Sonic Mania - Part 1 - Green Hill Zone Act 1
32Let's begin the Sonic Mania playthrough! It's a call-back to the 16-bit Sonic games, when Sonic was slower, had no boost, and no Homing Attack.
This game begins on Angel Island, where Tails has discovered a huge spike of energy comparable to but different from the Chaos Emeralds. They get there but are narrowly beaten by a group of five Eggrobos, who unearth the Phantom Ruby. This malicious gem morphs the Eggrobos into the Hard-Boiled Heavies (more on them when Sonic fights them later) and sends Sonic through space and time to Green Hill Zone, where this game begins.
Much of Sonic Mania is made of visits of Zones from Sonic 1, Sonic CD, Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles, but they'll also incorporate both gimmicks from other Sonic games and original gimmicks too. In these descriptions, I'll list the gimmicks and Badniks (enemies) found outside of the Zones they were originally from too. This game is full of references old and new, and as a Sonic fan since 1991, I'll try to identify as many as I can. (There are a few that you'll never see due to me bypassing them or never encountering the area where they're found though.) All of them, however, have original layouts.
Sonic Mania, as far as mechanics go, follows mainly Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Not only are the Bubble, Flame, and Lightning Shields available in this game and are given new purposes, you access Special Stages, stages where you can find Chaos Emeralds. Like in many Sonic games, getting all 7 Chaos Emeralds gets you the good ending and allows use of Super Sonic. This game has a new type of Special Stage in which you pursue a UFO, though I'll explain the basic mechanics in a later video. No room here.
This game also brings in a mechanic from an unlikely source: The Combine Ring, whose only appearance was in Knuckles' Chaotix. The Combine Ring merges the Rings Sonic drops if he gets hit, making it easier to collect them back. This can be stacked with any Shield.
For this playthrough, I will avoid going Super, even if it means Sonic must get hit and drop his Rings, making it a lot harder to start. And since Chaos Emeralds are so crucial to finishing this game as intended, I will also pick the path that takes you through the highest amount of Giant Gold Rings, so if you're stuck where to find them, take the paths I did. Bear in mind that a stage can have more Giant Gold Rings than you can access--as Sonic stages in the classic era are best know for having multiple paths that wind around each other, one Giant Gold Ring might be located on one path while another might be located on another, and both have one-way gates that prevent backtracking from one path to another except where intended.
For just this video, I'll show what the Special Stages are like, as well as the Blue Spheres Bonus Stages accessible when you spin a Lamppost (checkpoin and have 25 or more Rings). Whereas clearing a Special Stage gets you a Chaos Emerald, clearing a Bonus Stage will earn you a medal, which will slowly unlock more modes, abilities, and other secrets as you reach certain numbers of them. (More on the basic rules of the Special Stages and Blue Spheres later.)
Anyway, Green Hill is where Sonic got started. Here is the Giant Gold Ring count I could find. If you spot some I've missed, let me know:
Total: 3
Available in One Go: 2
The first Giant Gold Ring is on a path accessible only with Knuckles, so as the combination of Sonic and Tails, they cannot reach this one. They can reach the other two though.
Badniks here include:
Motobug - A ladybird-like Badnik that just moves left and right. They're a lot like Goombas.
Buzz Bomber - A hornet-like Badnik that stops when Sonic is underneath and fires an energy blast.
Newtron - A Badnik resembling a chameleon. It hides within walls, reveals itself when Sonic gets close, spits out an energy ball, and either goes invisible and invulnerable. Some Newtrons instead hover along the ground.
Chopper - A fish-like Badnik that lives near inaccessible water and leaps out to attack Sonic directly. Found only near bridges.
Crabmeat - A Badnik that looks like a crab. It stops to fire energy balls out of its claws, which take a parabolic path.
Other references:
Sonic 2 - Corkscrews from Emerald Hill Zone can be found in the upper paths here.
Sonic 2 - The DD Wrecker resembles two miniature Death Eggs.
Sonic Generations - The underground lake from its version of Green Hill Zone is present.
Sonic Forces - The Phantom Ruby makes a sound similar to Infinite's distortion move when it warps Sonic away.
The boss is DD Wrecker. They're two miniature Death Eggs tethered to each other. They become invulnerable when glowing orange, but only one can be at a time. There's an Invincibility Monitor nright before that trivializes this boss, but if you're not invincible, take your time. This is a boss that's easier if you don't rush, as it has a fixed pattern you can eventually predict, though the patterns completely change when only one is left.
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