Sonic Mania’s Ultimate Guide

Overview

In this Ultimate Guide for Sonic Mania, you’ll learn about how to acess the Developer Menu (Dev Menu) in Sonic Mania, how to get the debug mode and how to control both debug and dev menu. And a few more! More stuff to this guide might be added soon. (Credits for the people will be mentioned before the tips that they found. ( EXAMPLE: (NAME) (TUTORIAL) ). I hope you enjoy this guide and find it helpful!

Introduction

So you wanna learn the ins and outs of Sonic Mania do you? You find some secrets and more? Well this ultimate guide for Sonic Mania is the right guide for you! After reading this you’ll learn about some of stuff you can do in Sonic Mania! So sit back, grab your popcorn (or whatever or want. I just really like popcorn). As we dive in to some of the cool stuff in Sonic Mania. (DISCLAIMER: Some of this stuff is ONLY possible on the PC version of Sonic Mania. I’ll put a warning if something can only be done on the PC version. Besides that, some of this stuff is possible on all versions of the game.)

Developer Menu

(Only possible on the PC version on Sonic Mania!)

This guide is from: Aemony (Here’s the link to his guide: [link]

Instructions on how to access the developer menu of Sonic Mania.
Navigate to the folder of the game.

1: Open Settings.ini in a text editor (Notepad or something similar).

2: Add the following row to the [Game] section of the file:
“devMenu=y”

3: Launch the game.

4: Click Escape anywhere to access the Developer Menu and use it to spoil yourself about everything the game includes. Please note that for progress to be saved you’ll have to first have loaded a saved game before using the menu to jump to other stages.

Warning: The developer menu uses F12 for its Slow Mode functionality. The Steam Screenshot feature bound to F12 will not function while the developer menu is enabled in Settings.ini. A workaround is to rebind the Steam Screenshot feature to another key (e.g. F10, +, Numpad +, or wherever works best for you).

└ Menu Overview

(This is only possible on the PC version of Sonic Mania)
(This is a continuation of the instructions to acess the Dev Menu)

This guide is by: Aemony (Here’s a link to his guide: [link]

These are the options available in the Dev Menu:

Option | Description
Resume | Resumes the game (aka closes the Dev Menu)
Restart | Restarts the current “stage” you’re on.
Stage Select | Lets you jump around between all the stages that makes up the game.
Options | Lets you access video/audio settings and rebind controls.
Exit | Terminates the game.

Stage Select:
Please note that stages refers to basically everything within the game, not just the stages available in Mania Mode. So even the Main Menu is a “stage” in the Dev Menu.

Stages are separated into various categories:

Category | Description
Presentation | Main Menu and everything that includes.
Media Demo | Stages used for Media events.
(Warning: trying to access bonus/special levels in these stages crashes the game!)
Mania Mode | The main game mode of Sonic Mania.
Special Stage | “Catch The Ufo” bonus stages.
Blue Spheres | “Get Blue Spheres” bonus stages.
Extra Stages | Puyo Puyo – Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine mini-game[en.wikipedia.org].
D.A. Garden – “Music mode,” | access and play various tracks from the game.
Cutscenes | Access the various in-game cutscenes of the game.
Videos | Access the various FMV cutscenes of the game.

Turbo Mode

(This is only possible on the PC version of Sonic Mania)

This guide is from: Aemony (Here’s a link to his guide:
[link]

Hold down Backspace while outside of the Developer Menu to enable turbo mode, basically fast-foward the game a ton.

This can be used even during the intro sequence of the game to skip straight to the main menu.

Slow Mode (aka 1 frame per step)

(This is only possible on the PC version of Sonic Mania)

This guide is from: Aemony (Here’s a link to his guide: [link]

While in-game with the Developer Menu closed, click on F12 (or Pause) to enable this mode. If done correctly the game will “pause”, albeit the music continues as usual.

Now, use F11 (or Insert) to step forward one frame at a time. Hold down the key to step forward continuously until you let go of the key.

Debug Mode

(Now this is possible on ALL versions of Sonic Mania. But this is spificly for the PC version becuse I’ll be explaining the controlls for the PC version of Sonic Mania. If you want to know how to acess the Debug Mod and how to controll in this mode, I’ll leave a video at the end of the guide.)

