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Here's a spoiler ahead of our Sonic Mania review - it's a huge amount of fun. Prior to release this scribe published some personal thoughts based on the PS4 version to summarise why it's the Sonic game many have been waiting for. We are now dashing through on Switch, and our review will be with you in the next 24 hours.
Our non Digital Foundry-style summary is that, fundamentally, it runs like an absolute charm on the system, both docked and portable. We played a large part of the campaign in handheld mode and it felt at home there, and likewise it does nicely on the TV.
Visually any differences - only subtle variations in colour, we think - between the various console iterations are minimal. While the game runs at a lovely 60fps most of the time - only the first SEGA CD-style special stage, oddly, shows any real dips in performance - there is one odd little flaw on Switch. It's pretty minor, but as some have decided to make a mountain out of a molehill we thought we'd share our perspective. When the game is running there can be a delay when you press the capture or HOME button, especially in portable mode; it seems to vary per user.
In our case we've noticed it with the HOME button; in one case the game simply didn't respond, we waited a few seconds and tried again with success.
Another time we pressed it and there was a notable pause, before the HOME menu then kicked in. On both occasions the functionality was eventually fine, as we closed and in one case simply paused the game with the system going into sleep.
In either case it's hopefully something that will be fixed - only HOME and capture seem to be affected at some points, and the issue is less pronounced and sometimes absent entirely when docked.
At no point are normal gameplay controls affected, and in fact this scribe enjoys the latency-free controls in handheld mode. In fairness, the devs behind the game are aware that, generally, the game has a few little bugs to be fixed. I know they'll do their best to fix all of the bugs as soon as possible.
This games is clearly a labour of love. I am having this bug. I even had the long-press home menu come up, but the game was still responding to the controller inputs, and the touch screen wouldn't respond either. Yeah, I noticed that but More importantly, Sonic went into a roll and never exited it right before a boss Fight, and I had no choice but to do the level over again. Kinda annoying, but I'm sure it'll be corrected too. I noticed this myself. As minor an issue as they come.
The game runs beautifully. I have noticed a couple of areas needing a little more polish though. On Green Hill Zone Act 2,after you jump over the spikes near the start, if you walk back just a little bit the screen scrolls down and you can tell it's not meant to as you can see the spikes are floating on thin air.
Also on Chemical Zone Act 1, the tricky part with moving platforms under water, there's a tiny invisible piece sticking out the wall just above the surface on the right hand side.. How do I know there is if it's invisible? Because you can stand on it. Twice it's happened to me so far. This game is made to feed on players nostalgia, and to be fair the bugs were there in the old games which always got a laugh out of me. So bugs are put of the nostalgia I guess. Noticed it with the Home button.
Not a big issue. Certainly doesn't detract from the great gameplay. I also got stuck in one of the tubes in Chemical Plant Zone one of those tubes where I was supposed to exit them by opening those hinged doors. I had to restart the level for that. I was wondering if it was just me or if the Home button lagged this morning. I'll take a lagging Home function over poor performance.
I didn't pick it up yet. Anyone know it's cost? Gonna take a wild guess that the Internet at large is pretending to be outraaaaged by this. This thread is practically calling for WiltonRoots by name. I must say it kinda scared me at first but tbf its no Biggie. That doesn't bother me too much. I had a more annoying glitch in the very final boss though, where the last moment of the battle wasn't playing out I was stuck with nothing to do , so I had to 'die' and redo the battle, which worked the second time.
Looks like the camera doesn't move where it's meant to, in order to hide that. It wouldn't so much if there was something underneath them and maybe that's the solution in a future patch.
Yeah, I did manage to run into a couple glitches. There was one that forgot to spawn a boss phase, so I had to wait for the timer to go down. But to be frank, I had a big goofy smile Can't wait to buy this when I get off work.
Looks and sounds like a winner from all the reviews I've seen in the past 24 hours. Can't wait to play this. Yeah, I noticed a delay when hitting the Home button--but it's a monor enough problem that I thought nothing of it. Anyway, Whitehead has been good about fixing issues with the mobile Sonic remasters, so I expect this'll be fixed, too.
I hit the Home button out of habit when I mean to pause. After playing through Chemical Zone Act 2, I felt is was well worth buying the day of. And to think that people thought there was no way that the PC version was delayed to add polish to it I mean, the hiccups are intensely minor for me, so I couldn't care less, but still; very few, if any, games wouldn't benefit from at least a tiny bit more polish.
I imagine they were only able to keep the August 15th date on consoles by focusing their efforts there, requiring a push back for the PC version. Great game, tiny bugs will be quickly fixed. I like what Sega is done here I wish there were still innovative game devs out there but apparently they all have disappeared from the face of the earth.
I'm enjoying the game too much enough to care about that minor problem. It's like crying over spill milk, it's just milk someone will clean it up eventually and it's not going to be me. Already got the collector's edition on the way for my switch. It will arrive Thursday so hopefully an update may be put by then. I've had it happen to me and it crashed when putting into sleep mode, weirdly since then it seems to have fixed itself. I'm enjoying the 2D stages but the insta-fail bonus levels are bullpoo.
You barely get a chance to practice before you're kicked out. Would a retry option have been so hard? Desrever I think everybody on this website should use your avatar MarioPhD - I think the toughest hurdle for any artist to overcome is calling a piece "done".
I can't imagine how stressful it is to spend so much time on something, and then push it out to the world as your next fully formed masterpiece. Brian Wilson pretty much lost his mind for a while making Pet Sounds.
It's a masterpiece, and I've read he can't even listen to it. My friend is currently working on a ' mural, and he's going insane. Just right out in the open, striving for the impossible; perfection as he sees it. The Movie for that reason as well. Regardless to what anyone may think of Phil Fish and his persona, it was a bit heartbreaking when he said something to the tune of "I've been so close to it for so long, I can't tell if it's good or not anymore.
It does all come together beautifully in Sonic Mania's case, though. Glad it wasn't just me, pressing home and putting the system to sleep from portable mode was much slower than any previous game, so hope they fix it! For downloadable titles, small bugs don't bother me much. On hardcopy retail releases - I get annoyed. More permanence existing in that scenario.
I'm just happy we didn't have to wait for a late port. I hate grilled cheese sandwiches because of that reasoning. I mean, my mom made them for me as a kid, so as an adult I have to avoid them completely. Nothing intrinsically good about grilled cheese, except for childhood nostalgia.
This doesant seem like much of a problem to be honest. I really want this game but can't decide whether to buy it on Switch or my PS4! I ended up being in the shallow water below once the camera or whatever caught up to me, in that same spot.
Thought I found a secret area at first! Err, Why wouldn't a game styled in the 90s not run the same. Not like this is pushing any graphics boundaries.
It is a 20 dollar retro game. MarioPhD - That is a sad quote.