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Sonic Mania |OT| Dreams Come True

YEEEEES

YEEEEES

I GOT IT

I GOT THE FIFTH EMERALD YOU SON OF A BITCH

i think i got more special stage rings in oil ocean than any other zone so far, funnily enough. still took me to lava reef to finally get this one lol. guessing the last two are gonna make me wanna break my switch

6 was tougher than 5 for me, one slight miscalculation and you can end up of the course or lose most of your time. 7 is strangely very easy. I think you could actually get it in mach 2 if you're quick to react.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
That's right, you just need silvers to unlock everything, gold is for the achievement.

Damn, I've seen lots of conflicting info on this, but that's reassuring. I guess I'll stop aiming for perfect runs on Switch as it's technically useless lol.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
So anyone else had the music go completely AWOL on the Ps4? Happened to me twice during the Knuckles run. Only solution is to restart the game. This game isn't without bugs, and its already been delayed quite a bit.
 

Berordn

Member
Is the Switch version on par with the others?

They're all identical, more or less. Apparently the switch version drops a couple frames in special stages, but I hadn't noticed so it's probably nothing major.

So anyone else had the music go completely AWOL on the Ps4? Happened to me twice during the Knuckles run. Only solution is to restart the game. This game isn't without bugs, and its already been delayed quite a bit.

I've had it happen once in FBZ on Switch, but nowhere else. It returned when I cleared the stage.
 
Is the Switch version on par with the others?

It runs as well as the other versions. Portability is a point in its favour, but it does make the home menus lag a bit when the software is open. And there's no trophies.

But for being able to play it on the go or just keep playing when your SO wants to watch TV, it's my go-to choice.
 

Laws00

Member
Without fail it happened again just like it did to me with Sonic and Knuckles in
Lava Reef Zone act 2

I had a hard time with this as a kid
Can someone explain to me the momentum shift in the turbines when you have to throw yourself up? Do I have to continuously press up and down to go up in a rhythm to gain air or something?
 

Popparoks

Member
Anybody else here have always had trouble getting all the Chaos Emeralds in any Sonic game?

Never realized how trash i was considering there is at least 30% people who have all 7 on Xbox. Is the other mini game better than Blue Spheres? I hate that shit lol
 
Without fail it happened again just like it did to me with Sonic and Knuckles in
Lava Reef Zone act 2

I had a hard time with this as a kid
Can someone explain to me the momentum shift in the turbines when you have to throw yourself up? Do I have to continuously press up and down to go up in a rhythm to gain air or something?

The spinning cylinders with the handles? Just let go as its spinning you upwards and if you time it right you'll get the height you need to hit the next one or the platform above.
 
I even used two fingers to press each button and was unable to roll, the game has been asleep in time attack all night so maybe i'll reboot it and see what's up. I can roll as long as i'm not holding left or right, I would drop dash but there's moments in time attacks where rolling is better so it's kind of needed.

Ohhhhh. You're using the buttons. I thought you meant the stick. My bad.
 

Jazzem

Member
So anyone else had the music go completely AWOL on the Ps4? Happened to me twice during the Knuckles run. Only solution is to restart the game. This game isn't without bugs, and its already been delayed quite a bit.

Not music related, but on Switch yesterday the jump sound effect suddenly changed to the ring chime :| Was so bizarre! Not conditioned to hear that ever time I jump...

Seems there are a few sound related kinks to iron out

Anybody else here have always had trouble getting all the Chaos Emeralds in any Sonic game?

Never realized how trash i was considering there is at least 30% people who have all 7 on Xbox. Is the other mini game better than Blue Spheres? I hate that shit lol

It's not always an absolute guarantee but I'm better on certain ones than others:

1 - I typically can though there's always tension, partly because of not losing 50 rings in a stage and also how easy it is to slip up on a bonus round. If I remember as well, it's hard to get 50 rings in Star Light Zone stages, so you may be out of luck by that point since Scrap Brain doesn't have bonus round accessibility.

2 - I used to be able to do this pretty reliably, but haven't tried in a while since I prefer the pacing of a no-emerald run. May be rusty now if I went for them again, especially with Tails holding onto and then losing rings D:

3 & Knuckles - I'm not very good at remembering the bonus ring locations! I'm generally alright with the 3 bonus rounds but one or two & Knuckles ones ruin me. Might be better at them now due to great familiarity gained through Mania

CD - Definitely gotten better at this thanks to smoother mode7 frame rate in the Taxman rerelease, and getting 50 rings to access them is easier than in 1 w/time travel and more expansive stages. Still can be tricky due to weird collision detection with the UFOs, but if you can reliably get the time extension one in the middle it's mitigated somewhat.
 

