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Sonic Mania |OT| Dreams Come True

gelf

Member
It's really weird to me hearing people call Sonic gameplay hard and even comparing it to Dark Souls. Sonic 1 was one of the first games I was ever able to complete without using cheats as a kid, it's not a series I ever considered particularly difficult compared to its peers.
 
It's really weird to me hearing people call Sonic gameplay hard and even comparing it to Dark Souls. Sonic 1 was one of the first games I was ever able to complete without using cheats as a kid, it's not a series I ever considered particularly difficult compared to its peers.

Yep - one of the main reasons Sonic is so popular is the accessibility of the gameplay. The skill ceiling is extremely high, but pretty much anyone can clear the games.
 
I wish the game would be patched and map the transformation to Super form to a specific button. I hate how once you get all 7 Chaos Emeralds, you can no longer use character abilities once you have over 50 rings, unless you want to transform. And I don't always want to be Super, as that can get a bit boring if you do it too often (especially considering you're stuck listening to the same music every time).
 
As someone who grew up with Sonic, I do struggle a little to see the classics from an outside perspective. For me the spindash, physics etc come as naturally as running and jumping. But objectively I guess I can see why that might not be instinctive. But I don't remember 9 year old me in 1992 struggling with Sonic 2.

I'd definitely rank the Sonic series as a whole as some of the *easiest* platformers of the 16 bit era. I pick up stuff like Aladdin, Jungle Book, Mario World, etc and I'm dying all over the place. I can barely get off the first stage of stuff like Mickey Mania. And don't get me started on how hard DKC was for me.
 

MrBadger

Member
I wish the game would be patched and map the transformation to Super form to a specific button. I hate how once you get all 7 Chaos Emeralds, you can no longer use character abilities once you have over 50 rings, unless you want to transform. And I don't always want to be Super, as that can get a bit boring if you do it too often (especially considering you're stuck listening to the same music every time).

They've said a patch for that is coming, and (I believe) it's already present in the PC version.
 
As someone who grew up with Sonic, I do struggle a little to see the classics from an outside perspective. For me the spindash, physics etc come as naturally as running and jumping. But objectively I guess I can see why that might not be instinctive. But I don't remember 9 year old me in 1992 struggling with Sonic 2.

All of the new abilities and such were showcased heavily in ads, so we had a pretty decent idea of what our capabilities were when we played for the first time, even if we may not knew how to perform them instinctively.
 

Kilrogg

paid requisite penance
As someone who grew up with Sonic, I do struggle a little to see the classics from an outside perspective. For me the spindash, physics etc come as naturally as running and jumping. But objectively I guess I can see why that might not be instinctive. But I don't remember 9 year old me in 1992 struggling with Sonic 2.

I'd definitely rank the Sonic series as a whole as some of the *easiest* platformers of the 16 bit era. I pick up stuff like Aladdin, Jungle Book, Mario World, etc and I'm dying all over the place. I can barely get off the first stage of stuff like Mickey Mania. And don't get me started on how hard DKC was for me.

Games like Megadrive Aladdin (and other Shiny games such as Pitfall, Earthworm Jim and the like) are definitely harder than Sonic, but that's because they're overall much less tightly designed than SEGA, Nintendo, Capcom or Konami platformers. Unfair levels of challenge at times and loose controls, animations and level interactions are major flaws for a 2D platformer. In most ways, it's hard to argue that Sonic isn't far better than Shiny platformers.

DKC is definitely challenging. Even Super Mario World at times. But they're much more fair/less cheap than Sonic Mania if you ask me. There is no world where bumping into an enemy on what seems like a safe "run fast" is good design. Same with moving ceilings and walls: too many of them don't leave you enough time to react, and as a result you get crushed. These flaws become less and less apparent as you completely master the controls and memorize the level layout, to be sure, but this is supposed to be a 2D sidescroller with an average difficulty level and sprawling, multipaths, long stages, not a bullet-hell-style auto-scrolling shoot 'em up where memorization is paramount.

I still enjoyed the game for what it is, but at the same time it reminded me of everything I hated about 2D Sonic games back in the day, especially when comparing them to Mario, Kirby, Mega Man or Capcom Aladdin. Heck, in some ways, even the Virgin/Shiny games were more fun to me. And God knows those were frustrating and haven't stood the test of time. I think there is some truth to the notion that Sonic was never this absolutely brilliant classic that can rival with the likes of Mario... When it comes to gameplay, and gameplay alone, it's got some very glaring design flaws. The physics are still impressive and tight to this day and the controls are responsive, but it often feels like the rest of the gameplay is designed to keep you from fully enjoying the physics. Now, the cool factor, visuals and sound design, on the other hand, are absolutely praise-worthy, and I think that's what made the games so iconic and beloved over the years.

Hopefully Headcannon will improve on the historic flaws of the series if they ever make Mania 2.
 

