Quick Review: Sonic Mania

Apparently I didn’t cover enough Sonic media this year – that’s alright, this one’s quick! (Also, sweet timing, so close to CrossWorlds' release!)

Come on, Tails, catch up!

Developed by Christian Whitehead, Headcannon and PagodaWest Games, published by SEGA, and released on August 29th, 2017, Sonic Mania is a 2D Sonic platformer paying tribute to retro Sonic titles in the best way. This one opens on Sonic and Tails investigating a strange energy reading. They find Eggman’s robots foraging the site, digging out a strange jewel that flips all the colors and even appears to teleport them around. This is the Phantom Ruby, which you might know better as the item used by Infinite in Sonic Forces… whose events happen in a whole other universe than this one. Don’t question it, Sonic continuity is weird. Anyway, that jewel is bad news, so Sonic and Tails team up to stop Eggman and his new, Ruby-empowered Hard Boiled Heavies. Oh, and Knuckles can get dragged into all this, too.

I swear Knuckles always looks angry that he gets caught
in the story of the day when he could be guarding the
Master Emerald instead.

Unfortunately for Tails, solo he's the absolute worst character
to use. But he's still a great sidekick to Sonic.

On the main menu, you can play either as Sonic and Tails, or just one of either of the three playable protagonists, each with their own gimmick. Sonic is the base, Tails can fly at the cost of any protection, and Knuckles can glide and climb walls. The Sonic and Tails combo is the easiest, since Tails can help through stages and even land an extra blow to bosses. However, all four options have their own perks, secret areas, and little changes from each other, which makes them all worth trying. And in true Sonic fashion, the stages get downright labyrinthine. That’s before getting into all the references to past games – several worlds are outright pulled from Sonic classics.

It's juuust out of reach! Gotta go Mach 3 to catch up and...
well crap, I'm out of rings, the timer ran out.

Of course, a 2D Sonic game wouldn’t be complete without the Chaos Emeralds and a final confrontation accessible after finding them all. You can find large 3D rings that take your current character to a 3D track on which they hunt down a UFO fleeing with an Emerald. It’s too fast, so you first have to collect blue spheres to increase your own Mach speed in order to catch up. You can also collect rings to increase the time limit. There’s a second type of bonus challenge that involves collecting blue spheres (again) and rings on a spherical plane, avoiding the red spheres. My only issue with these is just how hard it can be to find the giant rings. I think I’ve only seen two! Thankfully, Level Select is unlocked after beating the not-actually-final boss, so it's possible to go back and hunt them down afterwards.

Impressive! Sure hopw the Phantom Ruby doesn't next land
into the hands of even more competent villains.

Good thing Eggman sucks at his own game.

Another thing I loved here was the boss battles. Lots of creativity to be found, plenty of nods to Sonic’s history. There's a battle against Metal Sonic in the Sonic CD-inspired world, and another “boss” is a puzzle fight inspired by Doctor Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. Many more throwbacks can be found, especially if you’re well-acquainted with the 2D “classic” era.

As a bonus, the game also has a DLC allowing you to play as Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Squirrel, both of whom have seldom appeared since 1993 before making a comeback here.

Looks like Eggman finally found a way to make Sonic
stay still. Vengeance best served cold and all that.

Lots of boss battles have their own mechanics, so the
little gameplay changes every now and then help keep
the game fresh, interesting, and never too easy.

All in all, a fantastic product from beginning to end – a true love letter to the classic era. Packed with references to the adventures and games of that time, only a few hints of game design throughout can betray that this game is a product of the 2010s. One of its developers, Christian Whitehead, helped port Sonic CD to PC, so the team knows a thing or two about Sonic game design! It looks exactly like a classic-era game and has the perfect music to back that up as well. The worlds are varied, and often feature their own unique little mechanics, which add flavor to them. Sincerely, I don’t think there’s much if any negative I can point out in this one, it’s great. (…Yep, it overshadows Forces in every way.)

Sonic Mania is available on Steam for 19.99$ USD.