rev up the sonic cycle: Sonic Mania

[miyabi95_]

i hope they continue to publish more fan games like this (face it, mania has sonic team written nowhere, it's purely dedicated fans)

[Goemar]

Well 'different name same game' fan games have slowly been on the increase last few years anyway. (Axiom Verge/Metroid, Battle Princess Madelyn/Ghouls n Ghosts, Bloodstained/Castlevania, etc.)

Yes it's nice it's an actual Sonic game but I think with a lot of these old franchises (or in the style of when they were good) the best will be made by the fans of old.

[Hiro-sofT]

This looks very promising and I can't wait to play it .

Let's just hope, that Stardust Speedways leveldesign is not as bad as in CD, because, even with the name Stardust Speedway, you sure had to stop a lot and run around in a weird "maze like" road. I hope they will pick the Japanese soundtrack version of the level in Mania and not the US one. Also, am I the only one, who thinks that we will see our metallic friend there again?

[Goemar]

That would be a very awesome surprise!

[miyabi95_]

well hopefully there will be an actual boss fight against metal instead of a dumb race through a broken level

[Goemar]

Having only played Sonic CD a few weeks ago... how is the level broken? I did it first go without too much trouble and everything seeed fine :/

[miyabi95_]

that's kinda my criticism of it. i think they should have made another level that's intricate and leads to an actual bossfight. the race, while it isn't difficult, just make me think the game was rushed a little.

then again, i don't collect chaos emeralds :/

[Zero Kirby]

Y'know honestly CD had mostly clumsy levels, and while I enjoyed playing it as a kid because "WHOA IT'S SONIC ON MY PC" trying to play it nowadays is akin to pulling teeth at times, it's thoroughly unenjoyable once you get through Palmtree Panic.

The time-travel mechanic forced a focus on speed in order to time-travel, but the level design didn't seem built around it very solidly. And I know, the idea is that you have to "platform good" in order to maintain the speed, like a traditional Sonic game, but then in the Mandatory Sonic Water Level they stick two springs facing each other in a small enclosed area just to make it possible to time-travel in a level that otherwise impedes Sonic's speed by design. It's counter-intuitive, and the water level should've never seen the light of day because of that. It's rather telling how short those levels are in comparison to every other one in the game.

And Wacky Workbench is just atrocious. One of the absolute worst levels in any Sonic game ever made period.

It's a shame, because the run-fast-time-travel-change-the-future mechanic was really cool and ahead of its time, at least in terms of action games, it just might've been too far ahead of its time and wasn't properly realized. Symbolic of the SEGA CD as a whole, really...

Either way, I knew Mania would have a level from CD, and I knew it'd be Stardust Speedway, because that's the one everyone remembers and it has the best music.

[Gors]

Sonic CD was a terrible game that bit a lot more than it could chew. The ideas were all there but nothing really worked together in a cohesive manner anyway.

Some levels even have two exits, not because it was a secret exit - but just so you don't get lost forever in the level.

Someone should've told SEGA that labyrinths are the complete opposite of a fast game.

[Goemar]

Well I like Sonic CD. And this isn't like pleasant memories (I completed it not long back).

Sure, the levels were by no means streamlined, but once you learnt them you could get some pretty speedy runs/successful time jumps. The only real killer was finding the robot machine (or whatever it's called) in the past stages.

I just don't think it was made to be played just a few times. You had to learn it almost like an arcade game. But well, as a Mega-CD was a crap load of money and your parents wouldn't let you have Terminator - you better believe you'd spend a lot of time with it.

[Dolphman]

It appears the custom characters get their own remixes alongside Modern and Classic Sonic.
Love the girl's vocals.

[Dolphman]

Chemical Plant confirmed. Act 2 features new gimmicks, alongside fitting ones from Carnival Night and Metallic Madness.

My god, that double helix elevator is gorgeous.

First boss has also been revealed. Man, the Death Egg Robot got demoted HARD. XD

I wonder if this confirms returning zones act 1 bosses are Badnik versions of the original bosses.
And the act 2 bosses are going to be something completely different.

[Hiro-sofT]

Even if Chemical Plant looks good in the trailer, I was hoping for a differnt Sonic 2 stage here. I mean, we already had Chemical Plant in Generations, why do we need this again? I get why they have chosen Green Hill (it's a staple stage after all), but Chemical Plant?

We have zones like Mystic Cave, Oil Ocean and Hill Top Zone. Come on! Don't be shy guys, you can use those too . It's also funny to see some Wacky Workbench influrence here, despite that stage is hated so much (for good reasons tho).

Still, what they did with Act 2 looks good. Not sure about Act 1, as the original Chemical Plant was more meh to me.

[NICKtendo DS]

The edgelord looking main villian of Sonic Forces is called Infinite.

Just put a fork in me, cause I'm done.

Chaos 0 looks cool though.

[Jermungandr]

I wish I could unsee that villain reveal.