Sami+

Member
Sonic 2 is similar in quality to Mania.

S3&K is better, but harder to play legitimately.

S3&K is the best 2D platformer ever made

Sonic 2 isn't even half as good as Mania tho. Enemy placement coupled with having to replay the whole game if you game over coupled with THAT final boss coupled with the worst special stages in the classic tetralogy coupled with Sky Chase Zone and the subsequent The Entire Level Is Over A Bottomless Pit BTW Don't Die Too Much or You Have To Replay Everything Zone... man, fuck Sonic 2 lol. More I think about it the less I have any desire to ever go back to that game.

Mania is very very solidly sitting between CD and 3K imo. Better than CD and almost, almost up there with 3K (well, more specifically Sonic 3 Complete) but the lackluster story and bizarre progression holds it back. Gameplay wise it's the best of the four.
 

13ruce

Banned
Anybody else here have always had trouble getting all the Chaos Emeralds in any Sonic game?

Never realized how trash i was considering there is at least 30% people who have all 7 on Xbox. Is the other mini game better than Blue Spheres? I hate that shit lol
i never cared for getting them but i will finally try and get em in Sonic 3 + k soon just to play that true final boss for once.

In mania i actually had fun with getting em too.
 

Haganeren

Member
Hydrocity has always been a top 3 Sonic zone for me. As much flak as S3 gets, I loved that game so much. I liked it far better than 1 and 2, even without the lockon. I think S3 takes longer than 2 as well, it has less zones but the levels are far bigger.

The music was crazy and nearly every Sonic 3 zone is excellent. Marble was probably the worst but its still better than the latter half of S2, and carnival had the barrel, but the rest is top notch. Angel Island, Icecap and Hydro are among the very best.

Sonic 3, the complete edition, is probably the best Sonic still. Its the most cohesive in level design. Mania eventually drops the ball when it comes to stage transitions. As for Knuckles campaign, in Mania there are a few levels tailored to him but its largely identical otherwise. In S3 the entire game was altered for his sake. He had much more different bosses (and basically no Eggman, as his campaign took place at a later time), his final boss was completely unique. But really, its like expecting Nintendo fans to create a game that beats Mario World.

I think this game beats Sonic 1 and 2 and thats quite an achievement for something thats pretty much a fan project.

I actually disagree, i really don't like Sonic 3 that much. I found Marble Zone quite annoying to play, same since Ice Cap which have the same repetitive pattern (those plateforme who elevate themselves with momentum) again and again. (I think one act of Ice Cap is actually better, don't remember which one) They are also strangely linear too compared to Sonic 2. But the worst have to be Carnaval Night that i really hate and find boring. It's a good thing Angel Island, Hydrocity and Launch Base are so incredibly great and the OST is so good but i always felt like the Level Design was quite inconsistent.

Finally the final of Sonic 3 is really anticlimatic, you don't even go to the super base of Robotnik, you just fight a strange machine like always which is as if it was a simple boss. (Well, the music really scream "LAST BOSS" so you take its word for it but still..) Also, maybe Knuckles have more distinct thing in Sonic 3 & Knuckles but i always found him to be very annoying to control. He tends to lose all momentum after a fly which makes him not as fun as Sonic... It's something that i found corrected in Sonic Mania which mean i could enjoy playing with Knuckles a lot during my third run.

Now, Sonic & Knuckles is really different, Mushroom Hill is a very original and incredible first world, Flying Battery is incredibly fun, i thought Sandopolis was a nice change of pace even if i have a friend who hate it, Lava Reef is very cool having a second act with a totally different setting (even if it's my less favorite level) and the climax with Hidden Palace => Sky Sanctuary => Death Age => Doomsday is just incredible all around.

So yeah, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is great but the Sonic 3 zones really put it down in my book. Sonic Mania is way more consistent, the only zone i don't really like is Lava Reef which i considered good in the previous entry !