Kouriozan

Member
Aladdin isn't that hard, to my memory? The sticking point is the Rug Ride, which iirc kicks you to the next stage anyway if you die three times.

I definitely beat it as a kid...

Same, after enduring tons of "Nintendo hard" games, Aladdin didn't seem that difficult back then.
 
If I didnt know about the drop dash I would never figure out it was in the game. (Shrug) Some basic intro to abilities wouldn't kill them even if it isn't necessary.

I will say nothing in this game should draw as much confusion as that bridge in Super Metroid though. Probably just a different era where now though. Sonic Mania is not dark souls difficulty lol.
 

Sayad

Member
Most the enemies you run into while speeding are react-able, and even when not, I think it's fine for the game to require some memorization in some places since the penalty(losing rings and momentum) is so low any way. A lot o Sonic's charm is finding the fastest path and for that to require some experimentation and memorization is fine.

Insta death from being squeezed by moving platforms really need to go though!
 

Hilbert

Deep into his 30th decade
I have always kind of liked the challenge of wanting to put off using super sonic so I have to restrict my abilities(much more doable in 3/K then 2, where I have to find creative ways to avoid jumping).

I hope it is a toggle, not a permanent button assignment.
 
Still can't view leaderboards without it crashing on PS4. Does it let you replay the record runs? Maybe people watching those would naturally want to know what kind of tech is being used there.
 

Endo Punk

Member
Enjoyed it but honestly I'm going to use Sonic Mania as a send off to the franchise. It's a part of my childhood which just doesn't resonate with me anymore. Twas fun and very nostalgic but fare thee well Sonic.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
Enjoyed it but honestly I'm going to use Sonic Mania as a send off to the franchise. It's a part of my childhood which just doesn't resonate with me anymore. Twas fun and very nostalgic but fare thee well Sonic.
If anything, for me the game scratches the itch enough that it's basically all I need out of Sonic for the time being. I'll be on board for Mania 2 but it's something I can wait on.

I haven't particularly enjoyed Sonic games in a while. I had a ball with Secret Rings (honestly) and I liked Colors enough but didn't care for what I played of Unleashed and I barely cared enough to try Generations even when it was only $5 on Steam.

Basically, I get my fill of Sonic easily and if I'm going to play a Sonic game, it's going to be one that celebrates Sonic at his absolute best.
 

Lijik

Member
Aside from FBZ/TMZ, Mania's zones didn't feel that much longer to me than S3&K's. FBZ2 and TMZ2 were the only stages where I came close to timing out.
After doing it once I dont get close to timing out in TMZ2 anymore but it mightve made more sense to make that stage similar to Egg Rocket in Sonic Advance where you were given a five minute countdown that reset with each section of the rocket as opposed to the standard ten minutes.
 
Replaying Stardust Speedway and just noticed that
Sonic does the Super Peel Out to escape from the exploding factory during the Metal Sonic boss fight.
Goddamn the attention to detail in this game is so good.
 

Zubz

Banned
Replaying Stardust Speedway and just noticed that
Sonic does the Super Peel Out to escape from the exploding factory during the Metal Sonic boss fight.
Goddamn the attention to detail in this game is so good.

I noticed that, too. Man, do I love the Super Peel-Out. I wish I could do a Peel-Out run, even if little would change.
 

RockmanBN

Member
TMZ2 doesn't take too long anymore. Usually end up with 3:30 by the end. Though I recommend saving the bottom left path last so you can cheese Eggman with the Electric Shield.
 
Seriously, is Flying Battery Zone the best zone in the game?

I freaking love it. I'm constantly replaying it....

(Disclaimer: Never beat S3&K).
 

Orin GA

I wish I could hat you to death
Favorite Zone is Titanic Monarch Zone. Least favorite, whatever that Crate Factory zone was called.
 
Oil Ocean wasn't so bad as Knuckles but some of the shitty aspects still remain, like why am I dead when I jump towards the oil if the platforms have already sunk?

Knuckles run as a whole was pretty fun, but some of the routes kill so much time.
 
Tonight's session got me 0 chaos emeralds (still stuck at #6) but got 8 more blue spheres medals. The rest I'm just going to have to drill down because they all have tricks I need to memorize, but can't get them down because they take too long to appear in the rotation.

As well as not knowing anything about drop dashing I also don't know what it means when your rings turn blue...?
You were answered earlier about the blue ring power up, but drop dashing is simply letting go and then holding the button down again while in midair. If done correctly you'll see and hear a spin-up during the jump then will take off upon landing.
 

RockmanBN

Member
I'd say my least favorite zone is Green Hill. I just play it to speed to the other levels. I've seen it so much and I don't want to see it for the next decade.
 
Is it just me or is Knuckles not really hard mode? Overall I thought the game as a whole was fair whether I played as Sonic + Tails, or standalone Tails/Knuckles.

