The first console that I ever personally owned was a Sega Genesis system. Since that time, I have purchased the original Sonic the Hedgehog (and its sequels) numerous times across multiple platforms (most recently for PC on Steam). There is something timeless about enjoying the early Sonic games before modern conventions stepped in and altered them completely. Sonic Mania is hopefully a step in the right direction for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and will hopefully return it to its glory days.
Sonic Mania is a side-scrolling platformer that allows you to not only relive classic Sonic the Hedgehog zones but also adds new levels to each classic zone, with remixed music from the 2D Sonic the Hedgehog titles. Like in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles, you can play as Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles, each with unique play-styles and capabilities. Immediately when you begin to play, it feels like walking down a childhood nostalgia that is Sonic’s history. However, unlike other games that have tried to capture this, Sonic Mania is full of new and interesting concepts that change the way you play.
One of these interesting little details is the fact that Sonic now has the ability to go right into a spin dash from a jump. If you press the jump button a second time and hold it when he lands he will go right into a dash move. There are other additions too, like spiked bridges being susceptible to the fire shield, burning them as you walk over it instead of it hurting you. The fire shield also deflects projectiles and allows you to do a fiery burst forward, while the electric/magnet shield will attract coins and give you a secondary double jump. The water/bubble shield not only allows you to bounce but also lets you breathe underwater.
Every act in Sonic Mania has a boss, though each “boss” is different than what you might be used to. The first act usually consists of a level people are at least somewhat familiar with while the second act is usually an all new level. The soundtrack from older Sonic games has been remixed to give the new stages a new flavor, while also providing nostalgia tracks for the old stages. Do not think that you will be bored on the first act of every stage though, they may look the same, but there are a ton of different secrets to find.
One of these secrets is a new secret stage (if you find the giant ring you will find yourself there) that asks you to chase after a UFO. Sonic gains speed by picking up blue bubbles and gains more time by picking up rings. If you run out of rings, the stage ends. The other secret stage is gained by having 20+ coins when you reach a checkpoint, and it is the classic “collect all the blue bubbles” minigame, which gets faster and faster as you go. If you hit a red bubble, you lose immediately, while hitting golden bubbles jumps you across the spherical map.
There are so many other easter eggs and pieces of Sonic’s past in Sonic Mania, (spoiler) such as a boss fight that pays homage to Doctor Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, and new twists on the classic casino and night-time maps we’re familiar with. Sonic Mania is a blend of nostalgia, and fresh, new levels and design. I greatly applaud the developers in taking what fans already love, and adding new things to it that make it feel like an entirely new experience, unlike any Sonic game that has come before it.
My one issue with it, is that there are a few spots in Sonic Mania that get…gimmicky. Frustrating spikes in difficulty, unavoidable damage, and ridiculously difficult concepts are sprinkled in throughout Sonic Mania in small doses: small enough to be tolerable, but they are still nail-bitingly frustrating all the same.
I do like the concept of the way the autosave system works. Like in previous Sonic titles, you have lives. After every 100 rings, you gain another life, and lives are hidden across each level. If you run out of lives, you receive a game over. However, instead of having to start again at the beginning, you merely can reload and start at the beginning of the last zone you reached.
Sonic Mania also has a competitive multiplayer mode (Editor’s note: This is only local multiplayer, but you can share play this over PlayStation Network with friends online and it works very well), as well as a Time Attack mode, for the speedrunners that wish to get the fastest time on an online leaderboard.
Whether you are playing as Sonic, Tails, or Knuckles, there are always different options and paths to try and experiment with; this provides replayability but it also makes it more entertaining to play through each level multiple times. Aside from the gimmicky parts, Sonic Mania is probably the best Sonic game to be released since the Dreamcast era. I hope this means that the franchise will become better and better in the future.
If you are a Sonic the Hedgehog fan, even if you have been disappointed by recent games in the series, I encourage you to try Sonic Mania. You will not be disappointed, and honestly, I can see myself spending hours playing this game, just enjoying the modernized retro feel. This is what a modern retro revival should feel like; Sonic Mania takes what people love about a series and expanding upon it.
A PlayStation 4 review copy of Sonic Mania was provided by Sega for the purpose of this review.