Git gud

Do you even realize how priviledged you are? Hippopotami dont have fingers or hands. No wonder he sucks! Make a hippopotami handicap mode! #HumanPriviledge

But I dont think that every game needs to be "acessible".Most of the time, a game quality is tied to its difficulty.The experience playing Dark Souls, for example, would be vastly different if you had a difficulty that lets say, the enemy did 50% less and the AI were much more forgiving, but your charachter stats would remain the same.I would say the same holds true for Sonic Mania, even if in a lesser capacity.

The question now would be if developers would be ok to jeopardize their vision for the game and the thrill that the player is suppossed to feel with each acomplishment in the name of acessability, since the player that is playing on easy in not having the experience the developer crafted and intended to have(which would be on normal difficulty for example).

My point is, not every game needs to appeal to someone, both in genres and difficult.If someone is not good at gaming, it should research beforehand if the game is hard or not, the same way you research is the type of game you like or if the game is good.

I feel like a dick for saying this, but in terms of Sonic Mania, I can't relate at all. I never got a game over on the game, but on the flip side had more lives than I'd ever need. I am plenty familiar with old school sonic games, so Sonic Mania was another joyful Sonic game for me. I'm not really bothered by game overs, but I can see where others come from. Some people just want to play a game to the end, and if they want an option to continue where they left off, I don't think that's a problem.

Dark Souls is marketed to be "hard as balls" and it's near impossible to hear about the game without it's scathing difficulty being mentioned.  Much like Fire Emblem games before casual mode, every preview and review talked up permadeath to warn players.  Sonic Mania doesn't do this, it's just another Sonic game to the average person.  But let's be real here - the average consumer doesn't research any game they play.  It's why terrible games that have terrible practices do so well(Shadow of War will be a huge success despite the awful controversies for example).  The majority who are willing to research things are gamers already and won't have an issue with the difficulty.

You make a point - no game should have to compromise their vison.  However, with the ideas I proposed, I don't think it's being compromised. You don't have to pick up the invincible tanooki tail in New Super Mario Bros. You're not forced to play casual mode in Fire Emblem Awakening.  Those games are still true to their series when those options are ignored.  Developers are always up to giving options when it comes to DLC and microtransactions, why is it any different with something as simple as a optional power up?  Keep in mind these companies want as many people playing as possible and consumer frindliness goes a long way in that reguard.

I have never questioned the nature of the game over system before, which you're right, would have been designed due to the nature of arcade machined back in the day ... Huh. I think that it really comes down to personal preference though. I have seen a few other people in this thread compare the game to Dark Souls and other difficult games. Maybe people are looking for both a challenge -and- a Sonic game. Maybe that subset is smaller than someone just wanting one or another, so from a marketing/pleasing-everyone perspective, it's not as good, but to some people it's a great game.

I think that as games have naturally evolved away from this older game over system, there just hasn't really been a discussion about it. I would argue that the game designers actively chose to keep the old system, in order to also remain faithful to the original style, that they were trying to replicate. From that perspective, I think that the developers were 10/10 on executing that vision.

This guy is just giving his opinion, based on the fact that he doesn't like the old game over system. He's not really giving an objective critique of how the developers did in putting this together as a robust package that will deliver on what it promised.

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I think that the old system works fine too, but that's just my personal preference :D each to their own.

There are games that what I propose should be enforced, games that trive on raw difficulty and the improvement of ones skills, such as Dark Souls, but there are also games that I agree that difficulty isnt as essential and could have an easier mode or something to ease up the game, such as the Mario games.I still think that if you implement something that just makes the player breeze through a stage that should otherwise be challenging, like an invincibility mode or the tanuuki suit on the newer Super Mario Bros, you are stripping away a part of the game that should be enjoyed by that player, even if he had to bang his head against the TV a few times.

Its just that sometimes theenjoyment is striped away a bit of the enjoyament when the developer puts in easier difficulties(not always of course).One such example is KH Birth By Sleep, where the easier modes made the gameplay less enjoyable than playing on harder difficulties(which I will assume here was the standard difficulty that Nomura thought this game should have).Just look up the IGN review where he says that.

Maybe is just me but, outside of the situations where the franchise is in serious danger of dying(like it was the case for Fire Emblem), developers shouldnt be afraid of making hard games and let it stay that way if they think its for the best(design and enjoyment wise).Many games could have been so much more enjoyable for everyone if they had a more streamlined difficulty, instead of just being afraid that the normal difficulty being too easy or the hard difficulty being too hard(I usually have these kind of problems when I start a game).

It sounds to me like the person isn't up for a challenge. Having lives pushes repeated play and becoming perfect at the stages. I miss that in most games today. Besides, Sonic Mania is a tad to easy, it's not hard at all to rack up a lot of lives.

Awful video, I'm glad I'm not apart of the "participation trophy" generation.