Sonic Mania is a 2017 platform game created by Christian Whitehead, PagodaWest Games, and Headcannon. It was published by Sega and made to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The game is inspired by the original Sonic games for the Sega Genesis, offering fast side-scrolling gameplay. It includes 13 levels, some of which were redesigned from older games. The story follows Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as they work together to stop Doctor Eggman and his robot group, the Hard-Boiled Heavies.

The development team included people who had previously worked on fan-made Sonic games and modified older game versions. Development began after Christian "Taxman" Whitehead, who had previously worked with Sega to improve mobile versions of Genesis Sonic games, showed a playable version of the game to Sonic Team producer Takashi Iizuka. PagodaWest Games and Headcannon contributed art, level design, music, and programming. The team used Whitehead’s Retro Engine to create graphics that looked similar to those of the Sega Genesis and Sega Saturn.

Sonic Mania was released in August 2017 for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. It became the highest-rated Sonic game in 15 years. Many reviewers believed it marked a return to quality after several poorly received games from the 2000s. The game was praised for its visuals, level design, music, and similarity to early Sonic games. However, some critics noted it lacked original ideas. It was named one of the best Sonic games and one of the best games of 2017. Within a year, it sold over one million copies. An improved version called Sonic Mania Plus, which included extra content, was released in July 2018.

Gameplay

Sonic Mania is a side-scrolling game similar to the first Sonic the Hedgehog games from the Sega Genesis and Sega CD. Players choose one of three characters, each with special skills: Sonic can roll quickly after jumping, Tails can fly and swim, and Knuckles can glide and climb walls. Like Sonic 2 (1992), players can control Sonic and Tails together or let a second player control Tails alone. Extra features include abilities from Sonic CD (1993) and Sonic 3 & Knuckles (1994), as well as a mode where players can control any character with Knuckles.

The game has 13 levels, called zones. Eight of these are recreated versions of old levels, such as Green Hill Zone from the first Sonic game (1991), and five are new. Each zone has two acts, where players must avoid enemies and obstacles to reach the end. After each act, players fight a boss, such as Doctor Eggman or his robots, like the Hard-Boiled Heavies from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Golden rings act as health; players stay alive as long as they have at least one ring. If hit, rings disappear. Players can find items like power-ups, shields, or more rings throughout levels. Short cutscenes between levels tell the story.

Each act has hidden giant rings that lead to special stages, similar to Sonic CD. In these stages, players collect colored spheres to speed up and chase a UFO carrying a Chaos Emerald. Collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds lets players use a special transformation and unlock the game’s ending. Rings slowly decrease during special stages, and players must collect more to continue. Bonus stages, like the "Blue Sphere" stages from Sonic 3, appear when players reach checkpoints with 25 or more rings. Completing these stages earns medals, which unlock features like a debug mode or sound test.

In time attack mode, players race to complete levels as quickly as possible, with best times shared online. Players can restart levels anytime. A split-screen mode lets two players race through levels together, like in Sonic 2. Players can also unlock "Mean Bean," a two-player minigame based on Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine.

Plot

After the events of Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic and Tails notice a strong energy signal on Angel Island. They fly their plane, the Tornado, to investigate. Dr. Eggman sends a group of EggRobos to reach the signal first. The EggRobos find the source of the signal, a magical gem called the Phantom Ruby, just as Sonic and Tails arrive. The EggRobos gain new powers from the ruby and become the Hard-Boiled Heavies. They fight Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, who is the island’s guardian, and send them through zones they have visited before. There, they try to stop Eggman from using the ruby’s power for evil.

Sonic and his friends learn that Eggman used the Phantom Ruby’s power to take control of Little Planet from Sonic CD. They enter Eggman’s robotic fortress, defeat him and the Heavies, and escape just before the fortress explodes. If all seven Chaos Emeralds are collected while playing as Sonic, the Phantom Ruby sends Sonic and Eggman to another world. There, the leader of the Heavies, Heavy King, steals the ruby and gains power. Eggman tries to take the ruby back from Heavy King. Sonic uses the Chaos Emeralds to become Super Sonic and fights both Eggman and Heavy King to keep the ruby safe. After the battle, the Phantom Ruby interacts with the Emeralds, making Sonic lose his super power and creating a wormhole that disappears with the ruby and Sonic as Little Planet vanishes.

When Sonic returns to his world, he arrives on Angel Island and meets Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. He then sees the damaged Hard-Boiled Heavies. Heavy King used the Phantom Ruby’s power to send Sonic and his four friends back to the start of their adventure. Sonic and his friends go through the game areas again, but this time the path is different.

After defeating Eggman and the Heavies once more, if all seven Chaos Emeralds are collected again, the Phantom Ruby causes Eggman’s fortress to explode. This time, Sonic and his friends use the Chaos Emeralds to become super-powered and escape while Eggman is sent through a portal created by the Phantom Ruby. Sonic and his friends celebrate their victory at a desert bar, but the Heavy King appears unexpectedly.

