Sonic: Escape From Null Space

Sonic: Escape From Null Space is an upcoming mod for Sonic Mania, being developed by Fighter_Builder, and is chronologically placed between Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces. It adds new music, one new level with two acts, and a reskinned boss fight. This is Fighter_Builder's first Sonic Mania mod.

Features
While Sonic: Escape From Null Space is only two acts long, it aims to be a self-contained experience, and as such, will be incompatible with other level mods. The mod includes extra item box icons for use in platforming challenges, and concludes with a boss fight against Infinite from Sonic Forces, which is a reskin of the Heavy Gunner boss fight. The mod replaces Green Hill Zone Act 1 and Studiopolis Act 1, with more changes planned.

Logos, Title Screen, Title Card, & Menu Changes
The mod contains a new SEGA logo with a metal border and an animated shine. This logo is placed against a starry background. The Logos screen has been edited as well, adding a grid border to the left and right sides, and includes Fighter_Builder's personal icon placed to the right of the PagodaWest logo. The title screen has been edited as well; swapping out the iconic red stripes on the Sonic banner with purple stripes, matching the color scheme of Null Space, where this mod takes place. The background has been replaced with a starry sky, though this may be subject to change. The menu background has changed colors, and is now either black with dark red/blue highlights, or light blue with white highlights, depending on which menu is open.

The font for the title cards has been overhauled, and resembles the text on the title screen.

Null Space Zone Act 1
Null Space Zone Act 1 mainly consists of simple physics and platforming challenges not unlike those commonly found in older Sonic 1 ROM hacks. There are no enemies yet, and the tileset is a rather basic gradient grid pattern, not unlike its appearance in Forces. The background is yet another starry sky, but this mainly exists as a placeholder for a background better matching that of Sonic Forces' depiction of Null Space. Found throughout this level are numbered item boxes labelled with the numbers 0, 1, or 2. These do not contain any actual items, and only exist for platforming purposes. The different numbers shows how many times the player is expected to jump on a stack of item boxes in a given challenge. There are also spike pillars in various locations throughout the level, closely mirroring the red cube pillars that were used in Sonic Forces' version of Null Space. The music played during the level is a Sega Genesis cover of Egg Rocket Zone's music from Sonic Advance, remixed by Yuzoboy. An easter egg hidden within the level alludes to a joke mod created during Sonic: Escape From Null Space's development, which was titled "My Cool Pallet Mod," and was a poorly-made sprite swap that replaced Sonic with a sprite of a wooden pallet. The mod suffered from visual glitches whenever the player's sprite rotated or turned into Super Sonic. The mod was removed from GameBanana due to it being intentionally bad. The level is currently incomplete due to the author's inexperience in level design, and he intends to ask for help eventually.

Null Space Zone Act 2
Null Space Zone Act 2, which replaces Studiopolis Zone Act 1, has not yet been modified aside from modifying the palette slightly to accomodate the boss's sprite, and adding the same placeholder background used in Act 1. The boss fight, however, has been completely reskinned to look like Infinite, and the Eggrobos that normally follow the boss have been replaced with 3D prerendered glowing red cubes, very similar to the ones Infinite uses in Sonic Forces.

The fight currently has no gameplay differences from its original counterpart; however, terrain changes and obstacles are planned. The music used during the fight is a boss remix of Infinite's theme, remixed by Sound of a Shadow.