Sonic Mania review
Blast from the Past
Any early ’90s gamer should have a strong memory of the mascot war that took place between Nintendo and SEGA. Nintendo’s Mario had dominated the landscape for the majority of the ’80s, seeing off and working around the advances of other mascots to become essentially synonymous with the term “video game”; it wasn’t until Sonic the Hedgehog’s release in 1991 that Mario saw a major challenge, a video game icon that not only showed off its home console’s power but gave the little moustachioed plumber a real run for his money, spawning a back-and-forth battle of one-upsmanship between the two that dominated gaming until the fully-3D Super Mario 64 changed the game and left SEGA behind.
Although Mario is still going strong, the corporate failure of SEGA’s Dreamcast left Sonic in limbo. SEGA withdrew from the console business to focus on game development and the Blue Blur has struggled to find the same success he found when he blazed onto the scene. In recent years, the best Sonic the Hedgehog experiences have been ports of the hedgehog’s first few games on mobile devices and nostalgia-fuelled runs through Sonic Generations; it seemed as though that was the best the Sonic Team could do with the property, until Sonic Mania’s release last month.
With Sonic Mania, SEGA has finally given Sonic fans the game they deserve, chock-filled with nostalgia trips and new mechanics and stages to give any fan that warm feeling in their stomach, akin to opening a wonderful Christmas gift in childhood. Seeing all of the wonderful call-backs to years gone by sitting right alongside the new stages and gimmicks was a highly uplifting experience. Sonic Mania is the definitive version of Sonic 4 in all but name, a game for all old and new Sonic fans to enjoy.
Unlike the upcoming Sonic Forces, series developer Sonic Team had little to do with Sonic Mania; this development was led by programmer Christian Whitehead — the man responsible for the aforementioned mobile ports — with assistance from well-respected Sonic fan game developers HeadCannon and PagodaWest Games. Those who have played any of Whitehead’s ports or the many fangames from Headcannon and PagodaWest know what is to be expected from Sonic Mania, and it certainly delivers on those expectations.
Like any early ’90s platformers, story isn’t really a major point of interest for Sonic games. Although there is a certain amount of story at play in Sonic Mania, it’s rather minimal and far from complex. Dr. Eggman (aka. Robotnik) has gotten his hands on a mysterious gemstone called the Phantom Ruby, creating distortions in time and space. Sonic — along with his friend Miles “Tails” Prower if the player chooses to have the dynamic duo working together — must traverse 12 different zones, battling Eggman’s latest inventions, the Hard-Boiled Heavies while searching for the fabled Chaos Emeralds. Fitting the series’ traditional lack of dialogue, the character models are wonderfully portrayed and animated with varied emotion, to such an extent that dialogue isn’t needed to make the important scenes click.
Sonic Mania’s gameplay hardly evolves from the formula that made the original Sonic games popular and fun, and that’s a good thing. Sonic and friends control just as well as one would remember from the SEGA Genesis days, or even better due to the more powerful processing units within the current generation consoles. Sonic is naturally the fastest out of the playable characters, with a focus on more high-octane movement that can sometimes make precise platforming tricky, yet satisfying when completed. Tails is slower than Sonic, but faster than Knuckles the Echidna, and has the ability to use his twin tails to fly through the air for a short period of time, making some of the platforming sections a breeze. Knuckles is the slowest of the trio, but his ability to smash through obstacles allows him to access areas and pathways that his friends can’t. Knuckles can also glide through the air and latch onto walls to climb, making him the best to hunt for the large rings that allow the players to play the Special Stages and attempt to win one of the seven Chaos Emeralds.