This guide is from: Aemony (Here’s a link to his guide: [link]

Debug Mode
Instructions on how to access the debug mode of Sonic Mania.
Open the developer menu.

Navigate to Stage Select -> Presentation -> Level Select and select a level of your choice.

When the level have loaded, click on Q to enter the debug mode. This is signified by the character turning into a golden ring.

Keybindings

Keyboard Controller | Action
Q | X: Toggle debug mode
A | A: Cycle through objects
S | B: Cycle through types of boxes (only when the box object is selected)
W | Y: Spawn an instance of the object

Unlockables

(This detalis the controlls on the XBox and PC versions of Sonic Mania. [Even though you use a XBox controller on a PC.] But this works on all versions of Sonic Mania. Again, if you wanna find guide for a specific version of Sonic Mania that you have/playing, find another guide that details it.
Let me know if I should update this guide to detail how this works for ALL versions with the controlls for each specific version of Sonic Mania.)

This guide is from: Carlmundo (Here’s a link to his guide: [link]

Time Attack and Competition modes
Beat Green Hill Zone.

Super Sonic
Get all 7 emeralds. Then have 50 rings, jump and press Y (Xbox controller) or W ( Keyboard).

Medal Unlocks
Everything else is unlocked by beating the Blue Spheres bonus stages (accessed from checkpoints). Completing these stages will grant you a silver medal if you get all the blue spheres or a gold medal if you get all the rings as well.

What kind of medal you get is not important for unlocking.

Medals | Unlock | Info
1 | Secrets -> Sonic Ability -> Super Peel-Out From Sonic CD – hold Up + Jump
6 | Secrets -> Sonic Ability -> Insta-Shield From Sonic 3 & Knuckles -Press jump button after jumping
11 | Secrets -> & Knuckles Player 2 will be Knuckles, even if Player 1 is already Knuckles
16 | Secrets -> Debug Mode Similar to the mode used in previous games
21 | Extras -> Mean Bean Play Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine against AI or a friend
26 | Extras -> D.A. Garden Listen to the game’s soundtrack
32 | Extras -> Blue Spheres Play the Blue Spheres mini game in “Original” or “Mania” mode

Note: Secrets can be found under Mania Mode. Select the NO SAVE file and press Y (Xbox controller) or W (Keyboard).

Level Select
Requires Debug Mode unlocked
In Mania Mode, select the NO SAVE file and open Secrets (see note above)
Enable Debug Mode and select OK.
Press A or Start, then quickly hold X on an Xbox controller (or Enter, then hold Q on Keyboard)
Press X/Q to change character and if Sonic is selected, press Y/W to add Tails.

Giant Rings

(This works for ALL versions of Sonic Mania)

This guide is by Razor & Zenon (Check out their YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ApachaiHapachai)

Now due to the fact that Knuckles sometimes has diffrent acts then Sonic(&Tails) dose, and there so many of these Giant Rings everywhere in the game. I’ll show 2 videos that are Giant Ring guides for Sonic(&Tails) and Knuckles. These video are uploaded by Razor & Zenon:

Sonic(&Tails) Guide

Knuckles Guide

Achievements (Part 1)

(This works for ALL versions of Sonic Mania exept for the Nintendo Switch version of the game because there’s no achievements on the Switch. If it is a thing in the future, I’ll mention that it works for ALL versions and remove this “Dosen’t work on Switch” disclamer.)

This guide is from: Felixinus (Here’s a link to his guide: [link]

Now if anything about Sonic Mania is that the achievements in this game are either easy are hard to get. But this section of the Ultimate Guide will help you how to get the achievements!

(Now I know this guide is long. But I didn’t want to dissapoint anyone that wanted to read and not fell like this guide half videos and half reading.)

There are two kinds of achievements in Sonic Mania, either they are zone exclusive or they are not. The first ones on this guide are achievements that can either be achieved “anytime” or doesn’t require to do anything specific on any zone.

With the Exception of “Triple Trouble”, you can get any zone specific achievements using Time Attack mode.

PS.: Egg Reverie Zone has no specific achievements attached to it

1: “Superstar”
This one makes it looks like the achievement isn’t working. But it’s because they forgot to be specific on the description. You have to go VERY FAST through a star post making it spin 10 times.