Also that 2nd half vs. Metal Sonic is the most cheese boss ever (just get yourself hit by the spikes, recover rings, hit MS, rinse/repeat).
 
Sega really needs to patch this game on Switch. It's always taken 5-10 seconds for the game to exit to the home menu or go into sleep mode, but it eventually worked. I recently purchased a 128GB SD card and moved Sonic Mania over to it. Now the game doesn't respond to the home or power buttons at all. I have to do a hard reset of the entire system in order to exit the game, which is completely ridiculous.

The game's been out for close to a month. Time to fix this.

Edit - Ok, so I deleted and redownloaded the game and it's back to "normal" now (meaning it still has issues, but at least it's not locking my system). Game still needs a patch very badly.
 
Replaying Stardust Speedway and just noticed that
Sonic does the Super Peel Out to escape from the exploding factory during the Metal Sonic boss fight.
Goddamn the attention to detail in this game is so good.

Actually, that's just Sonic's max-speed animation. If you let him run down a long slope you'd see him do that exact same pose.
 

LaNaranja

Member
I finished the game yesterday and it was the first time I had played a Sonic game. It was ok. I played on the Switch and as Knuckles and was a little bummed out by all the glitches. Getting sucked into walls or killed by other such things that were clearly no fault of my own sucks. Also the game needs better checkpointing. I lost all my lives a hand full of times against the second oil boss (a few of them because of shitty glitches, a few of them because I was shitty, making the glitches that much more frustrating) and it really sucked that I had to do redo all of oil section one and two just to get another crack at the boss. Throw in the occasional cheap death and it really sucks that I don't get much time to study boss patterns before having to run through both acts again. Such a time consuming and tedious thing.

Then I beat the game and get this nice middle finger.
DJFoQcqVoAAMTPk.jpg:large

So I
collect the last remaining chaos emeralds and beat the game once more and I get nothing. Not even an acknowledgment that I collected all the chaos emeralds or anything. That is some bullshit. :/

Also does Sonic jump higher than Knuckles? I felt like against the oil boss I would struggle way too much to get the hell out of the water. And in the final zone, the first act boss feels impossible to hit without getting yourself hit as well because he is too far away to jump into when he has his attack going.
 

Ferr986

Member
I finished the game yesterday and it was the first time I had played a Sonic game. It was ok. I played on the Switch and as Knuckles and was a little bummed out by all the glitches. Getting sucked into walls or killed by other such things that were clearly no fault of my own sucks. Also the game needs better checkpointing. I lost all my lives a hand full of times against the second oil boss (a few of them because of shitty glitches, a few of them because I was shitty, making the glitches that much more frustrating) and it really sucked that I had to do redo all of oil section one and two just to get another crack at the boss. Throw in the occasional cheap death and it really sucks that I don't get much time to study boss patterns before having to run through both acts again. Such a time consuming and tedious thing.

Then I beat the game and get this nice middle finger.


So I
collect the last remaining chaos emeralds and beat the game once more and I get nothing. Not even an acknowledgment that I collected all the chaos emeralds or anything. That is some bullshit. :/

Also does Sonic jump higher than Knuckles? I felt like against the oil boss I would struggle way too much to get the hell out of the water. And in the final zone, the first act boss feels impossible to hit without getting yourself hit as well because he is too far away to jump into when he has his attack going.

Knuckles doesn't jump as high as Sonic, yeah. It was the same in Sonic 3K. Knuckles is kind of a hard mode because of that.
 

Doosi

Banned
I finished the game yesterday and it was the first time I had played a Sonic game. It was ok. I played on the Switch and as Knuckles and was a little bummed out by all the glitches. Getting sucked into walls or killed by other such things that were clearly no fault of my own sucks. Also the game needs better checkpointing. I lost all my lives a hand full of times against the second oil boss (a few of them because of shitty glitches, a few of them because I was shitty, making the glitches that much more frustrating) and it really sucked that I had to do redo all of oil section one and two just to get another crack at the boss. Throw in the occasional cheap death and it really sucks that I don't get much time to study boss patterns before having to run through both acts again. Such a time consuming and tedious thing.

Then I beat the game and get this nice middle finger.


So I
collect the last remaining chaos emeralds and beat the game once more and I get nothing. Not even an acknowledgment that I collected all the chaos emeralds or anything. That is some bullshit. :/

Also does Sonic jump higher than Knuckles? I felt like against the oil boss I would struggle way too much to get the hell out of the water. And in the final zone, the first act boss feels impossible to hit without getting yourself hit as well because he is too far away to jump into when he has his attack going.

Knuckles is hard mode; his jump is the lowest of all three characters. You should have played with Sonic or Tails first.

I think you ran into a glitch. Collecting all chaos emeralds unlocks Super Knuckles and the true final boss/ending to the game.
 
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