Sonic Mania - Part 5 - Studiopolis Zone Act 1
21Studiopolis is the first original Zone in this game. In a city with a large entertainment district, Dr. Eggman has set up his Egg TV headquarters here, where he intends to broadcast anti-Sonic propaganda in hopes of turning public opinion against him. People don't really take Eggman seriously though, but it doesn't stop Eggman from trying though.
Themed on filmmaking, the gimmicks here include vans that transmit Sonic somewhere else via EM waves (like Willy Wonka!), director's chairs that move up, tinted windows that make you figure out what's going on through silhouettes,
As this is an original Zone, it gives the team freedom to go absolutely nuts with references to previous Sonic games. And here's where you'll start seeing references to non-Sonic games too, so I have a new category in this description.
Giant Gold Ring Count:
Total: 3
Available in one go: 3
Badniks:
Mic Drop - A Badnik based on a recording studio microphone. It drops down from the ceiling, swings like a pendulum, and electrifies itself. Very troublesome due to ts ability to ambush.
Shutterbug - An insectoid Badnik with a camera attached to its head. It flies in from offscreen to take pictures of the player character. The photography is harmless, but it appears when you least expect it.
Tubinaut - A variant of the Orbinaut enemy, its satellites can't harm Sonic until full speed, but Sonic can knock them off to reveal its central weak spot. It gets sadder the more of its defenses go down. That its satellites project red, blue, and green light suggests it's based on a digital projector system.
Wall Crawl - A snail-like Badnik that can attack to flat surfaces. Its shell resembles a film reel, and it attacks by emitting bits of film, which flutter slowly to the ground and are harmful on contact.
Other Sonic References:
Sonic 1 - The light rails read "COPE CPU," the CPU system of the Mega Drive/Genesis. "COPE" could also be seen in the background of Spring Yard Zone.
Sonic 1 - Orbinauts first appeared in this game's Labyrinth Zone.
SEGASonic Popcorn Shop - No pop culture phenomenon is complete without its own popcorn.
Sonic CD - Mic Drop, when electrified, makes the same sound effect as when the live wires electrify in Wacky Workbench.
Sonic 3 - The bumpers here most closely resemble those from Carnival Night Zone. They make the same sound and provide 10 points when hit too.
Sonic 3 - Wall Crawl's design resembles Snail Blaster from Launch Base Zone. Its behavior, however, is pretty different (see below).
Sonic X - Egg TV was introduced in this anime.
Sonic Colors - The marquees read "Good! Great! Awesome! Outstanding! Amazing!," the ranking system in that game.
Sonic Mania - The clappers read "SEGA•CW•HC•PWG." This stands for "'SEGA' 'Christian Whitehead' 'Headcannon' 'Pagoda West Games,'" the four companies that helped make Sonic Mania.
Non-Sonic References:
SEGA - Some of the signs read "AGES." This refers to one of SEGA's old slogans, "It takes AGES to be this good." Club Spin was also the name of a short-lived Sonic fan club.
Studiopolis - This Zone shares its name with a voice acting studio based in Studio City, California, that currently supplies the Sonic series's voice actors.
Daytona USA - The vans have "Hornet" written on them, referring to the Hudson Hornet, the signature car of the arcade game. If you've seen Pixar's Cars 1, Doc Hudson is an early model.
Streets of Rage - The Pink Bot buildings are a references to that game's Pink Bar buildings. Also, Studiopolis Act 1 shares a background with one of the Streets of Rage stages.
Freedom Planet - Wall Crawl's snail design and how it attacks with a few projectiles with unusual downward trajectories is quite similar to the snail enemies in that game's Relic Maze stage.
At the end of this stage, Sonic faces off for the first time in this game against a Hard-Boiled Heavy--in this case, it's Heavy Gunner, a crooked cop. Appropriately enough, he pursues Sonic on a high-speed chase down Studiopolis's highways in a helicopter. Accompanying him are three ordinary Eggrobos, armed with nightsticks (though they don't do anything with them).
All of them are actually in the background out of Sonic's reach, so Sonic needs to send Heavy Gunner's missiles against him. Heavy Gunner will shoot three missiles at a time: two red ones and one blue one, and they will approach Sonic in order from top to bottom. Jumping onto a blue one will deflect it back at one of the Eggrobos, destroying it. This is easier said than done, as Sonic is running forward on an uneven floor the whole time, which affects his ability to jump and maneuver, and blue missiles are slightly slower, so you'll take a hit anyway if a red missile overlaps with it. Once he runs out of Eggrobos, the next missile will defeat him. Despite it being pretty early in the game, and in spite of its straightforwardness, most people who've played Sonic Mania consider this boss as one of the harder bosses in the game.
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