Sonic Mania

Tanoomba

Tanoomba

ジョーディーすれいやー
<Banned>
10,170
1,439
I'm not sure how much interest there is for this but I'm psyched! (Comes out the 15th)




Looks like we're getting what for all intents and purposes is a sequel to Sonic 3 & Knuckles; A true Sonic 4, if you will. Certainly, there have been good Sonic games since 3&K (Several above-decent handheld games, Colors, Generations), but it's really nice to see Sonic go back to what won people over in the first place.

It's also impressive that Sega actually hired fans who worked on independent Sonic projects to develop Mania. Specifically, they got Chris Whitehead, who has already worked with Sega on the mobile ports of Sonic 1 and Sonic 2. I had heard these ports were the best versions of these classics (which was, frankly, a little hard to believe), so I got Sonic 1 (free with ads), played it on my tablet with a bluetooth controller and found that they weren't exaggerating. It was re-coded from the ground up to include widescreen support (already a great improvement), multiple save data files, Tails and Knuckles as playable characters, etc. This guy understands what makes these games great and he clearly cares a lot about them. This, combined with Mania's visually appealing new levels and apparently awesome soundtrack has left me pretty optimistic. Game looks great!

I pre-ordered from the Humble store, where you can get 10% off the price and an additional 10% off if you're a Humble Monthly subscriber. 16 bucks US is an entirely reasonable price for a full-featured, all new classic Sonic game. Any other old-school Sonic fans in the house?
 
Nirgon

Nirgon

YOU HAVE NO POWER HERE
12,701
19,582
I played one of the Sonic games on Dreamcast where you Tony Hawk'd railings. Was pretty gud.
 
Gravel

Gravel

Mr. Poopybutthole
36,295
115,121
Nirgon said:
I played one of the Sonic games on Dreamcast where you Tony Hawk'd railings. Was pretty gud.
Click to expand...
Shit, that sounds amazing.

Not really sure of the appeal of a 2D Sonic game. I get that there's a lot of money in toned down graphics ever since Minecraft, but this one feels like a money grab.
 
Tanoomba

Tanoomba

ジョーディーすれいやー
<Banned>
10,170
1,439
Gravel said:
Shit, that sounds amazing.

Not really sure of the appeal of a 2D Sonic game. I get that there's a lot of money in toned down graphics ever since Minecraft, but this one feels like a money grab.
Click to expand...
It's really not. It's a labor of love all around. For most Sonic fans, the series hit its peak with Sonic 3 & Knuckles. This is Sega listening to the fans and trying their best to give them exactly what they want (and that certainly extends to having fans actually develop the game). The retro graphics aren't a cheap-out, they're a love letter to the vibrant, detailed, gorgeous environments that were a staple of the series at its best. Sonic 4 was a hollow, pitiful cash-grab that somehow got everything that makes Sonic great wrong. Sonic Mania was made by people with a far better understanding of what people love about the classic games, and great effort was put into re-capturing that properly.

Does this mean the game will be a sure-fire hit? Of course not, it might very well suck in the end. But it won't be due to laziness or corner-cutting on the developers' part. People are more hyped for Sonic Mania than Sonic Forces (a AAA, big-budget follow-up to Generations with full modern 3D graphics), and that says a lot about what people want to see from Sonic.
 
Amzin

Amzin

Lord Nagafen Raider
2,917
361
Gravel said:
Shit, that sounds amazing.

Not really sure of the appeal of a 2D Sonic game. I get that there's a lot of money in toned down graphics ever since Minecraft, but this one feels like a money grab.
Click to expand...
See, I don't get the appeal of a 3D Sonic game. I never played one of those and though "this is an improvement". S&K was brilliant for a lot of reasons, and it holds up shockingly well. Maybe it would have been bad for them to just stick with 2D formula the whole way through, but they tried branching out and updating Sonic and it clearly isn't what works for most people.

I'm sad it got delayed on PC for no explained reason but I'll definitely be grabbing it soon.
 
Intrinsic

Intrinsic

Person of Whiteness
<Gold Donor>
14,238
11,665
I felt the same about 3D Sonic also. Some of the 3D wasn't bad when used for big map transitioning and super speed shenanigans, but always felt the actual play field should be 2D side scroll type. Pre-ordered through Humble this morning but guess it is waiting time.
 