Also, if you’re trying to get this achievement, DO NOT jump into the pole stars until it has finished spinning or it won’t work.

My recommendation is to attempt with THIS starpole on Green Hill Act 1. It’s right after the first one you find, and between two “S” tunnels.

Doing it with a Super character will make it easier as well, since the pole will spin more when more speed is applied to it.

2: “That’s A Two-Fur”
It’s highly recommended to attempt this achievement using a single character or have your friend to control the A.I. Tails out of the way, or it can easily mess up your attempts

Whenever you finish an act that has a Goal Plate which falls from above, people used to Sonic 3 (& K) already know you can bounce it around a little and sometimes when it hits the ground, a monitor pops out.

That’s what this achievement is about. There are 2 monitors hidden on each of those sections. If you manage to get BOTH out before the goal plate falls elsewhere and the act ends, you get this achievement.

3: “See You Next Game”
Simply put, just finish the whole game with any character and any ending and you’ll get this during the final cutscene. (And the secret “& Knuckles” ending also counts in case your thinking about getting the achievement with a meme-mode.)

4: “Magnificent Seven”
GLORIOUS SEVEN, even! *ahem*. Find a few of the giant rings, each zone has at least 1, and a few of them have 5! Try your chance on the UFO Special Stages (NOT Blue Spheres!) and get all the emeralds. This not only unlocks this achievement but also unlocks Super Sonic / Super Tails / Super Knuckles depending of which main character you’re playing as. The A.I. controlled Tails doesn’t transform, though.

After you finish the game, you can select any stage you want on that same save slot. I recommend following this guide to learn an easy way to get access to a big ring fast: [link]

In case you don’t feel like doing this “legit”, the “Developer Menu” allows you to easily access every single special stage anytime. But it kinda kills the propose of the challenge.

5: “Full Metal Jacket”
Touch any star pole on any zone when you have at least 25 rings and a star cloud will appear on top of it. Jump in to get to the Blue Spheres stage.

As pointed by Final in the comments, the good thing about the starpoles is: Once you come back from one, every single other pole in the stage will be “usable” again, even if you’ve already entered previously.

If you’re playing as Tails, check this guide for a tip to quickly switch between two starpoles that are very close to each other: [link]

If you’re not, then just use the Green Hill Acts 1 e 2 starpoles (I’m not embedding these due to the fact the guide has already too many videos embedded):

In case you’re not used to Sonic 3 (& K), your character runs automatically while all you do is press left / right to change its directions (UP also works to get back to the track when a star ball bounces you off moonwalking) and you can also Jump. if you press the jump button at the right time and hold it, you can jump over 2 spheres even.

Collect all the Blue spheres, making them Red, then don’t touch them anymore. If this achievement is the only one you’re aiming for, don’t bother collecting rings, as they are not required. focus on getting to all the blue spheres without touching any red ones, and you’ll get a Silver medal once the number of blue spheres on the top left has run out.

PS.: The Gold/Yellow Spheres are safe to touch, but they will spring you off very fast ahead, making you touch a red sphere if you’re not careful! Whenever you touch one, keep your eyes on the road and prepare to react within less than a second if necessary.

Now, keep doing this over and over. There are a total of 32 different Blue Spheres stages, but dont worry about wiping your save, the Medals are stored regardless of save. You can check yours on the “EXTRAS” section of the main menu.

Once you collect all of them, you get this achievement. This may take a while.

PS.: Try CIRCLING around any formation with all sides being at least 3 SPHERES LONG AND HAVING INNER BLUE SPHERES.

If you do it right, all the spheres will become rings and be automatically collected even if you ignore the rings.

Also there are a few other uneven formations that are not squares but can still be turnt into rings if you keep touching the borders only.

Achievements (Part 2)

6: “No Way? No Way!”
If you thought the getting all the Silver medals wasn’t hard enough, try your hands on this one.

Same rules as above. Get 25 rings, Star Post, Jump in to Blue spheres.

