Sonic Mania is a 2D platform game published by Sega. Produced in commemoration of the Sonic the Hedgehog series' twenty-fifth anniversary, the story follows Sonic the Hedgehog and his companions Tails and Knuckles as they venture to defeat their nemesis Doctor Eggman and his robotic henchmen, the Hard-Boiled Heavies. The game pays homage to the original Sega Genesis Sonic games, featuring speedy, side-scrolling gameplay. It takes place over twelve levels, including eight redesigned stages from past games.
The development team was composed of members known for their work in the Sonic fangame and ROM hacking community. Development began after lead developer Christian "Taxman" Whitehead, who was previously contracted by Sega to develop enhanced mobile ports of Genesis-era Sonic games, presented a playable prototype to Takashi Iizuka, lead producer of Sonic Team. Art, level design, audio, and additional programming was provided by independent studios PagodaWest Games and Headcannon. The team built the game using Whitehead's Retro Engine, and aimed for a graphical quality between that of Genesis and Sega Saturn games.
Sonic Mania was released worldwide for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows in August 2017. Reviewers praised its presentation, level design, music, and faithfulness to the early Sonic games, though it received some criticism for its lack of originality. Many saw it as a return to form for the Sonic series following a number of poorly-received games released after the 1990s. Several critics called it one of the best games of 2017 and in the 2D platformer genre. An enhanced version, Sonic Mania Plus, will be released in mid-2018 and features additional characters and other content.
Video Sonic Mania
Gameplay
Sonic Mania is a side-scrolling platformer action game similar to the early Sonic the Hedgehog games released for the Sega Genesis. Players select one of three playable characters, each with their own unique abilities: Sonic can perform a "drop dash" which sends him rolling in a dash after a jump, Tails can fly and swim, and Knuckles can glide and climb walls. As with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), players can play as Sonic and Tails simultaneously, or a second player can control Tails independently. Unlockable options include Sonic's abilities from Sonic CD (1993) and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (1994) in place of the drop dash, and "& Knuckles" mode, which allows simultaneous control of any character and Knuckles.
Sonic Mania takes place over twelve levels, called zones; the game features eight "remixed" zones, such as Green Hill Zone from the original Sonic the Hedgehog, alongside four original zones. Remixed stages consist of both new elements and recycled gimmicks and ideas from other past Sonic games. Each zone is divided into two acts, in which the player must guide their character past various enemies and obstacles to reach the end. At the end of each act, the player takes part in a boss battle against Doctor Eggman or one of his robots, including the Hard-Boiled Heavies, elite henchmen based on the EggRobo enemies from Sonic & Knuckles (1994). The player collects golden rings, which serve as a form of health; players survive hits as long as they have at least one ring, but their rings scatter and disappear after a short time. Television monitors containing rings, elemental shields, or power-ups such as invincibility and faster running speed are scattered throughout each level. Similar to Sonic & Knuckles, the game's story is told via short in-game cutscenes at the end of some acts.
Giant rings hidden in each act, a feature of the original games, lead to pseudo-3D special stages similar to those in Sonic CD. In the stages, players dodge obstacles and collect colored spheres to increase their speed, allowing them to pursue a UFO carrying a Chaos Emerald; collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds allows players to use their character's super transformation and unlocks the game's true ending. Players' ring counters slowly decrease during special stages and must be continually replenished; if the player runs out of rings before they catch the UFO, the special stage ends. The "Blue Sphere" bonus stages from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 also return, accessed by entering a portal that appears when the player passes a checkpoint while carrying 25 or more rings. Completing bonus stages earns the player a silver or gold medal depending on their performance; collecting medals unlocks features such as a debug mode and sound test.
In a time attack mode, players must complete levels as quickly as possible, with the best times included on an online leaderboard; players can instantly reload a level to restart a stage and try again at any time. A split-screen competitive multiplayer mode allows two players to race to the end of a level, similar to those of Sonic 2. Players can also unlock "Mean Bean", a two-player minigame based on the 1993 spin-off Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.
Maps Sonic Mania
Plot
Following the events of Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic and Tails receive a powerful energy reading from Angel Island and board their biplane, the Tornado, to investigate. However, Doctor Eggman sends an elite group of EggRobos to reach the signal before Sonic and Tails. The EggRobos excavate the source of the signal, a magical gemstone called the Phantom Ruby, just as Sonic and Tails arrive. The EggRobos gain new powers from the ruby, becoming the Hard Boiled Heavies, and send Sonic, Tails, and the island's guardian, Knuckles, through places they have previously visited where they pursue Eggman to prevent him from using the ruby's power for evil, clashing with him and the Heavies along the way.
Sonic and his allies discover that Eggman has used the Phantom Ruby's power to retake control of Little Planet from Sonic CD. They board Eggman's robotic fortress, defeat him and the Heavies, and escape just as it explodes. If all seven Chaos Emeralds are collected while playing as Sonic, the Phantom Ruby transports Sonic and Eggman to another dimension. There, the Hard-Boiled Heavies' leader, the Heavy King, betrays Eggman and takes the ruby, imbuing himself with power; Eggman attacks the Heavy to try to reclaim it. Sonic uses the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic and fights Eggman and the Heavy to keep the ruby out of the possession of both. After the battle, the Phantom Ruby reacts with the Chaos Emeralds, creating a wormhole that engulfs itself and Sonic as Little Planet vanishes.
