Like a bolt from the blue, a minute of new footage and some screenshots of Sonic Mania have been released. The new video gives us our first proper look at Flying Battery Zone act 1, which for a while only had little snippets to tease at what could be to come. Follows Knuckles as he scales both inside and outside the ship;
On top of that, there are three new screenshots showing Sonic, Tails and Knuckles in action. You can view them in the gallery below. All in all, it looks like quite a spiffy remaking so far!
With E3 around the corner, there’s bound to be more snippets like this coming our way. Also bear in mind that this is just act 1, who knows what act 2 will bring to the table.
Source: Gematsu (Youtube), Gematsu
OH hey, the bonus stages from Sonic 3 and Knuckles seem to be back. That’s neat.
Makes me wonder, though, will this game have a story? I mean, Sonic 2 and 3 and Knuckles did have stories, they were just simple and told without much exposistion, but they WERE there. Hell they had more of a story than Generations did and that game DID have cutscenes. It was more visual than it was literal. I wonder if this will carry on into this supposed advancement of Sonic 3…OR will they just remove it completely because they’ll think LOL RETRO will be enough to sell it?
well there were potential animated cutscenes leaked for Mania and its said to not be a short game so there probably is a story (especially since the villain isnt eggman).
It could have cutscenes and still be out of continuity, like Knuckles’ story in Sonic 2.
Honestly, I think Sonic Mania’s recycle of old levels is worse than Forces. At least Forces uses new graphics, music and layouts for the old levels, as seen in Green Hill. Mania keeps them the same as the original levels, except for a few layout changes and new bosses. It even recycles the original graphics.
no, the graphics are actually remastered.
True, but Forces’ music and level design is bloody awful in comparison, not to mention the recycled models and textures from Generations and Lost World.
From what we’ve seen of Sonic Forces this is unfortunately true, and even during the short clip of modern Sonic gameplay, when Sonic takes to the air too shoot through some rings, we see that they just had to put that same old blocky texture in the background… Why Sega?! Thats not what your nostalgic fans are looking for anyway!…
True, but at the same time, it would seem too much or too little change has caused the division that we’re already in. You can only change the aesthetic so much in regards to Sonic. Adventure era and onwards is considered an aesthetic nightmare nowadays, though I prefer the contrasting elements of a semi real world and ‘cartoony’ characters. The Sonic’s world aesthetic we know from the original games has made a resurgence so recycled elements will be a byproduct of that. I’m sure that if they continue in this direction though, that morre dramatic variations will become apparent. We know studiopolis exists after all, I’m sure there’s more to come.
“Adventure era and onwards is considered an aesthetic nightmare nowadays”
Says who? I’ll the aesthetics and visual style of Unleashed and Generations over retro-style visuals like Lost World any day of the week.
Me too, bro.
Join the resistance.
Sorry dude, I was mentioning something from extra credits extra frames series. Dan who usually does the narration for the videos, is an animator and analyses animation from a variety of games. He went on to do Sonic games recently, having not grown up on or played many of them, tackling generations and the classics first, which he thinks are good in gameplay animation and as games. He’s a pretty cool guy.
I was referencing an episode he did on Sonic Adventure which he noted the contrast between ‘realistically’ drawn people and cartoony characters was just a bit jarring in summary. From an unbiased perspective I guess that’s fair and it is just opinion which was well said with no ill intentions, so I can respect that. I’d recommend a look at the series if analysis videos interest you.
Me personally, I enjoyed all the games in one way or another post adventure but I do prefer that surreal feel they had in aesthetics which pretty much disappeared after generations. Hey, even Boom had some pretty interesting environments for a game so underdeveloped. Based on what I’m seeing, I think Sonic Team are looking for a middle ground with forces but who knows, they’ve pulled off major changes in the past within short periods of time.
Thats the idea. its a celebration game so their picking a few highlighted levels and keep close to the original. Plus the game is based on the days when Sonic was great. Mania so far in all its previews has been nothing but high praise.
But they already did that in Generations. We’ve seen that before. And now we’re gonna see it AGAIN in Forces. It’s getting old.
I echo the other comments in response. Firstly Sonic Mania is a celebration of the series and thus contains old levels that have been recreated with new routes, content and sprites (yes the sprites are remade). Second the Green Hill of Forces had some awful level design which is what’s really important.
Forces is also a celebration game. And that doesn’t justify completely recycling old levels, with reused assets and all. Not even Generations did that. There’s a difference between homage and recycled content.
The 3DS version recycled old stage layouts 1 to 1 for classic stages iirc
I agree that from what we’ve seen so far Act 1 of Flying Battery at least sticks a little too close to the original layout. But the new zones obviously don’t have this problem and Act 2 of the revisited levels is promised to be very different.
I think the important distinction to be made is that Mania has a decent aesthetic and sense of level design, which from what I’ve seen Forces does not.
Looking good! I take back what I said about the character sprite art – it looks fantastic.
That said, I hope Act 2 and the other returning levels innovate much more than this. This is okay – uses a lot of the original layout but keeps it fresh with new routes and gimmicks – but there needs to be much more than this to justify a purchase.
If Act 2 of Greenhill is anything to go by then Act 2 of Flying Battery will be rather different than the original game all those years ago.
Game looks amazing, can’t wait to play it. Still hoping for a physical release of the game on all current gen systems
I’d prefer digital for reruns uses.
Physic is the PAST.
Join the resistance.
I think both games are reusing aspects of old sonic games, so they are both just as bad for that honestly, i don’t see how mania is getting praise for it but sonic forces isn’t. it just seems like people who prefer classic games are giving the modern game crap because they prefer classic sonic.
which is fine if you do but it doesn’t justify them reusing old assets, not saying it’s a bad thing but if sonic forces does it too, it’s not bad there either. don’t make out one is okay but the other isn’t because it’s something “You” don’t like, overall both games are doing the same thing with nostalgia pandering so it really isn’t any different.
Mania is getting praise because of the physics, music and most of all, level design. Whereas Forces’ music and level design leave a lot to be desired. Sonic Team still hasn’t understood that having the game play itself for you isn’t fun. Mania hardly has any automation whatsoever, which is a breath of fresh air.
This and stuff. Mania is looking like it’s actually fun to play, replay and still generally feel challenged because of the physics, layout, and other thought out mechanics like shields and such. Forces is looking like a lot to be desired with lots of straightaways and springs. Talking about aesthetics is pointless because that’s just a matter of taste and visual preference. The gameplay is what actually makes the difference and Mania has that part down.
Mania is boring and slow.
Sonic Forces is the TRUE Sonic soul.
Fast and funny.
Join the resistance.
Please tell me that was sarcasm.
Looks cheap.
Sonic Forces is miles ways better.
Join the resistance.
Sonic Mania surpasses Sonic Forces.
Join the Mania.
I want a demo, please.
*shrugs and resumes playing Flying Battery Zone on Sonic & Knuckles*