Sonic Mania

Sonic Mania
Developers: Christian Whitehead, Headcannon, PagodaWest Games, Tantalus Media (Nintendo Switch), Sega Publisher: Sega Platforms: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Windows Released internationally: August 15, 2017 (PlayStation 4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch), August 29, 2017 (Windows) This game has unused animations. This game has unused areas. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused enemies. This game has unused objects. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden sound test. This game has a hidden level select. This game has a prerelease article

To do: Codes for Windows version. Verify codes/controls for PS4 and XB1 versions. Two updates have been released for the Steam version. Check what the differences are (e.g. DRM, bugs, dev menu build date). Verify non-menu content for PS4, XB1, and Switch when possible.

After almost twenty-three years, classic Sonic gameplay returns in all its 2D pixel-perfect glory. Sonic Mania features a mix of brand-new stages and remixed classics, with a hearty dose of unexpected Denuvo DRM for PC users.

Level Select/Debug Mode

At the title screen, hold one of the below button combinations (depending on the system) before "Press Any Button" appears. Once it does, keep the buttons held down and press any other button to start the game, and if done right, the above level select/sound test screen, identical to the ones found in the Genesis Sonic titles, will appear. Alternatively, place the cursor on the "No Save" portion of the file select menu, hold one of the following button combinations, and press Start. However, the Debug Mode (which can be unlocked by collecting at least three rows of medals from the bonus stages) must be enabled for the latter code to work.

Console	Buttons
PlayStation 4	◻+✕
Switch	Y+B
Xbox One	X+A
PC	Q+S

Controls for this screen are as follows:

• D-Pad / Arrow Keys: Navigate through the menu.
• ◻ (PS4) / Y (Switch) / X (XB1) / Q (PC): Switch between Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as the player character.
• △ (PS4) / X (Switch) / Y (XB1) / W (PC) when Sonic is selected as the player character: Have Tails follow Sonic.
• O (PS4) / A (Switch) / B (XB1) / A (PC): Play highlighted level/selected sound test entry.

To activate the debug mode, hold △ (PS4) / X (Switch) / Y (XB1) / W (PC) while selecting a level, and keep it held until the level loads.

Controls for debug placement mode are as follows:

• △ (PS4) / X (Switch) / Y (XB1) / Q (PC): Enable/disable debug placement mode.
• ✕ (PS4) / B (Switch) / A (XB1) / A (PC): Cycle forward through the available objects.
• ◻ (PS4) / Y (Switch) / X (XB1) / W (PC) while holding the above button: Cycle backward through the available objects.
• O (PS4) / A (Switch) / B (XB1) / S (PC) when selecting an item monitor: Change the item monitor's contents.
• D-Pad / Arrow Keys: Move currently selected object around.
• ◻ (PS4) / Y (Switch) / X (XB1) / W (PC): Place currently selected object.

A set of debug coordinates also appear at the top right corner of the screen when debug placement mode is active. The top 8 digits are the X and Y coordinates of the camera, while the bottom 8 digits are the X and Y coordinates of the player.

(Source: unAWARE777)

Camera Movement Mode

To do: Someone just found a way to make camera movement for every stage in this video. Please research this for the way to active it. https://youtu.be/rrsewT1P7Dk

This mode can be found if you use debug mode with Tails in Mirage Saloon in Sonic's Act 1. Place a signpost; then, if you are lucky, you will be taken to Knuckles' Act 1 and the mode will be activated. The controls are as follows:

• ✕ (PS4) / B (Switch) / A (XB1): Increase movement speed of camera if held.
• D-Pad: Move Camera.

(Source: yoshikirby43)

Retro Engine v5 Developer Menu

In the PC version of the game, by adding "devMenu=1" to the "[Game]" section of Settings.ini, and pressing the ESC key in-game, a hidden developer menu is displayed. This can also be accessed by renaming the Data.rsdk file and running the Sonic Mania executable (causing "Sonic Mania [Data Folder]" to appear in the window title bar), although this causes menu backgrounds to appear black and your character being unable to move in 2D stages.

