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 still exists in the game's files, which shows the full title of the game was "Sonic the Hedgehog Discovery".

Secret development menu
In the PC version of Sonic Mania lies a secret developer menu that can be accessed by fiddling with the code. This menu was used by the development team to gain straight access to various aspects of the game. This menu includes:


 * Presentation: Developer logos screen, Title Menu, "Thanks for Playing" screen, Level Select menu, Staff Credits, and Continue screens.
 * Mania Demo: Access to the Green Hill Zone and Studiopolis Zone demos playable at the 25th Sonic Anniversary Event.
 * Mania Mode: A separate Level Select screen.
 * Special Stage: A selection of all Special Stages in Sonic Mania.
 * Blue Spheres: Access to any Blue Sphere stage. It also includes the options for "Random" and "Random 2" which chooses a random Bonus Stage from the game's Original mode and Mania mode, respectively.
 * Extras: Allows selection of Mean Bean mode and the D.A. Garden.
 * Cutscenes: A list of the cutscenes in the game, which can be jumped to.
 * Videos: The various ending animations.

"Hyper" sprite
Buried in the data of the PC version of Sonic Mania, there is a sheet with an unused sprite of the word "Hyper". This might indicate that at one point during the development of Sonic Mania, transformations like Hyper Sonic and Hyper Knuckles were going to appear.

Sweep
In the game files, there are unused sprites of an unknown Badnik. This Badnik is designated "Sweep" in the files. It is unknown if it is related to the Sweeper Badnik, an enemy that first appeared in Sonic Adventure. Whatever the case, 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 Janken
The Egg Janken is an unused mini-boss found in the data for Studiopolis Zone. Despite being a mini-boss though, the Egg Janken's files are stored in the files for Studiopolis Zone Act 2. According to Sonic Mania 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 Janken 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, only to 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 one says "S" for "Sonic" and the right one says "E" for "Eggman". During the battle, the Egg Janken will also hover left and right above the arena while protecting the button on its underbelly by swinging its spiked ball arms back and forth. Should the player manage to press the Egg Janken'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 Janken displays 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 heard and the Egg Janken displays an angry expression on its screens. 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 heard and the Egg Janken displays an distressed expression on its screens. 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 final 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 Janken is fully functional and will operate correctly if put into the final version of Studiopolis Zone. However, no Goal Plate will appear once the Egg Janken has been defeated.

Heavy Mystic
In the game files in the PC version of Sonic Mania, the Heavy Magician is designated as the "Heavy Mystic". This hints that the Heavy Magician may have had another name during the early development of Sonic Mania.

Unused Love Tester
In the PC game files for Sonic Mania lies the sprites for what appears to be an unused Love Tester gimmick. While it is unclear from the sprites as to how the machine was actually to function, it appears that there may have been three results possible, producing one of the three protagonist images.

Alternate name
An alternate Zone name for Press Garden Zone was found in Sonic Mania ' s music files which was titled "Pulp Solstice".

Act 1 prototype layout
In the PC version of Sonic Mania, there lies an for Lava Reef Zone Act 1. This layout deviates greatly from the final layout for this Act 1.

Unused objective line
In the game files on the PC version of Sonic Mania lies the sprites for the Special Stages' HUD. Nested among the graphics is an unused headline saying “Time to escape!”. This might indicate that in the early builds of the Special Stage, the player's objective was to escape the Special Stages or some kind of pursuer.

Chemical Plant Zone cutscene
Both Sonic and Knuckles have special intros when entering this zone, where a drop of purple water falls on their heads and they react to it. However, in Tails's case, he does not react to it when it falls on him despite having an animation for this event in the game files where he blows off the Mega Mack with his twin-tails.

"I'm outta here"
In the source code of Sonic Mania, there are the unused animation and sound clips of Sonic yelling "I'm outta here" before he unceremoniously jumps off the screen, resulting in a Game Over. This is a callback to Sonic the Hedgehog CD, where Sonic does that exact thing if player hang around too long idling.

Unused audio
The DA Garden features an unused BGM track named "Egg Reverie Pinch Mode" sounding similar to Egg Reverie Zone, suggesting that it would have played if the player was either running low on Rings or is very close to beating the Phantom King and Klepto Mobile boss fight. It is also listed in the game's Level Select/Sound Test as "2A".

