Be Excellent To Each Other

Sonic Mania is due to come out next year at some time (possibly February) and until now, the collectors edition has only been for the North American market.

I've just read on Twitter that it will now be available in the UK, exclusively through Amazon. It's currently listed at £79.99 for both the PS4 and Xbox One but the price could change.

The game itself is looking like a traditional 2D Sonic game. There's not much to go on at the moment, but from what I've seen it could be what traditional Sonic fans have been after for all these years.

It doesn't matter about the game though. What you really want is the statue that makes the "Say-Gaaaa" sound when you press the power button. Hours of fun!

Wasn't Sonic 4 the 2D Sonic game people had been waiting for all those years?

Not entirely sure I'm sold on that, it seems to look and play just like the Megadrive originals, which was fine in, y'know, 1991.

There's nothing wrong with redoing old games but they need a modern riff on them to be worthwhile IMO, (like Pac-Man CEDX+, for example), otherwise you may as well just play the originals in emulators.

Thinking around a bit I guess Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze was very true to the feel of the original SNES DKC games, but they did at least chuck the WiiU's horsepower at it to make a gorgeous looking and sounding modern game well beyond anything the SNES or Gamecube or Wii could produce.

Sonic Mania just looks like a Megadrive Sonic game to me, and I can play that already on my real Megadrive or in emulators.

And Advance, and Rush, and Colors, and Unleashed and Generations.

All shite.

This one does actually look legit though, and the devs have solid credentials.

£79.99 ??

Comes with tat, innit.

Sonic was always shite though. Have you tried playing any of the first four recently? They were never good, especially compared with Mario.

Objection... Well... a little objection. You're right in that Mario was better but the first two Sonic games are really good. I've played the first one through recently and it still stands up with regards to level design .

All it has going for it is the speed gimmick, and there's too many times where you'll whizz off a screen into an enemy you didn't know was there, until you learn the levels Rick Dangerous-style. The old Mario games still stand up today.

-edit- other than the excellent graphics and sound for the time, obviously.

£79.99 and you don't even get a physical disc. Tut. Tut, I say.

I played it at EGX and it was pretty decent nostalgic fun. The music sounded fantastic (I reckon it's the old music but marginally tarted up) which is about the only reason I remember the original game but it did suffer from the old problems of having the character immovably central in the screen even when you're pelting along at speed making avoiding anything deadly impossible unless you knew the level like the back of your hand. I never understood why Sonic's defining trait was speed. Meh.

Nah the Mega Drive games totally hold up.

Nah.

Yep

I think his defining trait was marketing, honestly.

Never played the Mega drive games when I was young, only sonic 1 on the master system 2. Which I enjoyed at the time.

Now, I find them fun to play, you could generally guess what the level flow was going to be, so a lack of forewarning made you feel like a boss, but I do wonder what I'd think without state saves.

That was quick... It's sold out!

I thought this deserved a thread of it's own. Apparently it's a new Sonic game that gives plenty of nods to classic Sonic.

I've bought it on my Switch (£16 price fans) and I shall be telling you more as soon as I can get work out the way and play it.

Anyone else getting it?

Not me. Sonic just doesn't jibe with my brain. Too much inertia.

Yeah, fuck Sonic games. "Go really fast, it's great fun!" "Oh, did you go really fast? No, you can't do that you fool, you'll run into something and die!" MAKE UP YOUR FUCKING MIND, GAME!

It's funny that as I used to approach Sonic with the idea that I had to be moving fast at all times and anything less would simply not do.. and then I watched a play through online by former Beexer, Mentski.

He was playing the game like a traditional platformer. Taking his time in some parts and picking his jumps/platforms etc. I didn't really think that this was how Sonic was supposed to be played but turns out I was wrong. I went back to the original Sonic after this and approached it like a different game and enjoyed it a hell of a lot more.

It was always a bit of a mixture. Levels like Green Hill Zone are more fun to bomb through them as quickly as possible, but if you try that on other levels, you'll just come a cropper.

I don't mind the Sonic games, but I wouldn't have been too fussed if they'd just stopped after Sonic 2.

And there's the problem. When trying to move more thoughtfully, the inertia makes it horrible. Just changing direction is painfully slow.

It does. You already made one last year.

viewtopic.php?style=26&f=3&t=10842&p=926335&hilit=Sonic#p926335

Good memory Sat! I'll get a friendly Mod to sort something out...

Starting a thread on Sonic Mania is exactly the sort of thing I would do.

Wasn't generations supposed to be good?

I've just played this over lunch and it's just like an old Sonic game, but new.

It's great so far.

I quite enjoyed playing Sonic 1 and 2 on the gamecube re-release. Sonic 1 on the Master system was really good too, one of the few games my young self completed properly (all chaos emeralds). Sonic 2 was a bit hard for me, I hated that stupid hang glider section.

Regarding the speed vs methodical approach, it would've been nice if there was a bit more of a blend, particularly in the later levels, I didn't mind going a bit slow where required but the later levels were a bit of a drag, could have done with a bit more chance to bomb around between fiddly bits. The casino zone was fun though, the crazy pinball felt a little uncontrollable at times, but was still enjoyable.

No it's bad. It uses the basic layouts of levels from the classic games, but gives them the shitty controls that all the Sonic games since the late nineties and until Mania have used.

amazingly EG even labelled it essential, and digital foundry is over the moon too..

when it will be in sale i might buy it then.. do like the 3D version of sonic 2 on 3ds

Remember when Eurogamer gave Sonic 4 a glowing review?

GTA4: 10/10
GTA5: 9/10

Fuck off, Eurogamer.

