All the zones in Mania are terrible. Even the classic remixes. They're all over designed, over complicated messes. I bought the game a year and a half ago and I still haven't finished it. If they ever make a Sonic Mania 2, I hope they get some real level designers and boss designers. Mania has the worst zones and bosses of all the 2D Sonic games. It's a shame that they got the engine and physics right, but dropped the ball so badly on everything else.
Lol, what the fuck is this. "Real" Level designers. What does that even mean?
The game has the best level design in the series by far. It's obvious that they did their homework on it. Great video about it.
Titan Monarch included. The one level in the entire series that actually requires pace. Much better than the other Final Zones off the top of my head.
EDIT:
Had to run through Sonic Mania again to make sure I wasn't tripping. Level design is top tier stuff. Played through Titan Monarch and Flying Battery, honestly these are some of the best in the series.
Titan Monarch is kinda linear, but makes sense because they want you to move at a brisk pace with level gimmicks that slow you down if suck at them. I would agree that the timer is a flaw for this level because people are conditioned to think 10 minutes is enough time. It's enough time if you know what your doing but people play conservatively on first play throughs. Easy solution is to just have the timer flash and count downwards instead of up. You can turn it off now.
Flying Battery is flawless. They spent way more time than would be required on making sure the multiple routes made sense thematically. Act 2 is probably one of the best designed level in the series for that.
Overall the level design is much better than the previous games. Which makes sense because they remade most of them. Levels give a combination of multiple routes and facilitate a sense of pace that Sonic 3 and K didn't quite achieve. Try playing through the levels over and over and its not quite as good in that game . I think Mania Hydocity zone is worse than the original cause of how they force you into the water. Other then that the remade levels are superior. Lava Reef didn't really add anything though. Would be interesting to see them side by side. Sonic 1 and 2 are more proof of concept. Sonic 1 especially. CD is ummm....CD. lol. If you played it you know what I'm talking about.
Levels tend to be huge. The multiple routes keep you able to not only replay the levels but also stop you from memorizing them. But they didn't just throw shit at the wall. Flying Battery Act 2 is a testament to that. Try playing Green Hill Zone over and over and you notice that they put shields, ziplines, and rings in expert places. I've heard people say that they are too confusing, but Sonic moves so fast it's hard to get actually lost when there aren't that many directions to go. Unless it's intentional an intentional loop. Press Garden, which seems pulled from Sandopolis. No ghost or switches though lol
Calling the level designers "not real" is insulting to the work they put in. If you have played something like Sonic 4 or Sonic Advance you can see the massive difference. Well maybe other people cant, but having played every sonic game it's honestly night and day. And it's even more work than the original games.
Not to say the game is perfect. The collision detection is pixel perfect which is bad for gameplay. This seems to be an engine flaw as opposed to intentional though. Don't think it will be fixed.
Now the bosses. You hear some people say they are the worst and others say they are the best in the series. From a design perspective it seems to me like they were designed by Sonic fans. Well duh, but that means more you would think. Anyone who has played a sonic game over and over knows that the ring damage system is easily abused. I'd say most previous Sonic bosses don't actually take advantage of this but this game does. Normally the bosses use sorta your turn my turn attack patterns. This game is more agressive as if they expect Sonic fans will abuse the take damage, score multiple hits, and get at least a ring back. Rings are useless so it doesn't make sense to play conservatively. Now whether this is good or bad is up to debate. I prefer it as someone who plays over and over. But I don't think it's good for conservative play.
Other bosses they attempted new mechanics but they have tweaked most of them through updates so it's obvious they listen to feedback. The oil ocean holds rings now, you can use supersonic and push the spider, the completely reworked Metal Sonic boss. One change they still need to be made is the oil ocean act 1 boss doesn't seem to have a tell on which platforms kill you. That's something that needs change on a first playthrough.
And why does Knuckles have lag after his glide land. That's a nitpick, give us mania 2