Slowly and surely SEGA is releasing more footage and screens of Sonic Mania, the supercharged retro-styled release due on Nintendo Switch and various platforms in the Summer. Next up is Flying Battery Zone, which is getting a rejig from its original appearance in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, that oddity of the 16-bit era for which you locked two cartridges together.
Check out some fresh footage and screenshots below.



Is Sonic Mania still on your Summer wishlist?
Comments 39
Probably my most anticipated game right now. Super hyped to go back to Flying Battery after all these years.
That music brings me back...
....Sonic Mania&Knuckles&Tails 3.
I really hope the versus mode is going to be worthwhile.
Day. One.
Looks great! Can't wait for this game!
That Chaotix climbing animation, tho.
Why is the game 480p?
The reworked graphics, remixed level design, and music is just delicious. Can I get some fries and a drink with that good sir?
I feel like I've been waiting so long for this game 😩
Ran right past that bonus stage. What a tease.
I wish there was a 3DS/N3DS release planned
Could've sworn there was a confirmed release date for this. Everywhere I look just says "summer 2017". I need it now!!!
Day one purchase for me! This is going to be a mega father son night on release day.
I'm really interested to see how this kind of works into the Sonic 3/Knuckles story thing... is there going to be super sonic AND hyper sonic? Is this just like a reboot to that storyline?
In any case, I hold Sonic 3 & Knuckles to a very high esteem so any redone levels and/or story elements are welcome. I seriously love those two games too much...
Yes
@audiobrainiac I heard that Renegade Kid (of Mutant Mudds) offered to Sega to make a 3DS version of Sonic Mania. I hope they take that offer!
I really love the classic style Sonic games (and more recently Freedom Planet on Wii U) so I'm eagerly waiting to play Sonic Mania. Flying Battery Zone Act 1/2 has the best music of the Megadrive era Sonic games in my opinion.
@MadameSpuki Seems like I heard the same. Who can say if that'll happen. I thought M2 has done an amazing job with the 3DS ports, personally. Classic Sonic is my fav game character so I agree.
Much more excited for this than Sonic Forces.
@audiobrainiac Ah okay, well no doubt Sonic Mania would work nicely on the 3DS screen. (Like the Sonic 1/2 3D ports) So I'm going to stay hopeful.
Day 1 instant buy & Knuckles!
I'm so hype. Classic Sonic is the best Sonic.
Buying the day it comes out
Definitely getting this, though I'd love a physical release for Switch in Europe.
Looking good.
@Moon you mean aside from every compilation and re-release of Sonic & Knuckles? lol I love the old games and they'll always bring back fond memories but it's honestly not been very long since I last played them, they're always getting pushed out in some form. Still looking forward to playing them in HD with modern framerates and the like, however.
As much as I love the old games and levels, I really hope they keep the retro levels to a bare minimum. I've played them to death and we honestly need more new levels in the same Genesis style. Imagine they stuck a dozen classic SMB levels in NSMB and called it a new game. Just give us a HDmake of Sonic 1-Knuckles as a compilation if they want us to play through these again.
Now if Christian Whitehead would turn his attention to Sonic 3 & Knuckles for iOS....
@j-life The game itself is not in 480p, it appears to be running at 720p can't tell as we don't have a 1080p video, but on moving frames the game doesn't lose pixel count in places where it would have lost them in 480p leading me to believe that the game is likely in 720p. Also the graphics alone are meant to be in a retro style as Sonic Mania is essentially a remake of many of the retro sonic levels along with some new ones.
@Baker1000 I agree, I love the Flying Battery Zone but keep the retro stages to a minimum and more new stages.
Good stuff, can't wait for this game.
@Setery10 @j-life The video is 720 60fps for me on my laptop.Watching an embedded Youtube video on a mobile will more often than not play in 480 though,at least initially.
@shonenjump86
This ain't no AAA game, reworked and new levels don't take much resources to make, so I'd rather just have a lot of both.
wonder if scrap brain zone makes the cut...
CANT WAIT, had to pre-order from US amazon to make sure i got the special edition, shame you can only get a download code and not a physical version.
@khaosklub good point but they really shouldn't be relying on old stages to fill the game. It's lazy development, and this is why Sonic games have been sub par for years. They cut corners to get the game out quicker and cheaper and it always shows. They need to learn from past mistakes and I'm hopeful that this will be a return to form since it's not even Sega doing the work. Just keep the nostalgia and old levels to a minimum. The 16-bit Genesis style is all the nostalgia we need.
Just love the music to Flying Battery. Looking forward to Sonic Mania!
@Captain_Toad If a game order literally came with fries and a drink that'd be awesome
@Baker1000
" It's lazy development, and this is why Sonic games have been sub par for years. "
I disagree. The 2D sonic games have been sub par because they made them in 3D, and changed up the physics. Everyone hated Sonic 4 because they physics were completely different. What made 2D sonic great before were 3 things:
1) speed: getting to go very fast at times, and trying to control that speed was a lot of fun! especially with super sonic, who was invulnerable, but very hard to control! in sonic 2, you would end up killing yourself a lot as super sonic by running off ledges! you moved faster than the camera could really keep up with, it was magnificent.
2) momentum: you couldn't stop on a dime and had to be a bit careful. downward slopes sped you up, upward slopes slowed you down. it was a physics game
3) acceleration: you start out painfully slow, and accellerate, and influence on direction was like this. when you managed to go fast, you felt accomplished, because you worked for it. avoiding obstacles was tough because you started slow. you couldn't dodge things at a moments notice.even moving from adjacent platforms was difficult because it had to be timed, you had to start moving before they lined up.
Now, 2D sonic has been about homing attacks, a quick dash button for instant speed and stopping on a dime. They got rid of the challenge of handling the speed, they got rid of the fun of momentum, and they made acceleration instantaneous. They understood "fans like to go fast, that's what sonic is about", so they took away all the barriers to going fast (the actual mechanics of the game) and just made basically a straight line where you run.. and gave you tricks so players actually had something to do.
tl;dr Sonic isn't about "going fast", it's a game about trying to go fast!
@Baker1000
If they can fit ALL the old levels and just as many new levels, why not? Old levels take very little work to put in! all the assets exist! I'd rather have EVERY old level and new levels, especially because you couldn't play as knuckles or tails in sonic 1 levels, nor could tails fly in sonic 2 levels. It'd be much better than having to dig up the old games again, and having to buy new copies on the newer consoles to play them. I mean, when was the last time they ported Sonic 3 & Knuckles?
@khaosklub I think all levels would be overkill, and a little too much to hope for. I'm not against putting old levels in the game just as long as it's not to pad out the lack of new levels. Give us a full games worth of new levels then a selection of the best classic levels as a bonus. Nintendo takes some flak for relying on nostalgia, but Sonic's been living on those days of old for far too long. (example: Sonic Generations and Forces)
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