Current Events > Where does Sonic mania rank in the 2D sonic games?

(+) Yeah! (+)

In your opinion? Im about to play this

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It's good. But a bit too much of a retread.
I hope a new one brings with it a different set of Zones.
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Intersted. I'm gonna play this after I finish Witcher Blood and Wine.

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I bought it twice. I only ever do that for games that I personally think are worth a damn.
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So this is an unpopular opinion...but I think it's overrated. Half the game contains rehashed zones and the music is overrated. With that said though, it's not a bad game, just overhyped.

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That's hard for me to say, exactly. It both is and isn't the same. But it is great.

Litertally top 3, and top 3 in the whole franchise

Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Sonic Mania
Sonic the Hedgehog 2

You can switch those around and still be satisfied

Gameplay wise it is on par with S3&K.

Overall, there's just a taaaad too much rehash to say it is a flawless experience.

Also in terms of flaws, the game has some difficulty spikes for a few levels (especially the last 2) that make no sense and kills any desire to replay those levels. They could fix it with better checkpoint placement, but alas, its not really there. Don't be surprised if you wind up dying or game overing to time actually running the fuck out. I often got to the final boss with only 10 seconds left to spare...not fun when you've only got one or two lives left and you know there aren't 50 rings between you and the boss.

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Whats your favorite 2d sonic?

If you like 2 or CD over 3&K, you might not like mania as much as those

The returning levels are there to remind you what you liked about the originals (Act 1), and also what new ideas for 2d sonic can do (Act 2)

The brand new levels are easily top tier levels in all of Sonic

Music is amazing, like a best mix of 3&K, and CDs layered music.

Most competent level design in the franchise, bar none

And it usually goes on sale, but its definitely worth 20 bucks. DLC is neat, too.

I rank it just below Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which is my favorite of the 2D games.

I'd put Sonic Mania higher if it wasn't mostly a revisit of classic levels, because I thought the brand new levels were fantastic.

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PowerOats posted...

Litertally top 3, and top 3 in the whole franchise

Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Sonic Mania
Sonic the Hedgehog 2

You can switch those around and still be satisfied

Agreed with this. I'd go Sonic 2, S3&K and then Sonic Mania personally.

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I keep dying on the third boss, lol

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I much prefer the giant ring bonus stages to the checkpoint ones. I always hated getting the blue orbs in sonic 3 and always preferred the bonus stages from sonic 2. I guess its kind of cool you get a little of both here

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1. Sonic 3 & Knuckles
2. Sonic Mania
3. Sonic 2
4. Sonic 1

I cant say anything about sonic 4 or CD as I've never played those.

As the absolute best. There's things 3 does better but as an entire package, Mania's it.

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Arguable whether it or Sonic 3&K are the top.

At least it's decisively better than Sonic 2 if you ask me.

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Just played a bit more of it.... Yes it is a great game.

For future...yes new levels.

But it what really made early sonic games so memorable were the music and special stages.
The special stages need to be completely far out. Like borderline psychedelic.
Both Sonic 1 and 2 were way ahead of their time in that regard.

...As for music, that is a whole other thing.
I am not sure what Richard Jacques is up to nowadays.
But for a while, he was the pulse of Sega soundtracks.
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Better than Sonic 1, not as good as CD, 2, 3&K

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SiO4 posted...

Just played a bit more of it.... Yes it is a great game.

For future...yes new levels.

But it what really made early sonic games so memorable were the music and special stages.
The special stages need to be completely far out. Like borderline psychedelic.
Both Sonic 1 and 2 were way ahead of their time in that regard.

...As for music, that is a whole other thing.
I am not sure what Richard Jacques is up to nowadays.
But for a while, he was the pulse of Sega soundtracks.

The special stages for Mania literally are psychedelic. You chase a UFO while the world swirls with strange colors around you.

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Lunar_Savage posted...

The special stages for Mania literally are psychedelic. You chase a UFO while the world swirls with strange colors around you.

I thought they were kinda Sonic 3-ish. With the balls on the globe?
I'll do some research.
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SiO4 posted...

