Sonic Mania/Beta elements

This article pertains to the beta elements from Sonic Mania

Discovery title
During the early development of Sonic Mania in 2016, the game was originally known as "Sonic Discovery". In fact, an early title screen from back then stil exists in the game's files, which shows the full title of the game was "Sonic the Hedgehog Discovery".

Unused Badnik
In the game files, there are unused sprites of an unknown Badnik designated as "Sweep". It is unknown if it is related to the Sweeper Badnik, an enemy that first appeared in Sonic Adventure. However, it functions similar to the Amenbo from Tidal Tempest in Sonic the Hedgehog CD.

Sweep can be found in the object list for Chemical Plant Zone in Debug Mode. When placed, its vertical position snaps to the water's surface, and it skates back and forth while occasionally firing a spiked projectile from its nose.

Egg Jaken
The Egg Jaken is an unused mini-boss found in the data for Studiopolis Zone. Despite being a mini-boss though, the Egg jaken's files are actually stored in the files for Studiopolis Zone Act 2. According to the developer Stealth, this is because Studiopolis Zone Act 2 was the first Zone created for Sonic Mania before the developers pitched the game to Sega; the Egg Jaken was placed into this Act for demonstration purposes, making it the very first boss to be implemented into the game.

This boss is akin to the Gapsule from Sonic & Knuckles, being a boss secretly disguised as a Capsule that transform into a robot when the player presses the button on its underside. Once the boss battle with it begins, the Egg Janken will cycle through different Rock-Paper-Scissors combinations on its two screens. Below each screen is a letter; the left says "S" for "Sonic" and the right says "E" for "Eggman". During the battle, the Egg Janken will also hover left and right above the arena while protecting its button by swinging its Spiked ball arms back and forth. Should the player manage to press the Egg Jaken's button, it will result in the robot reacting accordingly to the Rock-Paper-Scissors combination displayed on its screens when its button was pressed:


 * Draw: The Egg Jaken shows a bored expression on its screens and will try to strike the player with one of its arms. These arms will damage the player on contact.
 * "E" side wins: A buzzing sound is hear and the Egg Jaken displays an angry expression its screen. It then flips upside down, stretches its arms out to the sides, and proceeds to hovers towards the player before coming crashing down on the ground. Should it hit the player, they will take damage.
 * "S" side wins: A ping sound is hear and the Egg Jaken displays an distressed expression its screen. It then shakes violently and stretches its arms out to the side before pulling them back in at high speed, causing it to damage itself.

After hitting itself three times, the Egg Janken will explode, ending the fight. Compared to other bosses in the version of Sonic Mania, the Egg Janken has the lowest hit-count of them all.

Although not included in the final version of the game, the Egg Jaken is fully functional and will operate normally if put into the final version of Studiopolis. However, no Goal Plate will appear once the Egg Jaken has been defeated.

Heavy Mystic
According to the game files in the PC version of Sonic Mania, the Heavy Magician is designated as the "Heavy Mystic", hinting that this Hard Boiled Heavy may have had another name during eary development.