Thread 718168776

Robbed or dodged a bullet?

Depends on the animation but I want to say robbed.

Im always sceptical of new Sonic games, so I will say dodged for now

I wanna clanga that kanga

It could have had good gameplay, could have not, I'm going to say it could have went either way.

It looks ok.

it better had have more original levels

What's the point when we already had Superstars?

>>718168776 (OP)
>Sonic Mania 2 would've had Penny's artstyle

I guess we really did dodge a bullet.

Are we supposed to be pretending Super Stars was bad, and didn't sell like shit because they charged way too much for it, got assrammed by Nintendo spamming ads for a new soup, and the perrenial killer of SEGA game sales, Denuvo.
Me personally I don't like Christian's level design, he thinks Sonic CD has good level design minus its scavenger hunt

>>718168776 (OP)
Level design and gameplay is what matters.
Mania was great because of that.

I care a lot less about the visuals, especially since that's easy to change.
I modded Mania to use the Sonic 3 model instead of the shitty Sonic 2 model anyway

>>718169506
No, we're just supposed to be glad Sonic didn't get the Penny treatment. Also Superstars sold well as per the leaks.

>>718168776 (OP)
>dodged a bullet
>could have gotten another classic game by the same guys behind Mania, just with a presumably larger budget
How is that dodging a bullet.

Also I had read before about their prototypes for Mania's follow-up using 3D/2.5D graphics instead of pure spritework, but I was expecting something more like Superstars. This seems like its going more for an air-brushed look with its style, which is cool.
Honestly reminds me of the Sonic 2 HD project, although I think Mania's main art director worked on that project too, so I guess that makes sense.
A shame Sega's management always ends up driving third party devs away from this series.

>>718169506
>he thinks Sonic CD has good level design
I've seen him outright state that he prefers S3K's level design/gameplay over CD's. He just likes CD's presentation.

>>718168776 (OP)
Sega should revive that project

>>718169805
Except we know how awful it would've ended up looking.

>>718169506
Superstars didn't sell badly, Sega was just "disappointed" in its initial sales because they thought Japanese audiences were going to boost its numbers just like they did with Frontiers, even though Japan has never cared about 2D Sonic literally ever. Outside that it sold like pretty much every other Sonic game.

>>718168776 (OP)
We didn’t dodge the bullet, we got hit by it and had salt poured in the wound

>>718170138
>even though Japan has never cared about 2D Sonic literally ever
i thought they didn't care about sonic period

Because of pic related, I was coping that Sega took the Mania team back and that they're working on a proper followup after Superstars flopped, but apparently they're hiring for another Penny like 3D game instead. It's so fucking over bros...

>>718170069
I thought the environments in that game looked fine.

>>718170212
Sonic Frontiers randomly did well there so Sega must've thought the franchise was now popular in Japan too. It still isn't.

>>718170284
"Fine" is a good way to describe them, really nothing interesting despite the fantastical colors.

>>718170212
Typically, they don't. They showed a lot of interest in Frontiers probably because it looked almost nothing like a typical Sonic game.
The last time Japan showed that same level of interest in Sonic was SA1.

>>718168776 (OP)
Need to see it in motion but any kind of Sonic Mania 2 would be preferable to Sonic Superstars.

>>718169506
Superstars actually sold as well as you would expect, however SEGA seemed to have thought it would do as well as Frontiers, or perhaps even better if they were thinking of it as their own New Super Mario Beos.

>>718169506
>Super Stars was bad
I wouldn't say it's awful but the game had many flaws.

looks as bad as I expected
it's clear they were always going for the saturn look they gave penny, wouldn't be surprised if penny was a repurposed mania 2

Not sure what level of contrarianism one must be on to think Superstars looks anything but usually bland and occasionally embarrassing, let alone better than OP pic.

>>718170364
Well, fine, I think they look good then. I like the Sonic CD-esque usage of shapes and geometry.
Penny's biggest flaw in its presentation was its character design work, but apparently that's something the dev team's main art guy has always struggled with, even back when he was working on mobile games.

Robbed. It looks so much nicer than the cheap looking shit we ended up with. I hope SEGA contracts ES to make the next 2D Sonic. They need the money anyway, their original game seems to have flopped hard.

>>718170254
>but apparently they're hiring for another Penny like 3D game
who, sega or evening star?
because didn't evening star lay off like half the studio not long ago due to lack of funds?

>>718169506
It wasn't BAD but just very mediocre and unpolished. It needed at least 3 more months of dev time and a lower price.

As someone who thinks Mania is a massively overrated, 7/10 game at best, I'd say we were robbed a bullet.

>>718168776 (OP)
Visually, that already looks way better than Superstars.

so what happened here was ES asking for a bigger budget and more creative freedom only for SEGA to tell them to fuck off and hire Arzest instead right?

>>718170952
Evening Star had to fire "certain people" and used the low sales of Penny to justify it. Right now, they are hiring a level designer.

>>718171224
They wanted to make something original

>>718170602
Superstars is interesting in that it's flawed, but not in the "fundamental" way most Sonic games tend to be. The gameplay and level design are generally good, it's just stuff like the balancing for bosses and the unfinished soundtrack that pulls the game down, both being issues that could have been fixed somewhat in future patches, like how Mania received another layer of polish when its expansion released.
Unfortunately, Sega seemed to just let the game die for whatever reason, which is doubly weird since we now know the game didn't even sell badly. Maybe Arzest got sick of dealing with Sega's shit just like Mania's team did.

>>718171276
>certain people
D:
blacks?

>>718169506
Superstar's biggest problem were the bosses taking forever.

>>718171376
Well, now that you mention it...

