LogFAQs > #952184669

#3. Sonic Mania (PS4, 2017)
Im not really sure how much I can talk about this game without talking about another game on my list (bet you cant guess) but Im sure going to try. You can certainly look right at the title screen and know what you're gonna get.



After so many years of the Sonic series putting out its new style of games, which really lost sight of what made the Genesis originals so great (and yeah I have SA2B high on my list and I love that game, but for different reasons and in different ways)- so giving it back to fans who know why those originals were great was the perfect decision, and it may just be a glorified fan game but theres no need for the word just glorifiedor fan here. This is the real Sonic 4. This went back to everything that made those original Sonics great. Theres so much to explore with multiple paths on each level. You have your bonus rings. You have a mixture of old levels and new levels, with remixes done well on the old ones. The music is incredib;e. Its just everything youd want out of a classic Sonic platformer, perfected for a newer era.



The entire game is also an homage and love letter to Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Manyof the enemies, obstacles, level features, etc are all here in this game, but thrown about in other areas. For me, its just really cool to see enemies mixed and matched in places that make sense. Like those glowworms from S3s Angel Island? Theyre here in Manias Chemical Plant instead and youre like hey that makes a lot of sense, where else would they be?. For Hydrocity, they have swappedthe Act 1 and Act 2 bosses, because why not? AND, in one of the cooler bosses in the game, you get to ride in the old Hydrocity Act 2 boss- now YOURE the one controlling Robotniks water suction machine, trying to suck him up (whoaf), while he bombs you. You play Mean Bean Machine against Robotnik. Or fight his weather changing machine (featuring those windy chickens from Mushroom Hill). It basically takes Sonic 3 and remixes it all over in such fascinating ways. The original levels they also add twists too. Again, in Chemical Plant, Act 1 plays pretty close to the original, but then Act 2 they add the gimmick of injecting ooze into the purple slime to make it change color and change its property (in this case, making it a gooey bouncy substance instead of water). The whole game is a new experience using a lot of new plus old assets in cool and different ways. Clearly a whole ton of care was put into this game by people who truly adore the Genesis Originals



I just want to list more random cool things I enjoy about this game, thats the rest of my writeup.
You can burn out those spike bridges in Green Hill if you have a fire shield (obviously not there originally). The new S3K blue sphere stages. The Sonic CD inspired bonus stages. That the Green Hill boss is a tiny version of Sonic 2s final boss. That the Chemical Plant 1 boss is a version of the Ice Cap 1/Metropolis boss (I could keep going with these moved around bosses), the bouncy goo I mentioned in Chem Plant 2. Studiopolis is awesome, so is the music (all the music is awesome though). Flying Battery 2 dealing with a lot more of the ship exterior (and including those electric death ball things from Wacky Workbench in Sonic CD). Spring Garden is a neat chill zone, including the Mushroom Hill dragonflies was a good touch here- or having an icey but grassy level in general was neat. Making sure to include Sonic CD in with the references, not just Sonic 1-3. Of course this means having the Stardust Speedway boss race vs Metal Sonic, which becomes a fight, very well done here. I mentioned Hydrocity already but what a fantastic level, with the boss swap in particular. Mirage Saloon has you fight Fang, Beat, and that other big hedgehog whose name I forget. Oil Ocean brings back those levers from Sandolpolis except in this case it clears out the ring-reducing smog from the level instead of killing the ghosts.



I just dont know how to gush enough about this game, but it just feels like every decision made was made specifically to tailor to people who love Sonic 3 & Knuckles especially, but still all the Genesis sonic games. If you like the Sonic Genesis games even slightly, and you havent played this yet, you absolutely owe it that much. Just a fantastically done platformer, and the real Sonic 4. I probably didnt do a good enough job talking about it, and thats probably from review fatigue mostly but. I love this game.



Next up: Well you probably know what my #1 game is, and you have the rest of my list. So no real hint here. I wonder if you can get my #2. The only hint I will give you is it is part of a series of another game on my list.

---

~Wigs~ 3-Time Consecutive Fantasy B8 Baseball Champion
2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPION NEW YORK METS