Sonic Mania: footage and screens for Special Stages, Bonus Stages, and Time Attack

7 August 2017 Lite_Agent SEGA, Sonic Mania

Last week, SEGA shared some more details about Sonic Mania, the 2D Sonic game releasing on Nintendo Switch next week (on August 15th). We already knew that Special Stages would be found in the game (this was revealed at the San Diego Comic-Con last month), but it looks like this wasn’t the only type of “special” stages to be found in the game.

SEGA revealed that Sonic Mania would also feature Bonus Stages (called Blue Spheres) and Time Attack, further expanding the gameplay offering. Here’s details about the three types of special stages:

Bonus Stage: you get to control Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles through a series of blue spheres, in order to clear the stage. To be more precise, your goal is to touch all the blue spheres, which is easier said than done. After all, if you happen to touch a blue sphere, it turns red… and touching a red sphere instantly ends the Bonus Stage! If you complete a Bonus Stage by collecting all the blue spheres, you get a Silver Medallion. If you go the extra step and collect all the blue spheres and rings (basically, a perfect score), you get a Gold Medallion;
Time Attack: a new mode found in Sonic Mania. The goal is simple: clear every level as fast as possible. You can compete with other players via the online leaderboards;
Special Stages: your goal in those is to chase down an enemy UFO, in order to secure Chaos Emerals. In order to get a speed boost, you can collect the blue spheres along the way. Once the speed meter is filled up, the Mac level increases, allowing you to go even faster… just make sure you don’t drop off the stage!

Here’s some gameplay footage showcasing all three types of special stages: