Sonic Mania

Sonic Mania (ソニックマニア) 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. PagodaWest Games members Jared Kasl and Tom Fry, who had also worked on a fan-made HD remake of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, are both working on the game's level design and visuals.

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. Later, on the official Sonic Twitch stream, lizuka stated that Sonic Mania will have more classic levels than new levels. The day after that, Christian Whitehead explained to fans on Twitter that it was Sonic Team’s wish to celebrate the classic titles in Sonic Mania, but this time in a "new and exciting way".

Briefly after the game's announcement, the game developer company Renegade Kid offered to port the game over to the Nintendo 3DS. However, on August 29, 2016, Renegade Kid announced that the studio would be closed and split to two separate companies: Atooi & Infitizmo, leaving the possibility of Nintendo 3DS port of Sonic Mania unknown.

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 from the early games. The player can also choose the second playable character to follow the lead character.

Items

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

Gimmicks and obstacles

 * Springs
 * Spikes
 * Star Post
 * Goal Plate
 * Flipper
 * Breakaway Bumper-like gimmicks
 * Bumpers
 * Capsule

Playable characters

 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Knuckles the Echidna

Non-playable characters

 * Dr. Eggman
 * Animals
 * Flicky
 * Locky
 * Pocky
 * Pecky
 * Rat
 * Bean the Dynamite (cameo)
 * Bark the Polar Bear (cameo)
 * Fang the Sniper (cameo)

Enemies

 * Crabmeat
 * Chopper
 * Moto Bug
 * Buzz Bomber
 * Newtron
 * Bat Brain
 * Red Roller-like Badnik of Mirage Saloon Zone
 * Unidentified bird-like Badnik of Mirage Saloon Zone
 * Green Caterkiller-like Badnik of Mirage Saloon Zone
 * Unidentified donkey-like Badnik of Mirage Saloon Zone
 * 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 (some remastered, others original) split into multiple Acts. At the end of each Act, the player faces a boss. So far, the known Zones are:
 * Green Hill Zone
 * Mirage Saloon Zone
 * Studiopolis Zone

Release
With the game set to be released in Spring 2017, Sonic the Hedgehog's official twitter account posted a poll on 8 September 2016, relating to the release of the Collector's Edition of the game. On 13 September 2016, Amazon leaked a pre-order offer of the Sonic Mania: Collector’s Edition for the PC. The Collector's Edition consists of a Sega Genesis-styled package, a 12" Classic Sonic Statue standing on a Sega Genesis that plays the "Sega" chant when turned on, a metallic collector’s card and a Genesis cartridge-like cast with a golden Ring. The Collector's Edition was later announced for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as well, albeit exclusively for North America. The Collector's Edition has also become available to be pre-ordered on Europe countries since 17 October 2017.

In September 2016, Sega began selling official T-shirts through Amazon US until 30 September. These included Studiopolis Zone-based shirts and “Triple Theat” t-shirts with icons of the game’s three playable characters. Originally, the Studiopolis and Triple Threat shirts with the Sonic Mania logo printed on them were available on Amazon UK before their listings vanished.

Reception
Sonic Mania 's announcement was met with praise, with Andrew Goldfarb of IGN saying that Sonic Mania had him excited for the series again, in a way that did not happen with Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Alex Donaldson of VG24/7 agreed, saying that Sonic Mania was the sequel he had wanted for over 20 years. Donaldson also appreciated Sega's choice of development team, calling them "the right guys for the job", and praised the game's visuals, music, and the inclusion of obscure Sonic and Sega lore. Jack Hamnett of Twinfinite praised the game's attention to detail and how faithful it felt to the original games, saying that it had the potential to return the series to its "former glory".

Trivia

 * This will be the 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.
 * After completing a Zone, Sonic will perform a short hop before doing the traditional index finger waving pose. The hopping animation originated from an early victory pose seen in pre-release screenshots of Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), but was later unused in the final release.
 * The mock infomercial video of the Sonic Mania's Collector's Edition is a throwback to the humorous television commercial for a Sonic the Hedgehog 2 console bundle that debuted back in 1993. The fake "suggested price" of $6,231,991 seen in the infomercial is a reference to the North American release date for the original Sonic the Hedgehog (June 23, 1991).

Videos
Debut Trailer = Gameplay (Comic-Con Demo) 1 = Gameplay (Comic-Con Demo) 2 = Japanese Trailer = Collector's Edition Infomercial = Behind the Scenes of Infomercial = Gameplay (Kinda Funny Games) =