>>718168776 (OP)
At the time conditions at sega were just right to support life in the form of mania and no doubt there was way too much pushback and mucking around with the formula(from headcanon and sega both) for there to have been any chance of mania 2 happening let alone turning out good.

>>718169070
Shota and protective kanga sister sexo

>>718168776 (OP)
What's most interesting about this is Whitehead claiming that the kangaroo badnik concept from his prototype still ended up being used in Superstars. Makes me wonder how much of Superstars was reusing stuff from Evening Star's original plans, and how much of it was Arzest/Ohshima's original ideas.

>>718168776 (OP)
Meh

Rest in piss Classic Sonic

>>718169506
Flawed is definitely the word to use for Superstar, it was mechanically sound and the levels were decent but the last few bosses really soured my opinion of it. I don't mind earlier bosses, I have no problem with not being able to cheese them in 5 seconds, but the last 3 or so have instant death and are very long and it can all fall apart in an instant.
The music is pretty hit and miss.

>>718172094
>it was mechanically sound and the levels were decent
one of the greatest flaws that doesn't get talked about enough is the camera being too zoomed in. which really hurt overall visibility

So anyway is Mania worth checking out? I got it free on the epic store years ago, never tried it.

>>718172269
Yeah

>>718171353
And look how that turned out.

>>718168776 (OP)
I like how he made that awful Penny's Big Breakaway game which flopped and caused the developer to lay off a bunch of people, also Tee Lopes is a raging faggot.

>>718172247
The camera is actually at the same distance as every other classic Sonic game, including Mania.
But there's no reason they couldn't have offered camera distance options considering it's already built into the game when playing multiplayer (iirc).

>>718170212
Japan didn't need the "Sega does what Nintendon't" treatment since they aren't morons built to consume. They still had good games originating there and then some. Americans treat Sonic like a AAA franchise when it's been AA ever since 2003. Only alive nowadays due to Stockholm syndrome in anyone who was interested in it as a kid, and their parents bought them nothing of actual substance. Fast Food video game series.

>>718168776 (OP)
I don't like the obsession with tacky visuals. Sonic CD is ugly, and shouldn't be replicated. Every screenshot doesn't need every color of the goddamn rainbow all at the same time.

>>718172813
>they aren't morons built to consume
Their obsession with gacha shit says otherwise.

>>718172956
Gacha games didn't exist in 1991 - 1999

>>718172602
What the hell did Tee Lopes do? Was it funny?

>>718173059
What the hell do you think modern gachashit is inspired by, anon.

>>718169371
I thought you meant Mischief Makers released in 1997 for the Nintendo 64 and was about to get angry. But then I remembered that the main character's name was Maria instead of Penny. I then realized that the game you are referring to is actually Evening Star's first original game, Penny's Big Breakaway released in 2024 on multiple platforms. You got lucky punk. No one in this thread would have been able to protect you from my wrath. Careful out there buddy. Don't want to get yourself Shake Shaked.

>SUPERSTARS SUCKS WHY IS IT SOULLESS 2.5D GIVE ME 2D PIXELART LIKE MANIA
>Whitehead reveals Mania 2 was going to be 2.5D
>a-actually 2.5D is great we was robbed n shit
You people are pathetic.

>>718173059
But gacha sure did. It's been around since the 60s.

>>718173191
That's a Gashapon minigame within an actual game.

>>718173317
Execution matters. OP looks like it's actually trying to capture a specific style while Superstars ended up looking worse than Sonic 4 Episode 2, which came out around a decade beforehand.
Also OP's prototype seem to be using a mix of 3D and 2D assets anyway.

>>718173471
And what do you think the minigame is inspired by?
Stop being a mongoloid.

>>718173624
Is is the lines under Penny's eyes? Makes her look old or something. Or maybe it's the color scheme and hat.

>>718173624
NTA both of those are shit

>>718173624
Maria's face looks like it came out of a "how to draw anime" book.

>>718173624
NTA left mogs

>>718173548
Japan didn't need to downplay Sega's entire identity in the 90's to be Anti-Nintendo, unlike America, as they didn't grow up in a society that begged you to buy their toys or pop-tarts through video games. Gacha games are based on Gashapon, yes, but none of them existed at the time of Sonic's debut. Continue being retarded, or actually argue against my main point?

something about the art is unappealing but I can't quite place it. might work better in motion but it would have been refined before actually becoming a real game either way so it feels pointless to speculate too hard on it.
my biggest takeway is that it's another desert stage good fuckin lord whitehead was hellbent on making Dust Hill into a real thing, wasn't he?

>>718168776 (OP)
Source?

>>718174039
Christian Whitehead.

>>718174112
Links, retard. These aren't on his twitter.

>>718174159
https://bsky.app/profile/cfwhitehead.bsky.social/post/3lwhbnncp6s2y

>been nearly 10 years since Mania came out
crazy

>>718174198
Thank you.

>>718174019
>Gacha games are based on Gashapon, yes, but none of them existed at the time of Sonic's debut.
Modern gacha games are just the digital equivalent of gashapon, which did exist when Sonic debuted.
Which makes your whole point about Japan not being "morons built to consume" very stupid.

>>718173624
I can almost tolerate Penny's design, but I can't get over the under-eye diamonds no matter what

>>718174226
I still remember them adding Denuvo for no fucking reason and scamming people out of their pre-order refunds by giving them some dogshit sonic romdump in their steam library 2 weeks before release
the fact it took literally any time at all to get rid of it is an insult and spit in the face of any 2D sonic fan and should not be forgotten

>>718174029
It's actually an australian outback stage which is based on a planned zone from an old fan project he was part of.
Mania's desert zone is a realization of the "Desert Dazzle" concept he wanted to include in his CD port, which itself is inspired by a presumed cut zone from CD, based on the cacti seen in pic related.