This is a Sonic game at its core, not just in its name. Everything that made the original games so compelling and enjoyable no matter how many times they were to be replayed is present in Sonic Mania. Players still have the ability to perform a Spin Dash by holding down on the directional pad and pressing the jump button, then releasing the down button to send their character shooting forward in a small burst of speed. One of the new abilities available to Sonic is the Drop Dash, which allows Sonic to maintain speed even after making a jump. It’s a simple mechanic to execute as well, with the player just pressing and holding down the jump button while in mid-air. Once Sonic makes contact with the ground, he will zoom forward in a ball. Although it’s a small mechanic, it adds another layer to the gameplay by allowing players to focus on speed. Speed-running through Sonic Mania will be a fun and exciting thing to watch for in the future.
Power ups are also prevalent within Sonic Mania, with a lot of fan favourites returning alongside a few new additions to shake things up just a bit. Some Sonic fans will be excited to learn that the three elemental shields introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 — and the abilities they grant Sonic — make a return, while the new blue ring power-up resembles one that was introduced in Knuckles Chaotix; breaking it open causes any rings the player drops upon being hit to spread out into larger rings for easier recollection. The game does a fantastic job of rewarding player’s curiosity with one of the many power ups, additional rings (which serve as the player’s life source, as per Sonic tradition), or an additional life. It has been quite some time since a Sonic game has successfully done this, and definitely makes repeated playthroughs an enjoyable experience.
Although the Sonic titles themselves have been less-than-incredible in recent times, one can’t deny that their soundtracks have stood out and brought much-needed life to some pretty average adventures. Sonic Mania continues the series’ tradition of excellent soundtracks with what may well be the best Sonic soundtrack to date. Composed by the insanely talented YouTuber Tee Lopes, who is well known for his Sonic the Hedgehog remixes, the soundtrack plays on nostalgia while also serving up new and exciting new tracks that don’t disappoint. Hearing remixes of some of my favourite tracks from the original Sonic trilogy and some of the fantastic new tracks continues to bring a smile even after a few playthroughs. The amazing and intense boss themes are also hands-down the best in the series, generating a greater sense of determination to overcome Sonic’s foes.
Each and every one of Sonic Mania’s stages, be it an old one or a new one, has been created with love and care from the ground up. Each stage pops with vibrant colours and a solid 1080p and 60 frames per second makes Sonic and friends’ high-speed antics smooth and easy to manage. It was rare that Sonic died during an uncontrollable situation, but these moments only solidified how challenging the game truly was, which is exactly how it should be. Just like the original games from the ’90s, Sonic Mania refuses to hold players’ hands, offering plenty of challenges that will brutalise careless or inattentive players. Here’s hoping that Sonic Forces can continue this trend when it is (hopefully) released later this year.
The only downside to Sonic Mania’s stages is that only four out of the twelve are new. Although they are so few and far between, and don’t really deviate from the classic Sonic formula, these new stages are some of the best in the Sonic series to date, which should be enough to give any fan reason to be excited about future collaborations between Mania’s developers. The creativity and talent amongst the team is on show in Sonic Mania in all the right ways, though this was often felt far less within the classic stages. The desire for more new stages — partly to allow the creative team to show off their imagination and talents, and partly to experience something different with every subsequent game — is definitely something that will play on the minds of anyone who experiences just how amazing the new stages are.
Overall, Sonic Mania does the unthinkable: it brings fans a Sonic game that is both enjoyable and refreshing after so many years of inconsistency. The various callbacks to Sonic’s heyday as SEGA’s mascot make the game a nostalgia-fuelled trip for any fans, especially those that grew up playing the original trilogy on the SEGA Genesis. Newer stages and remixed older stages bring something refreshing to the table for all to enjoy, and the developers’ creative talent is clearly on show with their fantastic level designs, and the soundtrack is some of the best the series has to offer. It is safe to say that Sonic Mania makes Sonic games relevant again.
Our Verdict:
Bright, vibrant and damn fun, Sonic Mania is the definitive version of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 that fans of the Blue Blur deserved all those years ago. Stages, both old and new, encourage a mixture of careful platforming and high-speed antics, while the soundtrack is quite possibly the best the series has to offer. Sonic is back!
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