I was lucky enough to review the original game when it released. Spoiler alert: it’s excellent and it deserves both the fan and critical acclaim that has been showered on it since launch. But Christian Whitehead, Headcannon, and PagodaWest Games apparently aren’t satisfied with excellent. They wanted something more. If the original release of Sonic Mania was the version that played in theaters, Sonic Mania Plus is the director’s cut you get on home media. Plus adds two new characters, a new mode, and a number of other things to Mania’s already great core. The question is, can you tweak something that was already nearly perfect and make it better?

"Mighty’s ground smash allows you to discover hidden areas lurking beneath your feet, and adds new paths to the game’s already impressively varied levels."

If you haven’t played Sonic Mania, it’s a retro homage to the old Sonic games on the Genesis. But it isn’t just another retro game. Mania is the way you remember the Genesis titles, not the way they actually were. The graphics are better, the controls are tighter, and the music is on point. It feels like a sequel to Sonic and Knuckles that got shoved into a box and forgotten for two decades. There’s no annoying animal friends, no obnoxious story, and no pointless nonsense. This is Sonic at its most pure.

Most of the levels are remakes of classic areas like Green Hill Zone or Flying Battery Zone, and feature both new and familiar bosses to tackle. Most of Mania’s appeal comes from this reimagining of the past: only five of the thirteen original levels in Sonic Mania were new, but they’re just as lovingly crafted and fun to play as the remixed levels. In this regard, Sonic Mania Plus is very much like last year’s release because it’s built on the back of that game. But the devil is in the details. Sonic Mania Plus further remixes the levels from the original release.  There’s always the worry, when messing with a good thing, that tweaking it will end up making it worse, but Whitehead and crew have done an admirable job here; the original Mania stages were already grand, but Plus’s levels add new verticality and replayability. The original didn’t lack either of those things, but it’s nice to see a set of passionate people who aren’t settling for good enough.

The two new characters – Mighty the armadillo and Ray the flying squirrel – add their own thing to the game as well. Ray’s ability to glide allows him to reach high places more easily than most of the other characters and will no doubt remind some of Tails’s floating technique, but Mighty is a new beast entirely. His ground smash allows you to discover hidden areas lurking beneath your feet and adds new paths to the game’s already impressively varied levels. He can also smash through enemies and takes an extra hit before he loses his rings, perfect for newer players or those of us who aren’t very good at Sonic games.

"The other big addition is Encore Mode. You’ll start playing as Sonic, but you can gather up all of the characters in the game as you progress through gorgeous, palette-swapped versions of the levels and pair said characters up to create custom combinations that aren’t available in other modes."

The other big addition is Encore Mode. You’ll start playing as Sonic, but you can gather up all of the characters in the game as you progress through gorgeous, palette-swapped versions of the levels and pair said characters up to create custom combinations that aren’t available in other modes. Certain power-ups scattered around the levels will allow you to switch characters, which keeps things interesting. If a character dies, they’ll be replaced by another from the reserve roster.

This continues until you run out of characters, at which point you’re returned to the start of the stage. It’s a great addition that simultaneously adds more variety to the levels and forces you to take advantage of what makes each character unique. You may end up with a pairing that’s not always ideal for what the game is asking you to do, but I never encountered an area where the character combination I had couldn’t do what I was being asked to. On the contrary, overcoming those moments is half the fun.

There’s a number of smaller changes, too. Competition mode now supports four players and there are a number of small changes to the overall levels and boss fights that make a huge difference. Angel Island from Sonic 3 makes an appearance, as does a new boss. Best of all, if you already own the original release, Plus will only cost you $5. For this much content, that’s not a bad deal.

"For all of its improvements, Plus still has flaws, many of which carry over from Sonic Mania. Competition Mode is still limited to local play."

For all of its improvements, Plus still has flaws, many of which carry over from Sonic Mania. Competition Mode is still limited to local play, and the pinball mini-game in Encore mode feels a bit clunkier than it should, especially since you’ll probably need to do it to get extra characters to complete the mode.

The other major issue is the difficulty. Sonic Mania is hard. Being hard comes with the territory: this is a game inspired by titles from the Genesis, and in case you’ve forgotten, Genesis games were very, very hard. That Sonic Mania attempted to work this difficulty into its design isn’t a surprise, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still frustrating. See, each zone is divided into two Acts. That in and of itself isn’t an issue. What is an issue, however, is that if you die in Act 2, the game sends you all the way back to Act 1. This can be exceptionally troubling when the only thing giving you an issue is Act 2’s boss. The game almost never feels unfair, and you’ll always know why you died. It can be frustrating, but look at it as an opportunity: failure is a possibility to pause, assess what went wrong, and try again.

Another frustrating design choice appears in Encore mode. Should you lose all your characters, you’re started back at the beginning of the Act with your final character. Just your final character. So not only do you have to overcome the level that’s been giving you a hard time, but you only have one character to do it. If you die or run out of time, it’s back to the start again.

"This was Sonic before it collapsed under the weight of cutscenes and voice acting and annoying sidekicks and the shift to 3D. It is speed incarnate, with levels designed to test you in every way they can."

All of these things can be incredibly frustrating, but they’re part and parcel of what makes Sonic Mania Plus great: the game is a literal return to form. This was Sonic before it collapsed under the weight of cutscenes and voice acting and annoying sidekicks and the shift to 3D. It is speed incarnate, with levels designed to test you in every way they can.

