Let's say sonic mania is a huge succss; what do you want next?

[CrazyT]

Really love the game more as I play it. The idea of this game selling really well and becoming a huge succes story is making me very excited for the franchise's future.

The team is probably just as excited. Im actually fine if the next game keeps remexing a couple of stages from the classics. 8 in mania is admittedly too much. Maybe 4 or 5?

Its that i cant see them going with a sonic 5 so a sonic mania 2 makes sense I think?

Anyway the most obvious thing may be the upgrade in visuals, but personally i still want them sprite based. Not sure how much is possible.

Also now that they reestablished the classic gameplay i hope to see their focus more on balancing sonics mechanics so it becomes a bit more challenging. Im thinking of making lost rings dissapear sooner as u get hit more times or something like that?

Anyway share your thoughts n.

[Berto]

While it's a huge success in many countries, the game's only received a lukewarm reception in Japan.
It's only rank 6th in the Japanese e-shop, while it's rank 1st in United States and Europe.
Also it didn't help that Famitsu score for Sonic Mania is 8/8/8/8,
lower than Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice (9/8/9/8).

Understandable since Megadrive isn't popular enough in Japan back then.
Many gamers has no experience with Sonic until Sonic Adventure came along.
That's why they prefer 3D Sonic than 2D Sonic.
Modern Sonic is still more popular than Classic Sonic in Japan.

[Tad]

That's quite incredible really. Japan really is a different world...though Famitsu isn't a reputale site so who knows.

I think as a result, we'll see both stick around. I hope they stop remixing levels mind and start with a completely fresh design in the next game. I have a feeling Forces isn't going to be quite as good as Generations as they've messed with the formula again, so it'll be interesting to see how Sega react.

[Betwixt Thieves]

I concur with Berto. Sonic is nowhere near as popular in Japan as he is in the west. You may see some Sonic merchandise at Joypolis or places like that, but overall Sega is probably more pleased with Yakuza and Phantasy Star Online. He makes for a fun mascot, but only the Sonic games with eastern influence have sold decently there.

I've always been surprised Sega has survived and prospered in Japan being an American company that set roots in Japan later on.

[Sharky]

Here is what I want: Basically more of the same.

But to elaborate some things I would like to see:
- More level transitions, in game cut scenes.
- A dedicated button for Super Sonic/Tails/Knuckles... I want to choose when to activate or not to activate.
- An animated ending, just as good as the one at the beginning!
- I don't mind returning stages at all, they were good and remix music welcome, but I want more new than returning next time.
- Amy playable, my 10 Y.O niece loves Sonic games but she wants to play as a relatable female hero... I wish she could in Mania.

My BIG ask:
- Mario Maker style level designing mode with online sharing.... Give me this!

[Betwixt Thieves]

Just like Sharky wrote - it would be great to have Amy as a playable character. My daughter would have been a lot more excited about the game. In a day and age where it is estimated that almost 50% of players are females it makes sense to include a character that is their gender. I'm not some social justice warrior - I just know she would love that.

I understand that each character had their gimmick so Amy could have even been a clone of Sonic's attributes. It would be a nice free update for the current game, or on PC it sounds like they are going to permit mods.

[Sharky]

In the advanced games Amy's ability was a very high jump, which was cool. I think a good addition for her would be the ability to wall jump.

[Berto]

- Amy playable, my 10 Y.O niece loves Sonic games but she wants to play as a relatable female hero... I wish she could in Mania.

Just tell her that Tails is a female.

[Betwixt Thieves]

She has seen too many of the games and tv shows where Tails talks to be fooled now.

Good idea though.

[Barry the Nomad]

I want Sonic Mania to be its own ongoing series. SEGA tried this with Sonic 4 and failed, and then tried a totally different route with Sonic Boom and failed. Sonic Mania needs to be OUR New Super Mario Bros., but obviously far superior.

I'd like to see Sonic Mania 2 confirmed before the end of the year and have it be a physical release for all platforms. Feature 12 zones again, but this time have it be 6 brand new ones and 6 returning ones. For returning zones, I'd like to see them bring some Master System Sonic stages into the 16-bit style and include Chaotix stages. For playable characters, stick to Sonic, Tails and Knuckles but maybe add Amy and the Chaotix as unlockables.

[Randroid]

Just started playing it last night since I've been waiting for the PC release.

Since the PC version was delayed, I took up playing Sonic 1 all the way to 3nK on a Genesis to prepare. 

I gotta say, starting playing Mania, I'm slightly disappointed. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm loving the gameplay. I just feel that there were some decisions made that are preventing it from being my favourite Sonic experience.

