Sonic Mania

[Ben Kirkham]

Blah blah blah DRM blah blah Denuvo blah blah. There’s definitely a point to be made there – you should be able to play offline.

But I’ve not heard anyone talk about the game itself yet. I’ve been playing for a couple of days, and I’m really enjoying it. A smart and clever synthesis of the first four games, with a bit of Sonic CD, Sonic 3D and Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine thrown in for good measure. A bit like being 8 years old again!

Opinions?

Topic

[Dave]

I vaguely remember Sonic Advance being sort of OK, but for me it has the same problem as a lot of 2D games outside the core originals – the physics are wonky (particularly momentum and movement while jumping) and so it doesn’t feel like it controls properly.

[Moonlight]

They give me the vibe of trashy free Flash games

The definitive trashy free Sonic Flash game, Ultimate Flash Sonic, used graphics from Advance 2. 

I only have to take the controller for the bosses rather than every ten seconds for a fiendish spikes/crush/spring trap.

Spring traps are my defining criterion for what counts as a “classic Sonic game” and Sonic Advance has at least one of them. Weirdly enough, so does Adventure 2 if you count dash panels as springs.

I love these things because they’re a platforming hazard but they don’t punish you with more than mild inconvenience.

[Warbodog]

[Jenuall]

The Advance games are decent, but still don’t really get close to capturing the essence of the classics for me. The smaller screen resolution of the GBA combined with the larger sprite style really hampers it IMO as the whole experience feels even more cramped than the Mega Drive games did.

Still pretty fun though

[Dave]

Yeah it feels more like Game Gear Sonic.

[Moonlight]

Yeah it feels more like Game Gear Sonic.

In the sense of screen crunch, yes. But definitely not in terms of how it feels to play.
I think it’s easy to take for granted that, with the Advance games, DIMPS actually come pretty close to replicating OG Sonic physics and controls, but we went a long period of time where the series couldn’t even come close to managing that (to beat a dead horse, like in Sonic 4 – also a DIMPS game). It’s not 1:1, but it felt comfortable for me to slip back into these games more recently after having not really touched them since the 2000s but having already gotten back into the Genesis games.

I’m not crazy about the GBA sound chip, but the original Advance was composed by mostly Yutaka Minobe with a couple tracks by Tatsuyuki Maeda, and their work on Skies of Arcadia – an underrated JRPG gem from the Dreamcast if you’re unfamiliar – was a mainstay of my childhood. They also composed on and off for various other Sonic games (Maeda composed much of 3D Blast, for example), but I mostly associate them with Skies. I love their work in general, and there’s some tracks on Advance I absolutely adore, particularly in the second half of the game.

Oh, and of course there’s stuff in the other games too but I can’t risk this post turning into a rant about how Hot Crater Zone has never been done justice by any remix.

Obviously my grand point I’m driving at is that Maeda’s compositions Egg Utopia Act 2 (Advance 2), Gene Gadget Act 2 (3D Blast), and Dungeon the Military Facility (Skies of Arcadia) are all the same song.

[Dave]

Yeah I just meant in terms of the screen crunch.

And yes, Skies of Arcadia was a lot of fun, and I’m not usually into RPGs.

[Warbodog]

Killing time in a charity shop after school, seeing what was knocking about. I dismissed some low-quality Monster High, Barbie and other franchise accessories and tat the kid didn’t need after Christmas, she was fine with it. Then I spotted this guy. “Um…”

Went through the reasoning aloud that I never had one as a kid, but wouldn’t have minded one. That we enjoy playing the games together and pretending to be the characters. That looking at it would just make me happy…

“You li-ike to-oys!”

39 years old I was.

[Dave]

[Jenuall]

Shame he’s collected two red spheres. No emerald for you this time Sonic!

[Jonathan Capps]

It’s posts like Dave’s that has me seriously considering adding emoji reactions to the forum.

Anyway: 😂

[Dave]

It’s posts like Dave’s that has me seriously considering adding emoji reactions to the forum.
Anyway: 😂

👍

[Warbodog]

How hard can it be to create custom icons of recognisable expressions for every character that’s appeared in the show, plus miscellany?

[Technopeasant]

[Dave]

That gif gives Bobby a bizarre “pulsating crotch” element on top of an already unflattering angle.

[Moonlight]

That’s where his mechanoid heart is.

[Ridley]

Straight up your nose when you lean in like that.

[Technopeasant]

So he was inside the suit at the time?

[Warbodog]

Half way through the second Sonic movie, these are okay. Better than whatever totally clueless equivalent we would have got in the 90s, but still incorporating amusingly pandering drama about real people to desperately make it accessible.

I found it interesting that the Green Hill Zone music is used as THE iconic Sonic theme over the title screen / invincibility theme, unless it was just a choice they made. It was the demo level people would mostly see playing, I guess.

And the one everyone would play first and most often when it was bundled with their Mega Drive.

And that tended to show up in early 90s shows that wanted to be cool by including a video game.

Watt on Earth (1992):

[Dave]

One of the first times I remember seeing Sonic on screen was the Noah’s Arcade ad in Wayne’s World, which features a bit of Starlight Zone. 

[Warbodog]

It was always exciting to see it show up. Star Light Zone was my introduction to Sonic, when a Mega Drive-having friend used the level select. 50 Hz soundtrack wins that round. 

[Moonlight]

Barely restraining my laughter at all you poor bastards who had to play Labyrinth Zone at 50hz.

