User Reviews

(Review based on Steam PC version) After the mediocre two-episode "Sonic 4" I was more tempered with Sonic Mania. Even though Mania looked to be taking a few more pages from the classics on the Genesis era I still went in largely skeptical and a bit blase about it if only for the fact this looked to be another heavy embankment on nostalgia more than trying anything really new. Returning levels had been done and not done well prior and I was mostly set up for an average experience. Still the development team lead by Christian Whitehead who helped port many classics and made a name for himself in the ROM hacking community did give me some encouragement.

After three plays of Mania (Sonic+Tails, Tails, and Knuckles) I can say it's a worthy callback to the classics made by the hardest of hard core fans getting a sense more what made the originals good and not relying heavily on nostalgia. Besides Sonic 1-3&K we have homages and little hints towards every game in Sonic's long history. Sounds and nods to even the 8Bit Sonic games, Sonic CD, Genesis era games, a little of the 3D era and even Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine are all represented here and it works. Sporting new level aesthetics and character animations add extra touches and magic, such as lighting the oil on fire with a flame shield! Brilliant! Designs are like the classics (though let's not dig up the trivial "Waah Sonic has Green Eyes" nonsense) controls are like the classics everything is tightly focused and well polished as games that came before it.

The music is better replicating the old 16bit soundtracks, better than Sonic 4's bland midi synth. Tee Lopes makes fantastic new tracks and great remixes of old stages too, but nothing musically will ever beat Sonic 3 & Knuckles but this comes pretty close. Still I didn't care for the mini boss music or the renditions of Stardust Speedway, which was based mostly on the Japan tracks which personally I found inferior to the U.S. Mixes and to the original. The original stages shine brightly and my praises there. My personal favorite has to be Lava Reef Zone 2 with the added guitars.

The game's fault lies in the fact it had to go back to old stages again, 60% of the game is remade old stages. The stages do have many new added gimmicks and aesthetics to shake it up, more original stages. The ideas are there and whether by over cautiousness or executive meddling to much of this game is the old with a new coat of paint. Nevertheless I didn't find them boring or uninteresting so there is that.

Mysteriously, moves like the Insta-Shield from Sonic 3 are absent from the main game. They are in the game but they're unlockables if you collect all the medals and only works in the No-Save game. This begs the question as to why something that should be in theory a standard move is behind an unlock wall and only in the No-Save game. There's also the super-peel out from CD though I didn't miss that much, I hardly used it in CD beyond the need to time jump but it's a fan favorite so I feel it should have been included.

Sonic Mania is terrific even though it relies heavily on the old to give us something new it still finds ways to innovate the old without reinventing the wheel.

So, this game has beaten my expectations. You know sometimes when you hear so much about how good something is that you start to question if it really is that good? Well Mania was that game for me and do you know what? I have to agree with people that this is a fantastic game.

The levels are fast, fun and exhilerating, the music bought a smile to my face, even the tracks inspired by the EU/JP soundtrack of CD, of which I tend to prefer the NA soundtrack and the graphics just pop out of the screen.

Although I wasn't initially overly excited about this game (being more of a sucker for the 3D titles), the release smashed through the inital feelings and so far has provided me with a fantastic time.

Ok, I'm just gonna say this right now, I played only 4 sonic games... and they are all 2d ones.... I strongly want to play the 3d titles and sonic 3, but Sonic Mania is still my favorite game of all time, the sprite quality is beautiful, the music is amazing, the balance between platforming and speed is perfect, the new levels are just a blast to play and while it is kinda disappointing that there are more old levels, they are remixed and feel fresh again. the main mode is so fun and so are all the others, expect for one, encore mode, it is the reason I give sonic mania a 9/10 but even with that I cant help but play this game over and over again.



so I give sonic mania (plus) a 9/10

With two Sonic games coming out this year, Sega starts off strong with Sonic Mania, essentially a love letter to the Genesis titles made by fan-game creator Christian Whitehead and using his Retro Engine. Basically, this game is what Sonic 4 Part 1 and 2, which were average games at best, should be.

The first thing I have to say is the level design is superb. They provide a nice balance between platforming and speed, and even with levels that were simply reused themes, such as Green Hill Zone, have some sort of twist. Controls are also nice and responsive (as far as gameplay is concerned) and works well with either single or duo Joy-Con play. The graphics also receive an upgrade from the Genesis. In fact, I could go as far as to say it's more like a 32x, maybe Saturn, game, and the animation is pretty fluid and bouncy. In the special stages, it goes into an Emerald Stage, which is chasing an UFO to catch get the Emerald, goes into a Saturn like style, which keeps use with the classic aesthetic the game has.