I've only gotten to Studiopolis Zone and these are my gripes so far:

- Reused Sonic 1 and 2 level assets. The first two zones look jarringly bad after my Sonic 3 and S3nK play-throughs. I love the creative areas in those zones, but the fact that they weren't re-imagined visually makes the game look slightly primitive. Once it got to Studiopolis Zone, everything was amazing. Reusing zones the wrong way visually dented my experience a bit.

- Sonic's Sprite art looks worse. People will probably disagree with me here, but I loved the evolution of Sonic's sprites from S1 to S3. In Mania, it seems they made the decision to branch off from Sonic 2's Sonic sprite visually. The Animations are smooth as silk, but the look still looks like a step back from Sonic 3 (IMO)

- The Blue Spheres as a checkpoint bonus. Oh god, I don't even know what they give you, but after two of them I stopped caring. They take more time than the actual Acts and WTF, they're just the exact same ones from S3 and SnK. Terrible choice. That being said the Giant Ring Special Stages are awesome!

- General Visuals. When you look at each Sonic game individually, all the sprites look like they belong to the same design and each game improves on the last greatly. Mania doesn't do this. Seeing an Angel Island badnik in the same stage as a Chemical Plant zone badnik is jarring. It just doesn't match.


Now I love the new ideas in the zones and I love the surprises and callbacks to Sonic fandom in general, but the choices they've made that I've noticed so far have made it impossible for me to not see this as a Fan-game instead of valid next entry to the Sonic 1 - S3nK Legacy. My opinion might change as I play more of the original levels. The little I've played of Studiopolis is FANTASTIC in every way.

Now to answer the question in the thread title.

1. NO MORE REUSED ZONES. None of the original titles reused zones, but if you absolutely have to, then redo the visuals to a cohesive design.

2. Drop the Blue Spheres. They had their time. On that note, checkpoint bonuses shouldn't be long. Sonic 3's Bite-sized mini-games worked because they were focused on one or two areas of Sonic gameplay and didn't take too long.

It's a shame, everything I like about Sonic 4 is missing in Mania. Everything great about Mania is missing in Sonic 4.

I'm pretty sure Sonic 3 will still be my favourite Sonic game.

[Tad]

I haven't collected everything yet, but I really hope and think Sega should run this as it's own seperate series away from the 3D games like Barry said. I'm not fussed if they bring other levels back or use new ones, but more of it needs to be made.

I've never considered Sonic 4 as part of this series as it's modern Sonic, so that can easily be ignored. So now we have,

Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic CD and Sonic Mania.

I just hope they bring a physical release out too.

[OriginalName]

Although I'm not interested in Sonic Forces, the recent DLC news about Jet Set Radio and NiGHTS skins, combined with the masterful crossover references in Sonic Mania wonders if, somewhere down the line, the team could use some dimension-hopping premise to have Sonic run through Saturn-2D interpretations of other Sega properties. Has a fair bit of overlap with Sega All-Stars Racing, but it would be a way for Sega to explore their history and generate interest in their back catalog in a way that won't get shrugged off (fairly or not) as a clone of a Nintendo series.

Sonic running through Jet Set Radio, NiGHTS, Panzer Dragoon, Shinobi, Rez, The House of the Dead, Phantasy Star, Space Channel 5, Space Harrier, and even Virtua-inspired worlds could be really cool.

Just some weird fan-tasy, but it's pretty amazing to be excited enough by a Sonic product that it sets my imagination off like the games used to.

I think part of the answer to what the outcome of Sonic Mania's success will be is dependent upon how Sonic Forces performs. I'd like to see the Mania team prove that they can repeat their success (which I have no doubt they can do so long as they're not interfered with). After that, I think that if Sega were smart, they would give this team free reign to really experiment, bringing in others from the community. Who knows, maybe they could bring in the Sonic Utopia team and concept and branch out into a classically-focused 3D Sonic one day.

[Shun-Di]

Sonic Mania is a success, so make a sequel.  This time, have all NEW zones.  Maybe toss in playable characters that previously weren't playable, or make Knack, Bark, and Bean more involved with the actual story instead of being "cameos" created by the Hard Boiled Heavies. 

[Asha]

I want Sonic Mania to be its own ongoing series. SEGA tried this with Sonic 4 and failed, and then tried a totally different route with Sonic Boom and failed. Sonic Mania needs to be OUR New Super Mario Bros., but obviously far superior.

I'd like to see Sonic Mania 2 confirmed before the end of the year and have it be a physical release for all platforms. Feature 12 zones again, but this time have it be 6 brand new ones and 6 returning ones. For returning zones, I'd like to see them bring some Master System Sonic stages into the 16-bit style and include Chaotix stages. For playable characters, stick to Sonic, Tails and Knuckles but maybe add Amy and the Chaotix as unlockables.

This is what I want minus the returning zones. Nostalgia is good but loses all that sweet magic when excessively used.


The last Sonic games are soaked in Nostalgia and I'd like to see something totally new now.