I’d rather the new levels that the team creates be based on unique ideas so using classic stages to keep the quota up is a better idea in my opinion. Apart from Stardust Speed Highway, I don’t think Sonic CD has that many memorable levels but this stage at least fits the same role Metallic Madness did in Sonic Mania, an endgame level that fits the robotic factory theme we always get with Sonic titles. So what better stage than the one that started it all.įinally, I went with Wacky Workbench Zone for Sonic CD.
This zone will appear again below in other staff members lists so I won’t make their reasons redundant and just say that one Sonic staple that Sonic Mania lacked was a snowboarding section. Going back to Sonic 3 now I went with another massively popular choice and chose the Ice Cap Zone. These were the only two classic stages to appear on the console version of Sonic Generations that have not come back yet so I think we can justify seeing them here. So I chose Casino Night Zone from Sonic 2 and Sky Sanctuary Zone from Sonic and Knuckles. I’ll admit these next two aren’t that creative but they are popular stages and I think at least some of the returning stages should be fan favourites (like how Mania 1 had Stardust Speed Highway and Chemical Plant Zone). With this in mind, I would love them to tackle another hated stage, Labyrinth Zone, and see in what ways they could improve it. Nowhere is this more clear than with Lava Reef Zone, a level that most people hated in the original, that has now come back as a pretty decent level with a dynamic second half. One of the benefits of Sonic Mania’s returning stage was how they in almost every case managed to improve exponentially over their original counterparts. The rules were simple, only one zone from each of the classic games. If we ever get a Sonic Mania 2 this very same thing might happen again and with that in mind, we decided to pick some classic Sonic zones that we would be ok with getting a reimagining. They had completely new layouts, however, so they felt new, it was just the style that remained the same. 2/3rds of the game’s zones were taken from previous classic Sonic titles. But one element of the first game that many fans were sour on were the returning stages. Sonic Mania came out last August to massive acclaim with many fans begging for a sequel.