The only problem i have with Sonic Mania is a lack of proper climax to be honest, and i think the lack of transition between certain levels are at fault. (I didn't even KNEW Sonic was in that floating giant Robotnik base from Sonic CD. I mean sure there is Metal Madness but still)

PS : I also don't get the hate for Sonic 2 latter half... I mean, the enemy placement is very cheap, i agree, but it's the case with the rest of the game. Hill Top is quite fun with its lever mechanics which made me think of some Lode Runner cartoon and the lava/Earth Shaking, it feels like a better designed Marble Garden Zone to me since it's actually NOT that linear. Mysitc Cave is also quite fun to go around with switch which open new ways and stuff like that. There is this "that one hole" with spikes you can't climb back and i fhink everyone fall into that one but other than that i quite like it. Oil Ocean with its fans can be a little boring indeed that being said, but i quite liked the thematic and music with it which mean it has that compared to Carnaval Night. Finally, there is only Metropolis which, indeed, didn't needed 3 act (even if each act have a different "main" mechanics). The enemy placement is especially bad in this one too so if people don't like this one, i can really understand. (Even if i found the plateforming quite good myself, as far as "somewhat linear zone" goes, i will take original metropolis over any original metal madness for example)

Finally the final with the shmup session and boarding the final base of Robotnik was really good and created an awesome climax with my favorite last boss of the serie... Really, can't go wrong with that one (even if the shmup session is a little annoying when you replay the game now... But that's just one act and it's shorter than previous levels).

No really, i can't say every levels were good in the late half of Sonic 2 and the bad enemy placement clearly annoys me but it wasn't clearly as bad as, say, Level Design of Sonic CD or Marble Garden Zone.
 
Anybody else here have always had trouble getting all the Chaos Emeralds in any Sonic game?

Never realized how trash i was considering there is at least 30% people who have all 7 on Xbox. Is the other mini game better than Blue Spheres? I hate that shit lol

The only Sonic game I've ever gotten all the emeralds on is Sonic 3+K. But I didn't get all the super emeralds.
 

MDave

Member
The Stardust Speedway Act 2 boss is unforgiving as fuck. So mean T_T

The second phase of it is easy once you know the pattern and when to attack:

When a silver metal sonic respawns in the middle, when it is preparing a Spin Dash, attack it immediately with your own Spin Dash with just 1 rev (so no taps of the jump button after starting the spin dash). He will bounce and hit Metal Sonic every time without fail.
 
They're all identical, more or less. Apparently the switch version drops a couple frames in special stages, but I hadn't noticed so it's probably nothing major.

I've had it happen once in FBZ on Switch, but nowhere else. It returned when I cleared the stage.

It runs as well as the other versions. Portability is a point in its favour, but it does make the home menus lag a bit when the software is open. And there's no trophies.

But for being able to play it on the go or just keep playing when your SO wants to watch TV, it's my go-to choice.

Thanks, this is looking like an impulse buy. Half because it looks like a great platformer and half because I want a new Switch game to play.
 

Ferr986

Member
Oil Ocean
boss as Knuckles sucks so fucking much. You can't go back up to the platforms if you're on the
oil
 

Finalizer

Member
Oil Ocean
boss as Knuckles sucks so fucking much. You can't go back up to the platforms if you're on the
oil

You can glide into them and latch onto the sides. You might need to make sure you're making that leap from the very top of the oil though. Beat the boss by just diving into the oil when he surfaced, destroying the cannon thingies as quickly as possible before moving on to focusing on the big cheese himself. Hide in the corner under one of the platforms when the blade thing leaps across one of the platforms, then hop back up to one and get to the opposite side from the laser. Only died once due to stupidity on my part, and actually found that fight pretty fun, though it takes a bit of a while to get through, not good when you're g o i n g s l o w like I do, heh.
 

george_us

Member
Boy that final zone is some hot garbage that I hate and it's killing me because of how good most of the game is. The final third starting with
Oil Ocean
is where fun goes to die, huh.
I thought Oil Ocean was rad. Had a glitch during the boss fight but everything else was great. Metallic Madness was cool too. The only zone I hated was Titanic Monarch but I may feel differently after I replay it. Press Garden currently sits as my favorite though. Sweet layout, beautiful aesthetic, great soundtrack, and a rad final boss.
 

Berordn

Member
Yeah, Oil Ocean I'm kind of indifferent to, but Metallic Madness might be my favorite zone in the game. Seeing all the gimmicks recreated with significantly better level design was a real treat.

Titanic Monarch is definitely a bit on the low end of things.
 