Thanks For Playing screen

• Resume: Exits the debug menu.
• Restart: Restarts the game.
• Stage Select: Goes to a sub-menu with the following options:

• Presentation: Small scenes related to starting and ending the game.

• Logos: Developer logo splash screen.
• Title Screen: It's the title screen. Wow!
• Menu: Goes to the main menu, in case this dev menu isn't exciting enough for you.
• Thanks For Playing: The screen displayed at the end of public/media outlet demos, except most of the assets don't exist anymore...
• Level Select: Jumps to the fancier level select screen mentioned previously.
• Credits: This one goes to the credits.
• Continue: Continue screen seen in the No Save mode.

• Media Demo: Used to showcase two different zones to various media outlets. Those zones were:

• Green Hill Zone 1: Basically the same as the standard Green Hill Zone 1. Leads directly into Studiopolis Zone 1 with no fade-out.
• Studiopolis Zone 1: There's no music track for this stage. If the player does anything to cue new music (Like hitting an invincibility monitor or reaching the end of the act), the game will crash.

• Mania Mode: This is a text-based stage select for the main game. There are two entries that aren't in the normal stage select:

• Stardust Speedway Zone 2M: This is the area used for the Metal Sonic fight.
• Titanic Monarch Zone 3: The final boss area.

• Special Stage: Play any of the seven special stages.
• Blue Spheres: Play any of the 32 Blue Spheres stages. Also includes a "Random" and "Random 2" option. Random 2 will use the "Mania" mode of the Blue Sphere stages, which adds new spheres with different effects.
• Extras: Includes the unlockable Puyo Puyo mode and the D.A. Garden.
• Cutscenes: These are the in-game cutscenes, not the animated ones.

• Angel Island Zone: The cutscene at the start of the game.
• Green Hill Zone: The cutscene immediately after the cutscene at the start of the game
• Green Hill Zone 2: The cutscene at the very end of Act 2.
• Mirage Saloon K Intro: Knuckles gets knocked off a plane like a chump.
• SSZ Time Warp: The trippy time traveling cutscene seen at the end of Stardust Speedway Act 1.
• Try Again: Eggman taunts you and your lack of special stage skill. What a cad!

• Videos: All of the game's animated endings. Includes the hidden Knuckles ending, labeled as "True End?"

• Options: Change game settings.

• Video Settings: A few extra video options.

• Window Size: Options are 1x, 2x, 3x, and 4x. In the normal video menu, this only goes up to 3x.
• Window Aspect: Missing from the normal Video menu. Options are 16:9, 4:3, 3:2, 16:10, and 5:3.
• Fullscreen: A simple YES/NO choice.
• Screen Shader: The same options as the normal Video menu, except CRT-Sharp is named "CRT-Yeetron", and CRT-Soft is named "CRT-Yee64"

• Audio Settings: Volume slides, plus a "Streams Enabled" option that when set to "NO" will prevent any more music from playing.
• Configure Input: Configure those inputs.

• Exit: Exits the game.

Activating the developer menu also activates some other features, presumably used for debugging. Holding backspace will fast-forward the game, and pressing F12 will pause and unpause the game. While the game is paused with F12, F11 will advance it one frame at a time. If used on Steam, this will disable the screenshot function if the key is bound to F12.

(Source: RibShark)

Collision Viewer

Using Debug Mode, choose the "S" object and place it on the map. The terrain will be highlighted in different colours, indicating the solid terrain:

• Yellow - Tiles that are solid from the top. Used as a platforms.
• Red - Tiles that are solid from the bottom and sides. Acting as a walls.
• White - Tiles that are solid all over. Act as the ground.

Unused Graphics

General

To do: Get the final shield animations to compare with the older shield sprites. Also Flame Shield animation is wrong. Have to be change to be like in Sonic 3. There's unused sprites for Sonic driving the Tornado in this sheet. https://www.spriters-resource.com/pc_computer/sonicmania/sheet/95304/

Unused sprites for the game's title screen show the game's early name "Sonic (the Hedgehog) Discovery", most likely left over from the prototype shown to SEGA.

