I just remember a couple years ago when I was like “what’s a theoretical combination of all the megadrive sonic titles that isn’t as uneven as any of them” and now they basically made that game and then some
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I played through the first two zones this morning. This is great! There’s such tangible love and dedication in every pixel. I’ve always loved the blue sphere bonus stages, but I have to admit that it kind of weirds up the pacing to have them show up on every lamp post. Sometimes it feels like I’m spending more time sphere-ing than actually playing the level. The new chaos emerald bonus stages are amazing though, probably the most fun Sonic bonus stages I’ve ever played. Chemical Plant Zone is dope, but I do wish they’d gotten rid of the horrible moving block ladders. I can’t wait to play more of this tonight!
I was skeptical of the blue sphere pacing too but you can just skip them, they only unlock medals for the whole package, they don’t pertain to a single run
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gosh dangit i want this now
if only i had a ps4
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cross-posting from twitter
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That’s good to know; I was watching my roommate play (I don’t get my special edition utnil tomorrow :c ) and had the same thought that even though blue sphere is great it was taking too much time. I think I’ll probably skip most of them on my first playthrough but of course I gotta unlock shit eventually 
the medal unlocks are actually quite underwhelming now that I’ve looked them up, I think they probably should’ve put a disclaimer somewhere when you start the game that playing blue sphere is totally optional
the actual chaos emerald bonus stages however are great but hard to find (I think there’s only one in each act, there may be two) and I already failed one! I’m afraid I might not get all 7 by the end of the game
The Chemical Plant Zone Act 2 boss might just be one of the greatest moments in video game history
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Has anyone figured out what the Cool Bonus is? My guess is it depends on how often you get hit per act but…
Up to Zone 4, I think the music is a bit underwelming so far (not counting Studiopolis) and Blue Sheres in this feels kinda floaty and off but these are two of the tiniest, baby-ist nit picks in a game that I have been wishing and hoping and dreaming for since 1995.
I literally gasped out loud at Chemical Plant Act 2 Boss.
I am in love with videogames once again
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i only just realised this while talking to someone, but the stardust speedway boss reminds me a lot of the brotherhood of metallix storyline from the uk sonic comics, what with the mass-produced metal sonics with the original sitting above them, like the emporer metallix in the comic
if that was intentional, that’d be the first time the uk comics had ever been referenced in something made by sega, think.
tore through sonic mania this aft like i was a little kid playing sonic 3 for the first time, all like “whoaaaa” and “omg” and “yes wow” and “popcornnnn” and like “NO NO NO OMG”
it’s real good guys. it’s a joy dispenser
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I really like this but I’m not sold on the puzzle bosses. Except the one that… you know.
my one pro tip so far is that you should be restarting acts on a pretty regular basis if you aren’t picking up one emerald per zone; you can’t reuse the special stage rings if you fail them and they’re actually pretty hard to find, plus it’s fun to re-run levels and find new paths anyway. but getting to 7 is not easy if you totally whiff on the first three zones like I did!
this is worth doing because the special stages are probably the most fun and challenging out of the whole series
Is this true on repeat playthroughs?
my experience is that once you enter a special stage ring, it can never be entered again on that savefile even if you fail or restart the level
not sure if this changes once you clear the game
also I want to go to bat for generations as long as everyone is making this out to be like the only good sonic game in 20 years because generations worked way better than any other 3D sonic more often than not and had some really nice wow moments
I do like how digital foundry pointed out that some of the effects going on here are more saturn-era than megadrive-era but I don’t think that’s something other people think about (I was thinking about it)
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fairly sure that the deal is two big rings per act but you can’t necessarily access both with every character so in some cases there’s effectively only one
and unlike 3/K you gotta hunt!
Oh no, on Zone 4 I suddenly remembered I’m bad at Sonic! I keep getting all the way to the part in Act 2 where you’re under the airship and grabbing bars and getting zapped, and then I get game over right quick. Curse my Nintendo kid heritage!
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