I thought they were kinda Sonic 3-ish. With the balls on the globe?
I'll do some research.

Those are both in the game; he's talking about how you get Chaos Emeralds
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SiO4 posted...

I thought they were kinda Sonic 3-ish. With the balls on the globe?
I'll do some research.

Theres 2 different ones. Sonic 3 clone with orbs on the globe if you jump through the checkpoint. Then they have a giant ring hidden in each zone that is more like an evolution of sonic 2's stages

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Antifar posted...

Those are both in the game; he's talking about how you get Chaos Emeralds

Dont you get chaos emeralds from both? Ill be honest and i havent ever been able to finish the orb on the globe levels(sonic 3), so no idea what you would get as a reward

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Mania >> 3&K >>> 2 >>>>>>> CD >>>>>>>>1

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Mania has a new special stage. Blue Sphere just unlocks bonus stuff. Theres also a pinball game you play in its place in Mania Plus.

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The Sphere minigame unlocks modes and extras for use such as sound test and the ability to use Sonic's Super Peel Out (CD) and Insta-Shield (3&K). Those are unlock if you manage to get silver medals by collecting all the spheres. Getting all the rings earns a achievement)

The UFO chase mini-game grants you a chaos emerald if you manage to catch it

In Encore Mode, the Pinball mini-game is for getting extra rings, shields, and lives

SiO4 posted...

It's good. But a bit too much of a retread.
I hope a new one brings with it a different set of Zones.

Blame Yuji Naka for that. Taxman and Stealth wanted to make a completely original game.

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More original zones would have been nice, there's only 3 IIRC. Plus I found the true final boss to be pretty disappointing.

Encore Mode is also disappointing since in the canon it takes place (2?) years after Mania, and aside from the 2 new characters, palette swap colors, and some miniscule zone changes it plays out exactly the same.

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it's a pretty wholesale improvement upon the originals
they made flying battery, stardust speedway, and metallic madness way less shitty while making the good zones even better
design-wise, the new zones are solid but can feel way too short

Alright, I am going to have to figure this out about the special stages...but that's cool.
Now I have homework!! LOL

ViewtifulGrave posted...

Blame Yuji Naka for that. Taxman and Stealth wanted to make a completely original game.

I thought Yuji Naka was long gone at that point?
Side note: It's sad that the independent game studio really has put out too much, and of what of it there is, I really don't find much of it appealing.
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It's the best 2D Sonic game along with S3&K.

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ViewtifulGrave posted...

Blame Yuji Naka for that. Taxman and Stealth wanted to make a completely original game.

That would be Takashi Iizuka, but yeah. Iizuka pushed for it to have classic zones thrown in.

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1st let's be dead fucking honest here

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Top tier with Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

The 2D sonic games peaked at sonic 3 & knuckles, and the sonic advance series.

Without any radical changes its pretty much impossible to create a 2D sonic game much better then.

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I actually really like Manias special stages. They blend Sonic CDs UFO chase with elements of Sonic 2s half-pipe, without the jank that drags both of those down.
Im kind of morbidly interested in what they could do with Sonic 1 special stages, but then I remember theyre basically a 16-bit representation of anxiety.

Alpha218 posted...

Mania has a new special stage. Blue Sphere just unlocks bonus stuff. Theres also a pinball game you play in its place in Mania Plus.

Some extra info: The pinball game replaces all the Blue Sphere stages once you get gold medals in all 32 stages accessible in the main game.

Strider102 posted...

Encore Mode is also disappointing since (...) aside from the 2 new characters, palette swap colors, and some miniscule zone changes it plays out exactly the same.

It's essentially Hard Mode.

Giant Ring locations are shuffled around to more difficult, less intuitive spots and the Chaos Emerald bonus stages are hair-rippingly more difficult, so if your go-to strategy for the basic Mania Mode was unlocking Super Sonic/Tails/etc. ASAP then going nuts on the rest of the game then you've got a nasty surprise waiting for you. Not to mention the different mechanics where there are no extra lives, just a five-character roster that gets shuffled beyond your control so you have to cope with what the game throws at you with the two characters you have at the moment. Plus the stage geography/enemy/item shifts are done in a way so everything's more difficult.