>>718168776 (OP)
If it was actually drawn, we were so fucking robbed.

>>718173063
make the same song seven billion times
HE CAN'T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH IT

>>718173978
Chibiss or chaibiss depending on what part of the country you're from

>>718174482
To be fair, pre-order retards deserve to be raped and gaped, so this is funny.

>>718172602
>Tee Lopes is a raging faggot
Why? I don't use twatter

>>718175818
It still doesn't excuse the actions taken by SEGA by literally any metric.

>>718175912
I don't know, I think it's pretty based to abuse retards like that tbqfh.

>>718168776 (OP)
Mania was shit, so yeah, dodged a bullet.

>>718173913
soulless take

>>718173913
Agreed. Han's artstyle was always the weakest link in Treasure.

I would’ve liked to see a Mania 2 or just another 2D Sonic game from the same team. Mania probably has my favorite level design in a 2D Sonic game, it treads the line between exploration and gofast spectacle segments and is great for replaying with different characters.

>>718168776 (OP)
Just make Shadow Mania at this point
Or link up with Konami and make Castle Mania

>>718168776 (OP)
>even light blue
>those fuckhuge eyebrows
so even the mania guys were trying to turn 2d sonic into santiago

>>718177403
>even light blue
*lighter

>>718168776 (OP)
It looks better than Superstars, but it proves that Mania was an impossible fluke which could never be made today. Sonic was always gonna go downhill from there, even if Forces hadn’t been released. Depressing.

>>718168776 (OP)
Is this a missed April fools? Or did he just want to fuck with people by making a "lost" desert level to compare with the Sonic 2 lost one?

>>718177610
They're images from a prototype intended for a follow-up to Mania that never happened. We've known about this for a couple years now.

>>718176592
Objectively wrong. Their later games that were generic-ass anime were far more forgettable.

>>718177773
Interesting. Must have known M2 was on shaky ground to just happen to do a desert one like S2's lost level.

>>718177868
Mania's team already did a throwback to to the scrapped level in Mania itself, anon. The prototype level in OP is more outback inspired, hence the kangaroo, Whitehead himself being Australian, etc.

>>718172602
>>718173063
>>718175852
it's just Alex Yard crashing out again because he's a fucking schizo and Tee Lopes lives rent free in his head. Pretty sure he's also the one posting the Toby Fox plagiarism threads here too
oh look he just uploaded another schizo rant about Tee again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=porFh2hwOt4

>>718177493
>Mania was an impossible fluke which could never be made today
Didn't even sell well.

>>718178291
Alex Yard is based and you have only completed 25% of Sonic 3 and Knuckles

Uhhhhhhh Iizuka bros??????

>>718178604
Yeah, it sold so badly they actually bothered to give it a physical release later on.
Because it sold so badly.

>>718178831
So based in fact, that he lost all his patreon followers, cried on stream because some youtuber made a light hearted friendly joke about him, and is reduced to making unhinged schizo rants about niche e-celeb drama on a sub channel that is exclusively viewed by a couple hundred hatewatchers at most. Also his latest music theory video on his main channel completely flopped and actually has less views than some of said schizo rants kek

>>718178831
factual and correct

>>718168776 (OP)
Looks cool like a Sonic 2 mockup but HD

>>718173913
Ah, so I'm not the only one with taste.

Look at this bad blood between Evening Star & SEGA. It's so bad, that they were hanging out with each other last year!!

>>718181741
you don't understand anon, they hate westerners working on sonic because they're jealous! I don't have any evidence for it but it's true!
don't ask me why they consistently keep hiring westerners to work on sonic ok?

>>718168776 (OP)
>Santiago

>>718168776 (OP)
>same hideous artstyle as penny but worse with cheap flat 2D assets and a 3D Sonic model
Sega made the right move

>>718168776 (OP)
Another fucking wild west level?

>>718168776 (OP)
actually pretty ugly. I think the 32bit style sprite art is far better. The real travesty is the fact Superstars was going to have handrawn art Rayman legends style but Sega thought people wouldn't like it.

>>718183646
32-bit 2d never took off. Sonic Mania had the right idea.

>>718183357
You are a total moron. This is a mere early prototype and it already looks way better than Superstars which had terrible cheap mobile graphics.

>>718183646
I'd be interested in having Lizardcube's artists on the next 2D game.

>>718183926
They have a fruity style, hell no.

>>718179371
>cried on stream because some youtuber made a light hearted friendly joke about him
what the fuck? Could I see that?

Last I saw of him he was seething over Toby Fox.

>>718183926
>juggleslop
this is not shinobi

>>718184341
Funny the Ninja Gaiden game is a better Shinobi than the actual Shinobi.

Anyone saying anything else other than robbed is a fucking idiot. No, Superstars wasn't a good follow up. No, Frontiers isn't where the franchise needed to go. Mania 2 could have had all new levels and maybe some remixed levels as a post-game bonus. We should be on Mania 4 right now but Sonic fans didn't punish SEGA for their dumb shit and now we're stuck with the shitty games that we've been getting since 2005.

>>718183890
Nah this looks more like mobileshit or a flash game

>>718168776 (OP)
>That art-style
Holy shit we dodge an entire cannonball

>>718184216
https://x.com/SubsonicSparkIe/status/1935734322520060338

>>718174159
>>718174251
Watch your mouth beggar

>>718185064
That lad should not be streaming if something as small as that breaks him

>>718168776 (OP)
I wouldn't be surprised if the art direction is the reason SEGA didn't want to green light the project. Given how Penny ended up they were probably right.