Development

The development of Sonic Mania started in 2015, led by Australian programmer Christian "Taxman" Whitehead. Whitehead was a well-known member of the Sonic fangame community and had previously worked with Sega to create updated versions of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD for mobile phones. After working on the game for several months, Whitehead showed a prototype called Sonic Discovery to series producer Takashi Iizuka. Iizuka was interested and suggested that the game should include levels from early Sonic games, redesigned to feel new. He also gave the project the working name Sonic Mania, which remained after no other name was suggested. The title honored the team's deep love for the Sonic series; Iizuka described the project as being made "by the mania, for the mania" and as a "passion product" driven by fans' admiration for the early Sonic games.

Sonic Mania was created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Sonic series. It was developed using Whitehead's Retro Engine, a game engine designed for making two-dimensional games, which he also used for the updated versions of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD. The team included programmer Simon "Stealth" Thomley from the independent studio Headcannon, who helped Whitehead on those projects and on various Sonic fangames and ROM hacks. Level designer Jared Kasl and art director Tom Fry from PagodaWest Games also joined the team. They had previously worked together on an unofficial high-definition remaster of Sonic 2. Tantalus Media helped create the Nintendo Switch version of the game. Iizuka and Sonic Team provided guidance to ensure the game stayed true to the Sonic series. Iizuka described the visuals as a mix of the graphical styles of the Genesis and Sega Saturn, mostly using pixel art with some polygonal graphics.

The developers based the gameplay on Sonic 3, including boss fights at the end of each zone. For returning levels, the designers made the first part feel familiar and added new elements in the second part. The team said Sonic CD and Sonic 3 influenced their level designs, with Sonic CD inspiring "big, wide open" spaces and Sonic 3 inspiring "streamlined" designs. Thomley explained that the team usually decided what elements to include in returning stages before designing them, but sometimes changed ideas as development continued. The first original level created was the Hollywood-themed Studiopolis Zone. The desert-themed Mirage Saloon Zone was inspired by an unfinished level from Sonic 2 and the Monument Valley region in the United States. The special stages were influenced by more recent games like Sonic Rush (2005) and Sonic Colors (2010). The team was proud of how they recreated classic Sonic gameplay.

The game includes animated opening and ending sequences created by Tyson Hesse, an artist from the Sonic comics by Archie Comics. It also has an optional CRT graphical filter and supports features of the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X, allowing it to run at a native 4K resolution.

The soundtrack was composed by Tee Lopes of PagodaWest Games, combining rearranged music from previous Sonic games with new material. Lopes was chosen because of his popularity on YouTube for creating Sonic music arrangements and his work on the Sonic 2 HD project. He initially wanted his score to sound like the Sonic CD soundtrack, imagining what a sequel might have been like. As development continued, he drew inspiration from older Sonic and Sega games, such as The Revenge of Shinobi (1989) and the Sega Rally games, as well as 1990s music, including songs by Michael Jackson. The reveal trailer theme, "Checkpoint," was composed by the electronic music groups Hyper Potions and Nitro Fun. The opening theme, "Friends," was also composed by Hyper Potions.

Release

Sonic Mania was announced at the same time as Sonic Forces during a special Sonic event at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2016. The game was shown at events like South by Southwest (SXSW), the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), and SDCC in 2017. At SDCC 2017, visitors received a promotional instruction manual for the game. Originally planned for release in the second quarter of 2017, Sega postponed the game during SXSW to allow more time for development.

Sonic Mania was made available digitally for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on August 15, 2017. Four days before the release, Sega postponed the Windows version for two weeks to improve performance. The Windows version was released on August 29 as a download on Steam. Those who pre-ordered the game received a copy of the original Sonic the Hedgehog on Steam as a gift.

A special Sega Genesis-themed collector's edition was also released. It included a 12-inch (30 cm) Sonic statue placed on a model Genesis console, a game cartridge shaped like a golden ring, and a metallic card with a download code for the game. To promote the collector's edition, Sega created a retro-style infomercial featuring former art director Kazuyuki Hoshino and social media manager Aaron Webber, inspired by a 1990s commercial for Sonic The Hedgehog 2.

A vinyl LP with the game's original music was published by Data Discs in late 2017. A digital version of the soundtrack was released on January 17, 2018. In Japan, the physical release of Sonic Mania Plus included a two-CD version of the soundtrack with all songs from Sonic Mania and three bonus tracks by the American EDM band Hyper Potions. The tracks were titled "Time Trials," "Friends," and "Time Trials Plus," with the last featuring Jun Senoue, a longtime series composer. These bonus tracks were also released as singles on digital platforms by the GameChops label.

An animated short series called Sonic Mania Adventures was released on the Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel from March to July 2018. It promoted the release of Sonic Mania Plus and showed Sonic returning to his world after events in Sonic Forces, working with friends to stop Eggman and Metal Sonic from collecting the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald. A holiday-themed bonus episode featuring Amy Rose was released in December 2018. The series was written and directed by Hesse, with animation by Neko Productions and music by Lopes. All six episodes were later included in the Sonic Origins compilation in 2022.