The initial menus of early demos. Oddly, it does not have Mirage Saloon or Chemical Plant, both of which were playable at E3 2017.

Ending graphics from early demos.

Sprites for an Act 3 are in the title card graphics. The only act that would possibly use this, Lava Reef Zone Act 3 (the boss area), uses the Act 2 graphics.

All signposts but Sonic's are labeled in the sprite sheet. There are two extra copies of Sonic's signpost art labeled "M" and "A", presumably for Mighty/Metal Sonic and Amy respectively.

Different background graphics for the title screen, with a slightly more geometric island and graphics of a strange Model 1 Genesis with a 32X and a Model 1 Sega CD emitting a beam of light. Judging by the color palette, this may have been used in D.A. Garden before it was scrapped.

Unfinished graphics for Sonic on the title screen, missing several shades on the spines and gloves. Interestingly, these were located as part of a PNG file, as oppose to the GIF format used by most of the game's sprite files.

Early unfinished graphics of the English text, pause menu, and save select/2 player race are in Data\Sprites\UI\

Because none of the zones' names include these letters, J, K, Q, V, X and Z all go unused.

An early pause menu, seen in some pre-release footage.

Early graphics for the elemental shields and the insta-shield can be found in Sprites/Global/ShieldsOld.gif.

32px
These early shield graphics are traced from the original Sonic 3 sprites, but with colors changed and more detail added. The final shield sprites were redrawn from the ground up and feature a lot of additional frames.

Blue Spheres

To do: There's even more unused stuff for Blue Spheres that used Sonic 3 & Knuckles sprites, as you can see in this sprite sheets. https://www.spriters-resource.com/pc_computer/sonicmania/sheet/95664/

Included in the Blue Sphere bonus stage files are sprites of the Chaos Emeralds and Super Emeralds, taken straight from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. This could've meant the Blue Spheres Minigame would be reused as a Special Stage or probably a leftover for prototype Sonic 3 & Knuckles mobile port.

Debug Graphics

To do: Verify if there is any access to the hidden Debug Mode or Level Editor.

Special Stage

An odd message. Maybe it was supposed to be displayed after getting the Chaos Emerald and exiting the stage?

A "HYPER" graphic is present in the result graphics, which means that the return of the Hyper form might have been planned.

Green Hill Zone

This was the original graphic for the burning logs in Green Hill Zone. The final game replaces this with a more detailed burning animation with pallette that matching the Flame Shield itself.

Chemical Plant Zone

Both Sonic and Knuckles have special intros when entering Chemical Plant Zone, where a drop of purple water falls on their heads and they react to it. This happens to Tails as well, however, he has no special animation in-game for it. From these sprites it's clear that he was meant to have one, where he uses his tails to dry himself off.

The above sprites, animated.

(Animated GIF: Trunks)

Studiopolis Zone

To do: codenamegamma got the LoveTester to spawn and work properly in this video, we can add it here if that's ok. https://youtu.be/OOKZK8MU5lo

An unused object from Studiopolis Act 2, named "LoveTester" in the code. The player would have to jump into a cage to activate it.

These lights would line up along the sides of the love tester machine.

This monitor would display one of the icons below, depending on what character the player is and what result they get.

Nice hand-drawn graphics for Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. The first expression is neutral, the second is for winning, and the third is for losing.

Amy and Eggman icons, along with three hearts; two being small and large red ones and other being broken and purple.

The winning and losing icons depend on what character you're playing as (they are listed below). When winning, the red hearts would appear and you get 400 points. Losing makes the broken heart appear and doesn't give you points. Getting any other character simply gives you 100 points.

Player	Win	Lose
Sonic	Amy	Eggman
Tails	Sonic	Eggman
Knuckles	Eggman	Sonic

Apparently a boss very similar to Gapsule from Sonic & Knuckles was cut from Act 2. Its eyes would represent a game of rock-paper-scissors, likely a reference to Sega's Alex Kidd franchise (which relies heavily on rock-paper-scissors, typically for boss battles).