If there are some issues I have, they're small, but they are noticeable. First of all, this is the Switch version I'm reviewing, and these problems seem to be exclusive for the platform. Also, from what research I've did, the port to Switch was done by Tantalus Media, who were responsible for many licensed games, though they do port jobs such as Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD, Zombi (which is basically Zombi U for PS4, Xbox One, and PC), and the soon to be release Rime for Switch, so I can't blame the main devs themselves, and I can only imagine the company will do a better job with Switch games in the future. Anyway, one of these two issues is that the special stages, which I'm sure isn't that demanding on the Switch, does drop frames. They're not big dips like 60 fps all the way to 15 fps. It just drops down to the 50s for a second and that's it, and that's if you experience it. Another, more noticeable issue is that the Home and Screenshot buttons have a delay. Yeah, you heard that right. These two buttons have a delay on the Nintendo Switch, and sometimes, they don't even work. Again, they're not gamebreaking bugs, easily overlooked even, but it's kind of disappointing that they exist. They should be fixed whenever they release a patch though.

Simply put, this game is a love letter to the classic games of the Genesis, and whatever system you want it for, it's a must have, and even with the Switch version's problems, it's still the version I recommend getting, if you have one. It's simply that much of a blast, even without Blast Processing.

UPDATE: Due to a recent patch that was FINALLY delivered. Not only did they fix the Home button issue, but they added a separate button for Super Form, which is now X instead of tapping jump twice, so no accidental transformations.

Get this game, it is truly one of the very best, in the entire series and in the platform genre itself.

I will start of by saying I am not a fan of sonic the hedgehog. The series has always had a lot of misses for me which is why I never got into it like many other people did. But I won't say the series as a whole is bad far from it. There are games In the series I really like such as Sonic 2, 3&Knuckles, Generations, Mania (which is what I reviewing right now), Rush, Unleashed, All stars racing Transformed, Sonic CD, Colors, Advance 1, Pocket adventure and sonic Riders which is a guilty pleasure of mine. This is one of the best games in the series that's not even made by Sonic Team. The people who made this did a fantastic job with it's soundtrack, visuals, controls, Content, level design, gameplay, and everything that makes an excellent 2D platformer. It's also full of refences to other games in the series which is great for long time fans and even to non sonic fans like myself. It has the save system from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, The ability to play as five characters if you download the DLC which is worth it by the way. The games bonus stages are fun as hell and the levels themselves are fast and well designed. It's basically like 3 & Knuckles but with more expanded on it. It's also one of the more challenging games in the series as well as having fun boss fights and some of them are creative. I may not be into sonic like a lot of other people are but I won't lie in saying that this game is amazing and is worth any gamers time/money.

"SONIC MANIA PLUS" (2018) was a huge event for classic Sonic fans and it was much appreciated. Beautiful sprites and wonderfully reimagined levels with a peppering of new zones and controls (as well as character diversity) and the encore mode made this the true successor to Sonic 3 & Knuckles (or as I prefer, Sonic 3 Complete).

The levels are sprawlingly vast for Sonic games and the Blue Spheres and special stages are terrific. The game combines elements from the first 3 Sonic games and Sonic CD, but also makes references in a variety of ways to a plethora of characters, levels and more from the Sonic franchise.

Unfortunately this game divided the already heavily sliced pizza that is the Sonic fanbase with many criticising the reboot feel of the game and others hating the new levels. While I would have preferred a straight up sequel to Sonic 3 and knuckles I was just ecstatic to have a new classic Sonic game to get to grips with.

I would have liked more new zones and I also think Amy Rose should have been a playable character. See this game seems to have been made with nostalgia in mind and as someone who's been playing the classic Sonic games for over 20 years nostalgia just wasn't what I wanted. A completely new game with this game's aesthetics and gameplay would been another thing altogether. Other than that I have no comments that don't praise the game.

Bring on Sonic Mania 2, 3 and so on.

Ever since I heard of this game being advertised I was hopeful. It promised a return to the bliss of early 2D sonic games. It also brings the style of those games and brings it into the present day with a mixture of revamped classic stages and new original stages as well. The game design is 2D platforming brilliance with a perfect difficulty spike and an incredible soundtrack.

The graphics are crisp and vibrant with tight controls. It everything I ever wanted from a 2D Sonic game and I'll be playing it for a very long time. Thanks Christian Whitehead for making 2D Sonic awesome again!

