Press Garden Zone

Sonic Mania

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Press Garden Zone

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Press Garden Zone
Fifth Zone, Sonic Mania
Number of Acts: 2
Level themes: ancient ruins, industrial, winter, East Asian
Sub-boss: Shiversaw
Boss: Heavy Shinobi
← Flying Battery Zone | Stardust Speedway Zone →

Press Garden Zone is the fifth Zone of Sonic Mania, which is a brand new original Zone. It is an industrialized ancient ruin, resembling a printing house full of press-related elements. After defeating Dr. Eggman and his Spider Mobile in Flying Battery Zone, the player takes a Hang Glider to glide to Press Garden.

Overview

Act 1 features a factory-like environment full of various crates, repurposed as a printing factory for Dr. Eggman's propaganda, as posters can be seen being printed in the background. Some of the crates lying around the factory appear fragile and can be destroyed using a Water Shield or a Fire Shield, sometimes revealing hidden goodies. Some crates are stacked in giant presses that will gradually break through the crates, crushing everything within them, including the player if they are not fast enough to escape.

Among some of the other features of Act 1 are conveyor belts of paper that the player can bounce off of, and by holding down a button the player can bounce higher, while touching the wheels of the conveyor belts will catapult the player in the direction they are spinning. Breaking lights on the walls and ceiling will cause doors and platforms to open, creating new routes, and typewriter blocks from the background serve as additional platforms.

Act 2, however, changes completely, revealing a frozen Japanese garden with snow and sakura leaves falling from the sky. Ice-blowing machines are placed around the act that will freeze Sonic and friends, making them slide around uncontrollably as living ice cubes. Unlike other instances in past games, freezing is harmless, and the player can break free by mashing the buttons or by colliding into a wall at high speed; alternately, Fire Shields will prevent the player from freezing at all and will also melt ice cubes and ice spikes within the Act on contact with the player. The aforementioned ice cubes can contain things such as Rings, Springs (some being icy springs that break after the first use), item monitors and spikes, and wood-cutting machines that will grind up tree logs into wood chippings can also be found.

Encore Mode

In Encore Mode, Press Garden Zone's palette change gives the entire Zone a night-time aesthetic, with the snowy forests becoming darker in colour, and various shades of red and hot pink have been changed to a more purplish hue. Various areas in Act 1 that went unused in Mania Mode have been repurposed to contain new Giant Rings.

Quotes

“	When Team Sonic destroys Shiversaw, Eggman's propaganda printing press is no more, letting them exit to a surreal winter wonderscape filled with cherry blossoms and ancient architecture. Welcome Press Garden's true beauty.	„
— Theme trailer description

Enemies

	Dragonfly — Badnik much like the insect of the same name. From Sonic & Knuckles's Mushroom Hill Zone but pink.
	Juggle Saw — Crab-like Badniks which are always found in pairs, throwing a buzzsaw between each other.
	Splats — A jumping rabbit, spawns from the ink bottles with Eggman's face on them. Based on an unused Badnik from Sonic the Hedgehog.
	IceBomba — A hovering Badnik which bobs across the width of the screen. Tries to drop their cargo to freeze the player. Based on Bombbearer from Chaotix's Techno Tower.
	Woodrow — A woodpecker-like Badnik which pecks the trees to make small bombs fall.
	Asteron — Used as an exploding shuriken star by the Heavy Shinobi. From Sonic the Hedgehog 2's Metropolis Zone.

References and Easter eggs

Reference	Appears in	Source Game	Source Level
Dragonfly's appearance.	Act 1, Act 2	Sonic & Knuckles	Mushroom Hill Zone
Splats' appearance.	Act 1	Sonic the Hedgehog (16-bit) Beta
Horizontal rotating cylinders.	Act 1	Sonic the Hedgehog 3	Launch Base Zone
Lightbulbs that make doors and platforms move when broken, much like red switch boxes.	Act 1	Sonic the Hedgehog 3	Launch Base Zone
Spinning platforms that the player revolves around on.	Act 1	Sonic & Knuckles	Sky Sanctuary Zone
Structures which shoot the player upwards.	Act 1	Sonic the Hedgehog 3	Launch Base Zone
Ice-blowing machines.	Act 2	Sonic the Hedgehog 3	IceCap Zone
Sliding around uncontrollably as a means of getting around.	Act 2	Sonic 3D Blast	Diamond Dust Zone
Breakable ice cubes.	Act 2	Sonic the Hedgehog 3	IceCap Zone
Hollow tree trunks the player can enter.	Act 2	Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)	Aquatic Ruin Zone
Pairs of platforms which knock each other into a swing.	Act 2	Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)	Mystic Cave Zone
Carry's appearance.	Act 2	Chaotix	Techno Tower
Arrows shot from platforms which can be stuck on the walls like in Aquatic Ruin Zone's boss fight.	Act 2	Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)	Aquatic Ruin Zone
Heavy Shinobi's sound effects.	Act 2	Shinobi
Asteron's appearance as one of the Heavy Shinobi's weapons.	Act 2	Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-bit)	Metropolis Zone

Development

According to the filenames for the game's music tracks, this Zone was originally going to be called Pulp Solstice Zone.

Gallery

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  Act 1, Mania Mode

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  Act 2, Encore Mode