Flying Battery Zone

Used	Full

The prongs of the Big Squeeze mini-boss are supposed to light up when it's charging - there are four frames of animation for it in the sprite sheet. Only the first frame is used in-game.

Used	Full

The busted Chopper heads in the Big Squeeze trash pile have eight frames of animation, but only the first frame is used.

The turrets from Wing Fortress Zone were set to reappear here. The tip is a separate sprite and would rotate to track the player in-game.

Another cut object from Wing Fortress Zone. There are many wind tunnel sections in Act 2, but this object isn't in any of them.

The last cut WFZ object is the infamous retracting platform.

This is a larger version of the Spider Mobile's electric bolt that generates those plasma orbs.

Press Garden Zone

To do: codenamegamma also got the unused printers to work, even if they don't actually print anything. https://youtu.be/hDBOxoP8m-U Try and edit game files to show the original Jugglesaw and Woodrow sprites in game when it's possible to repack the Data.rsdk file.

Early	Final

Graphics for an earlier version of Jugglesaw are in Sprites/PSZ1/Enemies-Old.gif. The early design doesn't have googly eyes and its legs don't move, suggesting it originally stood in one place.

Early	Final

Woodrow's early design is in the same file. This version is a lot more hammer-like that the finished design, which looks more like a woodpecker.

Two placeholder images for Woodrow can be found in Sprites/PSZ2/Enemies-Temp.gif.

While all of the alphabet blocks have raised animations ready, only 'A', 'O', and 'T' are used.

Green versions of the silver and blue and copper crates seen throughout Act 1. Probably a good thing that these were never used - they don't contrast well with the background.

A big stack of newspapers. Why not? That glass pane might have been a shutter for something that would have spawned those newspapers.

64px
Two high-speed ink wipers. The brighter one would be rendered in front of the player, and the darker one would be behind the player.

Big jars of cyan, magenta and yellow ink, larger than the ones that the Splats enemies spawn from.The graphic on the right is supposed to combine with the jars...

...something like this. It's likely that the actual blending would darken the ink in the jar, though.

Fill and splash graphics for those three ink jars.

This is probably what would have drained those ink jars - a big printer on rails. The first, worn-out looking printer is in Sprites/PSZ1/Objects.gif, while the newer, shinier printer one is in Sprites/PSZ1/Objects2.gif . The game labels these "SP500" and "SP500MkII" in the code. These are modelled after the Sega SG-1000 system.

The first printer has an opening at the top for ink, and if the player tries to go inside, they're rejected and fall out the bottom. The second one has a button at the top that the player would have to step on it to operate, but it doesn't seem to do anything when pressed.

These are on/off lights for both printers. The brighter lights are for the Mk II printer.

This strange object is labeled as a sprayer in Sprites/PSZ1/Acetone.bin, making that thing on the right a spray of acetone. Basically, it's the Act 1 equivalent of the frost throwers in Act 2.

This is an Act 1 version of the swinging platforms seen in Act 2.

Graphics for the wood chippers and wall shuriken shooters from Act 2 are also present within Act 1's assets.

Used	Full

There are animations for the player looking to the left, right, and squinting/blinking while frozen in Sprites/PSZ2/Objects2.gif, but the final game only uses frame 1.

Used	Full
64px	64px

The shuriken shooters have two transitional frames that aren't used in the final game - the lights are either fully on or fully off.

Within the "Objects-Temp" sheet in Act 2's folder are a bunch of placeholder graphics for what would become the level's objects and gimmickry. A lot of them are ripped straight from Ice Cap Zone from Sonic 3, in addition to Aquatic Ruin Zone's Eggman-face shooters from Sonic 2, which were probably adapted into the wall shuriken shooters.

Stardust Speedway Zone

Comedy and tragedy mask constellations meant to be seen in the skies of Stardust Speedway Act 1.

Graphics for a Marble Garden-esque spiked crusher. Doesn't really fit in with the high-speed pace of the rest of the act, so it makes sense that it was never put anywhere.

The spinning signposts seen through the Sonic CD version of Stardust Speedway make no appearance here. There's a signpost object in edit mode, but it uses old graphics from the Sonic CD remaster and it isn't attached to anything.

