Video: Digital Foundry Shares Its Full Technical Breakdown of Sonic Mania

Wishlist ATM

I could have told them that the game is almost perfect.

It's not all perfect. There's a bug in a certain section of Press Garden Act 2 that causes the game to crash. It's happened to me and at least 2 others.

Fantastic review.
Switch, on the go, it is then.

It looks fantastic, I'll definitely be buying it at some point.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Totally worth a 20.

@krvstkvlt I hear you can buy it from the Russian eShop for the equivalent of €10. If true, that's a steal.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Did you pick a Switch yet? Great console. Can't wait to play this game. Nostalgia!!

@OorWullie That's not the only bug in Press Garden 2. I actually could walk past the boss for some reason and finish the level. But the boss still attacked and froze me (after finishing the level), so the cutscene didn't start and just showed Eggman in front of his computer. Had to hard-reset my switch at this point, and apparently it did save me finishing the zone.

I now wish I made a screenshot of it, it was pretty weird.

@EightyTwoStu It's not a great console, it's not much better than the Wii U in terms of power and lacks features that it has. It's a good portable but not without its share of problems. I might wait for the Alpha Switch to release, which it definitely will because I don't want the hassle of transferring my purchases from one Switch to another. And I'm still waiting to hear if we can transfer our Wii U/3DS digital games to Switch.

I don't know people are impressed with this in late 2017. It's not even impressive for 2007. I get that people are happy to play a classic style Sonic that's been well-made, but to speak of this as some technical marvel?

Note the dig at Nintendo at the end regarding Metroid with the flashing image(10:17 to 10:27).

@riChchestM who said its a technical marvel?

What it is however is the best 2d sonic sonic in over 20 years which is what people are more excited about

Just wanted to confirm that you can pick it up on the Russian eshop for £9 - absolutely worth the price if you're on the fence.

how easy is it to buy from Russian e-shop? can you do that with a credit card?

@Morph The video did

@riChchestM It's not a technical marvel, but performance is extremely important in a game like this. As we all probably know, there are some really badly optimized games even on powerful systems. Thankfully Sonic Mania runs beautifully on Switch!

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
Yeah, you're right. Damn oil prices and exchange rate fluctuations

@lemonjellydude I found it super easy and quick - but I paid for it on a debit card - not credit. You would definitely want to check that you don't get increased charges on foreign purchases and currency convergence.

All you need to do is switch your account's location setting to Russia and then switch back as soon as you're done.

@lemonjellydude
Not more difficult than from any other, be it American or Japanese one. You set up an account, select Russia as your country and fire up the eShop. Any Visa/MasterCard should be accepted, there are no limitations here, even with sanctions. As long as you don't select the Autonomous Republic of Crimea as your home region. 1 EUR is roughly 70 RUB now, so yeah, it's 699 RUB which is just under 10 EUR.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Each to their own, i'm more than satisfied with it. Raw power isn't everything, Nintendo shows time and time again what they can do with inventive art styles and the like. I doubt there would be Wii U/3DS transfers for games ever as they are completely separate consoles/handheld consoles.

@SanderEvers And saves?

I am surprised by the amount of nostalgic Sonic fans in the comment section on YouTube. You would assume Sonic fans would have died out after 16 terrible games in a row. Now they are shouting "Sega does what Nintendon't" as if they even remembered.

Yes, it is cool that they created a team from fans and gave them a project. But I don't see why it's cool to hate on Nintendo now, because as far as I can remember, Mario was absolutely awesome since ever. What would they need a fan-based rescue team for?

I am on the fence and might get this game tonight. But I have to admit, Sonic is not my style. I prefer to collect every single coin and not rush through a stage and just hope I don't run into an obstacle.

Anyway, good to know the Nintendo Switch can handle 16bit games at 60fps. Let's hope they will be able to release the Virtual Console some day.

@riChchestM it really didn't

@Fuz no. I was also interested in the music. The music was a big part of the old Sonic games(and many other classics). I wouldn't consider buying this if the music was not appropriate.

Honestly, I only had a problem with the home button. The capture button worked fine for me.

This will be in my switch.... As soon as I get one.

They doing a physical release?

@riChchestM Aren't you fun!

This has the be the only really buggy game I can consider one of my favorite games of all time.

My glitch counter (not counting the amount of glitches I've seen on streams): 8

The remixed zones are visually improved and better than ever.

For those wanting to get the game from the Russian eshop, there is one limitation - it seems it doesn't accept credit cards from either the US or Canada. Other countries shouldn't have a problem.

It's so naïve comparing this situation to AM2R.

@ibis_87 Is every Switch game in Russia so cheap? There are some games I don't mind paying full European price for but some games are just too expensive for what they are. If the Russian prices are always lower, I might buy those games as well.

