Sonic Maniax

"Are you a bunch of Maniax?"
-Sonic Maniax Tagline
Sonic Maniax (ソニックマニアックス Sonikkumaniakkusu?) is a 2D-side scrolling platform game for the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC, with a 3DS version releasing late July. Orginally codenamed Project Memories, the game emulates the Sonic Advance playstyle, while having gameplay from other Sonic games, sort of like a melting pot. Trying to merge the best parts of the series, it also has a completely orginal storyline, levels, and bosses, as well as using the partner system from Sonic Advance 3.
This game is developed by Sonic Team, along side the retruning Headcannon, Team Overbound (Known for the fangame, Sonic Time Twisted) and Nefault1st (Known for many Sonic fangames, most notably Sonic Vs Darkness, Knuckles: Halloween Tale, and Salom Adventure) and it is the first Sonic game to have a soundtrack created by the community. Many of the game's music is created by many different composers.
== Development ==
Sonic Maniax began development in 2017, after the release of Sonic Forces. Sonic Team wanted to create a Sonic game that not only harkened back to it's roots, but ramped up it's gameplay. According to Neafult1st, Sonic Team went to him and asked him for a job, which he happily accepted. Later, they added Team Overbound, and Headcannon once again to help in development. The game showed screenshots of concept art and a picture of Sonic and Shadow running through a stage. (Which was later known as Mountain Joyride Zone)
The game was revealed at E3 2018, and various updates came in. Due to popular demand, a 3DS port of the game was developed by Renegade Kid, and will be relseaed in July 28, 2019.
== Story ==
After the events of Sonic Forces, Dr. Eggman starts planning for his next scheme. Through narrow research, he finds the Life Orbs, mystical spheres that keep the planet in balance. If a region's Life Orb is gone, bad things can happen, and Eggman knows this. He finds one Life Orb and starts to study it's effects, the test showed that the power inside the Orbs are unremarkable, being able to power his army wth just one. With this, he creates a new badnik army and a new team called "The Metal Crusaders" as he goes to search for the Life Orbs.
=== Beginning ===
Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails are riding to Paradise Island, the place where Vanilla, Cream The Rabbit's mother, is having a birthday party. Along the way, they notice an explosion occuring near the center of the island, and the duo, curious about the explosion, go to check it out. Upon landing, they meet with Eggman, who sends Metal Sonic to attack and distract them as Eggman is flying away. After defeating Metal Sonic and seeing him fly away, they go over to the birthday party location, where Eggman is flying off with Vanilla. Sonic and Tails meet with Knuckles, Cream, Amy, Marine Silver and Blaze, who all go to save Vanilla. Along the way, they get thrown into a conflict between Eggman's badniks, and GUN, with Shadow, Rouge and Espio joining Sonic and co. on the quest for Dr. Eggman. They meet up with Eggman, who fights them and they win, while questioning Eggman. He tells them about his plan, and uses the Life Orbs to bend the island to his will, blasting the group away.
When the group comes to, they find themselves in a pocket dimension. Accoriding to Omochao and Marine The Raccoon, Eggman is taking the Life Orbs from the planet, and is using their power to recreate the world into a horrible mess. Sonic, along with his pals, go to stop Eggman. Meanwhile, they use the area from the pocket dimension as a hub.
=== Annihilation Zone ===
After beating Eggman in his Death Egg, they travel back and return the Life Orbs to their respective regions and go back to their planet, however, the planet is destroyed. They go to the pocket dimension, and see that is destroyed as well. After chasing Eggman, they fight a black monster and after defeating it, they head back to the Death Egg after Eggman. Eggman, trying to control the black monster that was created by the Life Orbs, uses it to attack the group. However, the monster absorbs Eggman, and gains power, destroying the Death Egg and forcing the heroes to leave it, with Vanilla sadly getting caught in the blast. By using the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Blaze, and Silver fight the black monster and Mecha Sonic, and return the world back to it's original state, with the game ending on a tombstone for Cream's mother.
== Gameplay ==
Sonic Maniax is a combonation of the 2D Sonic playstyle. Being more based off of the Advance/Rush series, the game also takes inspiration from the Genesis titles, the Game Gear/Master System titles, and the modern games. The game has the player going through 30 Zones, each separated into 4 acts each. (Except for a select few) All zones end with a boss act (Act 4) which take the player to the next zone when it is beaten.
=== Hub Worlds ===
Sonic Maniax uses a Hub World system. When a game is started, the player will be taken to Pocket Dimension, where they can travel to each Zone through a Zone Gate. When in a Zone Hub, the player has to play the zone in the Act order. (Act 1, Act 2, etc...) When the player beats a Zone, they will e taken to the next Zone Hub. When an act is completed, the player can always travel back to the hub world by using a Dimension Ring, always found near the beginning of the Act.