[Moonlight]

What is the best level track in Sonic 3 and why is it Endless Mine?

[Warbodog]

Great question. Hydrossity’s in my head the most, I love how both acts are distinct but related jazzy takes. The start of the Act 2 music sounds 100% like Sonic being sucked down a whirlpool into the next part of the zone, so it’s good that they designed the level around that.

I often play through the competition stage tunes in my head when making coffee or something. I may or may not vocalise them while doing so, there are no witnesses to confirm.

[Dave]

Ice Cap is obviously great but I am sadly now legally prevented from saying so.

[Moonlight]

Ice Cap is obviously great but I am sadly now legally prevented from saying so. 

Dear SEGA,

He was talking about this. Don’t sue.

[Jonathan Capps]

What is the best level track in Sonic 3 and why is it Endless Mine?

This isn’t the full version, it’s missing 5 or so “EH EHHH” noises at the start.

[sleepey]

I have almost as much nostalgia for Ice Capped OCRemix as for the actual games themselves, but these days my fav is probably Chrome Gadget. Just an indestructible tune.

[Dave]

If we’re widening the selection to all Sonic games then we really do have some belters to choose from.

While I’ll always love classics like the original Green Hill or Chemical Plant themes, in my old age I increasingly lean towards the atmosphere of stuff like Tidal Tempest (present) (OG Japan). 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl256BTnjiE

I also love some of the re-imaginings in Mania, particularly Lava Reef Act 2.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GyLT9MlXmw8

[Warbodog]

[Dave]

The same meme, but for Sky Sanctuary. 

[Moonlight]

Tidal Tempest (present) (OG Japan)

That track is the MVP of Sonic CD.

My favorite Sonic soundtrack is the original Sonic Adventure, but I always feel such good vibes listening to stuff from Tails’ missions in Adventure 2.

[Dave]

My favorite Sonic soundtrack is the original Sonic Adventure

There is something about Azure Blue World/Emerald Coast that really captures not just the atmosphere of the level and the thrill of a new 3D Sonic game, but also somehow the vibe of that entire era of gaming.

(There’s some stuff on the Astro Bot soundtrack that definitely feels inspired by it, along with one of the levels. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was intentional.)

Door Into Summer from Chaotix is another lovely one that just captures a moment somehow.

[Moonlight]

The Chao Garden is still my happy place decades later. That might be why my profile picture is now Carson Melbo, the world’s best Chao.

[Jenuall]

SA2 OST > SA1 OST in my humble opinion.

They’re both very good but there’s just more tracks on the sequel that I would actively choose to go back and listen to – Escape from the City, Metal Harbour, Green Forest being particular standouts. Plus of course the all time number one – Pumpkin Hill Live and Learn

[Warbodog]

This thread title is always relevant, even when it’s not about that game.

They made Movie Tails too fuzzy to handle. Five-year-old is fixated on him and wants to go to Japan to find a “real” one, not accepting that it’s a CGI + voice actor performance.

[Flap Jack]

Wow, that’s an extremely specific level of engaging with fiction. So they understand that Tails isn’t really an alien that came to America as depicted in the film, and that he was actually a Japanese creation, but they don’t understand that he isn’t literally real.

[Ben Saunders]

Tails is real and he is my friend. He could be your friend too if you opened your heart to him.

[Warbodog]

[Dave]

[Moonlight]

Tails is my son and I love him so much.

[Jenuall]

[Dave]

That comparison really shows how Tails has turned so yellow over the years, after starting off a much deeper orange.

[Moonlight]

I’m OK with yellow Tails, but don’t get me started on my “modern ‘classic’ sonic is the wrong fucking color” rant. 

I have a mod for Sonic Mania that uses the Sonic 2 pallet on him and it feels so right.

[Dave]

I always liked the Sonic 1/CD blue that’s bordering on an indigo-y purple.

[Jenuall]

Sonic’s colour has been all over the place since the very start to be fair. The “blue blur” is practically fucking purple in Sonic 1 FFS! 😂

[Moonlight]

The correct move would have been to use the Sonic 2 pallet. The ballsy move would have been to use the Sonic 1 pallet.

I would respect either choice.

[Warbodog]

I don’t know why old cartoon Tails was brown, like he wasn’t even a fox. Sonic 2 Sonic was always my least preferred, his blue and the energy shield were a bit too vibrant for a kids’ bedroom TV.

It turns out my cheap laptop can handle Dreamcast emulation, so no doubt there’ll be a tiresome hot-off-the-press Sonic Adventure review at some point. I only ever played the intro level back in the day, but remember being dazzled by the immersive 3D environment that I was allowed to run in a straight line through.

[Dave]

Sonic 2 Sonic was always my least preferred, his blue and the energy shield were a bit too vibrant for a kids’ bedroom TV.

Sonic 2 Sonic always seemed very shiny.

[Moonlight]

I don’t know why old cartoon Tails was brown, like he wasn’t even a fox.

Early concept art for Tails was brown and that’s what got sent out to DiC in 1992 when they were developing their cartoons.

It turns out my cheap laptop can handle Dreamcast emulation, so no doubt there’ll be a tiresome hot-off-the-press Sonic Adventure review at some point.

I can pitch you the scientifically perfect order to play the stories in. Among other benefits, it spreads out the parts of the stories that heavily overlap (i.e. Chaos 4).

And if you come crawling back to Discord I can send you a patched GDI with bug fixes that actually runs at a consistent 60 fps.

[Author]

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