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The new GHZ Act 2 footage looks really fucking cool, I have to say it has relieved a lot of my potential fears about the game. I know Taxman already said that the remix stages are going to be heavily altered from the originals but I guess I didn't really understand the weight of that until seeing just how different GHZ Act 2 is. I'm much less worried about the remix zones coming off as rehashes now.
It looks really good. They need to announce release date though. The wait is killing me.
>Eggman was the police the whole time
We were playing as a villain?
DEEPEST LORE
They keep saying spring release, but it really would not surprise me at all if Sega's marketing department delayed it to June 23rd as a Sonic 1 reference (and also just to be assholes)
Looks good.
>Fire shield comes back after you get out the water
Hm. I don't think it wasn't like that in Sonic 3. But I guess it's an intentional choice.
The waterfalls don't affect your shield.
I think this was true in Sonic 3 too.
I might be wrong then it's been a while.
I know if you went in the water with an electric shield that was it. And it was gone.
The reason rehash stages are in the game is so that the game can actually get made in the first place.
I'm 99% certain that if the Mania team went and presented Iizuka a brand-new Genesis styled Sonic platformer, he would have said "who the fuck are these guys?" and vetoed the project. The team cleverly presented the project to Iizuka as a glorified rehash compilation so that he'd give it the go-ahead, because he's a pure nostalgiafag.
Aside from GHZ Act 1, all of the remix stages will play like practically brand new zones using a familiar trope (grassy, ancient ruins, snow level, lava level etc). They're just wearing the skin of older zones to try pulling the wool over Iizukas eyes.
If it weren't for the music I'd honestly believe Green Hill was just the games' version of Palmtree Panic or Emerald Hill (Bootleg GH Zone)
I hope the other reused zones are like this. And none of them are chemical plant.
I keep telling myself not to be excited for this, since it is a modern Sonic game after all. But it's not working.
Being behind a waterfall isn't the same as being underwater.
I definitely believe that'll be the case. I'm almost certain that each stage is not going to be representing a specific game, but rather representing a trope. For example, if we look at Green Hill Zone:
>Some underground sections borrow layout cues from Palmtree Panic
>Indoors sections and water pools from Green Hill 8-bit
>Corkscrews from Emerald Hill
>Pushable rocks and ziplines from Angel Island
>Act 2 BG from the early beta of Green Hill
There are probably other things I've missed. Basically, Mania Green Hill pulls from pretty much every "Green Zone". Not to mention, Taxman mentioned on Sonic Retro that Mirage Saloon is the only "new" zone (I say "new" since it's still basically a Dust Hill remix) that uses an old trope. All of the other new zones will have new tropes entirely, like how Studiopolis is doing the recording studio/TV theme.
Basically I'm pretty sure that they're going to try getting at least one remix zone of each major trope, but it will draw from all the zones of that trope. So if they bring back Casino Night for example, it will also borrow some of the better visual, layout and gimmick elements of Spring Yard, Collision Chaos and Carnival Night, alongside new features. There will be maybe 6 or 7 of these, and then 5 or 6 new zones, which apart from Mirage Saloons desert trope, will be new concepts.
Speaking of new concepts, I'm surprised Sonic has never had an Easter Island themed level. Pretty much every other gaming franchise in history has done it at one point or another.
>since it is a modern Sonic game after all
It's not. It's not even being developed by SEGA or Sonic Team.
Not that user, but the fact that it's developed by competent developers doesn't suddenly mean its 1995. It's still a "modern" Sonic game because it's being made in 2017.
And for the record, Iizuka still gets the final say on Mania. If there's something he doesn't like, it goes. I'm definitely sure having the 8000th Green Hill Zone rehash was his idea.
>Flame shield burns up the spinning thorn obstacle
exquisite
I don;t see how MS is deriative. None of Sanic's Wild West themed zones have ever left the drawing board.
Unless I'm forgetting something.
>Easter Island themed level
We could have a Moai Statue Eggman boss that spits out eggman themed eggs.
