Funny enough, the one I was most looking forward to was the addition of the stage transitions missing from the original. However, Sega and the teams involved weren’t satisfied with just slapping the original game onto discs (or cartridges), packaging it with a mini art book and calling it a day, so Plus also brings us a handful of smaller-but really appreciated-changes. And yet, here we are, nearly one year later, receiving Sonic Mania Plus.īefore anything else, Sonic Mania Plus serves as a way to bring what was previously a digital-only title to store shelves, something 2D Sonic’s return without question deserved. If there’s any game that really wasn’t in need of an expanded rerelease to fix or add on to what had come before, Sonic Mania would be near the top of the list. Sonic Mania maintained an outstanding level of quality almost consistently from beginning to end, bringing smiles both to a whole new generation of Sonic players and longtime fans like me who had gotten lost along the way. (You can always check out my review if you do want that, of course.) Coming as a collaboration between Sega and a development team comprised of talented longtime fans of the blue hedgehog, the game served as both an homage to the 16-bit era of the series and a path forward for those still wanting Sonic to stick to his 2D roots.

As we close in on the one-year anniversary of its original release, I’m not sure there’s much need to reiterate how good Sonic Mania was.

Sonic mania full game