Which I'd pretty much stick to. It deserved a slightly more in-depth take at the time really, given that it was pretty much the best thing Sega could possibly have done with a new Sonic. It was a crying shame the Saturn never hosted a new 2D Sonic game, but Christian Whitehead & co. basically created a modern 32-bit Sonic game that played like remastered greatest hits, with a smattering of valid bonus tracks. The bulk of the game was made up of familiar stages (with new layouts) from the only golden era of Sonic - '91-94 - packed with familiar music and built around the only three characters worth their salt. The bonus stages were outstanding, loosely based on the Sonic CD special stages, and it's probably fair to call them the best in the series. The Sonic 2 tunnel is iconic but was never particularly playable (not with both characters at any rate - did anyone ever get all the emeralds with Tails mimicking their movements an entire second behind the inputs? ). That format was probably 'perfected' in the Saturn port of Sonic 3D. I quite liked the blue sphere stages from Sonic 3, and they returned to Mania alongside the flat shaded polygon chase-the-UFO sections. It was a brilliant update because it did everything Sonic did well, but with extra finesse and variety. This was never going to win anyone over to the Sanic format - surely all gamers over a certain age know whether they liked the Megadrive Sonic games or not - but for existing fans it was an absolute treat, up there with Sonic 2 and Sonic 3+Knuckles for sure. A year or so after launch the 'Plus' dlc arrived, which I grabbed for cheap on Switch. The Encore mode adds two characters from a lesser known Sonic the Hedgehog arcade game - Mighty the Armadillo and [something] the Squirrel, but they're miles less shite than Vector the Crocodile, Big the Cat, Rogue (Rouge?) the Bat or any of the other jokers since. Plus they have distinct abilities that that felt worthwhile. It also rejigs the stage layouts and aesthetic here and there. Instead of traditional lives you collect character changes from TV sets and can switch between the main two at any point. It's an okay idea in theory but it does some annoying things with the restart points, meaning it either feels too easy if you've collected a few buddies or too harsh with a single character (somewhat negated by gaining continues admittedly). At first I thought the stages were completely overhauled, but the bulk of them are actually quite similar, which is a bit lazy compared to top tier dlc offerings. It's minor tinkering on the whole, with the new characters, character system and colour palettes being the main changes (bonus stage layouts are new too, and overly harsh). Oh, and a hilariously bad pinball special stage has been added, which feels like it was rescued from the Chaotix cutting room floor. It's quite a thing. The competition mode now works with four players instead of two...but that's about it as far as I can tell. The dlc is far from vintage really, so: [6]. The mania show is wonderful but don't expect much from the encore. It's just about worth it for the new characters though. Still, it was a good excuse to play through it again, which had me dreaming of all the missing stages they could stuff in Sonic Mania 2.Probably the best Sonic experience since Knuckles + 3, and surpasses that in places. Over the moon with what they've done here - imo it takes the best of Sonic and adds better bosses. So far I've just played one run to the credits, but I've got nothing but fondness for the experience. Will be there or thereabouts as my GotY. [9]
hylian_elf wrote:Vere, can you add ‘19-12’ to me in your OP?
I’m hoping for much more this year. Hoping.
Moot_Geeza wrote:Elf noooo.
Cuphead Phenomenally attractive shooter than just about has the trousers to back up the mouth. There are better platform shooters, but the mechanics here are more than functional; with its bells and whistles confiscated this would still be good. More on those bells and whistle though - what a beautiful game, definitely in with a legitimate shout for a 'best looking ever' award. And it sounds amazing too. An Alien Soldier in a classic Looney Tunes skin was always likely to appeal to me (it's one of the reasons I bought an XBox), but beyond the visuals the core shooting is pretty good. Keeping an eye out for a parry opportunity is an excellent livener (this one simple mechanic adds a lot), and the 'save' parry in co-op is well done. Once you get used to the fact that bosses soak up hits with no real feedback it's pattern learning at its best. None of the bosses are easy, a few are too hard but most are just right. A couple of stages felt easier with two players but one in particular had to be dispatched without Mughead (a boss scrolling shmup level). So close to a [9], but and super strong [8] instead, probably the best game I've played in co-op since Tropical Freeze on Wii U.
You got issues. Mate.Moot_Geeza wrote:My previous totals were...
2017: 75
2018: 78
2019: 86
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