They will most certainly announce it at the SXSW panel.
June 23rd would only be three days into Summer officially, so I could see them pulling that.
>June 23rd
And if it succeeds, the chances of a fully original classic game get much much higher.
To be honest, Generations and Mania at least make sense to me for having a Green Hill rehash, so I'm not bothered by it at all.
Now if Project 2017 has one then I have some issues.
>a2 starts directly from the a1 end
Nice. That was my favourite S3 addition.
Taxman's words, not mine
>"Mirage Saloon was an obvious choice since Desert Dazzle didn't get its time to shine, and Dust Hill is legendary. But our other new Zones are focusing on new tropes entirely."
We Konami now?
>And if it succeeds, the chances of a fully original classic game get much much higher.
^The lie developers and fanboys use to guilt-sucker the unsuspecting to throwing money at their game. How about, just make an original classic. Fuck this "give me money now for garbage, THEN you'll MAYBE get the actual game you want".
All you people disgust me. We have to reverse this sucking of developers' dicks. You'll never find people making the same excuses on a smaller scale. If you're working for a company, and you say: "hey, how about show up for half the month, but get paid a full month in advance. Then maybe, just maybe, I'll do the full month next time."
You'd get fired.
>not doing a food analogy
Shit reply desu.
What theme haven't Sanic done yet? Studiopolis is kind of pushing it since it's just a city zone with some film equipment in it.
Mayan?
Sewer?
Inside something's body? (Fuck no)
>Inside someone's body?
Fuck yes! Imagine if you have to defeat the final boss, some sort of eldrich abomination eggman accidentally let loose and you have to defeat it from within?
It could borrow alien design elements from other games, like Alien Storm, Alien Syndrome, and Ecco the Dolphin
Part from nostalgia being refueled with love that part really was the thing I liked the most.
I wonder what other things we're gonna see that interacts with our power ups.
Well when they say "new" trope, I'm assuming they mean new to classic-styled Genesis Sonic. That does leave some tropes open again to ideas like a musical instrument level (Music Plant from Sonic Advance 2), a China-themed level (Sonic Unleashed and Freedom Planet), a food level (Sweet Mountain from Sonic Colors), haunted house (Haunted Mansion from Sonic Heroes) and so on.
But hell, they could do all sorts of things if they don't take themselves too seriously. How about a sports-themed level? Grassy pitch with Eggman's face on a jumbotron in the background, the main badniks of the stage are baseball robots, something like that. Someone earlier in the thread mentioned an Easter Island themed level, which is video gamey as fuck. Mario has done it, Konami spent like 20 years doing it, give Sonic an Easter Island zone! There could be a junk yard level filled with Eggman's old broken down robots and discarded 90s memorabilia, I think that would be pretty cool.
If you think outside of the box, the ideas practically write themselves.
>Mayan?
Lost World in Sonic Adventure
>Sewer?
Casinopolis in Sonic Adventure
the graphics in this heavily remind me of knuckles chaotix
speaking of knuckles chaotix, did anyone else who played it feel physically ill from playing it? i mean look at this
See When they say new they probably just mean new to classic Sonic.
Stardust Speedway was sort of music themed. The main platforms were all brass instruments.
I've just never been quite able to wrap my head around how I'm supposed to play it.
I remember having the experience of playing Knuckles Chaotix and liking it a lot, but oddly enough I don't really remember anything from the game itself at all anymore.
FOOD ZONE
THE BEST ZONES IN GAMING
You were probably mesmerized by the nice graphics, dank music and cool special stages.
The reason you don't remember anything from the game is because the levels are big, repetitive, bland and largely devoid of enemies and stage gimmicks. They're boring as fuck. It's Chaotix's biggest flaw. People who call the rubber band system the biggest flaw haven't played past the first couple of acts.
Circus zone.
Make it food and candy themed but make it so that it's a pun of another existing theme. It's going to be great.