While this game is great for the nostalgia, the main game is over way too soon, which all the extra 'modes' just replaying the same game over again which different attributes of extra characters. I was very disappointed to not see the ability to play the original games (Sonic 1, 2, 3) or even a full iteration of the Mean Bean Machine. Being able to play through all the original games, not just this remake of a few chosen levels (No Marble Garden Zone?!?) would have added a lot of replayability and kept me playing for weeks, not for days. Great idea for a PS4 release, just not enough content.

After the largely disappointing 2 episodes of the so called "Sonic the Hedgehog 4", it really seemed like any and all hopes for a truly excellent continuation of the classic genesis games were fading, and fast. Because what we got in 2010 was a lazy, idealess, and just bad game that had the balls to call itself the true 4th Sonic game, which it wasn't. Not even close. The 2nd episode was definitely better, but there were still major things about it holding it back from being truly anything good. So, with a very bad episode and a better, but mediocre at best one afterwards, the otherwise acceptable name of "Sonic the Hedgehog 4" was tarnished, and the future of main line 2D Sonic games were very unknown.

However, something amazing happened. Apparently, I wasn't the only one with that mindset, as the incredibly talented Christian Whitehead and company agreed. And, came from the ashes thanks to their hard work and passion, one of, if not the best Sonic game ever made. The series was not only back, but arguably better than ever before. Because instead of shoehorning modern Sonic into a 2D plain and calling it a day, these guys expanded on literally everything that worked in the genesis games while staying faithful to them as well.

Everything feels just about perfect here. The visuals are not only colorful and detailed, but they have an unprecedented amount of liveliness and character while staying true to the overall aesthetic of the genesis games. The music from Tee Lopes is phenomenal from start to finish-whether it be new tracks or recreations of old tunes, this OST is one of the best in a Sonic game. The gameplay is perfect as well, as Sonic and friends not only feel identical to how they did in the classic games, but Sonics moveset has been upgraded to incorporate everything from the super peel out to the insta-shield. The level design combines everything great about the level design of the great levels from the Genesis games. These levels have not only an over abundance of speed like in Sonic 2, but also a lot of fun exploration like in "Sonic 3 and Knuckles". Though here, the balance of these attributes is more akin to Sonic 2, though, because the levels here are a lot bigger in scope, here, there's still more than enough fun exploration to rival S3&K in that regard. In other words, the levels are not only excellent, but perfect for a Sonic game all around.

Speaking of which, I think the way the developers went about the levels was perfect. One thing that always sort of bugged me was when people call this game a "collection" or a "compilation" of classic levels (which is, ironically, exactly what "Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I" was). While a lot of the levels in this game do return from previous games, there's a LOT more to each of them, as the level design consistently adds fun and fresh ideas, as well as completely expands upon the original ideas. Plus, the context as to why we're revisiting these places works wonderfully, and doesn't overshadow anything. Not only that, but the entirely new levels made by Christian Whitehead and company are all absolutely amazing, and do a perfect job in fitting in with the rest of the package. Overall, the levels have a balance of the greatness of the old with the greatness of the new, and because of how much newness is brought to the table, it all still works as a proper continuation of the series, as it helps make the Sonic series feel like it's own world.

The special stages are also probably my favorite of the series, as, much like Sonic CD, you're in a 3D plane chasing a UFO, except, there's only one here. However, it also incorporates things like the blue spheres, but as collectibles to increase your speed, as well as rings to increase time. And if you mix that with the tricky, yet incredibly fun stage design, these special stages are excellent, and are accessed the same way the ones in S3&K, which I feel was the best way.

Speaking of blue spheres, they're back, too-only this time, acting as a special stage accessed via checkpoints just like in Sonic 2. They're every bit as fun and satisfying to complete as they were in S3&K, but now look and sound much better. These are for tokens, which allows you to unlock a lot of goodies in the menus (won't say what to avoid spoilers). Though, because of how much bigger these levels are compared to the ones in Sonic 2, you'll be playing through these stages a lot-at least, far more than you would have for the special stages in Sonic 2. In other words, be prepared to have the blue sphere song stuck in your head after you 100% this game.

Overall, this game is every single tiny thing the episodes of "Sonic the Hedgehog 4" should have been, as it is the first Sonic game in just about 23 years that actually pushed the envelope for the series. Everything here is just as good as it needs to be, and it is consistently one of the most enjoyable games in the entire series. If you're a Sonic fan who somehow hasn't played this yet, I implore you to change that. This is the true continuation after S3&K we've been waiting for for years, and to think it wasn't even made by the same people who made the classic genesis games just goes to show how a deep love and passion for the series can really revive it back to legendary status. What an amazing comeback to an amazing series. Here's to a Sonic Mania 2.

This game is worth the twenty bucks I spent in Target! Everything that made Sonic The Hedgehog an icon is at it's best in terms of classics!