@Switchcraft Mario hasn't been absolutely awesome since the first game like you are saying. Not a single 2D Mario game has been absolutely awesome since Super Mario World 27 years ago. The New Super Mario Bros. series is extremely bland and as Yorumi explained, something's not right about the visuals either because they use the cheap 3D tricks. I say this as a big Mario fan. What Yoshi game has been awesome since Yoshi's Island 22 years ago? Yoshi's Woolly World is the only that got slightly close.

What Sega does what Nintendon't? We all know all the messy Sonic games released over the years because the original creators are not part of the Sonic Team. What Sega did here is allow Christian Whitehead and other fan developers to team up and make a true Sonic game like the ones that feel right and publish that game. Nintendo is way more conservative.

@riChchestM If you consider that the controls and physics are top-notch and that the visuals are much richer and at the same time as accurate using the Retro Engine and not the Sonic Mega Drive engine then it's a technical marvel even if it's not pushing the hardware to the limit which is something not directly related to the technical accomplishments made by a developer.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE how is this not much better than the Wii U? It's well on its way to surpass Wii U lifetime sales possibly within the first year if they can make enough with all their production problems, by year one the library is looking to crush what the Wii U did and probably match and/or exceed it in quality by end of year 2. Co-op is a joy of course. Netflix and apps are clearly unprioritized (though still coming) as it's not what drives system sales it's just a neat bonus and in today's day and age not even necessary considering how many other devices have it and run it better.

Only gripes I'll agree with u on is a VC service which I'd prefer a Netflix style subscription with the ability to purchase the game if I want for offline play or just straight up buy it for those that aren't so inclined to have a yearly service. And of course also the way it handles saves. This must be corrected and allowed for more flexibility. Cloud saving is a big deal for me and is a must, needs to come with paid NOS and I'll stay optimistic and pray that Ninty gets their heads out of their asses about this and makes it happen already.

Splatnet is absolutely fantastic btw and your missing out is your a fan of Splatoon bcuz u want to stick to your the Wii U is the best Ninty gaming console guns. It's proven it's surpassed the Wii U in every conceivable way already from public perception and soon to be gaming library. Don't forget this is coming from a big Wii U fan with a very large library, who also hopes they allow digital transfers of their VC games (fingers crossed they at least think of a one time fee for everything or include it with NOS subscription) so I'm no advocate or Wii U hater. Just seeing it like I call it and there's some deep underlying issue with you and the Switch, maybe it's bcuz Wii U failed or maybe it's just not what u want, but trashing it every moment u get when it's clearly doing so well is not helping out your cause. It's funny I never see your comments on articles where the Switch is being highly praised, it is a great console, get over it. U might throw a one jerker in there every now and then and say something like "not that impressive", and again if AAA titles are what u crave then get one of the competitors consoles and have the best of bot worlds. One machine does not do it all, they NEVER did, and maybe u can stop feeling so hurt, betrayed or upset over the Switch already lol.

@MaSSiVeRiCaN Utter nonsense. TLDR. I say nothing positive about Switch? What does the first comment in this story say?

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/08/dragon_quest_xi_and_nintendo_switch_still_dominate_the_japanese_charts

That was only yesterday. Or take a look at my posts in the forums. I post new Switch game announcements, updates on games, videos, stories, etc.

https://www.nintendolife.com/users/SLIGEACH_EIRE/posts

I'm critical of Nintendo because believe it or not, they're not infallible. They make a lot of mistakes as well as making great games. I'm interested in Nintendo only, I want them to do well but I'd like to see them stop making stupid decisions like their voicechat app. You won't and don't see me talking about Sony or Microsoft because I don't care about them.

Edit: See it's strokes like this that annoys me about Nintendo.

https://www.nintendolife.com/competitions/get_back_into_pokemon_go_with_a_nifty_pokemon_go_plus

Only open to residents of the UK. Even though Nintendo UK are supposed to cover Ireland.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE forgot & completely agree with you on the voice chat issue as well slipped my mind at 5am, and I stand corrected, my apologies and I was wrong in a few things I said although it's harder to find the positives than negatives when it comes to a lot of your comments 😋

Most definitely Nintendo is not infallible and for as much as they innovate they're also ass backwards in many respects, we're all on the same page when it comes to that. Hopefully this is the generation that brings them to speed with online, voice chat and saves. That's all I need. Unfortunately sorry man but I don't think your full AAA title itch is going to be fulfilled with Switch as it's just underpowered at the moment and wouldn't make sense to bring the ultra heavy power consuming games over, I'd genuinely consider a cheap used system from Sony/MS for certain titles.

Do know that I appreciate your candor, pov, links, posts & tips for articles, knowledge u provide, and honesty in how u feel. Everyone is entitled to their opinions so no faulting you in any way for how u feel, just trying to backup the Switch's success thus far and hopefully it continues to do well.

Edit: as far as stock issues go they're also pretty horrible but well I can't complain since 85% of the time get what I want. Missed out on the Majoras mask Scamiibo and NES Mini though neither one hurt me too much. I'd buy if available but not distraught like so many others lol.