Sonic Mania

Sonic Mania is an upcoming video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. It will be developed by Christian Whitehead, Headcannon and PagodaWest Games, as the game emulates the gameplay and 2D sprite animation of the original Sega Genesis Sonic games. The game was announced on 22 July 2016 and is set to be released in spring 2017.

Development
The game was first announced during a presentation held by Sega at San Diego Comic-Con 2016 with a debut trailer. The development team includes Christian Whitehead and Simon Thomley, who have previously developed enhanced and newer ports for other Sonic titles. Tee Lopes, a YouTube user who has done many remixes of the music tracks from the Sonic franchise, will compose the music for the game.

According to Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka, Sonic Mania is a “passion project” that “was born out of our fans’ love of the classic Sonic 2D platform games.” He added, “This type of collaboration is a first for SEGA and we hope everyone will be both surprised and delighted by this title.” Christian Whitehead also added that the game will be longer than Sonic Generations.

Briefly after the game's announcement, the game developer company Renegade Kid offered to port the game over to the Nintendo 3DS. Sega however, has yet to respond to the offer.

Gameplay
Emulating the style of the original Sonic Sega Genesis games, Sonic Mania is a 2D side-scrolling platform game with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as playable characters. The goal is to race to the end of each Act of a Zone (a level in the game). The game's levels consist of remixed Zones from past games, such as Green Hill Zone from the original Sonic the Hedgehog, and new Zones as well. In addition to the standard Spin Jump, Spin Attack and Spin Dash maneuvers, Sonic Mania introduces the Drop Dash, which allows the player to instantly dash into a Spin Attack upon landing from a jump. The game will also feature the elemental shields featured from the early games.

Items

 * Rings
 * Item Boxes
 * Aqua Shield
 * Combine Ring
 * Eggman Mark
 * Flame Shield
 * Invincibility
 * Power Sneakers
 * Shield
 * Super Ring
 * Thunder Shield

Gimmicks and obstacles

 * Springs
 * Spikes
 * Star Post
 * Goal Plate

Playable characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog/Super Sonic
 * Miles "Tails" Prower/Super Tails
 * Knuckles the Echidna/Super Knuckles
 * Amy Rose/Super ASmy

Non-playable characters

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Fang the Sniper
 * Metal Sonic
 * Tails Doll
 * Metal Knuckles
 * Animals
 * Flicky
 * Pocky
 * Pecky
 * Rat

Enemies

 * Crabmeat
 * Chopper
 * Moto Bug
 * Buzz Bomber
 * Newtron
 * Bat Brain
 * Orbinaut-like Badnik of Studiopolis Zone
 * Unidentified microphone-like Badnik of Studiopolis Zone
 * Unidentified fly-type Badnik of Studiopolis Zone
 * Unidentified snail-type Badnik of Studiopolis Zone

Bosses

 * Unidentified boss vehicle of Green Hill Zone

Zones
Sonic Mania consists of several Zones split into multiple Acts. At the end of each Act, the player faces a boss. So far, the known Zones are:
 * Green Hill Zone
 * Studiopolis Zone

Trivia

 * This will be the very first Sonic game to be released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
 * The island seen on the title screen of the game is shaped like Sonic's head.
 * The trailer music featured in the debut trailer is "Checkpoint," composed and arranged by Nitro Fun and Hyper Potions.
 * This is the second Sonic game to feature the playable character spinning vertically when jumping on a Spring since Sonic the Hedgehog CD.