Some of the design decisions that go along with this back-to-basics approach can be frustrating. However, they are exceptionally minor complaints in what is a great update for an already excellent game. Sonic Mania already proved Sonic was back. Sonic Mania Plus shows that he’s never been faster. Spin on, you crazy hedgehog.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Sonic raced back into our collective hearts with last year’s fantastic return to form with Sonic Mania (we don’t talk about the other one), and in little over a week Sega will release the title in physical form with the expanded content of Sonic Mania Plus, which includes two brand new playable characters, among other things. The first of two developer diaries has been released, discussing the new art undertaken for the expansion.

Focusing on Art Director Tom Fry and Sonic Team Creative Director Kazuki Hoshino, the video shares, beyond details on the art for the base game, how they brought back the long lost characters of Ray the Flying Squirrel and Mighty the Armadillo, having to redesign them from scratch since Sega didn’t exactly have a lot of assets laying around for such deep cuts. 

We’ve included the video below for your enjoyment. When Sonic Mania Plus releases on PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch on July 17, it will mark the first physical release of the game. If you have it already though, it’s just a $5 DLC that also comes to the PC and grants the remixed “Encore Mode”, which includes the two new playable characters and their unique play styles, as well as four player races.

After two decades of sustained mediocrity, Sonic went from one of the greatest icons in the industry and a legitimate rival to Mario to a running joke, as fans hoped that maybe, just maybe, the next entry in the series would somehow recapture the magic Sega so effortlessly accessed in the early 1990s. Followers of the series have endured disappointment after disappointment, but now, nearly 23 years since the release of Sonic and Knuckles, the wait is over. Sonic Mania delivers.

By all rights, Sonic Mania shouldn’t exist. It certainly shouldn’t be this good. After all, it’s essentially a fan-made game. Handing an intellectual property over to fans is an almost universally terrible idea, but Christian Whitehead, Sonic Mania’s lead developer, isn’t your average fan. After working on Sonic fangames for a number of years, Whitehead developed the Retro Engine, which allowed past Sonic games to be recreated with new features and things like widescreen support. Using the engine, Whitehead worked with Sega to re-release Sonic, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD, and ultimately Sega entrusted him, Headcanon, and PagodaWest Games to develop Sonic Mania.

"Sonic Mania is the 16-bit era the way you remember it, not the way it was: it looks better, the controls are tighter, and the music is every bit as loud and joyful."

Sonic Mania is the 16-bit era the way you remember it, not the way it was: it looks better, the controls are tighter, and the music is every bit as loud and joyful. But it’s more than a nostalgia trip. New mechanics like the drop dash (which lets you hit the ground rolling at high speed) mix with existing power-ups from older games. In many ways, Sonic Mania feels like the natural follow-up to Sonic and Knuckles. There’s no obnoxious storytelling, no insufferable sidekicks, no pointless extras. Just you, a course, and speed.

There’s no tutorial or set-up, either. You’re dropped off at Green Hill Zone and expected to know what to do. Run, jump, dash, spin: you’ve been here before, and if you haven’t, you’ll figure things out quickly. Things will feel familiar to old-school Sonic players, as many of the levels are rehashed versions of old classic. The rejiggering means that these levels feel fresh, even if you’ve been to the Chemical Plant or Flying Battery Zone a few dozen times, but the new levels are just as creative and lovingly crafted, and long-time players might be a little disappointed to see that only 5 of the game’s 13 zones are original.

What’s most impressive about the zones is the sheer creativity on display. There’s an intense amount of verticality on display in each zone, giving you lots of room to explore and play. Each zone is also peppered with secrets – from one-off low poly stages that have you chasing Chaos emeralds to special stages that you’ll quite literally run into. Even the splits between acts 1 and 2 of a stage are used wisely. These transitions are seamless, but bring new music, visuals, and gameplay mechanics not present in the preceding act, and in many cases, never appearing again in the rest of the game. Sonic Mania isn’t afraid to introduce an idea, run with it, exhaust it, and put it to rest in a single act. It’s a level of detail that’s reminiscent of Nintendo’s best work, and Whitehead and crew put it to good work here.

"The other way Sonic Mania resembles its forbears is difficulty; this game is hard. Sure, you’ll probably breeze through Green Hill Zone and Chemical Plant Zone, but the further you get, the more Sonic Mania lays it on. Levels get crazier, things get weirder, and bosses get harder."

The other way Sonic Mania resembles its forbears is difficulty; this game is hard. Sure, you’ll probably breeze through Green Hill Zone and Chemical Plant Zone, but the further you get, the more Sonic Mania lays it on. Levels get crazier, things get weirder, and bosses get harder. You’ll probably die a few times. This can be particularly frustrating if you run out of lives in Act 2, because you’ll be sent all the way back to Act 1 of the zone. This is compounded by the fact that bosses can sometimes feel unfair. Once you get the hang of the bosses, though, their core loops are pretty simple. Sonic Mania is tough, but it almost never feels unfair. It just isn’t going to hold your hand. Instead, failure serves as an opportunity to pause, assess what happened, and try again.

If there’s any part of Sonic Mania that disappoints, it’s the game’s multiplayer. In co-op, the game screen follows Sonic, which means that whoever’s playing Tails is probably going to spend most of their time trying to catch up or off-screen. The upside is that Tails is invincible and doesn’t lose rings when hit. It’s not a perfect solution, but it does off-set the frustrating of being player 2. To make matters worse, Competitive Mode stretches the screen on each player’s side. Both modes are playable, but it’s a shame that Sonic Mania is let down by things like this when the game itself is so good.

We overuse the phrase “love letter” these days. It’s easy to, with nostalgia commanding a premium. Hollywood pumps out sequels and reboots by the barrel and the triple-A gaming industry focuses on established properties at the expense of seemingly everything else. But that’s what Sonic Mania is. It’s a game by the fans, for the fans, made to save an ailing icon on his 30^th birthday. And in that regard, it is an unqualified success. Welcome back, Sonic. We missed you.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.