Nothing wrong with having a Hard Mode in the game, if you ask me. None of the other 2D Sonics had anything of the sort.

On another note, it seems that I'm a very rare kind of person to love Blue Spheres while hating the Sonic 2 half-pipe bonus stage. I can perfectly binge on the Blue Spheres mini-game unlocked on Sonic Mania or by locking Sonic 1 an S&K together for some light entertainment, like a quick game of Minesweeper. In contrast, the half-pipe aggravates me, I don't think I've legitimately gotten more than 3 Emeralds in Sonic 2, ever. Mania's Chaos Emerald chase is a blatant homage to the Sonic CD stages and I find them pretty enjoyable too, though as I mentioned above, the difficulty gets crazy in Encore Mode.

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encore mode's changes aren't even the fun kind

Distant_Rainbow posted...

Blue Sphere just unlocks bonus stuff. Theres also a pinball game you play in its place in Mania Plus.

Some extra info: The pinball game replaces all the Blue Sphere stages once you get gold medals in all 32 stages accessible in the main game.

Damn, so I am basically never going to unlock any of the extras :/

That definitely brings this game down a bit for me.

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solosnake posted...

Damn, so I am basically never going to unlock any of the extras :/

That definitely brings this game down a bit for me.

You can easily get the good stuff if you got all the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic 3: all the Sonic 3 and 3&K stages are there, and most of them are easy.
Then there are the ones that are just plain evil.

ElatedVenusaur posted...

You can easily get the good stuff if you got all the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic 3: all the Sonic 3 and 3&K stages are there, and most of them are easy.
Then there are the ones that are just plain evil.

ive never been able to complete a single one of those stages

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Right about there...

*Points between the original trilogy and the advance trilogy*

Okay, so this is the special stage then...
I found one. I also had one from an old save but I don't even remember it.

https://imgur.com/uq5VVBm

So it's a reworking of Sonic R then.
I'm not knocking it, but I would hardly call it Psychedelic.
And certainly not as imaginative of what I've come to expect from Sonic games.

It's cool, it leaves room to grow, so I'll hope for something new and hopefully a little out there in the next installment.

Kinda cool actually getting some gamefaqs from gfaqs though..it's been a while. ;-)
Though, and instruction manual would have explained it too.
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solosnake posted...

Damn, so I am basically never going to unlock any of the extras :/

That definitely brings this game down a bit for me.

Half of the 32 stages are brought straight from Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, so if you've played those games and collected Chaos Emeralds in them then you'll already be familiar with those ones. Even some of the 16 new ones use designs available in the original Blue Sphere game(S1 + S&K). Also, unlocking features only requires you to beat the stages by getting all the blue spheres for silver medals, the gold medals for perfect runs are just for bragging rights(and to exchange them for the pinball mini-game which awards you with items and extra lives if you manage to get all of them).

Even if you're not good at it, you'll probably still be able to eventually scrape together at least 12 out of 32 medals, which is all you really need for in-game perks(getting more just unlocks debug mode, sound test mode and a couple of mini-games, one of which is a random Blue Sphere stage generator).

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I cant for the life of me beat the 3rd chaos emerald level. I keep restarting to retry, but damn this is hard.

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If you fail, it goes to the next one in the list. Doesn't it do that in S3&K as well? You don't have to beat every single one unless you want to unlock the Blue Spheres minigame (which I highly doubt lol)

The zones are too derivative of old ones that I feel confident in placing it above the originals.

Yeah yeah, that was the point, but playing Chemical Plant but with Wacky Workbenchs bouncy floors doesnt really excite me.

Overall it can definitely sit with the classics. Id put it at the same tier as the GBA games

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I think the remixed stages were great though. I think if theres a Mania 2, they will do the same thing. Maybe mix in more original stages because its established now and they dont want to run out of stages for more sequels.

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Just got my 4th chaos emerald. This game is fucking good. Not sure Id put it above Sonic 2, but i think it might be close to sonic 3/knuckles for myself

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