Sonic Mania Plus - PS4/Xbox One/Switch/PC - 17th July | New DLC - £3.99

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Alvin Flummux
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Alvin Flummux » Tue Aug 22, 2017 1:50 am

Carnival Night's big "strawberry float all the players" moment was the spinning barrel room. I Time Overed in that strawberry floating place so many times before I eventually worked out how to manipulate that accursed thing.

The music's not too bad, but coming as it did after Hydrocity and Marble Garden, and right before Ice Cap, it didn't stand out enough. It needed a bigger hook. A Whitehead remix could be pretty cool.

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Johnny Ryall
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Johnny Ryall » Tue Aug 22, 2017 11:35 am

It's the worst classic stage (I don't count CD).

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Cheeky Devlin
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Cheeky Devlin » Tue Aug 22, 2017 12:43 pm

Been slowly working my way through this over the past few days (Oil Ocean Boss did provide a headache for no discernible reason) and I've really enjoyed it. It's utterly spot-on in capturing that classic MD Sonic feel, right down to the occasional bullshit-instadeath.

Last Boss was a piece of piss though.

Really glad you get a level select to go back to stages you've already completed. Jumped straight back to GHZ and got the special stage. It remembered that I already had the first three emeralds and put me straight into the UFO chase for the fourth one. Seems like a good way to quickly go back and get any missed Emeralds, before jumping straight to the last zone to get the good ending. Gonna give that a try later on and then probably start a fresh Knuckles play through.

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Alvin Flummux
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Alvin Flummux » Tue Aug 22, 2017 5:41 pm

Yeah, it's pretty much exactly the same as S3&K in that regard - which is great for replaying favorite levels, nailing level-specific trophies and going after all the emeralds/blue spheres.

It's just a great feature and I'm glad it's back.

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DML
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by DML » Wed Aug 23, 2017 7:32 am

So not done all the emeralds/coins but completed the main game last night. What an absolute love letter to the fans. The game left me mouth agape on at least five occasions with what they'd snuck into the game.

The best thing about the game was it felt like the real deal. Kinda like a Lost Levels for Sonic. There are a couple of weaker zones, but nothing I hated as much as Sandopolis, Marble Garden and Carnival Night so it gets a pass from me.

The classic zones were all a pleasant surprise and there was certainly a couple I was not expecting but was very happy to see. I also liked how you could notice how they had cross pollinated some other zones into these new zones.

I'm definitely looking forward to going through and getting all the emeralds and it was just kinda a wonderful experience for me. It's absolute proof that when done right 2D Sonic still has a place. It deserves the praise it's getting, it's pitched just right.

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Schumi
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Schumi » Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:46 am

It's so good.

It's the Sonic game I've been waiting 20+ years for in all truth.

Loved the mix of old and new, and given it's getting great reviews I hope it means the open the door might be open for a proper Sonic 4.

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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Mafro » Wed Aug 23, 2017 12:22 pm

Green Gecko wrote:
Roonmastor wrote:Wish Leaderboards worked on PS4. Got a good run on Green Hill and no idea if it is that good. Still, fun racing my mate for best lap times.


What the strawberry float is up with the announcer in this

Holy gooseberry fool :lol: :lol: Sounds like someone kicked him in the balls as he was riding his lines.

Fisher wrote:shyguy64 did you sell weed in animal crossing new horizons today.

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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Green Gecko » Wed Aug 23, 2017 1:11 pm

Mafro wrote:
Green Gecko wrote:
Roonmastor wrote:Wish Leaderboards worked on PS4. Got a good run on Green Hill and no idea if it is that good. Still, fun racing my mate for best lap times.


What the strawberry float is up with the announcer in this

Holy gooseberry fool :lol: :lol: Sounds like someone kicked him in the balls as he was riding his lines.

NNEW RECORR!

I think the "G G G" after goal must be roonmaster surely?

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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Roonmastor » Thu Aug 24, 2017 1:40 pm

Yeah, I may be celebrating and fist pumping at the end there. Gotta go fast.

(May have not realised my headset was in and it was recording my audio :fp: )

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Alvin Flummux
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Alvin Flummux » Thu Aug 24, 2017 3:56 pm

The more I play this, the more I love it. It may be the Mere Exposure Effect in action, but I think this is every bit as great as the other 16-bit Sonic games.

The music, holy gooseberry fool damn it's amazing.











