The Legacy of Sonic the Hedgehog
Once upon a time there lived two men, Naoto Ohshima and Yuki Naka, and together they drew a hedgehog. Not just any ordinary hedgehog, but a charming mascot that could help them compete with the likes of their competitors at the time, Nintendo. The next generation of consoles was slowly approaching over the horizon and Sega, the company they worked for, was struggling to stand out in the market. The blue hedgehog created packed style, finesse, and an attitude that could market the Sega Genesis to both a Japanese and western audience. The character they both made was Sonic the Hedgehog, and ever since then a legacy was written in the books. This summer these two men are screaming their heads off asking where it all went wrong.
The legacy, otherwise history of Sonic The Hedgehog is a pretty well known one in the gaming world, but hard to describe in full detail. What started as a successful sidescrolling adventure focused on speed and traversal slowly devolved into a mess of ideas. A company and team of developers trying to maintain relevance in an ever growing market, but at the same time ditching what made their iconic hero so lovable in the first place. You have the original few games on the Sega Genesis, while not perfect, have aged really well and people still foundly look back to. Then your competitors made a smooth dive in the 3D world and you wanted to as well. However, you didn’t know that transitioning a 2D game to 3D would be extremely hard, as now you have to apply those concepts from before in a new realm. Back in the day you did a decent job, but looking back at the transition you can see some elements haven’t aged well. The level design, fluidity, and pacing of it all. Not to mention adding in game modes that weren’t really necessary, and giving your characters annoying voices and personalities when they already expressed personality through gestures and animation. Then you did it again through a slightly better sequel, but also hasn’t aged well. It’s the Sonic Adventure duo, okay?! I thought you guys would understand what I’m referring to.
Sega, you guys were starting to tread some really light ground. Practically walking on a wooden bridge getting ready to fall apart and dump you into a bottomless pit into hell. Then you guys decided to speed up the process by cutting the ropes to that bridge with a handsaw. Your major, next generation, 3D console failed to sell any units at all which led to near bankruptcy. You had to partner up with your competitors and admit you failed to outstand them. Then you made worse games. Oh boy, you made some real flaming piles of sh*t over the years. You made a team focused game which didn’t even do a good job blending multiple mechanics together. You made a soft reboot which was barely functional and took the franchise towards a weird, edgy direction. There was that one point you took the rival character, armed him with a crap ton of guns, gave him a motorcycle, and made an even edgier game. There was the werewolf one because Twilight was popular at the time. The hoverboard racing spinoff, because you wanted to face off against Mario Kart even though you just admitted to not doing so well. The Egyptian one with terrible motion controls. The King Arthur one with even worse motion controls. A bunch of cartoons no one even liked in the first place. The list keeps going!
Sega, you dug an even deeper hole to cry into, but luckily you took a step back. You realized the thing people liked about Sonic the Hedgehog was not all these weird gimmicks and trying to stay relevant. No, what they liked about Sonic the Hedgehog was going fast and traversing colorful stages. You made an actually decent 3D Sonic game with power-up mechanics that actually blended well with the gameplay. A full on legacy appreciation game which, while looking back at the terrible past, did so respectfully and carried over what you learned from the previous 3D game and even brought back the classic sidescrolling gameplay. It was all going well. Looks like Sonic the Hedgehog was becoming lovable again…. You f*cked it up didn’t you?
Nice things don’t last forever folks. You rip off Super Mario Galaxy and ditch what you learned with Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations. You do another reboot nobody wanted, make ugly redesign of the main cast, and make another barely functional video game with brawler combat and team mechanics that didn’t blend together. You threw your hands into the air, and decided to allow your fans to create their own characters and partake in another poorly designed game with barely functional levels. Then recently you did a terrible job porting the one 3D Sonic game people liked to modern hardware and charging extra money for games you re-released several times in the past. (Flat line noise) Yep, you killed him. You killed Sonic real good Sega.
The Actual Introduction
That’s the legacy of Sonic the Hedgehog. Hasn't really been good to be honest. Part of it was due to the company and the other half was because of the inconsistent fanbase not knowing what they wanted. A tragedy, because I’m about to tell you a truth I’m sure half of you will find hard to believe. My earliest gaming memory was actually with Sonic the Hedgehog. Surprising, I know. Sonic Colors was the first true video game I ever played, and I absolutely adored it as a child. Shortly after I was gifted a Nintendo 3DS for Christmas and a collection containing all the original sidescrollers on the Sega Genesis. I adored that as a child as well. It was Sonic, Mario, Mega Man, and The Legend of Zelda that made my childhood shine. Unfortunately I was often made fun of by other children around me for only playing these games, so I moved on and tried other fantastic titles. Leaving these four behind to be forgotten. I do have to admit the history of Sonic has not been good, but I still have fond memories of blazing through zones.