Titanic Monarch act 2 is too long otherwise I like the zone as a final area, can be a little confusing at spots becuase at one point I took a different route and it just looped back to where I was 2 minutes before, wasitng time.
Damn. A little shorter than I thought. I'm sure there's some meat to replaying it.

Like with sonic 3 you can take multiple routes in most stages, there's collecting the emeralds for everyone and knuckles has some unique things in his route, enough to be worthy of a second 100% run at least.
 

Mark1

Member
YEEEEES

YEEEEES

I GOT IT

I GOT THE FIFTH EMERALD YOU SON OF A BITCH

i think i got more special stage rings in oil ocean than any other zone so far, funnily enough. still took me to lava reef to finally get this one lol. guessing the last two are gonna make me wanna break my switch
Glad to see I wasn't the only one who hated the 5th stage most 😂

I felt so experienced afterwards that I found the last 2 a lot easier.
 

MrBadger

Member
Anybody else here have always had trouble getting all the Chaos Emeralds in any Sonic game?

Never realized how trash i was considering there is at least 30% people who have all 7 on Xbox. Is the other mini game better than Blue Spheres? I hate that shit lol

I never bother in the classics. I've only gotten them all in 3K because Blue Spheres is the only one I find tolerable.

I'm convinced that nobody got all the emeralds in the Advance games without cheating. Prove me wrong.
 

Falk

that puzzling face
For people still having trouble with Special Stage 5:

REMEMBER:
- bumpers slow you down
- ramps slow you down
- grass slows you down
- chasing shinies instead of choosing the shortest path slows you down (except for the start blue spheres which are necessary)
- spikes will mess you up
- running off the track will mess you up

quick reference video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z2MLbW5AVw

Doesn't require any trickery whatsoever. Simply requires understanding special stage mechanics and some basic hand-eye coordination.
 

Mark1

Member
I never bother in the classics. I've only gotten them all in 3K because Blue Spheres is the only one I find tolerable.

I'm convinced that nobody got all the emeralds in the Advance games without cheating. Prove me wrong.
Advance 2 had the worst form of emerald collecting by far, it was hard to not cheat to get those ones...
I didnt even bother in the end. Frustrated me too much and found Advance 3 a lot more fun to play
 

Ferr986

Member
You can glide into them and latch onto the sides. You might need to make sure you're making that leap from the very top of the oil though. Beat the boss by just diving into the oil when he surfaced, destroying the cannon thingies as quickly as possible before moving on to focusing on the big cheese himself. Hide in the corner under one of the platforms when the blade thing leaps across one of the platforms, then hop back up to one and get to the opposite side from the laser. Only died once due to stupidity on my part, and actually found that fight pretty fun, though it takes a bit of a while to get through, not good when you're g o i n g s l o w like I do, heh.

got it, thanks :D
 

FN-2187

Member
Anybody else here have always had trouble getting all the Chaos Emeralds in any Sonic game?

I never got them in any of the classics until emulation and save states. As a kid, I assumed you had to be a total wizard to ever be able to get them all, so I never even tried, really.
 

I Wanna Be The Guy

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Oil Ocean
boss as Knuckles sucks so fucking much. You can't go back up to the platforms if you're on the
oil
I'm on my first Knuckles playthough now and I never had this problem.

I had all the chaos emeralds by
Hydrocity
and I've been cheesing the game as Super Knuckles since then lol.
 

Dimmle

Member
I still don't believe anyone has found every Chaos Emerald in any given Sonic game. It's impossible.

Is Sonic Mania the first Sonic game to save your failures, though? Even after having a Game Over, I was unable to attempt a Chaos Emerald stage again. That's brutal.

also: Oil Ocean killed all my vibes
 
Finished the true ending mode today. General Thoughts:

As far as the story goes:
I have no idea what was happening. This fancy new gem seems to have some sort of time travel or distance warping ability, but it also turned the Egg Robos into the Heavies so I have no idea what it can and can't do. I also have no idea what it seemed like Robotnik and Heavy King were fighting over it. Also, why was Heavy King an enemy but also seems to be the actual embodiment of the final zone?

As far as the levels go:
I didn't mind the old levels brought back, and enjoyed the new enemies and mechanics in each of them. There was just this issue of cohesion that seemed to be missing. I can buy being warped from area to area, but you don't teleport at the end of each level. And then you have things like Lava Reef that is on Angel island next to Oil Ocean on one side, and Metallic Madness on another. All three of these zones are in very different locations. Hydrocity just ends and Mirage Saloon opens up with you on a plane.