In the Zone Hub, the player can buy items to use, play Minigames to gain lives and more rings, and even change their team.
=== Team System ===
Similar to Sonic Advance 3, this game uses a tag team mechanic. The player can pick a character to control, and a character to follow him/her through the game. Each team has different effects on each other. and a different Tag Action.
There are 4 Types a team can be classified under-
*Speed - Revolves around speedy platforming. Normally influced by Sonic and Shadow.
*Fly - Revolves around vertical movment. Normally influced by Tails.
*Power - Revolves around attacking. Influenced greatly by Knuckles.
*Tech - Revolves around platforming. No real influence.
Sonic Maniax also features transitions, similarly to Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and many of the items are from older Sonic games. The game also features 12 elemental shields, and the ability to get both the Chaos and Sol Emeralds.
The game has 420 emblems to collect, and Red Star Rings that unlock extra content.
==Characters==
===Playable===
====Automatically Unlocked====
*Sonic The Hedgehog (Maniax) (You use him first)
*Miles Tails Prower (You use him first)
*Knuckles The Echidna
*Cream The Rabbit
*Amy Rose
*Shadow The Hedgehog
*Rouge The Bat
*Silver The Hedgehog
*Blaze The Cat
*Espio The Chameleon
*Charmy Bee
*Vector the Crocodile
====DLC====
*Classic Sonic (Was a pre order bonus)
*Metal Sonic
*Mighty The Armadillo
*Ray The Flying Squrriel
===Unplayable===
*Marine The Raccoon
*Omochao
*Dr. Eggman
*The Metal Crusaders
**Metal Sonic
**Silver Sonic
**Tails Doll
**Metal Knuckles
**Metal Amy
**Metal Shadow
**Mecha Silver
==Zones==
Most Zones feature 4 (or more) acts in the stages. Zones are listed in order.
#Morning Rush Zone
#Emerald Resort Zone
#Cracked Planet Zone
#Windy Windmill Zone
#Mountain Joyride Zone
#Airway Chaos Zone
#Techno Sands Zone
#Puzzle Hill Zone
#Highway Hijinx Zone
#Dusty Ruin Zone
#Nightclub Nyx Zone
#Oriental Mountain Zone
#Rhythm Park Zone
#Jungle Peak Zone
#Dimenison Isle Zone
#Gemstone Valley Zone
#Drenched Factory Zone
#Frantic Tombstone Zone
#Lava Iceberg Zone
#Genocide City Zone
#Metallic Magma Zone
#Frosty Ridge Zone
#Canyon Cannon Zone
#Angelic Vine Zone
#Gross Planet Zone
#Gravity Mine Zone
#Red Grove Zone
#Chaotic Street Zone
#Robotnik Armada Zone
#Metallic Rail Zone
#Sewage Base Zone
#Black Marble Zone
#Switch Labyrinth Zone
#New Angel Island Zone
#Egg Mine Zone
#Death Egg Mk.III
#Final Nebula Zone
#Annihilation Zone (Only unlocked when all 14 emeralds are collected)
As stated before, the game also includes zones that you can unlock via the Emblems.
 ==Special Stages. In total, there are 14 main special stages for the character to play. However, there is two types of special stages.
===Chaos Stages===
In Chaos Stages, the player is tasked to get to the end of the stage in a 3D persepective, similar to Sonic 2 without the half pipe. There is also Blue and Red orbs to collect, the player will start with a number of Blue Orbs, if the player touches a Red Orb, they lose a Blue Orb. If all Blue Orbs are gone, the player fails the special stage.
===Sol Stages===
Sol Stages are based off of the gameplay from Sonic Runners, where the player must get enough points before they get to the end of the Special Stage in an autorun fashion. If the player can't get enough points before a section, they fail. Each character also has different abilites that can help out in these stages.
In order to enter a Chaos Stage, you must find a Giant RIng, and enter it. For Sol Stages, you must find a Dimension Portal hidden in each stage. Certain characters achieve their Super Stages with a specific set of Emeralds, and all 4 are needed to reach the final zone.
===Bonus Stages===
Similar to Sonic 3 and Knuckles, when a character passes a Starpost with a certain amount of rings, a portal will appear. Depending on the amount of rings the character had when they passed the Starpost, they will be taken to a specific Bonus Stage.
*20-40 Rings - Gumball Machine
*40-60 Rings - Free Fall
*60+ Rings - Prism World
==Items==
===Normal/Common Items===
*Rings - Your life line. As long as you have 1 ring in your position, you can survive damage. If you take damage and have zero rings in your inventory, you will lose a life.