>>718168776 (OP)
looks ugly

>>718170284
Bro that looks like a Hotel Mario cutscene background

>>718185064
kek Alex Yard is acting like a BPD ex-gf
What a faggot, I genuinely hate people like this

>>718181741
>christian without wearing a dope leather jacket
Are you sure that's him?

>>718186013
You're right, Sega thought the gajins would make them look bad again, so the final product of Superstars ended up worse.

>>718168776 (OP)
So they planned on having completely different pixel art from the first game?

>>718169506
It's mediocre to the point where I don't ever see myself playing it again, and I replay Sonic games a lot.
I would rather replay the Master System games sans Blast before I would replay Superstars.

>>718168776 (OP)
>SoJ stole the idea and gave it to fucking ARZEST
Sega of Japan may be my most hated people ever

>>718185064
not reading whatever some nigger has to say

>>718187747
>SoJ stole the idea
stole the idea for what?
a fucking 2D sonic game?
you dramaschizos are the dumbest motherfuckers

>>718168776 (OP)
Still looks better than Superstars

>>718187997
Retarded fucking idiot can’t read and works himself into a tizzy

>>718188825
tell the class what "idea" they stole, schizo

>>718171372
>Maybe Arzest got sick of dealing with Sega's shit
Some of the devs were credited on Shadow Generations so they probably worked on the 2D stages

Why is he showing this now? What has Evening Star been working on since Penny flopped?

>>718168776 (OP)
looks like neon shit but if it improved upon mania's level design it probably would've be been better than the 1st

>>718187747
The Mania Team stole all of their ideas from Sega. It seems only fair tbqh.

>>718173624
even if Penny's artstyle is derivitive of Mischief Makers I respect the idea of trying to look different from the crowd
for me it's how Penny has boy's hair under her performer hat
>it's hat hair
That's a boy's haircut, styled and untouched under that hat, also her diamond eyes look like sharp eyelash inserts instead of makeup

>>718173624
Is Australia considered western?

>>718189185
Because Mania came out 8 years ago today. Whitehead's shown his concepts for the game and such on various anniversaries for the game

>>718189554
looks more like grandma hair to me

>>718189554
different ≠ good

>>718188860
SoA-fags are the dumbest motherfuckers ever. They’re like /pol/cels except replace Jews with Japs.

>>718169070
>I WILL SEND MY CONDOLENCES TO YOUR KANGAROO WIFE

>>718173624
Faggot.

>>718176592
OMEGA FAGGOT

ONLY THE FAGGIEST OPINIONS ON /v/

>>718181857
SoA-fags think that SoJ unironically blow thousands of dollars on gaijin devs and writers so that when the gaijin game fails they can laugh at the filthy subhumans. They live in a cartoon version of reality.

>>718189185
Penny 2: Flop harder.

>>718168776 (OP)
Pixel Art > S4E2 == This >> Superstars >>>> Penny

>>718189587
It's an English speaking country full of white people so yes.

>>718168776 (OP)
It's been months since I last stepped foot on this shithole but after hearing the news about this dropping I had to come back to /v/ to see just how much maniabros would seethe over this being passed over for Superslop. I know I'm pissed. No game today looks like this and is far more unique visionally than any other 2D platformer as of the time of this being released.

Instead, they released a mobile game from 2008 instead with censored physics and a cancerous, broken, forced multiplayer no one asked for. Seriously, SEGA, what the hell is going on over there? Is there something bad in the water supply or something?

>>718169920
This is correct, btw. As in the correct opionion. CD is the best looking Sonic, S3K is the best in everything else.

>>718191203
>censored physics
babe wake up, new buzzword just dropped

>>718173317
Soulless Corpo shit looks really, REALLY FUCKING BAD.
They make everything look like Unity/Unreal because no one has their OWN engine to make original looking games anymore. The only time 2.5D looks good these days is when it's by indies. In fact, ever since "HD2D" was coined every game that mixed 2D assets with 3D raytracing shit has been the DEFAULT and it looks TERRIBLE. I hate it.

Penny's game was robbed, legit hidden gem

>>718192450
I guarantee most of the retards on this board who shit on it for the character design haven't even played it.

>>718192597
Why would I, it looks like fucking ass. Have a better-looking protag and I may be interested

>>718193443
Sucks to be you

It's been months and yet the faggots are still bitching over something that doesn't even matter to them. Lol.

>>718192450
>>718192597
I bought it, and legitimately tried playing through it on more than one occasion. I never was able to get into that 'flow state' the level design was CLEARLY telling you the game was meant to be played in. Threw in the towel with that one boss in the submarine, trying to play through any given level was always clunky as fuck and I just flat out couldn't seem to get the controls to flow nicely into each other.
Fore contrast, I find playing through classic sonic games to be second nature, and feel completely in control careening through those stages. By contrast I can see what a given stage in Penny's Big Breakaway is WANTING me to do, but the way the yo-yo seems to work just, doesn't.
Maybe I'm just too much of a brainlet and it's expecting fighting game tier combos of inputs to do what I need it to do, but I just couldn't seem to get into it.

>>718168776 (OP)
>thread is dying at only 172 posts
jesus

>Wanted to buy Penny physically a couple months ago as I developed an itch for it
>All the physical copies are sold out and ones available are jewed up in the market with an asking price of $70+
>LRG are the handler behind this
Holy fuck why do indies keep going for this godawful publisher. Fangamer is right fucking there.

>>718196575
I guess all the maniafags gave up hope after getting burned by SEGA for yet another time. From SA1, to Generations, and now Superstars... yeah, I can see how things really went down the drain in morale in regards to the future of classic sonic games.