Did NOT care for Press Garden. At first I thought the idea of shredded paper pretending to be snow would be a cool way to have a snow aesthetic but not actually be cold. Then ice cubes showed up and I have no idea why.

As far as the ending goes:
I still feel like I don't understand what has happened. Is that the little planet from Sonic CD blowing up? Was I there? What was that gem stone exactly? Was I supposed to be killing the heavies again when fighting them in the almost last fight?
Because it seems like I could just hide from them long enough to be teleported back. The ending just doesn't seem to be living up to the epic of Sonic 3&K. It was amazing working your way to the Death Egg and eventually following it into space.

All that said, these are my only real complaints. I was super happy playing through this entire game, and since I never played Sonic CD before, I felt like I had even more new levels than some of you guys did. I currently only have this game on PS4 but I'll likely buy another one for my Switch and PC as well.
 

Gartooth

Member
Finished my playthrough with Tails and currently a third through with Knuckles. Playing Knuckles is like looking through the game with an entirely different lens. Some bosses are much more difficult because I don't have the jump height to reach them!

I finally got the damn fourth chaos emerald! Now onto the fifth which is even harder.
 

Ducktail

Member
I killed Oil Ocean's boss on my very first attempt. I don't get what the fuss is. (I'm not trying to brag, I got 2 game overs prior to that, I'm kinda bad)
 

Jazzem

Member
Advance 2 had the worst form of emerald collecting by far, it was hard to not cheat to get those ones
didnt even bother. Frustrated me too much and found Advance 3 a lot more fun to play

Oh god that was horrendous D: Having to find seven special rings in a level without dying on top of a very difficult bonus level...think I maybe managed to beat two rounds before giving up.

It sucks as a lot of things (playable Amy, chao garden) were locked behind getting all seven emeralds with each character.
 

Sixfortyfive

He who pursues two rabbits gets two rabbits.
I still don't believe anyone has found every Chaos Emerald in any given Sonic game. It's impossible.

Is Sonic Mania the first Sonic game to save your failures, though? Even after having a Game Over, I was unable to attempt a Chaos Emerald stage again. That's brutal.

also: Oil Ocean killed all my vibes

The giant rings come back after you beat the game and revisit old stages.
 

I Wanna Be The Guy

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Finished the true ending mode today. General Thoughts:

As far as the story goes:
I have no idea what was happening. This fancy new gem seems to have some sort of time travel or distance warping ability, but it also turned the Egg Robos into the Heavies so I have no idea what it can and can't do. I also have no idea what it seemed like Robotnik and Heavy King were fighting over it. Also, why was Heavy King an enemy but also seems to be the actual embodiment of the final zone?

As far as the levels go:
I didn't mind the old levels brought back, and enjoyed the new enemies and mechanics in each of them. There was just this issue of cohesion that seemed to be missing. I can buy being warped from area to area, but you don't teleport at the end of each level. And then you have things like Lava Reef that is on Angel island next to Oil Ocean on one side, and Metallic Madness on another. All three of these zones are in very different locations. Hydrocity just ends and Mirage Saloon opens up with you on a plane.

Did NOT care for Press Garden. At first I thought the idea of shredded paper pretending to be snow would be a cool way to have a snow aesthetic but not actually be cold. Then ice cubes showed up and I have no idea why.

As far as the ending goes:
I still feel like I don't understand what has happened. Is that the little planet from Sonic CD blowing up? Was I there? What was that gem stone exactly? Was I supposed to be killing the heavies again when fighting them in the almost last fight?
Because it seems like I could just hide from them long enough to be teleported back. The ending just doesn't seem to be living up to the epic of Sonic 3&K. It was amazing working your way to the Death Egg and eventually following it into space.

All that said, these are my only real complaints. I was super happy playing through this entire game, and since I never played Sonic CD before, I felt like I had even more new levels than some of you guys did. I currently only have this game on PS4 but I'll likely buy another one for my Switch and PC as well.
Storytelling is this game is ass. Not even in the same league as Sonic 3&K.
 

Gartooth

Member
I killed Oil Ocean's boss on my very first attempt. I don't get what the fuss is. (I'm not trying to brag, I got 2 game overs prior to that, I'm kinda bad)

Its an easy boss once you figure out the patterns. The game just punishes the player really hard on it since its easy to lose all your rings in the oil.
 
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