:wub:

Last edited by Alvin Flummux on Sun Aug 27, 2017 1:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
deathofcows
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by deathofcows » Sun Aug 27, 2017 1:00 pm

With its jump gels and sticky wall-lifts I thought Chemical Plant Zone 2 was basically as good as 16-bit style Sonic has ever been. But Titanic Monarch's (so 90s) electro-balls are probably as good.

I also played some of the multiplayer yesterday and it was good as it was in Sonic 2 - the fact that it's not just about speed but about enemies boxes and rings makes it thrilling (and tactical).

My brain kept nagging me with a comparison to Rayman Legends (admittedly one of the best games ever crafted in my opinion) and how that was so beautiful, modern yet retained an old-school tightness of play. But then I played the Switch demo of Legends and realised I was happy to have the alternate-reality 16-bit timeline of Sonic Mania in its own right.

Music is cool, though on first play through its quite busy without some variety (e.g. the pared-down hill-top zone theme) in favour of busy-ness. And there's nothing as good as Mystic Cave (because there is no music as good as Mystic Cave). But I think this will change as the tunes grow on me and I become more familiar.

I don't bother with the special stages because 2D-sonic-ing is so fun and I don't want the tempo broken by less fun special stages.

Taf mentioned the palette of the new zones and I agree they're different. But in truth I like the pastel (as opposed to 'washed-out') shades of Studiopolis and so on - looks a little more contemporary and chic with the pinks and so on. Is cool B)

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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Alvin Flummux » Sun Aug 27, 2017 1:44 pm

Mystic Cave is a great track, but I wouldn't necessarily call it better than Mania's Chemical Plant Act 2, Studiopolis, Mirage Saloon Act 1, or Lava Reef.

Sonic music though. :wub: So good.

Edit: Apparently, Whitehead's plan for remastering S3&K would see all of the multiplayer zones (Azure Lake, Balloon Park, Chrome Gadget, Desert Palace and Endless Mine) turned into full optional levels, like how he made Hidden Palace into a complete stage for the Sonic 2 remaster. Man, I hope he gets to do that.

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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Fade » Sun Aug 27, 2017 10:50 pm

The cheap deaths in this game can go strawberry float themselves, getting insta killied by a moving platforms is the only time I've died outside of boss battles

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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Fade » Mon Aug 28, 2017 1:11 am

You know what else is great, getting to the boss battle, dying twice and then having to play the entire two levels over again just so you can have another go at understanding the boss, strawberry float the strawberry float off, some of the later bosses are so poorly designed in regards to explaining to the the properties of scenery and boss hitboxes

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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Dual » Mon Aug 28, 2017 3:45 am

Fade is ITT everyone.

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Johnny Ryall
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Johnny Ryall » Mon Aug 28, 2017 4:32 am

Sounds like you are bad at sonic. Is the easiest of the classic style by a mile

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Alvin Flummux
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Alvin Flummux » Mon Aug 28, 2017 4:35 am

Which boss, out of curiosity?

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Errkal
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Errkal » Mon Aug 28, 2017 7:09 am

Fade wrote:The cheap deaths in this game can go strawberry float themselves, getting insta killied by a moving platforms is the only time I've died outside of boss battles

That happened in the original though, you always died if you got squished.

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Fade
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Fade » Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:05 am

I may have overeacted a little bit because I was tired and grumpy :lol:

Well I beat him second go, but for example the act 1 boss in oil ocean or whatever its called

He raises those platforms to the cieling that crush you, but first time against him you can't actually see the spikes on the ceiling until the platforms raise up, meaning you get insta killed. But after that one death the guy is a joke, easily the worst boss in the game so far

The oil ocean act two boss, Im not sure if Im supposed to hit those black balls on his tenticles or the vehicle itself

The underwater boss, where you have to set off the bombs and lure eggman into them, you pass through the bombs to set them off but once they are set pff they become solid, there's no indication of this

And the spider boss, took me a long time to figure out I wasnt doing any damage to him by just jumping at him because he was flashing white like every other boss does when they take damage

Yeah these are things you can pick up on after dying once or twice but when they kill you the first time it feels cheap

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Johnny Ryall
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PostRe: Sonic Mania - PS4/Xbox One/Switch - OUT NOW! | PC - 29th August.
by Johnny Ryall » Mon Aug 28, 2017 12:14 pm

It's almost as if they are puzzles you need to figure out.


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