Development
Development of Sonic Mania began in 2015, led by Australian programmer Christian "Taxman" Whitehead. Whitehead was a prominent member of the Sonic fangame community, and had previously been contracted by Sega to develop remastered ports of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD for mobile phones. After developing the game for a few months, Whitehead presented a prototype, which he called Sonic Discovery, to series producer Takashi Iizuka. Iizuka was receptive, and suggested that it should include old levels from the early Sonic games it was inspired by, "remixed" in a way that felt new. He also gave it the working title of Sonic Mania, which stuck after no one suggested a better one during development. The title referenced the development team's "maniacal" fandom for the series; Iizuka described the project as being made "by the mania, for the mania", and as a "passion product" driven by the fans' love for the early Sonic games.
Sonic Mania was produced in commemoration of the series' twenty-fifth anniversary. It was developed using Whitehead's Retro Engine, a game engine tailored for creating two-dimensional games, which he also used for the enhanced ports of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD. The team also included programmer Simon "Stealth" Thomley of the independent studio Headcannon, who assisted Whitehead with those projects and on various Sonic fangames and ROM hacks, as well as level designer Jared Kasl and art director Tom Fry of PagodaWest Games, who had previously independently collaborated on an unofficial high-definition remaster of Sonic 2. Tantalus Media helped develop the Nintendo Switch port of the game. Iizuka and the rest of Sonic Team provided Sonic Mania's development team guidance and helped ensure the team "[didn't] go off the rails into something that doesn't feel like Sonic". Iizuka described the visuals as a cross between the graphical capabilities of the Sega Genesis and Sega Saturn, comprising mostly pixel art with some polygonal graphics.
The developers modeled the gameplay on Sonic 3, with each zone consisting of two acts and boss fights at the end of each. For returning stages, the designers made the first act feel familiar, and introduced new elements in the second act. The team cited Sonic CD and Sonic 3 as major influences on the level design for their "big, wide open" and "streamlined" designs, respectively. According to Thomley, the team typically decided what elements to include in the returning stages prior to designing them, but sometimes came up with new ideas or change them based on how the development progressed. The first original level designed was the Hollywood-themed Studiopolis Zone. The desert-themed Mirage Saloon Zone was inspired by the unfinished Sonic 2 level Dust Hill and the Monument Valley region of the United States. The special stages were inspired by more recent games such as Sonic Rush (2005) and Sonic Colors (2010). The team felt proud of their recreation of classic Sonic gameplay.
The game features animated opening and ending sequences led by Tyson Hesse, one of the artists of the Archie Comics Sonic comic book series. It also features an optional CRT graphical filter, and supports the enhanced features of PlayStation 4 Pro, outputting at native 4K resolution. The musical score was composed by Tee Lopes of PagodaWest Games, consisting of rearranged pieces from previous Sonic games alongside new material. Lopes was chosen due to his popularity on YouTube for producing arrangements of various Sonic tracks, and for his work on the Sonic 2 HD project. Lopes initially wanted his score to resemble the Sonic CD soundtrack, trying to imagine what a sequel to it might have sounded like. As development progressed, he took inspiration from several other older Sonic and Sega games, such as The Revenge of Shinobi (1989) and the Sega Rally games. Lopes also looked to popular music from the 1990s, such as the work of Michael Jackson, for further inspiration. The game's opening theme, "Friends", was composed by the electronic music group Hyper Potions.
Release
Sonic Mania was announced alongside Sonic Forces during the twenty-fifth anniversary Sonic event at the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) event in July 2016. The game was also featured at South by Southwest (SXSW), the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), and SDCC in 2017; at SDCC 2017, attendees received a promotional instruction manual for the game. The game was announced with an intended release window of the second quarter of 2017, but Sega announced at SXSW that it had been delayed to allow for more development time.
Sonic Mania was released digitally for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in North America and Europe on August 15, 2017, and in Japan the following day. Four days before release, Sega delayed the Windows version for another two weeks for further optimization, releasing it on August 29 as a download on Steam. As compensation, those who had pre-ordered the game received a copy of the original Sonic the Hedgehog on Steam.
In addition to the standard release, a Sega Genesis-themed collector's edition was also released, containing a 12-inch (30 cm) Sonic statue atop a model Genesis, a game cartridge cast with a golden ring, and a metallic collector's card with a download code for the game. To promote the collector's edition, Sega released a retro-styled infomercial featuring former series art director Kazuyuki Hoshino and social media manager Aaron Webber, based on an American television commercial for Sonic 2. A vinyl LP featuring the game's original music was published by the music label Data Discs in late 2017. A soundtrack containing more tracks was released on digital music distribution platforms on January 17, 2018.
