Prerelease:Sonic Mania

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Sonic Mania.

This article is a work in progress.
...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes.
Notes: Because the screenshots have not been uploaded to the wiki yet and there are more comparisons between the old and final level layouts coming soon.

To do:

Find more Prerelease material to document, such as these videos.
The physical release of Sonic Mania Plus comes with a booklet that contains more concept art and early names. Document these early ideas.
If I remember correctly, a brief video of Angel Island in Plus was posted accidentally by the Sonic YouTube channel in the run up to its announcement. See if a link (probably made private) or archived video exists.

Sonic Mania was announced in the summer of 2016 during the week of the annual San Diego Comic Con to celebrate Sonic the Hedgehog's 25th anniversary since its 1991 debut game, Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. There are at least two different playable demos at different states of development. Each demo illustrates differences in stage gimmicks, power-ups, item placement, music selection, and so on.

Development Timeline

Main Game

2016
- July 22nd - Game revealed at San Diego Comic Con 2016.^[1]
- September 3rd - Playable demo available showcasing the first Act of Green Hill Zone & Studiopolis.
2017
- January 12th-13th - Nintendo reveals Sonic Mania is coming to the Nintendo Switch on the "Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017" livestream, along with a trailer. It was later uploaded as a single video in the official Nintendo channel.^[2]
- March 10th - Destructoid Demo
- May 30th - Sega announces a new release date for Sonic Mania and is delayed from Spring to August. ^[3]
- August 11th - Sega delays the PC version by two weeks.^[4]
- August 15th - Game is released on the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
- August 29th - Game is released on PC.

Plus DLC

2018
- March 17th - DLC is announced in the form of "Sonic Mania Plus".
- April 9th - The update with DLC was nearing completion.
- April 17th - An update was sent out by accident on PlayStation Network in the UK known as v1.04 (or "v1.04.180409 Re" in the game's files). This update would be pulled a day later. ^[5]
  - Browsing and comparing the files in this update reveals that the update and DLC were pretty much finished, just lacking any way to activate the DLC itself.
- July 17th-19th - DLC is released on all platforms.

Pre-Release Pictures

Pulp Solstice

Early Press Garden

In May 2017, a screenshot of what appears to be an unseen Mania level was used in a poster for a Sega meeting at a Las Vegas licensing expo. Looking back, it is clear this is what became Press Garden Act 1 in the final game. Interestingly, there aren't any Press-like themed tiles, and there's a distinct background with a sunny and bright-summer look. One might assume that Press Garden had its name changed from Pulp Solstice because of minor tweaks given to the level during its development that transformed Act 1 into a press, and in which from Act 1 and Act 2 a solstice would happen and the level would make a transition from summer to winter. However, the area shown in the following picture is nowhere in the final game. More evidence pointing towards the fact of this being an early name is due to the fact that in the Music folder of the game the zone's theme is called Pulp Solstice 1 and Pulp Solstice 2.

Pre-Release Cutscenes

This animatic of the opening cutscene was accidentally tweeted by Tyson Hesse, who deleted shortly afterwards; there are several differences:

Sonic nearly gets blown to smithereens by Heavy King instead of Heavy Gunner.
Instead of destroying the eggrobo, Sonic dashes off, with Heavy King chasing after him.
The scenery is completely different.

Studiopolis Act 2

This level was only shown one time from game announcement to its release, and many things changed since then, including a new background and some visual tweaks in which have made the level more colorful.

Early Studiopolis Act 2	Final Studiopolis Act 2

September 2016 Demo

The September 2016 demo does not contain elemental power-ups found in the final version. The monitors were either replaced with 1-up monitors or the area of the map where the power-up monitor should be is absent. Studiopolis Act 1 ends without a miniboss and there's a backward ramp from offscreen that sends Sonic upward to the piles of rings above it. ^[6]
The spike hazards were not properly layered behind the terrain revealing the entirety of the spikes, including their base. The layout and number of spikes were altered in the final build.
Water wasn't implemented into the level yet. Sonic cannot drown.
The Bubble Shield was not implemented yet in this demo.
Less flowers, trees, and foliage.
Special Stages are inaccessible. Giant rings are placed on the map but cannot be activated.
Placement of the UFO special stage is changed. Remnants of where it was previously located is still in the final game but the bridge and area connecting to it were omitted in the final design.
Sonic uses the flame shield to burn rotating spike logs. The sprite used for the burning log was changed in the final game, most likely to better match the flame shield itself.
The Cool Bonus isn't here in this demo.
The Bonus Stages from Sonic 3 also isn't here in this demo .

March 2017 Demo

Demo contains both acts of Green Hill Zone.
Green Hill Zone's second act lacks the remixed version of the Green Hill Zone theme found in the final game. The game instead repeats Act 1's theme. ^[7]
When GHZ's logs are burned, it uses the Sonic 2 fire sprite.
Tails' carrying Sonic upwards while flying sprite was different.

June 2017 (E3 Pre-Release Videos)

The first 6 minutes of Act 2 on Green Hill was seen at E3 2017. An extra life monitor is seen at 0:18 that was removed from the final version.

Only Green Hill and Mirage Saloon are playable. At 3:36 and 3:47, the Roller badnik of Spring Yard Zone appears here.

Pre-Release Videos (March-June 2017)

A video showing off gameplay of Chemical Plant Act 2.

Interestingly, at 0:30, the 1-Up Monitor uses an icon from an early version of Knuckles' Chaotix.

A video showing off gameplay of Flying Battery Act 1.

The music used here is an early version of Flying Battery Act 1's theme.
At 0:19, there's a launcher that got removed from the final version of the game.

Concept Art

Story concept.
Concept Art for the Swivel Stools found in Mirage Saloon Zone.
Concept Art for the Egg-Seltzer found in Mirage Saloon Zone.
Concept Art for the electric powered ceilings interacting with the Lightning Shield found in Flying Battery Zone.
There are leftovers for older or useless sketches drawn here. The only thing that is more visible is that there's text that says "Advance" and a image of Eggman.
The leftovers of more table scribbles can also be seen here. Including a invisible bumper, might have been for Studiopolis.
An early concept for one of the pages of the exclusive San Diego Comic Con Manual.