 2 levels makes me want to annoy the shit out of Sega to get the Sonic 1 and 2 ports onto consoles. It worked for vanquish and bayo for PC, right? We know s3k is tied behind legal issues for now but 1 and 2 aren't , right?
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
Seriously though, is there any sort of reward for clearing the additional Blue Sphere stages that you unlock in the Extras menu?

I'd set out to answer that question myself, but the last time we had a dedicated Blue Sphere game it had literally millions of stages.

Thanks for your input.

I didn't mean anything by it.
 

Kouriozan

Member
I did Oil Ocean earlier and didn't find the bosses hard, I even forgot about the second one and had to check a video.
Wonder if I got lucky there.
 
Two little things I noticed (tiny spoilers):

1.
The gashapon Amy Dolls play the Sonic CD giggle when they latch on, then flash a toothy grin before exploding. Got to watch it on Tails. The toothy grin being related to the internet's creepy view of Tails Doll.

2.
In Press Garden, some of the Sonic newspapers are normal, but some of them kind of looked like the AoStH Sonic, maybe from Spinball? Since everything darkens when pausing, I couldn't totally tell, and I forgot to grab a screenshot.

Um, is there input lag on the blue sphere levels? They don't feel very responsive.

You can only pivot on the corners, so that might feel a little laggy. Otherwise, if there was input lag, I adjusted to it pretty quickly.
 

iavi

Member
I fucking loved Flying Battery's boss for the second act. Really don't get the complaints about that one. It took me a second to understand, but once I did it was great
 
I fucking loved Flying Battery's boss for the second act. Really don't get the complaints about that one. It took me a second to understand, but once I did it was great

It was kinda hard hitting the sweet spot most people are probably hitting it high instead of low.
 
If you lose your rings they're just gone so that blows.

If you double-back from the last checkpoint, the
sub is still open
, and I'm pretty sure the Steel Ring respawns inside. You might have to skip it the first time. Maybe not. But it makes it easier to grab your rings if they get knocked out.
 

AaronMT86

Member
Devs if you're reading this, please remove the 'Unsaved Progress' dialog on restart in time-attack mode. What's the point of it? It just interferes with the need to reset often.
 
I haven't made it with this but
I wonder if bringing a fire shield to ignite the oil would do damage to him.



If you lose your rings they're just gone so that blows.

Exactly, if you get hit it's virtually impossible to recover them. Plus if you're standing on the platform when it gets pulled down, you die instantly. There's just so much going on to keep track of, on top of the rings issue and being bogged down by the oil, that it's a nightmare. That boss is legitimately the only blemish on the game for me so far.

If you double-back from the last checkpoint, the
sub is still open
, and I'm pretty sure the Steel Ring respawns inside. You might have to skip it the first time. Maybe not. But it makes it easier to grab your rings if they get knocked out.

I tried that once, maybe I just got unlucky but it didn't help too much. The big rings still disappeared way too quickly for me to grab them. I'll try again next time, probably.

Playing this game, I kind of understand why some people who have never played Sonic games can get confused by the game

There's a ton of things I just naturally knew to do from playing Sonic games for almost 30 years, but looking back, it's kind of weird and maybe not entirely obvious sometimes.

Like I recognized traps and gimmicks from various old stages, either because the stage was literally in the game (Chemical Plants' rising water for example) or because it was borrowed from another stage (Press Garden's various Marble Garden doodads for example)

Oh and Flying Battery is everything I ever wanted in a Flying Battery remake, but that stage could easily get pretty frustrating without knowing some of the weird stuff you have do (the trajectory of flying off the fan polls, which handle bars lower you down, using the fire blowers as springs, stuff like that)



I could hardly contain myself when I got to Chemical Plant Zone. Sonic 2 was my first console game ever and one of the first video games I ever played. Sonic 2 has been part of my life since I was like 4. I couldn't stop smiling through the entire stage and Act II totally blew me away with its new ideas mixed with some familiar layouts.
And then the boss was intense for me because Mean Bean Machine was also a huge part of my childhood and is the first video game I ever beat. And I never expected a reference to it at all

Also the first time I got to Oil Ocean Act II and saw the gimmick, I actually said out loud "oh no, no no no no" which I'm sure was the intended reaction for anyone who knew what that gimmick was a reference to.

That's awesome to hear. I've always loved Chemical Plant so my reaction was similar to yours. I also had a similar moment later on in the game. I was happy to revisit Flying Battery again, but I was thinking that was the only stage from 3&K and bummed out that after Generations, yet again we have a game reusing a Knuckles level with none from 3 in sight. I was thinking just how much I'd love to see
Hydrocity Zone
and hear its music again since that's one of my alltime favourites.

A couple zones later and I could not stop smiling.
 

Guess Who

Banned
Re: the
Oil Ocean
boss.
Bringing a Fire Shield does help, but not for the reason you might think - the projectiles from the orbs just bounce right off of your shield, so you can take them out very easily. Once those are gone the boss fight is basically the same as Sonic 2's except you have to get off the platforms before they get pulled down.
 
Top Bottom