An expanded version, Sonic Mania Plus, will be released for the Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in mid-2018 physically and as downloadable content. Plus will add Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel from the 1993 arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog as playable characters, an "Encore Mode" with remixed levels from the main game, and a four-player competition mode. The physical version will come with a 32-page art book. In addition, a series of animated shorts, Sonic Mania Adventures, will be released on YouTube starting in April 2018. The shorts are directed by Tyson Hesse, with music by Tee Lopes.
Reception
Sonic Mania was announced following years of mixed reception for the Sonic franchise. According to the International Business Times, the series had been "tarnished by years of sub-par games with only the occasional gem"; Sega's approach of releasing Sonic Forces and Sonic Mania in the same year, catering to new and old fans, could repair the series' reputation and lead to a "Sonic renaissance". Several critics expressed excitement for a game that returned to the style of the early Sonic games, and wrote that Sega's previous efforts to develop games in the "classic" style, such as Sonic the Hedgehog 4 in 2010, had been disappointing.
According to review aggregator Metacritic, Sonic Mania received "generally favorable" reviews. It became the best-reviewed Sonic game in fifteen years, and several critics described it as one of the best games in the 2D platformer genre. At launch, the game topped the best-seller's list on Nintendo Switch, selling more than the previous holders Minecraft and Overcooked: Special Edition. The game heavily increased the profit of Sega's third quarter for 2017, with Sonic Mania credited for Sega selling nearly double the amount of packaged games the company sold in their third quarter from the previous year.
The presentation attracted acclaim. USGamer described the graphics as the "pinnacle" of the series' pixel-era career. GameSpot called the animations and detail superior to the original games, writing that they added an extra layer of personality. Cubed3 described the levels as stylish and vibrant. Critics also praised the attention to detail in recreating its the early games. Game Informer wrote that its gameplay was "nearly indistinguishable" from its Genesis predecessors, but with "extra polish". Easy Allies wrote that the game emulated the original games "exceptionally", and that "running, jumping, and spin dashing all work exactly as well as you would hope". Metro wrote that the game was filled with fanservice, and likened it to a school project "gone wild, something enthusiastic kids have made while the teacher was away and which far surpasses anything they were actually supposed to be doing". Nintendo World Report praised the game for avoiding the physics problems from Sonic 4, and wrote it managed to successfully recapture the spirit of the 16-bit games.
The level design and music also received praise. Hardcore Gamer wrote that the remixed versions of older stages felt fresh while staying true to the originals. Game Informer wrote that the new stages matched the quality of the stages from early Sonic games, and that they captured the spirit of what made the original games so well received. The A.V. Club praised the detail and content in each level. IGN praised the game for its replay value, writing they replayed its stages many times. Venture Beat praised the replayability of the game, saying that branching paths make multiple playthroughs "fresh". EGM wrote that the soundtrack was "completely fantastic" and felt nostalgic and new at the same time. Nintendo Life called the soundtrack "one of the best" of contemporary times.
The game also received criticism. Polygon cited frustrations with controls and enemy placement as examples of Sonic Mania's dedication to the original games to a fault. VideoGamer.com wrote that the game relied too much on nostalgia, with minimal innovation and too few original stages, but was a good proof of concept that the development team could expand upon. Nintendo World Report's complained about the boss fights, which they found too easy and not well-executed. The Windows version was subject to review bombing due to its implementation of the digital rights management (DRM) software Denuvo, which some thought to be the real reason behind the two-week delay. The game could not be played offline on launch day; Sega stated this was a bug unrelated to Denuvo, and released a patch the following day.
EGMNow commended Sonic Mania as one of the "purest and most enjoyable" Sonic games, expressing excitement for the future of the series. IGN wrote the game was the "classic" throwback longtime series fans had been clamoring for since the 1990s, but also recommended it for people new to the franchise. Nintendo World Report called it a "must buy" for fans of the older Sonic games. Waypoint compared the game favorably to Donkey Kong Country Returns, describing it as a game that knew "what was fun" about its predecessors. Nintendo Life felt that Mania represented "a true return to form" and was a contender for the best game in the series.
Accolades
At E3 2017, Sonic Mania was nominated for the "Best Platformer" and "Best Nintendo Switch Game" awards by IGN, though it lost both to Super Mario Odyssey. The game was also nominated at The Game Awards 2017 for the "Best Family Game" award, at PC Gamer's Game of the Year 2017 Awards for "Best Platformer", and at Destructoid's Game of the Year Awards 2017 for "Best PC Game". The game was also nominated for "Best Platformer" at IGN's Best of 2017 Awards, although it did win the People's Choice award for "Best Original Music". Giant Bomb classified the game as a runner-up for "Best Surprise" at the Game of the Year 2017 Awards. The game was also nominated for the Central Park Children's Zoo Award for Best Kids Game at the New York Game Awards 2018. In addition, it was also nominated for "Control Precision", "Game Design, Franchise", and "Game, Franchise Family" at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards. Entertainment Weekly ranked the game ninth on their list of the "Best Games of 2017", Eurogamer ranked it 27th on their list of the "Top 50 Games of 2017", and EGMNow ranked it 13th on their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017, while Polygon ranked it 29th on their list of the 50 best games of 2017.
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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