But now you must collect ALL the rings BEFORE collecting all the Blue Spheres

Before attempting this challenge, i recommend you to:
Get used on how the Blue Spheres work;
Get perfectly used on every single possible format of spheres you can turn into rings and the ones you cannot;
Get used to avoid a few traps;
If possible, get used to the specific stage in hand you’re trying to achieve the gold medal;
Train yourself to react fast;
Remember you gotta collect the rings BEFORE collecting all the spheres, so leave at least a 2×2 square or a non-square line of blue spheres for LAST;

It may confuse a lot of people if they leave a large square for last and try to turn them into rings. sure you get all the blue spheres but the rings are left behind, as the game forces the special stage to end and you get a Silver Medal. And if you DON’T turn them into rings, you also get a Silver Medal.

This also happened on the old Sonic 3 (& K) The only difference being: If you finished the stage you’d get an emerald regardless, but finishing as perfect would give you a “Perfect Bonus”.

This may get frustating down the road, but just keep trying and you’ll eventually get it.

Different than the original Sonic 3 (& K) games, The rings counter shows how many rings you need to find, just like the blue spheres. Once it goes to 0, you get this “PERFECT” message then you’re allowed to collect any left over blue spheres to get your Gold Medal

PS.: You get nothing if you touch a Red sphere, even if you have already got the “PERFECT” message.

Do not attempt to use any kind of debug mode or other in-game cheats like stage select, most achievements DO NOT WORK with select stages / debug. Please play the game legit. If you get a silver medal on any stage, you cannot attempt gold for the same stage until you clear every single other of the 32 stages, either by silver or gold medals. Then when you enter on it again, it will replay ONLY the ones you’re missing gold medals on.

7: “Now It Can’t Hurt You Anymore!”
(This can be only done in Green Hill Zone)

This one is quite simple and you probably already got it by accident. On Green Hill Zone – Act 2 There’s a part with that bridge with spikes that spin around making it hard to cross if you’re not careful.

Cross the bridge and you’ll eventually find a Fire shield monitor behind a waterfall it’s on plain sight, hard to miss. Get the fire monitor and go back to said bridge and touch it anywhere with the fire shield on. You’ll burn the bridge down and get the achievement.

Be aware that even though the thunder shield works while under Super form, the fire shield DOES NOT. No matter if you get the fire shield before or after becoming Super (i tested both ways) YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO BURN THE BRIDGE.

8: “Triple Trouble”
(This can only be done in Chemical Plant Zone)

The image in the achievement is a bit misleading, but at least tells you the correct zone. At the end of Chemical Plant Zone – Act 2, you’ll find a very unusual boss battle ( Puyo-Puyo / Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine ). There’s also a hidden Puyo Puyo minigame which is unlockable if you manage to get at least 20 medals total, either gold or silver. This achievement also works in there.

Puyo-Puyo isn’t exactly like tetris, there are a few differences. You can check this following guide or video to learn more about it:

[link]

I highly suggest you watching the video because this achievement requires you to know how CHAINS work.

That said, just get a 3 chain combo on the Puyo Puyo boss.

Here’s a video made by Shadiochao:

His combo happens during 0:30 of the video, and it’s not a triple but a quadruple combo:

Fun fact: There are actually a range of other “advanced” methods to play, if you’re really curious you can check them at Sega Of America’s Youtube channel.

9: “The Most Famous Hedgehog In The World”
(This can only be done in Studiopolis Zone)

This is quite simple. Anytime during the Studiopolis Zone, you’ll eventually find a badnik that flies around taking pictures, but be careful as it does indeed attack. (Yeah, you can get this one with Tails and Knuckles as well, dispite the achievement name.)

10: “Window Shopping”
(This can only be done in Flying Battery Zone)

Go to Flying Battery Zone – Act 2 and remember to always take the upper route possible and you’ll eventually come to a set of two windows jump on either and you’ll come back through the other one, giving you the achievement.

PS: These windows are very late in the act 2, you’ll have to cover a lot of ground before seeing them. so don’t restart out of thinking you missed them until you’re sure you’re at the ending of the act. Remember to jump on the RIGHT window as the left one will just bounce you off. Being Super or not doesn’t affect this achievement.

Here’s a video made by Shadiochao:

Achievements (Part 3)

14: ” The Password Is “Special Stage” “
(This can only be done in Mirage Saloon Zone)

Right at the beginning of Mirage Saloon Zone – Act 2, you’ll find a giant barrel. Push it away to fall through the floor and ride through Eggman’s cologne to get to a giant ring (even if you have all the emeralds already) and you should trigger the achievement.