An expanded version of the game, Sonic Mania Plus, was released in North America and Europe on July 17, 2018, and in Japan on July 19, 2018. It was also available as downloadable content for the original version. A version for Amazon Luna was released on October 20, 2020. Plus added playable characters Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel from the 1993 arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog. Mighty can slam the ground and is immune to spikes in ball form, while Ray can glide without losing altitude. Plus also included "Encore Mode" with remixed levels, a pinball bonus stage, and a four-player competition mode. An update added more cutscenes and a reworked Metal Sonic battle based on his appearance in Knuckles' Chaotix (1995). The physical version included a 32-page art book and a reversible cover designed to look like Genesis or Mega Drive boxart. A soundtrack CD was included with the Japanese physical release.

In an interview with Famitsu, Iizuka said Sonic Mania was not originally planned to have a physical release. However, Sega staff requested one, and fans later showed interest in it. To justify the higher cost of a physical version, the team added new content, such as Mighty and Ray, because they were rarely featured in games. Level designs were changed to accommodate these characters, and the multiplayer mode was updated due to the increased number of playable characters.

In 2023, Netflix announced that Sonic Mania Plus would be available on iOS and Android devices through the Netflix Games service in 2024. The game was released on May 7, 2024. The ports were developed by Lab42, a company owned by Sumo Digital, and published by Netflix.

Reception

Sonic Mania was announced after many years of mixed opinions about the Sonic franchise. The International Business Times reported that the series had been "hurt by many not-so-good games, though a few were excellent." The Business Times predicted that Sega's decision to release Sonic Forces and Sonic Mania in the same year, which aimed to appeal to both new and longtime fans, might help restore the series' reputation and lead to a new era of success for Sonic. Many critics were excited about returning to the style of the earliest Sonic games. They noted that previous attempts to create "classic" style games, like Sonic the Hedgehog 4 from 2010, had not been well received.

According to Metacritic, a website that collects reviews, Sonic Mania received "generally favorable" feedback. It was the best-reviewed Sonic game in 15 years, with many critics calling it one of the best 2D platform games. At its release, Sonic Mania was the most popular game on the Nintendo Switch, selling more copies than Minecraft and Overcooked: Special Edition. It helped increase Sega's profits in the third quarter of 2017 and nearly doubled sales of physical game copies compared to the same time in 2016. By April 2018, it had sold over one million copies worldwide across all platforms.

The game's design and visuals were praised. USGamer called its pixel graphics the "best" in the series. GameSpot said the animations and details were better than in the original games, adding more personality. Cubed3 described the levels as colorful and stylish. Critics also appreciated the effort to recreate the look of early Sonic games. Game Informer noted that the gameplay was very similar to the Genesis versions but with improved quality. Easy Allies said the game copied the original games "exceptionally well," with running, jumping, and spin dashing working as expected. Nintendo World Report mentioned that the game avoided the physics problems from Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and captured the feel of 16-bit games.

The level design and music were also praised. Hardcore Gamer said the remixed versions of older stages felt fresh while keeping their original charm. Game Informer wrote that new stages matched the quality of early Sonic games. The A.V. Club praised the detail in each level, and Metro compared the game to a school project that was "gone wild" but impressive. Venture Beat and IGN noted that the game had high replay value due to branching paths. EGM called the soundtrack "fantastic," combining nostalgia with new sounds. Nintendo Life said the music was one of the best in recent years.

The game received some criticism. Polygon noted that issues with controls and enemy placement from the original Sonic games were still present. VideoGamer.com said the game relied too much on nostalgia, with few new ideas and not enough original levels, though it was a good starting point. Nintendo World Report criticized the boss fights as poorly designed and too easy. The Windows version faced complaints about digital rights management (DRM) software called Denuvo, which some believed caused a two-week delay. Sega said the offline issue was a bug unrelated to Denuvo and fixed it the next day.

Many reviewers saw Sonic Mania as a return to quality for the Sonic series after years of weaker games. EGMNow called it one of the "purest and most enjoyable" Sonic games, expressing hope for the series' future. IGN said it was the classic style fans had wanted since the 1990s and recommended it for both longtime fans and newcomers. Nintendo World Report called it a "must-buy" for older Sonic fans. Waypoint compared it favorably to Donkey Kong Country Returns, saying it captured what made its predecessors fun. Nintendo Life said it was a "true return to form" and a top game in the series.

Sonic Mania Plus received stronger reviews, with the Nintendo Switch version earning "universal acclaim" on Metacritic. Many reviewers called it the best version due to added game modes and characters. DualShockers' Tomas Franzese praised the "Encore" mode and new movement options with characters Mighty and Ray. However, Game Revolution's Michael Leri found the new partner system more frustrating than the traditional lives system used in classic Sonic games. IGN Spain did not recommend the update for those who already owned the original game but praised the physical release and added value for new players and fans.

Sonic Mania was nominated for "Best Family Game" at The Game Awards 2017 and "Best Kids Game" at the 2018 New York Game Awards. Its theme song, "Friends," was reused in the prologue of the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog film. Members of the team who worked on Sonic Mania, including Headcannon, returned in 2022 to work on Sonic Origins. The engine used for Sonic Mania, called Retro Engine, was also used for Sonic Origins and Sonic Origins Plus in 2022 and 2023.