>>718168776 (OP)
tee dropped the track
>https://x.com/TeeLopes/status/1956520057216852102

>>718198624
He should drop an apology to Alex Yard

>>718198624
wtf how far into development did they get if there was an entire song made

>>718198624
Boring song, where's the melody
>>718199737
A pitch demo probably, why wouldn't it have music

>>718196807
Fangamer also has their own issues but yeah still preferable to LRG.

>>718192597
Well yeah the character design is why they didn't give it a chance. That's the fucking point.

>>718171904
>Makes me wonder how much of Superstars was reusing stuff from Evening Star's original plans
Wouldn't be the first time Sega of Japan performed explicit banditry on a western developer they were contracting to make Sega games.

>>718170864
>Well, fine, I think they look good then
erm not good enough actually.

This looks shitty.

We only got robbed in that Penny's Breakaway and Sonic Superstars were both mediocre so this is the least of both evils

>>718173978
>Maria's face looks like it came out of a "how to draw anime" book.
The artist actually did publish one of those in the early 00's

>>718187418
>You're right, Sega thought the gajins would make them look bad again, so the final product of Superstars ended up worse.
I don’t know why people itt have denial that there are passive aggressive japs that either want their way or leaves others in the highway

>>718187747
Pitches are owned by the company. If you ever want to pitch something to Nintendo, they keep the material and you aren’t allowed to show it for years. That’s something you agree to in the paperwork

>>718189894
Japs aren’t infallble. No race or religion is. Keep sucking Lizuka’s microdick though

>>718170069
I tried to like the game, it's just not good
Whoever made it forgot that controls need to feel good on a platformer

>>718198624
this guy can't make a good song to save his life, but "ooh it sounds like sonic music me likey, ooh da instruments"

>>718173978
Marina*
Go look up Gunstar Heroes anon

>>718198624
I like it

>>718200536
t. Richard Jacques

>>718183856
>32-bit 2d never took off
What?
we had a whole console generation of it

>>718200621
How'd you know?

>>718168776 (OP)
I need more Ray the Flying Squirrel and his boyfriend Mighty

>your choices were 2.5D shit or slightly less worse looking 2.5D shit
Wow, I'm oh so sad this got canned. Seriously though, give me a game with Sonic Advance's immaculate sprites again.

>>718172865
>Sonic CD is ugly
Imagine being both wrong and gay. Thank god youre not and will never be an authority on anything ever

Robo Kangaroo not sexy enough. Would've failed.

>>718201401
Any random screenshot after the first level looks like SHIIIIIIIIIT. Pick any random screenshot, and it is retina-destroying eye rape and that's not opinion, that's a fact.
>"B-B-BUT I GREW UP WITH IT... YEARS AFTER THE SEGA CD ON EMULATORS"
Don't care, you're wrong.

Tee Lopes just uploaded the music for this prototype.
https://youtu.be/ieoEAPalqvc

>>718168776 (OP)
Holy shit, what a banger
Sounds amazing https://x.com/TeeLopes/status/1956520057216852102

>>718201146
Shut the fuck up modern fag

Your games are all trash, you are the laughing stock of the Internet 20 years running

>>718172865
I like CD's visuals but yeah, faggots are obsessed with this very particular look as if it's the defining and ultimate sonic style
unironically superstars was going for a much better look, they just didn't land the execution
I especially love all the trannies on twitter going "yooo this looks incredible wtf!!!" when none of them bought penny's big flop, they just wanna worship the mania team and cry about big evil racist sega as always

>something botches at Sega, maybe someone didn't want to put more budget into another 2D Sonic game despite Mania selling gangbusters, maybe someone on the project wanted to just break away, no pun intended
>Sega then outsources a successor to Mania to the fucking mediocre Arzest folks and surprise, it shits the bed
I'm not gonna believe the whole "IIZUKA EMBARRASSED BY WESTERN INDIE DEVS" bullshit, but it's clear something went very wrong since Lopes and Whitehead still seem very fond of the pitch to unify these releases and talk about it this way. And clearly Sega of Japan wasn't insulted if they literally used assets, sounds and jingles, even the damn the physics basis of Mania for what they wanted to be their own shitcessor.

>>718168776 (OP)
>>718168851
>>718200594
It’s literally the same game from Sega Genesis for Sonic 2. They are not making games, they are remaking old stages.

>>718202421
Not sure why you responded to my post about Treasure

>>718202193
Sega said it failed compared to the numbers frontiers made, not that it failed as a product and didn’t make any sales or net income. They were expecting Frontiers numbers for mania since Arzest works with shoe string budgets

>>718202193
Sonic Superstars sold more than Mania by a LOT. That should tell you enough why they didn't do a Mania 2.

>>718168776 (OP)
Yup, this was absolutely cancelled because it made Sonic Team seethe beyond comprehension

>>718168776 (OP)
>Sonic team got so assblasted that they just stole Whitehead's ideas but couldn't execute them worth shit

Where was all this support for Whitehead and Evening Star when Penny came out? :^)

>>718202193
the real answer:
mania didn't sell as well as terminally online people tell you when they pretend it's the only success in the last 20 years
it sold "fine", a little less than superstars (at a third of the price so way less returns)
kids especially didn't care because they don't give a shit about pixel art games
making a game with that strange saturn 32bit look is an even harder sell, because at least low-res pixel art has "retro" appeal for normies, this shit is only appealing to a few enthusiasts (as evidenced by penny's floppy cock)
nobody except for the most dedicated of autists would have bought this, it would have flopped HARD
sega naturally took the wise (if soulless) option of just going for a typical modern-looking 3D look
it's that simple, no big conspiracy

>>718202731
>>718202967
Except it sold like shit. People just do not care for retro-looking games.