*Springs - These items give your character a sudden boost in a certain direction. There are multple colors and types and each spring has a different effect.
**Yellow - The more common spring. Gives you an average speed boost
**Red - Stronger than the yellow spring
**Green - The weakest spring.
**Pink - The strongest spring that isn't a mega spring.
**White - Sends you in a pre determined direction without movement. Used for scripted sequences.
**Blue - Similar to the white spring, however, you have to play a quick time event before you hit the next blue spring.
**Mega - The strongest spring. Sends you the highest distance.
**Spring Pole - Poles that align against walls. The closer you are to the red pin at the end of it, the higher you will bounce up.
**Propeller Spring - Springs that raise up as you bounce them. The player normally has to bounce on them multiple times to get to a higher path.
**Trap Spring - Springs with Eggman's face on them. These normally send you in directions that annoy you, such as hazards, or away from a path.
**Thorn Spring - Springs with spikes at the bottom. These rotate periodically, so the player has to time when they jump.
*Spikes - An obsticle and a very common one. By touching the pointed edges, you will take damage.
*Dash Panels - These send you in the direction they're facing
*Fan - Sends you up to higher places. Flying characters gain the most air.
*Hint Ring/Omochao - These give you useful hints to complete a stage. Hint Rings atviate when they are touched and normally tell you hints about the level. Omochao is optional and activates when you press up on the control stick when you get near him. He will give you hints on bonus paths, or what characters to use when.
*Dimension Panel - Some stages have these. These allow the player to transtition to different dimensional versions of each stage.
*Teleporter - Transports you to different areas. The design may differ betwen zones and they may act diffrently, but they still do the same action.
Jump Panels - Like a dash panel, but they send you into the air as well.
*Trick Jump Panel - When a character passes this, he/she can perform tricks. This increases the Tension Gauge.
*Catapult - Acts like a jump panel, but your speed and momentum before hitting the panel will determine how fair you're sent in the air.
=== Item Capusles ===
Item capsules are boxes throughout the stages. By touching one, you will get a item such as rings, or a speed boost.
Rings- Gives you a certain amount of rings. Additions are 1, 5, 10, 20, 40, 50, and 100.
Anti Ring - Takes away a certain amount of rings, but doesn’t give you knockback. It can take away 5 or 10 rings, however, if you have less than that amount, it will always keep you at 1 ring if the counter gets below zero.
Power Sneakers - Increases the top speed and acceleration of the player’s character.
Invincibility - Makes the character invincible to attacks and hazards, and damages nearby enemies for a limited time.
1-UP - Gives you an extra life.
Arrow - Acts as an additional checkpoint. Unlike Star Posts, these save your ring count, so you will return with the same amount the FIRST time you return to that point.
Continue - Grants you a continue. The rarest item box.
Grey Shoes - Makes you slower and heavier.
EggHead - Knocks you back and acts like a hit. You can lose a life with this. Common in the later stages.
Time - Shaves time off of your current timer.
Pogo Spring - Gives you a spring you can use to get to higher areas.
Random - Gives you a random item bonus.
Bomb - Destroys all enemies on the screen.
 
=== Shields ===
Certain Item boxes have shields. Shields protect you from one hit without losing your rings. There are special shields called Elemental Shields that give you protection against certain hazards and allows Sonic to use shield abilities.
Shield - Protects you from one hit. There are multiple.
Bronze - Protects you from 2 hits. Sonic gains the Power Bomb attack.
Fire - Protects you from Fire hazards. Sonic gains the Fire Dash.
Water - Protects you from drowning. Gives Sonic the Bubble Bounce.
Thunder - Protects you from electric hazards and draws rings to you. Allows Sonic to double jump.
Wind - Protects you from wind or air hazards. Allows Sonic to create platforms under him
Ice - Protects you from Ice hazards. Gives Sonic the Freeze Blast attack.
Leaf - Protects you for up to 3 hits, with each hit taking off one of 3 leaves. The player is somewhat vulnerable if something gets between the leaves. Allows Sonic to use the Leaf Saw attack.
Rock - Protects you from spikes and damages enemies with the two rocks that surround you. If you get hit, the rocks will bounce away (while damaging enemies along the way) and you can collect them like dropped rings. Sonic can throw them forwards.
Burst - Protects you from one hit, but when you get hit, you destroy every badnik on the screen. Gives Sonic the Mega Shockwave attack.
Lead - Similar to the water shield, however, you are protected against things like quicksand, and lava. Gives Sonic the Metal Wave.
2nd Chance Shield - Gives Sonic no extra skills. If the character dies, they get another chance. Goes away if the player gets hit 3 times.
Metal - Protects against spikes, and crushers. Sonic can use the Hard Attack.
Category:Fan Games
Category:Sonic Games