A smaller version of the large dirt piles that the vines sprout out of.

A whole lot of frames for the annoying firefly badniks go unused, as they only ever point their bottoms directly downwards. These correspond to the original version of this enemy in Sonic CD's Stardust Speedway, which can be placed in debug mode and behaves accordingly. However, like the signpost, it still uses the old graphics from Sonic CD instead of this updated set.

Hydrocity Zone

Early	Final

Early hook graphics are left in the HCZ/Objects.gif file. The early graphics have the useful hook in the foreground and the useless hook darkened in the background, while the final version changes this so they're both in the foreground, but the useful hook is flipped, fatter, and green.

Mirage Saloon Zone

A Piñata of a Ball Hog would be used in Mirage Saloon, dedicated to the Mexican tradition.

Oil Ocean Zone

A horizontal version of the booster objects that propel the player into those ball launcher things. Unused in the original Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and also unused here.

A small version of the lift platforms, based on the ones seen in the Sonic 2 Simon Wai prototype!

An unused gold variant of the silver switches seen in Act 2.

Lava Reef Zone

Embers were meant to fall into Lava Reef Zone. Could have given the zone a hotter, more volcanic feeling.

Early	Final

Earlier, more primitive versions of the fireballs in Act 1 were left in LRZ1/Objects.gif.

This giant chain link is in Heavy Rider's sprite sheet. Maybe part of a cut exit sequence?

Active version of the Super Emeralds in Knuckles' boss area - in the final game, they're nowhere to be seen, replaced by stone relics. This is not taken directly from Sonic 3 & Knuckles; The graphics have actually been touched up a bit here.

Metallic Madness Zone

A spinning version of the cylinders in Metallic Madness Zone...and the animation is labeled as "Barrel" in MMZ/Platform.bin...wonder what this could be referencing?

Egg Reverie Zone

A big chunk of tiles in the Egg Reverie tileset go unused, suggesting that the original plans for the zone might have been quite different. For instance, these support structures that hold up the platforms in the boss area are too far below the camera for the player to see.

Slopes that don't show up anywhere in the stage proper, but can be seen outside the boss area.

There are even quarter-pipes, both normal and crystallized. Note that the normal versions of the slopes and quarter-pipes are actually just palette swaps of tiles seen in Titanic Monarch Zone.

Scrap Brain Zone

Leftover sprites were found in the game's sprite folder, showing sprites for Scrap Brain Zone. These sprites are clearly from Sonic 1, which could mean they were either placeholders for what would be Scrap Brain Zone in Sonic Mania, or just leftovers from Sonic 1 on iOS and Android. These sprites were removed in a subsequent update.

Hidden Palace Zone

Sprites of the remade Hidden Palace Zone from the mobile remake of Sonic 2. Like Scrap Brain Zone, these could either be leftovers from the mobile remake or placeholders for what would be Hidden Palace Zone in the game. Of all of these assets, only the Jellygnite badnik would be chosen to be updated; namely for Hydrocity Zone.

D. A. Garden

Graphics with buttons and screens would have been used in the D.A. Garden and may resemble Sega CD's UI Types before it was scrapped in favor of a more generic interface.

Miscellaneous

Various leftover sprites from the mobile ports of Sonic 1, 2, and the failed mobile Sonic 3 pitch located in Blueprints of the game's sprites folder.

Straight from The Taxman's keyboard-mouth:

The Blueprints thing isn't special at all really. "Blueprint Zone" was something that existed very early on while I was developing RSDKv5. We just ported a bunch of stuff from the remasters to test the tools out, and simply forgot to delete the sprite sheet when it wasn't needed anymore.

As of version 1.03.0831, the Blueprints folder and this image file no longer exist in the game data.

A few icons for a stage editor can be found in Editor/Icons.gif.

Unused Enemies

Green Hill Zone

The original version of Splats can be placed with debug mode in both acts. This is separate from the updated Splats used in Press Garden Zone Act 1 and is most likely a leftover from the mobile port of Sonic 1.