>>718203102
>>718203020
Where's this narrative that Mania sold like shit? Sega themselves were super surprised and happy with how it sold a million in a year for a budget side game to their main project, it outstripped Forces even if at a lower sale cost it wasn't making the same money per sale. We don't have the exact sales numbers of how things ended up overall, and it may very well not have sold as much as Frontiers, but this "it sold like shit" narrative is itself bullshit. Superstars wouldn't exist if Sega didn't think there wasn't something to follow up on there.

>>718203020
>kids don't give a shit about pixel art games
deltarune
also https://x.com/HCStealth/status/949856629578637312

>>718203393
>deltarune
...is exclusively played by 28+ autistic ex-homestuck tumblr users and people with an axe wound?
Undertale came out 10 years ago
a 15 year old undertale kid is 25 now

>>718169506
No way in hell am I paying 70$ for 2d game, how do they even have the balls to set this price when they are the creators of Balan Wonderland

>>718200681
He's sort of correct. It was 3D graphics or bust. Even pseudo-3D with 2D sprites was looked at as cheap. It was either 3D, pre-rendered 3D or 2D.

>>718203393
It's less that these games are organically popular with children and more that the children just absorb them through memes and youtube content that 15-25 year olds make. My 6 year old nephew only knows Undertale because Sans is a meme that's posted everywhere, not because Undertale itself is popular with kids.

>>718168776 (OP)
Looks like Superstars desu

>>718203393
undertale and deltarune are not retro games
sonic mania is retro-coded

>>718203792
It's probably why Superstars became what it did, I wouldn't be surprised if Sega kept the pitch around and showcased it to Arzest as a loose idea of what to follow. Arzest just had the budget of shoestrings and paper clips with the Unity engine to pull it off.

Looks awful (better than Superstars tho)

>>718168776 (OP)
looks kino, sega are retarded and racist as always

>>718203675
You clearly weren't there

>>718168776 (OP)
Looks like a Saturn game that would have gotten 6/10s from game magazines at the time.

>>718203259
>it outstripped Forces
we honestly don't know how much Forces sold, despite how many people piss their pants about it I wouldn't be surprised if it did well with the kiddies
>and it may very well not have sold as much as Frontiers
it most definitely did not lmao, not even close
>Where's this narrative that Mania sold like shit?
It's just the natural pushback (overreaction) that comes from twitter trannies pushing the narrative for years that mania was the best selling sonic since sonic 1 and that superstars was an embarrassing flop that proved sega are oh so stupid and arrogant and should have made another mania because the first one was so huge it's literally free money!
So when we got the truth that mania's numbers were nothing impressive and that superstars actually sold way better, it's lead to this situation of anons taking it too far in retaliation and saying that mania was a huge flop

>>718203598
>Balan Wonderland
There is no game by that name :^)

>>718203920
I was.
The irony of me posting pic related in a Sonic thread.

>>718168776 (OP)
That's literally perfect, with the correct rendering features you could make that indistinguishable from 2d Sonic. If Sonics devs had any brains this is what the last Sonic game would have looked like.

Superstars is an okay game, not bad. Bosses are ass though.

>>718169260
Which was just discount Mania and literally ripped off Dancing Lights Through the Roof

>>718204361
The irony of me playing Princess Crown on my Saturn when you reply with this pic

>>718173978
Fuck uff Nigga, Marina was drawn by actual jap artists, if anything it's Early Game Freak cartoony style.

>>718200324
>actually
Is it good?

There are people playing and fanboying over Sonic past the age of 30 years old. Maybe its not common place now, but soon, there will be a big wave of 40 and 50 year olds manchild babbling about Sonic.

>>718178604
>1 Million copies sold
>Didn't du Gaylo 4 Million so FLOP

>>718191872
Woke physics

>>718201749
pic unrelated? If you wanted to talk about eye strain you should at least have brought up chaotix.

>>718207436
Chaotix is worse. That is true. But CD is the cancer that started it. There's only a couple ugly levels in 2 and 3K. But they rarely delve into neon puke.

>>718206405
>Import
Now for the collective of people who didn't import or know how to, they went elsewhere and the Saturn flopped. Should have brought 100 copies and passed them out.

>>718207543
You got filtered by an unique art style.

>>718207634
Filtered by having taste and functioning eyeballs. The only people who love CD are contrarianfags anyways, proud that their game of choice was originally exclusive to shitty expansion hardware.

>>718203538
>>718203679
>>718203793
Holy shit you people don't know anything lmao

>>718173317
The difference is presentation.
The concept shown looks like it retains the classic Sonic style while still being 3D. Superstars is the NSMB of Sonic games alongside Sonic 4.

>>718207760
Bridge Island is one of the only good looking Superstars zones.

>>718168776 (OP)
>Robbed or dodged a bullet?

2D Sonic is a proven formula that's hard to fuck up.

>>718200608
Yeah it's groovy. It has everything I need in a tune

>>718207697
You can't even handle simple abstract art. Sonic CD is a great game because it makes Sonic's gameplay more thoughtful thanks to its time travel mechanics. The godly presentation is just a bonus.

>>718207565
I didn't import
I have the black model 2
The Princess Crown is on an ODE and it's recently been translated

>>718190885
>It's an English speaking country full of white people
Not with all the fucking indians and muslims the government keeps shipping in.
there's not gonna be any white people left.