There is one modern Sonic game I really love though, and a lot of fans can collectively agree it’s the best one to come out in years. A title that respects the foundation Sonic the Hedgehog was built off of and was developed by fans who understood what made Sonic originally great. Enter, Christian Whitehead, an independent game developer who would officially be hired by Sega. His earliest piece of work was a fan game titled Sonic Retro, and soon he would try porting older titles to mobile. However, Sega quickly picked up his work and was impressed by the amount of effort put in. Sega gave him the green light and allowed Whitehead to port all classic Sonic games to mobile. This was the start of a good partnership deal and soon the best 2D Sonic game.
During the 25th anniversary event for Sonic the Hedgehog, Sega decided to make a surprising announcement for a new 2D Sonic game. Being developed by Christian Whitehead himself and a small team of developers. They’ve been secretly working on the project since 2015 and it was their most ambitious title to date. Shea then dropped some gameplay footage and the name was revealed, Sonic Mania. A game purely made to recapture the greatest of the original sidescrollers and focus on what made Sonic the Hedgehog great. Fans were impressed with the footage, and the hype only got bigger as Sega continued to support the development of Sonic Mania. They announced a collector’s edition with actual promising goodies. Set up a couple of booths which allowed players to give feedback on Sonic Mania. Released a couple of animated trailers which were all beautiful and brought the characters back to their expressive, charming forms. The game was setting up for a good launch, and luckily it did. Sonic Mania was a massive success for both Sega and Christian Whitehead, and quickly became one of the highest rated entries in years. Receiving acclaim from across the board and even being nominated for a couple of end of the year awards.Sonic the Hedgehog was back and his reputation was brought to a good level.
I’ve been meaning to talk about Sonic Mania for a while now. I remember buying it the week it came out and playing the ever living heck out of it. One hundred percenting the game with all three characters, seeing how fast I could beat each level in time trials, and just having a great time. Sonic Mania was one of my favorite games of 2017, but a lot has changed since then. I grew up, played other titles, obtained other interests, and Sonic Mania quickly became a distant memory. It’s no longer one of my favorite games that was released during 2017, but I still do think it’s brilliant. I replayed the game during a vacation road trip, and luckily it has aged like fine wine. In fact, this reminder is what convinced me to review it now. I was worried at first, because I did not know where to take this review. That and I didn’t want to attract any weirdos, furries, and grown manchildren who haven’t played another franchise in their life to this site. Yet, I’ll give it my all, because this is one of the most important games Sega has released and means a lot to a ton of people. Today we’ll be talking about why Sonic Mania and why it utterly deserves your attention. Time to take a blast to the past with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles.
Story
Sonic The Hedgehog, the speedy blue blur who runs across meadows and protects the tiny forest critters that surround him each day. All was great for Sonic until a dastardly scientist by the name of Doctor Robotnik showed up and decided to kidnap the forest critters. Using his engineering capabilities, Dr. Robotnik decided to create a robot army powered by the critters encased within them. That and he seeks these powerful gems known as the Chaos Emeralds. With his army of robots, the Badniks, and the Chaos Emeralds in hand Dr. Robotnik plans to take over the world. This then leads to a conflict between Sonic and Dr. Robotnik. Sonic manages to thwart his plans, collect the Chaos Emeralds before he does, and free the critters he grew to love. However, the mad doctor retreated and Sonic decided to follow him wherever he goes next.
Along his adventures, Sonic picked up quite a few allies who were willing to aid him with future tasks. The first was Miles Prower who Sonic nicknamed Tails. A two tailed fox with the ability to fly, match up with the speed of Sonic, and engineer devices to help keep up with Robotnik. Including a plane to help keep up on Robotnik’s trail, the Tornado. The next is Knuckles, a strong Echidna who protects the Master Emerald located on the floating Angel Island. During Sonic’s previous adventure, Knuckles was tricked by Robotnik into thinking Sonic and Tails wanted to steal the Master Emerald. Causing the island to sink and plummet to the ocean below. Sonic and Knuckles become foes, but at the last minute Robotnik decides to steal the Master Emerald for himself. The two then decide to work together, defeat Robotnik, and reobtain the Master Emerald to keep Angel Island in the sky. This then leads us to the present.