First of all, i recommend taking it easy once you pass the Sand-made Loop and destroy this badnik before crossing past him, or he’s gonna be a needle on your butt while attempting this achievement. Now, right after the first bar with stools, you’ll see this barrel, push it to fall into one of those Robotnik’s cologne things and run through it to get to the big ring, unlocking the achievement no matter if you already have all the emeralds or not. Be fast after activating Robotnik’s cologne as it will stop spraying once the bottle is empty.

Here’s a video made by Shadiochao:

If you’re playing as KNUCKLES, there’s an alternate route to reach the very same ring and the achievement will also trigger. It takes you to go through the other side then climb up the barrels and glide inside the alcove so you can reach the cologne bottle and then the ring.

15: “Secret Sub”
(You can only do this is Oil Ocean Zone)

This one is harder to understand, but basically, during Oil Ocean Zone – Act 2 (the one after the yet unnamed floating utility robot that toss a wrench) try always going through the lowest route possible to the point where you can dip into the oil ocean. There are Two Pendulum Platforms swinging right before the area where you can dip to find the sub. There’s a plataform where you can squeeze yourself to DIVE INTO THE OCEAN and reach a secret alcove where you’ll find a single lonely submarine. Hop in to get the achievement. Just be careful to not hit the hurt trigger since you have to let yourself sink a bit under the oil ocean. Once inside, you’ll trigger the achievement and have access to a bunch of goodies.

Here’s a video made by Shadiochao:

16: “Without a Trace”
(This can only be done in Lava Reaf Zone)

On Lava Reef Zone – Act 1, keep going until you find a set of plataforms that “walk” when you hop onto them. One of these plataforms is required to use to cross the lava safely. If you use them, you’ll most likely crush a Rexon (the purple snake from the lava thing) and trigger this achievement.

Thanks Zweat for the video!

PS.: This one can also be achieved during Act 2, as there’s also a Rexon near a pair of walkers. That one seems to also lead for a big ring.

17: “Collect Em’ All”
(This can only be done in Metallic Madness Zone)

THIS ACHIEVEMENT IS ALMOST AS GLITCHY AS ASHURA OR WECHNIA – Lots of people reported getting it in a several range of ways. So if you got it on another way, it’s probably been reported already.

It’s highly recommended to attempt this achievement using a single character or have your friend to control the A.I. Tails out of the way, or it can easily mess up your attempts

This achievement also seem to be easily done with Tails or Super Tails

At the Boss Fight of Metallic Madness Zone – Act 2, you can touch the dial to summon a mini enemy. To get this achievement you need to summon all 8 of them without killing any between this proccess.

This can be proven hard as Amy robot is destroyed with one hit. If you manage though, just destroy all of them without dying.

PS.: As mentioned by leadbman in the comments, this achievement MIGHT trigger even if you have destroyed a few of them, as long as you DON’T LAND THE FINAL HIT ON ROBOTNIK BEFORE GETTING ALL OF THE MINI ENEMIES. I have yet to test that to be sure. I’ll be glad if anyone can confirm this as well.

PPS.: Once they are all summoned, you can let Tails A.i. or 2nd player be free to help you out.

Thanks Zweat for sending me a video on how to do it:

18: “Professional Hedgehog”
(This can only be done in Titanic Monarch Zone)

Simply put, Beat Titanic Monarch Zone – Act 1 without getting hit or dying (by crushing or any other instant death means)

This is much easier to be done if you already have a “Super” character, as you are invencible to any harm except instant deaths.

