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

[Ben Saunders]

I didn’t grow up with Sonic (Shadow was my first game other than some shit on GBA), so that just sounds about right to me. Sonic as a franchise seems to be pretty lucky, they’ve been getting regular games (of varying quality) consistently for years and years and years. But more and more if you’re a fan of a franchise like Elder Scrolls, GTA or Persona you’re waiting a decade for your next hit. And y’all have movies coming out too, faster than most TV shows can pump out seasons now. You’re eating good.

[Dave]

I downloaded the free demo of Sonic Racing Crossworlds to see what it was like, as Team Sonic Racing has been a bit of a family favourite since it came out.

The big gimmick of this game (with the track changing to a different one for the middle lap) is a fun idea but I wish it was an optional one, as the Sonic Racers have always felt like slightly more chaotic and unpredictable (and not 100% fair) counterparts to their Mario cousins thanks to the more extreme course obstacles and less balanced power-ups, and this just ups the unpredictability factor even further by throwing you into a level that you may not be fully equipped for or familiar with.

(Plus, for me the three-lap nature of these cartoon racers has always made for a nice initial learning curve where everything is new to you on lap 1 but you gradually get used to the tricks and traps of a track on laps 2 and 3. Here, you suddenly have a new course to deal with on lap 2, and by the time you return to the original course for lap 3 you’re thinking about the new course instead.)

Outside of that, everything is pretty much as you’d expect for a modern kart racer – colourful pin-sharp graphics, a wide variety of courses with fun themes, loads of customisation options and seemingly lots of different play modes too. I do wish the demo had a two-player option though as that’s always been how we’ve played these games at home and knowing how well the crossworlds gimmick works in multiplayer would probably have helped me to decide whether to pick up the full game on release or not. As it is, I’ll probably just wait for a sale – possibly at a good Black Friday price.

[Dave]

The G&T preoccupation with insane time discrepancies might reach its peak with Sonic 1 and Sonic Adventure being only 7 goddamn years apart, as opposed to an entire human generation.

Having lived those years in real-time waiting for each new megadrive Sonic game to come out, I can confidently state that under the 1990s/2000s exchange rate, each year spent waiting for a new Sonic game works out at around five years in modern time, so really the stretch of Sonic 1 to Sonic Adventure was slightly longer than the time that elapsed between the broadcasts of The End and The Promised Land.

[Warbodog]

I was giving too much credit to Sonic Adventure’s boundless 3D environments in my mind, forgetting that it’s not that much of a step up from Sonic 2’s GET 50 RINGS! bonus stage a lot of the time.

[Ben Saunders]

Who the fuck was in charge of the audio mixing for Sonic Adventure -> Shadow The Hedgehog btw, you can barely hear what anybody is saying half the time (I played the originals so no blaming ports)

[Dave]

I was giving too much credit to Sonic Adventure’s boundless 3D environments in my mind, forgetting that it’s not that much of a step up from Sonic 2’s GET 50 RINGS! bonus stage a lot of the time.

Well, the main advantages Sonic Adventure has over the Sonic 2 special stages are that: A, it’s true 3D; and B, it doesn’t have aggressively disorienting acid jazz playing constantly.

[Moonlight]

being taunted with Sonic 3D music.

Ssshhh, nobody tell Warbo about Twinkle Park.

[Jenuall]

[Warbodog]

[Jenuall]

[Dave]

[Warbodog]

[Moonlight]

[Moonlight]

[Dave]

[Moonlight]

[Dave]

[Moonlight]

I’ve been making these standing behind a cash register on a very slow day. I am quite literally being paid to create absurdly niche memes.

[Warbodog]

That’s a good idea. Unfortunately, I only get paid when I submit work, and stupid Red Dwarf gifs are a better use of my time.

[Nick R]

[Warbodog]

[FutureEchoes]

Making my first post unconventional by jumping right into the Sonic thread (that’s why we’re all here really, right?)

Recently I discovered a surprising Sonic/Sega and Red Dwarf link that I’ve not really seen discussed much

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TLQKh5c_yPA

I played All-Stars racing a lot when it first came out and I’m surprised how I never noticed before…

[Warbodog]

If Sonic got out of that car he’d win easily.

[Dave]

[Flap Jack]

A warm welcome to you, FutureEchoes. As with everyone else, I’ll try my best not to hold your fondness for the blue spiny one against you.

[Nick R]

Next we’ll discover that Norman Lovett did the “Yeah!” and “I’m outta here!” in Sonic CD.

[Author]

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