Robotnik has completely given up on stealing the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald, but has located a gem buried beneath the surface of Angel Island. He sends five Egg Robos to retrieve the gem, but Sonic and Tails quickly pick up on his plans. They locate the Eggs Robos and witness them yank the gem from the ground. The Phantom Ruby, an artifact with the ability to warp reality and transport individuals across time and space. The basic Egg Robos are enhanced by the ruby and obtain new powers and traits, now deemed the Hard Boiled Heavies. Sonic and Tails are transported to areas they’ve been to in the past, and Robotnik gets a hand on the ruby. His plans are unclear for now, but he has sent the Heavies out to hunt Sonic and his friends down while he escapes to multiple zones from the past. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles will have to face new challenges, foes, and threats if they want to defeat Robotnik yet again
Gameplay
Sonic Mania goes for the traditional, sidescrolling speedy fun the original games were known for. You run through stages, collect rings, rack up points, and try to reach the end of the stage. In between all of this are enemies, environmental hazards, and dozens of other elements to think about. If you take damage from an enemy or hazard you don’t instantly die. You drop all your rings and are given the chance to reobtain some of them. Even a single ring is good enough to prevent instant death. However, if you take damage with zero rings, get crushed between two hard surfaces, or fall into a bottomless pit you die. You lose a life and are respawned at the previous checkpoint. Lose all your lives and it’s game over, but if you obtain a continuation then you might be able to pick back up at the beginning of the stage. It is pretty hard to die in a Sonic game, because you are always being offered rings and gain an extra life whenever you obtain one hundred or score a certain amount of points. Rings kept at the end of each stage and the time it took you to reach the end will be added to your score.
There are a total of three characters to play as in Sonic Mania, five if you bought the DLC. There’s Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Mighty, and Ray. Each character functionals differently to one another with the only ability they share being the Spin Dash. This ability allows you to build up speed and shoot yourself through loops if the environment isn’t designed to build up momentum. Sonic is the all rounder. He’s simple to control and is built for speed. A new ability he’s been outfitted with is the Drop Dash, which allows Sonic to build up speed without standing still to rev up the Spin Dash. Sonic can jump in the air, and if you press the jump button again and hold it while in midair you can prepare the Drop Dash. It’s good if you want to maintain momentum after jumping at high speed. Then there’s the other characters. While not built around speed theycan open up new pathways Sonic wouldn’t normally be able to reach easily.
Tails can fly around for a short amount of time and reach high areas. Knuckles has a short jump compared to all the characters, but makes up for it with the ability to glide and climb up walls. He even has the ability to break certain surfaces by simply walking into them. The two DLC characters, Mighty and Ray, and basically alternatives of the two previous characters. Mighty can ground slam into whatever is below him, and if he spins into spikes he’ll simply bounce off them without taking any damage. Ray is another flight based character, but unlike Tails who can get tired from flying for a certain amount of time, Ray can glide endlessly as long as you maintain balance. He functions similarly to the cape power-up in Super Mario World. All the characters are super fun to play as and offer different ways to traverse each level.
Each area of Sonic Mania is themed and divided into two acts. The first act usually gets you into the mechanics and enemies of the level, while the second act introduces new mechanics and stacks them onto previous ones. Each level are sprawling mazes, but they aren’t confusing to navigate. Every pathway you take will lead you towards the goal, and it’s more about choosing which one is the fastest or safest. The high ground usually being the faster route, but is harder to stay on due to hazards. The lower ground is safer, but is slower. There are even hidden pathways that allow Sonic and friends to nab goodies and power ups which there are a plethora of.
You have the invincibility power-up, speed-up power up, blue rings which don’t make you lose a majority of your rings when getting hit, and the multitude of shields. There’s the basic shield which allows you to take a hit without losing rings, and then there are the elemental shields which offer Sonic elemental resistances and special abilities. The fire shield can burn certain surfaces, is immune to fire, and allows Sonic to dash forward while in midair. Good for picking up speed or crossing large gaps. The bubble shield allows Sonic to bounce on the ground and breathe underwater. Oh yeah, Sonic and his friends can’t swim and will drown if you don’t maintain their air supply. The lightning shield gives Sonic a double jump, magnetizes rings to him, makes him immune to lightning, and walk on certain surfaces in the Flying Battery zone.
Hidden in each level are these giant rings and when you hop into them you are transported to a Special Stage. Here you play a minigame where a flying capsule will run away with one of the seven Chaos Emeralds. By collecting Blue Spheres you speed up, and by collecting rings you stay in the minigame longer. Run out of rings or fall off the track and you are dumped out of the minigame. However, if you do catch the capsule you obtain the Chaos Emerald. It’s added to your arsenal and when all Chaos Emeralds are obtained you can transform into a super form. It makes Sonic invincible, speeds him up by a longshot, and gives him a dash which works in any direction. The super form requires fifty rings to activate though, and slowly drains rings on hand. Meaning you have to continue collecting rings before Sonic is brought back to normal.
At the end of each stage there is a boss and they come with their own gimmicks or test the level mechanics you learned up until that point. They’re all pretty fun, easy to pick up their attack pattern, and only take maybe around eight hits to beat. After that the act is over. Besides that there isn’t much else to say about Sonic Mania. It’s a fun speed focused sidescroller and in the conclusion we’ll talk more about why it’s so damn fun to play. Hopefully you can free the critters Robotnik has captured and foil his plans.
