Sonic Mania Plus
For all of Sega’s mistakes throughout the years, the decision to work with fangame developers like Christian Whitehead and Headcannon for a brand new 2D Sonic game was the best. Sonic Mania featured 12 levels, some “remixed” with new elements and others brand new, along with a brand new story, and boss battles. It also featured the new Drop Dash technique for Sonic, returning abilities from Sonic CD and Sonic 3 and Knuckles, and even the option to play with any character alongside Knuckles.
Mania Plus further added on to this with the Encore DLC, which had Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Squirrel as playable characters, Encore Mode with a new story and revamped zones, a new bonus stage, and Competition Mode for four players. The familiarity of several zones could be criticized but Sonic Mania Plus is a great throwback to the 2D era and proof that it still has legs.