Tight controls, awesome characters, great soundtrack, and a buttload of references as far as the eye can see!

Even the extra content is cool, if you are done with the main game which has little plot.

Blue Spheres, Mean Bean, and Time Attack will test your Sonic skills.

And multiplayer races are at their very best!

They have been since Sonic Adventure 2 Battle!

So if you want your family to get into Sonic, then get this game! It will be better than the boring first person shooter genre!

With this Encore DLC, Sonic Mania is now completed! And it's all thanks to the duo that came back from obscurity: Mighty The Armadillo and Ray The Flying Squirrel! These two characters have great abilities that help get passed obstacles of annoyances and make the multiplayer mode feel more complete!

What really got me to complete this masterpiece of a game is a big cheat code that makes you unlock all the extra content! Go check that out on YouTube! I recommend it!

The appearance of Mighty and Ray has been the best comeback mankind ever witnessed since the Twinkies came back in 2013!

This is the best sonic 2d game, amazing level design, amazing music, amazing gameplay, one of the best experiences i ever had in my life. The story is not as good as previous and later games, but what I mentioned before, makes up for it. The game simply put everything we love about the franchise, and made it better That's why I'm giving this game 10, an unforgettable experience. If you haven't played Sonic Mania yet, play it you won't regret it, this game is phenomenal.

This is the game I and many others had been waiting for since the 90's. It's the ultimate Sonic game. My only gripe with it is the lack of new zones BUT, since this game is on the same world the previous instalments were, it only makes sense Sonic and the others would have to revisit the same places at least once. And let's not forget, this game doesn't simply rehash the old greats, it takes us into new but familiar territory. The new zones are awesome by the way.

We can play as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty and Ray. What an array of characters, each with abilities unique to them! And encore mode stretches everything out into basically a new experience. It's like a second game on the disc.

I love the UFO special stages. I love the Blue Special stages. I love the Mean Bean Machine.

I love Sonic's Super form standing still animations. I love the sheer scale of the levels. I love how polished every single pixel is. The music is so crisp.

All I have to say: WHERE IS SONIC MANIA 2?!?!?!

Sonic Mania was one of the best returns to form ever in gaming history. It came out with gorgeous graphics and enchanting level designs with an amazing soundtrack, many were clambering to get a physical version or a sequel of some kind.

In the end we got a physical release but with a new DLC added. I have the digital version so I can't talk about all of the nice goodies that came with the physical version but I can definitely talk about the new content.

While the new content isn't as awe-inspiring or as groundbreaking as the original it only adds to a perfect game and never harms it. The problem lies within it not having anything that new in terms of zones and levels. It's not that the game failed to implement new content. In fact it does it perfectly. It's just that the content isn't anything better than the full experience.

Sonic mania plus comes with an all-new encore mode. Which it really is as the levels and zones have only been slightly modified. The game does give us a brand new version of mirage saloon though and gives us one act of angle island which is nice and enjoyable but not that expansive.

The biggest changes that come to the game are the inclusion of mighty and Ray. Ray can fly like Cape Mario and mighty can walk on spikes like funky Kong. He can also slam and break blocks. He makes the game easier for new and unexpired players while Ray is useful for veteran players as he allows them to explore hidden areas within zones and discover some interesting secrets.

The new special stages also change things up and some of the bosses have been redesigned. I was hoping to see a resigned final boss as I found it to have incredible music and nice build-up but to not be that interesting overall. Even then, I still like the boss. I like all of the bosses. Everything in this game goes above and beyond and with the DLC pushes it forward. Even with a few nitpicks here and there the game is still a true masterpiece with its colorful graphics and fantastic animation and awe-inspiring level design that rivals sonic 3 and knuckles. The soundtrack is heavenly and it is sure to have you playing it on loop with some of the best sounding music I have ever heard in video game history. A good example of that is the songs for the titanic monarch. Just go listen to it and even better play the game.

Sonic mania plus only adds to what will go down as one of the greatest Sonic games of all time.

Quite ironic it was made by a fan though.

Sonic Mania is the only good sonic game in the last 20 years which is sad because it was made by a fan!

It even says Sega PROUDLY presents before the title screen which this (as far as i know) is the only sonic game that says this.

God sega is pathetic

Anyway the game is fun It's very fast and fluid and has some great variety in its presentation.

Really the only issues i have are its length and ending The final boss doesn't feel like one at all

And yes i know that if you collect all 7 chaos emeralds you'll unlock another world but they're so well hidden here that its not worth it

Running into every solid wall and looking for anything that looks even remotely breakable ruins the fast pace of the game

Sonic 2 got special stages right in that aspect.