What is allowed to do:
You can let Tails or Knuckles A.I. follower get hit all you want; (Thanks Scott!)
You are allowed to use a Super character;
The explosions at the end of your Uber driver Eggrobo ride won’t count as a hit;
Touch electric sparks if you have a Thunder shield or is in Super Form;
Touch any hazard while in Super form;
Reload the stage through Developer Menu all you want. (Thanks Assburgers and LDD714 for confirming this)

What is NOT allowed to do:
You CAN’T get hit in any way while NOT in super form;
You CAN’T die by bottomless holes, crushing or any other kind of instant death, even as Super form;
You CAN’T have any kind of cheat active like debug mode. (Thanks The Dukling for testing this!);
You CAN’T run out of time;
You CAN’T press Enter > Restart; It counts as a RETRY, thus invalidating the attempt. If you wanna retry press Enter > Exit then select the stage again or just use Esc > Restart from the Developer Menu;
You CAN’T lose your shield while in not super form. Even if you don’t lose rings, still counts as a hit;
You CAN’T enter any Blue Spheres stages as confirmed by SuperSaiyanBlu and Main Theme – ARMS – Music. Thanks, guys!
You probably CAN’T enter any Special Stages either. you can grab the big ring if you already have all the emeralds, though;

Here’s a video made by Shadiochao showing how you can get it even without a Super form:

Advance Stuff Incoming!!!

Warning! The last 2 things are Advance stuff that you can do in Sonic Mania. I highly NOT recommend doing these unless you want to because this IS the ULTIMATE Sonic Mania guide. So it’s your choice.

├ Reset all progress (save file wipe)

(This is only possible on the PC version of Sonic Mania)

This guide is from: Aemony (Here’s a link to his guide: [link]

This will reset your save file completely. Be sure to back up your save file before doing this!

1: Launch the game and leave it on the main menu.
(This is to ensure that the new save overwrites the one stored in the Steam Cloud)

2: Switch back to Windows while the game is running (e.g. by using Alt+Tab).

3: Navigate to the following folder:
“Steamuserdata[YOUR UNIQUE steamID3]584400remote”

4: Back up SaveData.bin in a place of your choosing. This is your current save file and you’ll need it if any issues occur.

5: Download the following file: [link]

6: Move the downloaded file to the save folder you located, and overwrite the existing SaveData.bin when asked to.

7: Close the running game. Steam will now automatically upload the clean save file to Steam Cloud.

8: Launch the game again. All progress should now be wiped.

└ Settings.ini parameters

(This is only possible on the PC version of Sonic Mania)

This guide is from: Aemony (Here’s the link to his guide: [link]

└ Settings.ini parameters
Here’s a bunch of parameters Settings.ini recognizes.

Legend
Format: Section:Parameter
Example: “Game:devMenu” =>
[Game]
devMenu=y

%d refers to decimal numbers (0-9)
%s refers to a string.

Parameters:

Game:language
Game:dataFile
Game:devMenu
Video:windowed
Video:border
Video:exclusiveFS
Video:vsync
Video:tripleBuffering
Video:pixWidth
Video:winWidth
Video:winHeight
Video:fsWidth
Video:fsHeight
Video:refreshRate
Video:shaderSupport
Video:screenShader
Audio:streamsEnabled
Audio:streamVolume
Audio:sfxVolume
GamePad Map %d
Keyboard Map 1:up
Keyboard Map 1:down
Keyboard Map 1:left
Keyboard Map 1:right
Keyboard Map 1:buttonA
Keyboard Map 1:buttonB
Keyboard Map 1:buttonC
Keyboard Map 1:buttonX
Keyboard Map 1:buttonY
Keyboard Map 1:buttonZ
Keyboard Map 1:start
Keyboard Map %d:up
Keyboard Map %d:down
Keyboard Map %d:left
Keyboard Map %d:right
Keyboard Map %d:buttonA
Keyboard Map %d:buttonB
Keyboard Map %d:buttonC
Keyboard Map %d:buttonX
Keyboard Map %d:buttonY
Keyboard Map %d:buttonZ
Keyboard Map %d:start
Keyboard Map %d:select
GamePad Map %d:name
GamePad Map %d:icon
GamePad Map %d:vendorID
GamePad Map %d:productID
GamePad Map %d:mappingTypes
GamePad Map %d:offsets
GamePad Map %d:maskVals

And yes, that means you might be able to rebind the gamepad keys if you figure out the bindings of it, and take vendorID and productID from Windows’ Device Manager.

Ending (Credits)

And with all of that. Now you know ALOT about Sonic Mania! I hope you enjoyed this guide.

Credits:

Aemony

Felixinus

Carlmundo

Shadiochao

Zweat

Leave a comment about something that I shold add in the Ultimate Guide and if there’s any problems/mistakes. With that out of the way, I hope to see you again.