>>718207870
>>2D Sonic is a proven formula that's hard to fuck up.
And yet Sega has done it multiple times

>>718207870
>2D Sonic is a proven formula that's hard to fuck up.
Anon, we've had like.. Mania and modernized ports of the old games. Mania turned out well, even if not as perfect as some people make it out to be, and those ports got a bit butchered when ported a second time. In the past 15 years your other 2D Sonic options have been the travesty that was Sonic 4 Episode 1, an okay improvement but mediocre game with S4 Ep2, and Superstars, which starts off alright then spiraled into absolute shit city. That's basically one good game surrounded by four fuck ups, arguably seven if you count those Origins ports individually. Everything works, nothing's totally and completely broken, but there's just so much dumb shit that happened.

>>718208108
Oh right, if we're going back to S4, also can't forget Generations 3DS which flipped between okay and dogshit too.

>>718207760
even NSB looks better than this crap. this looks like a cheap unity asset flip.
while OP pic looks fits perfectly with sonics unique art style and striking colour theory.

>>718208194
Why can't Sega just make a game based off these wallpapers?

>>718183926
wow this is slow. hit stop is fucking awful.

>>718208335
Because no one would buy that

Classicfags are the worst.

>>718207959
>It's more thoughtful because... annoying gimmick!
uh huh.

>>718208452
It's only annoying if you are bad at Sonic games.

>>718208335
Maybe because they're fucking tacky as hell.

>>718207760
Whitehead's concept looks better but not so much better that I feel robbed. I still think OG Mania looks better than either.

>>718208036
>recently
Now if only it got a translation when it was brand new. Probably would have if it was a fully 3D game. On that note, I might just give it a try.

>>718208651
I agree. Mania zones had more detail. Just compare that pitch in the OP to Mirage Saloon Zone

>>718208498
>can only time travel if you have entire layouts memorized or find the exact spring pair they intend you to cheese the mechanic on
>better know in advance where the fucking projector is
Memorization is not a skill. There's a reason why every other Sonic game has a bonus stage where you need to exhibit skill for getting good endings and never this shitty "triple stage" mechanic again. It's just time sink bullshit.

>>718208798
Did you forgot Sonic is all about replayability? What a Classic Sonic fan you are.

it's actually funny how many people claim it was sega dropping the ball, when all signs point towards evening star going too big for their britches and shooting higher than they were ready for.

>>718209301
have they released any other game besides that hideous 3d one that looks like plastic

>>718209352
nope, they spent all their time on penny's big breakaway, and i mean you can see their habits in it but boy that didn't pay off

>>718203393
Disingenuous comparison and you know it

>>718209407
Mania was also big with kids. It had a lot of sprite animations

>>718168776 (OP)
looks bad
the art looks good but it wouldn't work as a videogame

>>718209405
how long have they been running for?

>>718209531
Since 2018/2019?

>>718209564
5-6 years and they've only done 1 really ugly game?

>>718209620
3D game development is hard + covid

>>718209694
why not make a 2d game that doesn't look like it's covered in vaseline?

>>718209874
Because /v/ would call it pixelslop

>>718169260
This was actually early work for Superstars during when Evening Star was going to be involved in it. OP is misinfo.

>>718208991
The GOOD Sonic games don't depend on 100% memorization. It throws obstacles at you with time to react. But the signpost shit is the antithesis of that. You either get it in 1 go or you potentially fucked your entire run.

>>718210017
You can tell Superstars is just the leftover Mania 2 concepts Sega gave to Arzest because making the final boss the dragon referenced in the Sonic 3 Japanese manual is a deep cut that only autistic Sonic fans would ever think of.

So if this game was going to be 2.5d why didn't they stick with Evening star in the first place? Im having trouble processing that this could very well be a 'plans fell through with sega, embargo is up so here's something to show for it at least'. Does this mean we aren't getting a mania follow up or classic 3d game ever?

Real question but it has been ages since the whole sonic android ports renaissance which made them good bucks/publicity and let devs add cut content.
Stuff like final fever on cd were denied because they did not wanted to stray from original game but is it not time to go crazy and add shit like that into the old games?

>>718210116
>bitching about memorization in 2025
You wanna bitch about the camera in Mario 64 next?

>>718210116
Sonic CD is even more fair. You have to scan the environment and THEN attempt to time travel. Doing both at the same time is more risky but also faster.

>>718210262
Evening Star has said a billion times they just want to do their own thing but fags here will still make up stories in their head about how Sega snubbed them out of jealousy or something.

>>718210262
Superstars sold well so Classic Sonic is far from death. I doubt Evening Star will work on the next Classic Sonic game because they have been hiring devs for their next original game.

>>718185064
It's genuinely sad to see how mentally unwell he is. I thought it was memes or something at first when he uploaded the weird rants and streams, but it soon became clear he's unbalanced. I loved his music theory videos so much.

>>718168776 (OP)
I don't know, Mania was cool and I like the soundtrack but I didn't even finish it and don't feel like I missed out on anything. I had much more fun revisiting Sonic Advance and Triple Trouble.

>>718184481
i'm sure once they finally gut Roger and give us someone along the lines of Jason or Ryan Drummond we'll be in for more kino Sonic
no seriously when the fuck are they gonna axe him already he was fucking shit in Frontiers and further cements he can't do anything other than sound like a meme everyone else managed to sound serious, cool, or funny when needed the only time I see Roger put effort in voicing Sonic is when he is going to say something funny. When it came to actual serious shit like Frontiers it just sounds like he's reading off the script

>>718168776 (OP)
>Christian Whitehead
is this some kinda slur?