Tanoomba

Tanoomba

ジョーディーすれいやー
<Banned>
10,170
1,439
At least PC users get compensation for waiting: A free copy of SONIC 1.

...Yup, the game Sonic fans own at least 3 times over already, and whose best version is currently available for free on mobile.

Weak sauce.
 
Chris

Chris

Potato del Grande
18,194
-346
I think Sonic was good in the 2D days because of the colourful design, a mickey mouse tier character design and physics/momentum based gameplay.

The 3D games started with a realistic design (for everything except the fucking fast blue hedgehog), edged sonic up into an asshole anime character (wasn't he designed by the US studio?) and had speed based gameplay with no physics and momentum (missing the point entirely, can you even fail a loops in the 3D games?).

I haven't played any of the 3D games and I know that some do have some of these things, Sonic 06 for sure is exactly what I'm talking about. But I don't think any of them hit the mark on all three aspects.

Crash Banicoot is probably what Sonic should have done, mainly 2D gameplay with a small z axis for the illusion of 3D, with some fast forwards and backwards sections like the pig riding and boulder chase. Just imagine Crash but a bit faster.
 
Amzin

Amzin

Lord Nagafen Raider
2,917
361
Sonic's "character" was added from the comics / cartoon I'm pretty sure, once they tried to evolve the games they tried to add it in there as well. None of the 3D games felt... good, like at all, really. I just don't think the original Sonic game style translates to 3D that well. You could do a narrow-3D like Crash but that's essentially a racing game + platforming then which doesn't sound that fun. Plus that perspective makes it a lot trickier to have interesting vertical level design and alternate paths like the 2D Sonics. Not that you can't, just it's much harder to do it well, and if there's anything the 3D Sonics taught us, it's that they aren't up to that challenge :p
 
Chris

Chris

Potato del Grande
18,194
-346
Amzin said:
Sonic's "character" was added from the comics / cartoon I'm pretty sure, once they tried to evolve the games they tried to add it in there as well. None of the 3D games felt... good, like at all, really. I just don't think the original Sonic game style translates to 3D that well. You could do a narrow-3D like Crash but that's essentially a racing game + platforming then which doesn't sound that fun. Plus that perspective makes it a lot trickier to have interesting vertical level design and alternate paths like the 2D Sonics. Not that you can't, just it's much harder to do it well, and if there's anything the 3D Sonics taught us, it's that they aren't up to that challenge :p
Click to expand...

Crash does have linear vertical sections, alternate paths (usually just 1 or 2 linear ones) and it was a fun game. It would have worked. The intricate alternate paths and vertical design would have gone for PS1 yeah, with it returning for PS2 or whatever the Sega equivalent was.

That's better than whatever the fuck action or temple run shit they actually did though.
 
Gravel

Gravel

Mr. Poopybutthole
36,295
115,121
I don't know why they couldn't do something like Mario Galaxy type levels (without all the pits and shit to fall into space) with super zoomed out 3rd person. By zooming out you can avoid the speed feeling too fast.
 
Tanoomba

Tanoomba

ジョーディーすれいやー
<Banned>
10,170
1,439
Chris said:
I haven't played any of the 3D games and I know that some do have some of these things, Sonic 06 for sure is exactly what I'm talking about. But I don't think any of them hit the mark on all three aspects.
Click to expand...
Sonic '06 was a flaming train wreck that should never have been released in its state. Plenty of bugs, abysmal load times that made the game virtually unplayable, and some absolutely terrible design decisions make it a piece of garbage that doesn't deserve to be considered as part of the Sonic oeuvre. The fact that it was 3D doesn't make the top 10 reasons why it failed.
 
Tanoomba

Tanoomba

ジョーディーすれいやー
<Banned>
10,170
1,439
IGN digs it too!

Trigger warning: Grating voice... I'm guessing possible trans.
cUvCqhO.gif


 
joz123

joz123

Potato del Grande
6,554
9,192
Sonic Spinball is still my favorite Sonic game. It was hard as shit to beat though.
 
  • 1Like
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 1 users
You must log in or register to reply here.