How many of you can actually get all Chaos Emeralds in Sonic 2?
I can't even beat the third special stage.
Didn't Sonic Lost World do exactly this? Or is that the joke
>How about a sports-themed level? Grassy pitch with Eggman's face on a jumbotron in the background, the main badniks of the stage are baseball robots, something like that
Now this is a dank idea
All seven emeralds by the end of Emerald Hill Act 2.
__________s_________
Yeah in Des^ert Ruins 3
Used to be able to get Super Sonic by the end of Chemical Plant by obsessively going to each checkpoint. Used to use friends who were either very good with tails and help me, or bad and have them stay out of the way. Used to play just as Sonic a few times to make sure tails didn't fuck things up with the rings.
Super Sonic isn't really worth it, and it only changes Sonic's look in the end credits, so it's not worth wasting time, it slows down the pace of the game if you obsessively go after the things.
All I want is Stardust Speedway and I'm happy.
A level inside the body of a giant monster, would be cool. My mind goes to DMC3's Leviathin stage. I know some other games have done this, but I can't recall.
I want a proper cyberspace level.
>We will never get the sunken Death Egg Zone idea
Why live lads
Don't Techno Base and Cyber Track from Advance 2 and 3 sort of cover that area?
...
> haunted house (Haunted Mansion from Sonic Heroes)
Hang Castle was the best goddamn level in that game, and I'll fucking fight anyone who says otherwise
It doesn't exactly have much competition considering the game is mostly garbage.
Being the best level in Sonic Heroes is like earning a gold medal in the Special Olympics; you may win, but at the end of the day you're still retarded.
Yes but if you're going to be a retard anyway, you might as well strive to be the best goddamn retard in the world
I like the idea of the Eggrobo Squad. It lays the foundation for what ends up becoming the Egg Pawn army in Sonic Heroes.
It makes sense that Robotnik would need a generic, mass produced badnik just for sheer numbers.
Yeah but not in Classic.
Classic Sonic is mostly jungles, ruins, cities, bases and sometimes the occasional ice/desert level to keep things interesting.
I used to do it every time but I stopped doing it since it becomes impossible to enjoy the game once you get them all because SS triggers all the time.
THREADLY REMINDER
Pic related is how many zones fit in the level select if you space them out the way they're spaced out in the demo. We're quite likely looking at 13 zones, I'd say with a ratio of 7 new zones to 6 old zones.
>
CD's remixed level better have both soundtracks.
>2 Sonic 1 zones
>2 Sonic 2 zones
>1 Sonic 3 zone
>1 Sonic & Knuckles zone
>1 Sonic CD zone
Seems about right.
Taxman said the whole idea of the game is what if they made a 2D Sonic game for the Saturn instead of going 3D and it ended up looking a lot like Chaotix in terms of the enhanced color palate and the scaling effects. The biggest improvement is the animation since they practically have an unlimited budget for it so it's way more detailed.
Oops my bad, I meant 7 old zones to 6 new zones, not the other way around
I'm interested in how they'll pull that off. Some kind of hybrid track that incorporates both, like how City Escape Generations had Endless Mine weaved in?
What are the chances this game ties into Sonic 17 in some way?
Taxman has said that there is a story in Mania and there is a reason why Sonic is traveling back through old zones. Could there be some kind of time-travel shenanigans that lead classic Sonic into Sonic Project 17?
Sonic 2 had 11 (More like 10 since Sky Chase is absically WIng Fortress Act 1) so that seems about right
I've seen a remix of Tidal Tempest that was a mix of the past, present, and future themes from both soundtracks. There was a Wacky Workbench one too.
You really think that they thought of that for a developer-only level select screen?
Yeah I know it's the same layout as the one used in the S2's cheat but the final version will most likely use something like the CD port or S3 with thumbnails.
Unless that is a jukebox, I can see that being in the final game.
Sonic 3 and Knuckles looks like this though
>for a developer-only level select screen
Why do you assume it's developer only? Sonic 1, 2 and 3 all had level select and debug mode. The Sonic 1 and 2 Taxman ports had the same S2 styled Level Select, too.