The rolling ball can also be placed with debug mode, again likely a leftover from Sonic 1.

Chemical Plant Zone

A pond skater badnik that looks and behaves like a similar badnik in Tidal Tempest Zone from Sonic CD. It can be placed with debug mode in Act 1. This little guy will automatically snap to the water's surface and strides along in short bursts, occasionally stopping to fire its pointy nose forward like a missile.

Press Garden Zone Act 1

Graphics for Act 2's Wooddrow badnik are loaded in Act 1's enemy sheet. The only enemies which normally appear in both acts are Dragonfly and Juggle Saw, Splats is exclusive to Act 1's sheet and Carry is exclusive to Act 2's, so Wooddrow's presence in both implies it was intended for both acts at some point.

Unused Models

To do: The models has vertex colors. The preview need to be change with colorized model.

MonarchBG

Located in Data\Meshes\TMZ\ is an unused 3D model of the Mech seen in the background of Titanic Monarch Zone. According to Stealth, it was converted into a 2D image to be used in the final game.

(Source: Stealth)

Sonic

Located in Data\Meshes\Global\ is an unused 3D model of Sonic. It is the model used in Sonic Jam, and was likely used as a reference at some point. It's also possible that the developers were going to use this model instead of creating a whole new model.

Unused Audio

Music

This track is listed in the D.A. Garden as "Egg Reverie Pinch Mode", which suggests that it would have played when you are running out of rings or you have almost defeated the true final boss in Egg Reverie Zone, but it never plays at all in those situations. This track is listed as 2A in the sound test/level select.

Sound Effects

Name	Sound	Notes
Global/Sliding.wav
Stage/Beep.wav		Files Stage/Beep3.wav and Stage/Beep4.wav are used, but these two are not.
Stage/Beep2.wav
Stage/Electrify2.wav		While Stage/Electrify.wav (Taken from Sonic 1) is used, this sound (Taken from Sonic CD) isn't. This is pretty much just a lower-pitched version of Stage/ElecCharge.wav (Also used) anyway.
Stage/LedgeBreak2.wav		There are three different ledge breaking sound effects in the game. This is the one that isn't used.
Stage/Rev.wav
Stage/Strain.wav
Stage/Swing.wav		Basically the same sound as SSZ1/Flail.wav, but this is also 0.4 KB larger for some reason.
CPZ/Sticky.wav		The original sound effect for the sticky platforms in Chemical Plant Zone. The final game uses Puyo/Land.wav to reinforce the whole Mean Bean Machine connection.
FBZ/SpiderBounce1.wav		Three sounds meant to play when the Spider Mobile is being bounced around the arena.
FBZ/SpiderBounce2.wav
FBZ/SpiderBounce3.wav
TMZ1/HogBounce.ogg		This was probably supposed to be used when the Ball Hog's, well, balls, bounce off the ground.

Early Sound Effects

Earlier version of existing sound effects left in the game.

Early Sound		Used Sound		Context
Stage/Warp.ogg		Stage/Teleport.ogg		Using a teleport box in 2P mode.
MMZ1/Grow.ogg		MMZ1/Grow2.ogg		Hitting a growth ray while shrunk in Metallic Madness Zone.
MMZ1/Shrink.ogg		MMZ1/Shrink2.ogg		Hitting a shrink ray at full size in Metallic Madness Zone.

Hidden Areas & Objects

Using Debug Mode, you can go out of bounds and find hidden areas and objects.

Press Garden Zone Act 1

Use Debug Mode near the first giant ring in the Act and move down to discover an unused area with letter blocks spelling "OLLEH" (backwards for "HELLO"). This is very likely an easter egg for curious players.

Stardust Speedway Zone Act 1

The robot teleporter destroyed during the transition to Act 2 has a "destroyed" sprite, but due to the nature of the cutscene it goes offscreen before the sprite can be seen and is thus never seen in normal gameplay. By using Debug Mode to go past the miniboss, you can destroy the machine and see the sprite.

Mirage Saloon Zone Act 1 (Sonic/Tails)

To do: Second image need better resolution/quality.