Having only liked sonic 1 and (to a passer extent) 2 on the Master System, I bought Mania.

And, I can't believe I'm saying this.

It's... good.

Really good.

Really, really, good.

It's actually a platformer, not just a hold right simulator. It's beautiful. The music is great. It controllers fantastically (subtly better than the originals, but still with proper heft, speed is earnt). It's a labour of love.

"Faith schools, scientologists and 2-D platform games."

Christ, it works!

You know it!

I bought the collectors edition of this and was hugely disappointed in it. So much so in that I sent it back to Amazon for a refund. Looking at the reviews online for it, I'm not the only one either.

The box set contained a statue, a metallic collectors card, the game via a download code and a Megadrive cartridge which slid out at the bottom and contains a gold ring.

The statue was amazingly cheap feeling and hollow. It takes 2 AA batteries and plays the classic "Sega" jingle when you slide the on/off switch but mine kept sticking. It felt like the switch underneath was slipping out of the plastic molded switch on top. It was also the wrong size! They've clearly done their homework but the Megadrive that Sonic was standing on was too big by a couple of inches. Rubbish.

The metallic card was nothing special and the cartridge was again, cheap feeling.

If the game was £39.99 or more than I could have looked past all this but it's not. It's only £15ish so it would have meant paying £65 for tat. So yeah, it went back.

I'm not going to let that cloud my judgement of the game however as it's brilliant!

How does sending something back affect your spreadsheet?

Is it a real, working cartridge?

Did you take any pictures of what you got?

It doesn't. It never made it on there.



Nope. The gold connectors on the bottom are what you grab to make it slide out. It was slightly too big to be a real cartridge anyway.



Nope. I guess I should have done really.

I’ve completed this and it was brilliant. Really enjoyable.

I completed it with Sonic and Tails so now I guess I’ve got to play through as Knuckles? I think the missions are slightly different for him because if the whole gliding thing.

I also need to get the Chaos Emeralds. They proved quite tricky in the end.

I’ve been playing this (trying to finish quick games init) and it’s only solidified my opinion that Sonic is a load of old shit.

You run fast to the right and sometimes left. Then you hit something you could never have seen coming and lose all your rings. Then you scoop up your coins and do the same. You’ll never die unless you fall off the bottom of the screen (there’s not many of these levels, fortunately), you’re unlucky enough to lose that last ring that always keeps your alive (a rarity) or you drown underwater. Because that’s not fucking annoying, is it!?

Here’s every Good thing in a list:

The music (wow. It’s fucking ace)
Green Hill Zone (love it)
Sonic’s animations (his face when he gets frozen in ice is so funny)
Some of the boss fights (one of them is a Mean Bean fight and it’s glorious)

The Bad things:
Everything else. The levels are so goddamn samey, so Chemical Plant is exactly like, say, Stardust Speedway. Green Hill Zone feels like an area, like a place that might exist in Sonic’s world, whereas everywhere else feels like a series of platforms and loops haphazardly put together. Plus there’s a clear approach to the level design that I’ve seen so far: (a) you have a section where you do some traditional platforming and then you hit a “thing” that throws you into (b) “a speed section” where it’s all on rails and you put the controller down and wait until you reach the next platforming section. There’s the usual problems too: no backtracking; fenced off areas; entire levels that are just a series of blind jumps into, well, fucking anything cause you’ll never know until you do it; jumbled graphics so sometimes you don’t know what to stand on or avoid; A FUCKING WATER LEVEL; goddamn Sonic moves so slow underwater; map sizes that are far too large and abstract so you’ll never be able to memorise or visualise them; oh those fucking Casino bumpers; Metal Sonic...and so on. Some of the boss fights aren’t very good either and don’t do a great job of telling the player what they should be doing.

I’m up to THE FUCKING WATER LEVEL and already I want it to end. It started off fun and I was really enjoying it but when Green Hill Zone finished (the first 2 levels then) it all goes to shit. It becomes repetitive and boring. The devs have done a great job of trying to add in unique elements into each level but it just never recaptures the feeling of that first level, well, not so far anyway, and I must be about halfway through or something.

So yeah, fuck you Sonic, your games such dick.

You basically can’t lose to the boss in Hydrocity Act 2. The fights takes place in a tight pit so each time you get hit all your rings fall to the bottom ... exactly where you’re standing.

Christ, this is a real chore to get through. The next level was quite good with Sonic stood on a plane for a bit but it’s way too short whereas a “normal” level can take upwards of 5-10 minutes to complete. Which doesn’t sound very long, but when you’re repeating the same old loop de loop that you’ve been doing for the last couple of hours you don’t feel like playing games any longer.

And the next level set in a desert is the 2nd best area since it feels like a ’place’ again. I think the backgrounds are the problem. When you’re on Stardust or the others the backgrounds are just a bit blank and empty or worst still jumbled and busy. Press Garden’s background is, like, a fast moving boxes or something that’s always present and is nauseating.

“Oil Ocean” is weird as well as Sonic does nothing about global warming and set swathes of oil on fire. Act 2 sees him choking on fumes constantly unless you reach a chain to extinguish the smoke. It’s like an underwater level but without any message about the benefits of renewable energy.

Then I played the lava level and finally died after inertia made me slip off a falling box and have the box I was just standing on top of now land on my head and instakill me. 3 times.

Oh and here’s my new biggest big bear for this shitty game. You’re running around and in the corner the lives counter says:

SONICS FACE “X 1”

How many lives have you got left? NONE. You die it’s game over. Fucking useless shit.