Green Hill Zone

 * In one of the early screenshots, there is a shot of a prototype sprite for Tails airlifting Sonic. This sprite featured Tails showing a much more exaggerated facial expression, with cheek puffed out in exertion. In the final version of the game, Tails' face was redrawn with a much less exaggerated expression.
 * In some of the pre-release screenshots, Sonic is shown riding a Zip Line. This Zip Line appears to comprised of a loop of vines with a wooden handle. In the final version of the game, the Zip Line was recolored so that the loop is metal and the handle purple. This change in color scheme also occurred to the circular connectors at each end of the line - the earlier version is metal with a green outer rim, but in the final version of the game, it is purple with a metal outer rim. The Zip Lines are also depicted with their early coloring on the promotional artwork produced for the game's vinyl sountrack.
 * In one of the early screenshots, Sonic is shown riding a Zip Line that clip through the wall above it. The same screenshot also depicted a palm tree with a gab in its trunk where a spiked log crosses it. Both of these errors can be contributed to rough tile layouts. Those were fixed in the final version of the game.

Studiopolis Zone

 * In early screenshots of the Heavy Gunner boss fight, it is shown that the Heavy Gunner was missing the golden "HBH" star badge in the centre of his chest. However, the badge is present on the Heavy Gunner's sprite in the final version of the game.
 * A screenshot of Studiopolis Zone Act 2 shows an earlier version of the background. The middle section has the most differences, featuring more rows of monitors as well as pink and blue lights and columns which are absent from the background in the final version of the game. In the final version of the game, much of this is has been replaced with curtains and a window through which a single row of monitors are shown, and some sort of large reflective surface. The giant mixing desk in the lower background is also arranged differently, with only a single row of dials etc. before the giant knobs and buttons begin, rather than three more spaced-out rows as in the background in the final version. Finally, no area matching the one seen [[media:Studiopolis2.png|here]] exists in the finished Zone.
 * This area is briefly seen in motion in the initial announcement trailer for Sonic Mania.
 * A screenshot of Studiopolis Zone Act 2 shows an earlier version of both the background and the Act's lotto machine gimmick. The lotto machine lacks the "Gallop Lotto" logo and rainbow surrounding it in the final version of the game. This image also shows two spinning bars in a "+" shape that shows the central ball's movement; in the final version of the game, there is only a single horizontal bar. The area surrounding the lotto machine also does not appear in the final version of the game.
 * This area is briefly seen in motion in the initial announcement trailer for Sonic Mania.
 * A screenshot of Studiopolis Zone Act 2 shows an earlier version of both the background and the foreground monitors. In this shot, the monitors' screens are completely white; in the final version of the game, these monitors show the "EGG TV" logo animation on a loop, which has a scanline effect even on the blank white frames. An area similar to this in the screenshot, though not identical, appears near the end of the finished Zone.
 * This area is briefly seen in motion in the initial announcement trailer for Sonic Mania.

Flying Battery Zone

 * In an early screenshot, the pipework beneath the ground is shown having been laid out in a broken manner just like in the original Flying Battery Zone from Sonic & Knuckles. This was eventually fixed in the final version of the game.

Press Garden Zone

 * At the licensing expo held in Las Vegas on May 22nd, 2017, a prototype screenshot of Press Garden Zone Act 1 was shown. This shot shows a Press Garden Zone vastly different from its final version: the large ramps in the Act are in different colors, with the ramp being colored grey and the connectors at the end being colored copper; in the final version of the game, the colors of these two elements swapped. The background appears to be much brighter and more summer-like than the final. The foliage on the ramps is also red rather than green as in the final version of the Act. The highest background layer featuring the printing presses also appears to be missing. Finally, the white column in the flooring to the left extends right up to the white floor tiles; in the final version of the Zone, these columns are rarely placed directly beneath the floor. Even in the instances where they are, a band of ornate green under-floor tiles always separates them from the floor itself.
 * It is speculated that this is an early version of Press Garden when it was known as Pulp Solstice, however this has neither been confirmed nor denied.