Using debug mode during the train sequence, if going to the right far enough correctly, Fang, Bark and Bean can be found flying in the sky.

In the bottom-left corner, there is an unused piece of solid ground, along with rings, possibly for the cutscene transitioning into Act 2.

(Source: TetraBitGaming)

Lava Reef Zone Act 1

There is a pool of lava hidden to the left of the starting point, and can only be seen by placing signposts to force the camera to move left. This area resembles the opening section seen in the early version of Act 1 (See below). The lava works as intended, but there's not much else here.

Also found near the starting point is the shaft that Sonic fell down at the start of the zone in Sonic & Knuckles, which remains as a leftover and was block off with new path. Strangely, this is not found in the earlier version of Act 1.

A large chunk of stage found to the left of the rising lava section. Unlike the previous two areas, there are a few objects here - a single Iwamodoki on the left, a couple of invisible Eggman blocks in the middle (These would be used in conjuction with a crushing object to kill the player), and a single rock barrier with a switch to open it up. This is similar to a Knuckles-only section seen in the original Lava Reef Zone, though the original section didn't have a set of stairs leading into a pit.

Lava Reef Zone Act 2

Lava Reef Act 2's boss area (Technically Lava Reef Act 3) has the greatest amount of unused content. According to developer Simon "Stealth" Thomley, part of the development for old zones involved copying the original layouts from their original games and working around them, adding new tiles and altering the level layouts. Sonic Mania only uses a small part of Hidden Palace Zone's level layout, leaving the rest unused.

This is the hidden area that was originally part of Sonic and/or Tails's path in Sonic & Knuckles' Hidden Palace Zone. In Sonic Mania this is part of Knuckles' path, but there's no way for him to get up here without debug mode. Not that it matters, anyway, since the assortment of monitors seen in Sonic & Knuckles are absent in Sonic Mania.

There's a long teleporter tube above the monitor in Knuckles' path. It's possible that this is where the exit teleporter would have originally appeared, but in the final game, it was moved further to the right. Probably to put the clear the act and then the cutscene.

A section taken directly from Sonic & Knuckles, though the gap in the floor is new, possible to accommodate the teleporter in the area below. The murals still use their old tileset definitions, so they appear as a collection of corrupt tiles in Sonic Mania. The mural tiles aren't in the new tileset either.

The original Master Emerald shrine. This section seems to have served as a scratch area for the Heavy Rider fight, experimenting with how the ramp tiles would be set up for the boss area proper.

The last unused area. This was the exit point for Sonic and Tails in the original Hidden Palace Zone. Some of the tiles are using their original definitions; This is easiest to see with the curved ceiling blocks and the top of the teleporter chamber.

Egg Reverie Zone

This is another instance of the developers using empty space in the level as a scratch pad. The area seen is directly under the main boss arena and features slopes, crystallized and otherwise, that don't appear anywhere else.

The section instance is off to the right of the main boss area. Largely the same content as the previous section, but the lights and the quarter-pipes are new.

Some of these pieces can be seen in debug mode by placing signposts by placing signposts to force the camera to go out of bounds. Everything below that long chunk of black rectangle is below the camera bound, though.

(Source: VentureSonic)

I'm Outta Here!

A callback to Sonic CD, Sonic says "I'm outta here!" and jumps offscreen, causing an instant game over (although the Game Over text does not appear). According to a developer, this was in pre-release demos but was disabled in the final game, probably for the demo to restart after the player leave the game. To activate it, edit the RAM memory at address 0A4D667 and change the value to 10.

Interestingly, this can also be activated with Knuckles and Tails, though the outcomes differ. Knuckles will be swapped with various parts of his spritesheet and jump offscreen, causing a game over, while Tails' sprites also spaz out to different parts of his spritesheet, but does not jump offscreen.

Possible explanation is Tails and Knuckles had sprites early in the game, then the developers. Or they were never mentioned to "get outta there" in the game.

