Happy Thanksgiving! On this SEGA News Bits we’re mixing things up by looking back on the past year and talking about what we’re thankful for as SEGA fans and what we’re looking forward to for the future of the company. We hope all our viewers (even the thumbs down guys) have a safe and happy turkey day.
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I, for one, am very thankful that Sonic Team is still making Sonic games. Despite backlash that follows each and every release they still make Sonic games. I’d have given up long ago if I was them. Every release since Unleashed tries something new to keep things fresh without completely obliterating the successful “Modern Sonic” formula (save for Lost World). I personally loved Sonic Forces, it singlehandedly reignited my love for Sonic after it died down in those 6 years since Generations came out. It’s fun, it’s original, old elements get a completely new spin, it’s over the top, what’s not to like?
I didn’t like Mania too much because it didn’t feel like its own game. Half the stages are recycled, hell, more than half the overall content is recycled, and what original is there isn’t all that great or memorable in my opinion. The music didn’t appeal to me either, I felt it didn’t belong and I’m not a fan of Tay Lopes’s compositions personally… plus the contrast between modern elements, like music that was clearly composed in 2010s and smooth sprite rotation, and pixelated (albeit slightly touched up) assets and gameplay straight outta 1992 just didn’t work for me and it felt like a fangame without artistic integrity, rather than a fully fledged original game it advertises itself to be. I couldn’t get into Chaotix for similar reasons – too many wacky 32x effects on top of same old stuff. Mania just feels jarring, like something you’d download off Sonic Fangames HQ. I don’t like that it’s considered part of the “main series”, but what can you do. With that said I’m glad there’s still Sonic Team’s Sonic games and not only outsourced stuff.
I know that the previous paragraph made me sound harsh or seem like a hypocrite, but I wholeheartedly believe Mania doesn’t deserve the praise it got – it’s just a carbon copy of past Sonic games with new stages and one (1) gameplay mechanic added in (drop dash). I’ve played romhacks with more originality than it. I have a feeling people love it only because they can’t admit that they don’t like it after begging Sega to just make a 2D game for damn near a decade. Either that or all it takes to please the “fans” is to just make a romhack.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!