Thoughts
Sonic Mania was an absolute joy to revisit and still tastes like a fine glass of wine today. You could be saying that nostalgia is speaking for me right now, and sure you are kind of right. Yet, it’s a good kind of nostalgia. The one that not only let’s look back towards the good elements of the past, but show off what it did well and how it influenced future creations. Sonic Mania is a game you don’t even have to be a major Sonic fan to enjoy. Pick it up, start a new save file, and start zooming through some levels. It has a really addicting gameplay loop of just running through levels, collecting items, and defeating whatever cool bosses lie at the end of each act.
One of the major reasons Sonic Mania is really good is the level variety. When the game was revealed, the developers stated there would be new zones and revamped stages from previous entries. In the end there were four new zones, and the rest were revamped stages. Is this a bad thing? No, because the stages they revamped were changed drastically and they choses levels from the past that were designed to shoot Sonic at high speed. Let’s just take the original Sonic The Hedgehog as an example. The first zone, Green Hill Zone, did a fantastic job showcasing Sonic’s speed and traversal with all the crazy loop and curvy tunnels. Straight after that you enter Marble Zone and this is where the quality of the games start to drop. You no longer traverse speed focused levels and instead go through tight labyrinth corridors and solve puzzles that make you go at the pace of a turtle. Yeah, Sonic 1 didn’t really age that well.
Flash over to the levels of Sonic Mania. Whitehead and his team selected the levels fans loved most and asked them why they loved these stages. Then they got to work on making them better. The first act of Green Hill Zone in Sonic Mania is a combination of the first two acts in the first Sonic The Hedgehog. Enter act two and this is where you traverse an entirely new section that wasn’t in the original. There are now ziplines, pools of water you go through, the spikey logs can now be burned with the fire shield to reveal secrets below, and the Death Egg Robot which was the final boss of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is now the second major boss you face. Chemical Plant is a fan favorite zone with its many pathways and slanted pipes which speed you up and launch you into the air. Act two introduces serums which change chemical surfaces into bouncy jello, there are bubbles you can enter to transcend upward, and at the end rather than face a boss you instead play Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, otherwise a reimagining of Puyo Puyo. It's a cool callback to a forgotten Sega Genesis game only Sonic fans know.
I can keep going on about the many amazing zones of Sonic Mania in detail, but then this review would last too long. So instead we’ll describe them through the artstyle. Sonic Mania goes for the 16-bit graphics of the older games, but they are much brighter and colorful thanks to modern hardware. Every zone has this gloshy, polished look and the animation of Sonic and his friends are charming as always. A reminder that Sonic was able to express personality before they gave him what I like to call, “The d**chebag voice.” Levels are carefully detailed and a lot of time was spent adding references to the past. My favorite zone in this game, Studiopolis, makes a lot of cheeky references to Sonic’s history. From advertisement to merchandising in Japan. It’s also the most visually breathtaking zone in the game. With all it’s all flashy neon lights, use of blue and purple, and golden roads which guide the player towards the goal.
Sonic Mania is just a really fun speedy sidescroller to play and I can’t stress this enough. Each of the characters are fun to play as and no playthrough should feel similar to a previous one. Levels offer multiple pathways and some secrets won’t be discovered until several runs later. The game has a high amount of replay value even though you traverse levels in a linear order. The reason for this high replayability is just how f*cking satisfying it is just to speed through them. To have this positive, hyperactive feeling to just gun it and see if you beat the record you set last time. There’s even a time attack mode to test how fast the player can get to the end of each stage. The Encore DLC, which I haven’t finished but played enough of, adds even more replayability to Sonic Mania as you swap between five characters but if you run out it’s over. A neat spin to how players would normally play the game. It’s really fun okay?!
Sonic Mania is a strong recommendation from me to anybody who loves video games. Normally I’d try to find negative points about a game near the end of a review, but in this case I struggle to find a single one. Maybe besides the ring system. It’s an extremely forgiving system, but I do feel like it’s too forgiving. You can make as many mistakes as you want as long as you have a single ring. There’s no real punishment unless the player is fully exposed. A majority of sidescrolling platformers and even metroidvanias now go for either a health system or instant death upon being intact, because that way there is punishment for if the player screws up too much. However, I can overlook this problem because remember that Sonic Mania is just an absolute joy to play. The entire package is just well put together and doesn’t overstay its welcome as a single playthrough with one character should last less than two hours long. The game goes for around twenty dollars and this is absolute steal for the amount of content you get. Sonic Mania is a passionate masterpiece and after almost five years later it’s still brilliant. In the end I give Sonic Mania a 9.5/10 for excellence at best.
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