Dunkey Mode

This easter egg is activated by grabbing onto a chain in Act 1 of Hydrocity Zone and inputting the Sonic 3 & Knuckles level select code: Left, Left, Left, Right, Right, Right, Up, Up, Up. If done correctly, a ring chime will be played.

From then on, whenever a speed booster is activated, a sound clip of YouTuber Jason Gastrow, a.k.a. VideoGameDunkey, is played instead of the usual sound effect. This change carries over to Act 2.

Unused Text

The following strings are present in all language packs, but they're always in English:

TEST STRING

A simple test string.

THIS FEATURE IS NOT
YET IMPLEMENTED

Obviously intended for work-in-progress versions.

PLACEHOLDER...
SIMULATE LOG IN?

This was probably used when trying to submit Time Attack scores before they were properly set up.

By the Mania for the Mania

GameConfig.bin contains the game's tagline alongside text used in the developer menu.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Early Levels

Green Hill Zone Act 1

An early Green Hill Zone level design similar to what was presented in the San Diego Comic-Con Demo is in the GHZCutscene folder in the file Scene1.bin.

Early	Final

Secret area where there was a giant ring was removed from the final version. This area was present in pre-release versions.

Early	Final

This piece has some features that was revealed in the demos, the first secret area above would be a giant ring and to access it needed to push a purple stone, it was moved to the right and now guards 9 rings and 1-up. A long tunnel has been removed to fit this secret area. The giant ring went down, getting less hidden.

Early	Final

A secret area was removed, it would probably be a giant ring, a platform on the wall above a rundown platform was also removed.

Early	Final

Some areas of the lake appears incomplete and on the right side of the waterfall it is possible to see a secret area, also suggests that it would be a giant ring.

Green Hill Zone Act 2

An early level can be found on Scene2.bin in GHZCutscene, used as a cutscene after defeating the Death Egg Robot, there are no abrupt changes in the final version, just aesthetic changes. The full map can be seen here.

Studiopolis Act 1

Using the Dev Menu, going to Media Demo and selecting Studiopolis Act 1 will take you to an early version of said zone, which is very similar to the one that was playable at PAX 2016 and early demos.

Lava Reef Zone Act 1

An early playable Lava Reef Zone Act 1 is accessible by swapping Scene1.bin with Scene2.bin in the LR1 folder. It is comprised of sections from the original Sonic & Knuckles stage alongside sections that wound up used in Mania. It contains garbled tiles and the song begins playing incorrectly after the first loop, likely due to an improper loop point. The boss also appears and seems to work normally.

Filename Oddities

Early Stage Name

Press Garden Zone's music files are internally called PulpSolstice1 and PulpSolstice2 and its sprite folders are called PSZ1 and PSZ2. This suggests that the zone was once called Pulp Solstice Zone.

Chemical Pools in Chemical Plant Zone Act 2

The names for the chemical pools in Chemical Plant Zone Act 2 reveal that the colors were changed: ChemRed.wav is used for the green chemical pools and ChemYellow.wav is used for the cyan chemical pools. This could also refer to Red and Yellow springs respectively, which both of these elements seem to behave like.

Heavy Magician

Most internal references to Heavy Magician refer to her by the alternate name of "HeavyMystic", while the version encountered during the boss of Titanic Monarch Zone Act 2 is "PhantomMystic", indicating that this character's official name was changed at some point. This is further supported by Stealth accidentally referring to her as Heavy Mystic insead of Heavy Magician on a livestream.

Cut Bonus Stages

There are 4 Bonus Stage removed, oddly enough 3 Bonus Stages were created for testing. These Bonus Stages are not accessed by DevMenu, you need to edit the SpecialBS content, renaming the files to be accessed more easily. The Bonus Stage 33 seems to represent a test area and Test 3, Test 7 and Test 8 are complete and have several sets of combinations with the blue spheres.

Scene33

In-Game	Map

Apparently this is a test level, the Bonus Stage is composed of a large area full of blue spheres and a cross-shaped line with red spheres. It is impossible to get perfect.

SceneTest3

In-Game	Map

SceneTest7

In-Game	Map

SceneTest8

In-Game	Map

(Map rips: Random Talking Bush)