By the fans, for the fans. Truer words have never been spoken when it comes to Sonic Mania, a game does the unthinkable in 2017: get everyone excited for Sonic the Hedgehog again. And by everyone, we’re not talking about just fans of series, but folks who have been withdrawn since the days of the Genesis, people who haven’t considered playing a Sonic game since 1995. And there’s good reason for that too, after a year of development, Christian Whitehead, Headcannon, PagodaWest, and a whole gaggle of friends, members, and family from Retro and beyond have created one of the series best entries ever.
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Sega just released this lovely new trailer for Sonic Mania. It features animation by Sonic Mega Drive artist Tyson Hesse and music by Hyper Potions, along with a first look at Stardust Speedway from Sonic CD. Also there’s a reference to one of Sonic’s rejected character designs, so that’s neat!
The trailer also reveals when you’ll be able to download the game: on August 15th. Plus it can now be pre-ordered on Steam, PlayStation Store, and Xbox Live Marketplace for $19.99/€19.99/£15.99.
If you want to listen to the full version of the song in the trailer, it can be found here.
Surely the internet isn’t going to make the title of this article a played out meme before it goes up, nope, probably not, nah.
So that Sonic SXSW panel happened, and we got some pretty good reveals out of it. And enough of them for us to actually make a recap article for once! Now, if you want to watch the panel for yourself, Tails’ Channel has the panel up on his YouTube channel. But if you just want all the news about Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, here’s our recap:
The second Christian Whitehead, better known as Taxman, posted his YouTube video presenting his Sonic CD remake for iOS, he became a household name. Folks had known him before, but for the first time, a fan’s efforts had caught SEGA’s attention and sure enough, we got the Sonic CD remake, then the original Sonic 1 and Sonic 2.
Fast forward to 2016, and Taxman, along with Headcannon and PadogaWest Games are bringing us a brand new experience feature select levels from Sonic’s past, as well as brand new levels for fans to explore and enjoy. Sonic Mania is the game fans never thought they’d see again, but at the 25th Anniversary Party, we didn’t just get a trailer: we got to play it.
Hit the jump for thoughts from Sonic Retro’s own Bartman3010 and myself.
We played Sonic Mania, and now we’re going to tell you what we think! In this SEGA News Bits, George and I (Barry) rest our aching feet just hours after the Sonic the Hedgehog 25th Anniversary Party in San Diego to share our reaction to the Sonic Mania reveal and give our thoughts on how the game plays. Do we have another Sonic 4 on our hands or is Sonic Mania the true successor to Sonic 3 & Knuckles? The answers are obviously “nope!” and “hell yes!” in that order.
Special thanks to Neo Hazard for letting us use his footage, you can check out his channel here! Also, thanks to Bartman for being the one to play the game in our footage. You can find Bartman’s YouTube channel here!
SEGA News Bits is a production of SEGAbits, covering all things SEGA and Sonic the Hedgehog. When we touch on Sonic stories, you’ll be seeing them here on Sonic Retro as well. If you enjoyed this episode of the SEGA News Bits, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and never miss an episode!
Holy shit.
Sega is working together with Christian Whitehead, Headcannon and PadogaWest Games to make Sonic Mania, a new 2D game featuring brand new zones alongside re-imagined versions of old zones.
People at the 25th Anniversary Party can play a demo featuring a re-imagined Green Hill Zone and a new zone called Studiopolis Zone right now. Sega has also given out a goody bag with an USB stick that includes one of the songs from the game, which will undoubtedly be put online sooner than later.
Sonic Mania will be released on PS4, Xbox One and PC in Spring 2017, and we can’t wait to play it.
Stealth, one half of the brains behind the recent mobile remasters of Sonic 1 and Sonic 2, announced he’s looking to train people into using his own Head Cannon Game Engine (HCGE.) Before you go running in hoping to recreate Sonic 3 or some other title, Stealth has the strict requirement that, regardless of skill level, applicants must dedicate themselves to this project and not just flake out when the going gets tough.
Early on, Stealth will work alongside approved applicants and teach how to run with the engine. As time goes on, Stealth will roll back and allow autonomy to take over. Project HC is focused as being a Sonic game (which most around here should be familiar with) in the same general area as Sonic Megamix, at least to get the ball rolling.
Currently, applications are open to all positions like programmers, musicians, artists, etc. For more information on the project and how to formally submit an application, hit up this lovely link.
Are you up to it?