>>718189771
i think that's the problem with her design she looks like a fucking ebony grandma in a clown suit there is literally no saving that design whatsoever

>>718184481
The only thing we were robbed of was a full Tee Lopes soundtrack without Jun Senoue putting his shitty hands on it. Miss me with this 2.5D shit, I don't care if it's from Arzest or Evening Star.

>>718168776 (OP)
Have you seen every Sonic game since Mania's release (besides Frontiers)? ROBBED!

>>718210772
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdVggHAOpcg
Blame the english voice direction on top of him.

>>718208521
you're tacky as hell

>>718178291
I can't tell if the people encouraging and praising him in the comments are trolls or not. Is it possible that people are actually watching this and understanding or agreeing with it? Or are they just trolling him as a lolcow?

>>718170284
They're not easy on the eyes. But they're not as ugly as Penny.

>>718211086
Really? Is it my hot pink T-shirt with the rainbow across it? Or my pants with every primary color splashed at random intervals?

>>718210425
I'm not going to tin foil hat the motivation behind it but it clearly did happen, the team made a pitch for a followup and sega went in a different direction with a different studio. The real question was with Superstars and Penny's big breakaway wrapped up was if they would decide to make made something together after that and I feel like this being shown off kind of confirms that, no, we won't see anything. You don't reveal prototypes unless you're certain that none of those ideas will be rolled into another project and here we are...

>>718209352
people who sperg out about pennys art direction are tasteless retards.
the art is clean and unique and the colour theory is top tier.
it looks better than 99.999% of the other modern garbage you'll see today
>Sonic super stars (cheap unity looking slop)
>Sonic frontiers (blatantly unfinished asset flip with horrendous pop-in)
>the latest AI upscaled UE5 slop that looks like grainy garbage, is devoid of art direction and is more artifacts than it is graphics.

>>718170284
They look great.
Sonic fans are retarded spastics.

>>718199374
Years back my mom got randomly targeted by a schizophrenic acquaintance. We would get calls in the middle of the night. I feel bad for Tee and hope he can ignore it.

>>718211362
>brings up some of the worst examples of modern gaming to compare it against
How about comparing to something more similar like Mario? Both whimsical 3D platformers but Mario doesn't need to vomit colors and abstract shapes everywhere to look whimsical.

>>718211362
the art direction is fine it's penny's DESIGN that nobody fucking likes like you could've replaced Penny with a robot or some kid and it would've been much better received her design turns people away not the way everything else looks

>>718170069
>>718211523
she is so ugly
even if the gameplay was great, I wouldn't want to play this and look at her

>>718211695
>wall spindash
PEAK

>>718211520
OK the latest DK game that looks cheap and ugly as fuck?
has low res textures, low res shadows, low poly environments and an ugly as fuck DK with feathers?

>>718211752
why the ugly filter?
The game was made for modern displays, not crt
also
>16:9 when there's a mod to change it

>>718211783
tryhard forced soul

>>718168776 (OP)
>2.5D
>gameplay is clearly still 2D
>graphics clearly still 2D except everything now has shitty shading on it
Where's the point-five?

>>718212017
>tryhard forced soul

>>718212482
>graphics clearly still 2D
Call a doctor, I'm afraid your eyes aren't working right anymore

>>718212576
Yes

>>718211783
>gay diaperfur OC
No thanks

>>718211841
Whoops I dropped my MIGHTY 240p widescreen crt that I use for my MEGA dong.

>>718213259
that's pretty good, anon

>>718208387
>>718208521
I'm sure many would buy it and seeing how the "Mania 2" concept is doing numbers online; there's people that find the art style okay

>best superstar skins are not even avaliable as dlc unless you mod them back in
>when they are the ones that fit the games artstyle the most

It's been 8 years since the last good Sonic game. Mania 2 would have been welcomed.

Why does Sonic Frontiers 2 take 10 trillion years to get announced?

>>718217507
I think they will show it at the Game Awards 2025. Sega releases only 1 """big""" Sonic game. This year it's Sonic Racing Crossworlds so they can release Frontiers 2 in 2026

>>718201909
>>718201924
To be honest I'm not a lover of it, sounds similar to Press Garden 2 which doesn't really suit the theme

thread theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkU49S4G8Mw

>>718219242
vocals needed to be sung in Japanese and I'm not a subfag

>>718219483
SA2 is set in america

>>718219562
citypop is japanese

>>718168776 (OP)
looks like AIsloppa

>>718198624
Outback Steakhouse Zone Act 1

>>718177380
Shadow Mania would be cool to have.

>>718200183
Nor the first time they told a western dev team who just made a hit Sonic game for them to go fuck themselves

>>718211678
>>718211206
>>718173624
>>718174476
>>718189554
>Penny is ugly
Then how would you make her less ugly?

>>718219637
lol no

>>718220103
>not make yellow the dominant outfit color (probably redo the whole outfit color scheme really)
>give her a better hair color
>don't make her eyes a stupid shape
That's a start at least.

It will be Sally Mania.

evening star's been radio silent ever since they had to lay some people off after penny flopped. what is taxman plotting?

>>718168776 (OP)
>Robbed or dodged a bullet?
Literally impossible to tell from a single screenshot that's not giving anything beyond artstyle. The new badnik is cool.

>>718170284
I actually really like the art direction, I just find the characters disgusting.

I liked Penny's design and thought the game's artstyle was great in general. The only bad looking part of it was the promo art with the ugly dark shading that fucks up the style.

>>718202193
>I'm not gonna believe the whole "IIZUKA EMBARRASSED BY WESTERN INDIE DEVS" bullshit
Then you'll just keep running in circles.

>>718203259
Superstars and Origins getting greenlighted imply Mania was successful. People are just mad Classic Sonic got a good game for once.