Although to be honest you are right, I don't actually think the level select screen has any bearing on the final stage count. I do still think we're looking at 7 old zones and 6 old zones though, the number fits nicely, it's just about the same kind of size as S3K, it's longer than Generations (which Taxman already specifically mentioned), there are more old than new but still plenty of new to go around. Plus with 7 old zones they can cover all of the basic tropes like grassy, ruins, lava etc, since as pointed out, the new zones won't be covering any of the classic tropes.
Yeah but it means nothing, they can increase or decrease the size of fonts and their spacing as development continues.
It's meaningless to analyze incomplete and developer made UIs. I mean, it's a fun theory, but it's just that. It holds very little ground.
7 old zones and 6 new* zones, fuck how do I keep typing that wrong
I'm thinking something more like
>Green Hill Zone - Confirmed
>Hydrocity Zone - It's the best water/ruins zone
>Casino Night Zone or Balloon Park Zone - Most well known casino/carnival level, but then again the devs did want to put Balloon Park and the other 2P S3 zones in their Sonic 3 Remastered so they might re-use the idea here
>Diamond Dust Zone - Probably unlikely but lets them do the snow zone trope without getting caught up in the issue of Sonic 3's music
>Lava Reef Zone - classic lava zone, awesome stage all round, good music, ties in with Hidden Palace
>Stardust Speedway Zone or Quartz Quadrant Zone - Because what else would you pick from Sonic CD
>Some Eggman base - I lost my train of thought but they need one of these, maybe Metropolis but tweaked to get less complaining from people who need to git gud
All of the standard tropes are covered, every classic game (bar Chaotix which I'm pretty sure Iizuka purposefully ignores) is covered. New zones have new tropes. Final boss stage is some 1 act wonder like Death Egg in Sonic 2 was.
Azure Lake should be the water level.
If it were on me, all of the remix stages would just be the Sonic 3 Multiplayer zones. I'd kill to see a full 2 act version of Chrome Gadget and Endless Mine.
LAVA REEF ZONE MY NIGGA
Japanese or US audio?
I don't care much for another park stage like the one you posted, but we have yet to have a New Zealand landscape styled stage.
Literally the best aesthetics on Earth.
Hilltop Zone
such a love hate with this level
total dread beginning it, until I re-remembered just how fucking dope it is (dat music)
Yeah well OK, but it could have been done better.
WORK THAT SUCKA' TO DEATH
Obligatory.
Obligatory part 2.
azure lake needs to come back in mania as a full fledged zone
Wait a minute, those mountains...
Yep, that was intentional. This is the Mania team we're talking about after all. Everything is chock full of little references and throwbacks and cool features.
>EGGNOG
Really I just want to hear more of Azure Lake's music in an actual sonic game.
I know, m8. I was just meming here.
They're Hard Boiled Heavies, my dude.
>The water in GHZ Act 2 isn't global
I am salty, lads.
>for garbage
Good thing that's not the case with Mania, shitposter-kun.
can't fucking wait for this game
I had a slight worry at first that it might be low-quality ROM-hack-tier boring shit, but it actually looks like they haven't been afraid to add shit like the zip lines and making it possible to burn the wooden spike bridges if you have the fire shield
I'm going to groove to the soundtrack too
I think it's a callback to the MS version of the zone. Some of the assets they use also reminds me of it.
Yeah, I get where it originates from, I just don't think it looks very good.
I would fucking kill for more Master System stuff though. 16-bit Bridge Zone when?
Every time I try playing Chaotix I end up dropping it pretty early because of how boring and clusterfucky it is.
You're not missing much. If you've played one act of a few zones then you've practically played them all. The level design doesn't get any less boring, empty and repetitive.
Carnival Night and Night Carnival, my man.
Don't have Tails as a partner to make them doable.
...
>"That's quite a nice amount of rings you have there."