After completing Sonic Mania and replaying its many levels, I've been reflecting on the experience so far, and I keep concluding: This game is amazing. Currently my No. 2 GOTY, between Zelda: BotW (No. 1) and Resident Evil VII (No. 3).
This is the best possible outcome, too, since I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it. I knew the art and animation and music would be worth the price of admission, so I felt either way it would be money/time well-spent. But I wasn't sure I'd enjoy the gameplay. This concern was based on my playtime with the Genesis original, back in the day, and my misunderstanding of the game's focus.
Before, 2D Sonic games would make me feel conflicted, presenting me with multiple paths in enormous levels that my inner completionist wanted to explore 100%, but leading me into pinball sequences that encouraged me to go fast and would lock me out of many areas. This felt "wrong" to me as someone reared on Mario games, where you can generally see everything and do everything on your first try, if you're thorough.
But with Sonic Mania, I think I finally "get it."
First, you need to accept that you won't see everything a level has to offer your first time through. This is actually great because it adds to the replay value, allowing you to revisit the levels at a later time (or even with a different character or pair of characters) and effectively get a new experience. So right from the onset you need to accept there is no "right" path — just the path you choose to pursue, and all other paths can be explored later. Of course, you can also stick to the path you did before and simply clear it more efficiently, your speed growing with your mastery of the level. This is also perfectly valid.
Second, rather than thinking of Sonic and friends as characters who "gotta go fast," I've come to think of them as characters who generally take things slow, but who can use their speed to reach different parts of the level. In other words, I focused on light exploration first, finding what I could, followed by selective uses of speed to, say, reach the top of a steep incline, or to navigate the loops and corkscrews that connect different parts of the level.
Third, I realize now that part of what makes these games so addictive is the constant push and pull of the player being completely in control one moment, and relinquishing control to the mercy of pinball physics the next. There's something exhilarating about this give and take between the player and the game, where the payoff to each pixel-perfect platforming segment is a spectacular pinball sequence that may be mostly flash with varying degrees of interaction, but is still rewarding in its spectacle, and in the gargantuan sense of scale it gives each stage as you see how they all fit together.
In a way, levels in 2D Sonic feel more comparable to sandbox-style 3D Mario worlds translated into 2D. These are some of the most immense and immersive settings I've ever experienced in a 2D platformer... And what continues to astonish me is the avalanche of ideas present in each level. There are 24 levels in the game — not counting alternate takes such as Knuckles' Mirage Saloon Act 1 — and each level has a wealth of one-off traversal mechanics and platforming challenges you won't see anywhere else, not to mention unique backgrounds, music, enemies, bosses, etc.
There's a sense of imagination and inventiveness that propels you forward the first time through, and that continues to entertain when replaying each stage, where you can better appreciate how intricately everything fits together, enabling amazing speed runs if only you're open-minded enough to see the opportunities, and reflexive enough to execute on them.
I love every zone in this game. I can tell there's a lot of fan service in this game, the meaning of which is lost on me since I simply don't have that much familiarity with the franchise. But as someone who really only knew Green Hill and Chemical Plant going in, and for whom everything else was new, I have to say nothing felt out of place, and each level felt consistent in its design and presentation. I loved every moment — and I'm very curious what kind of zones existed in other Sonic games.
So, to those sitting on the fence because these games didn't click before, I'd recommend giving Sonic Mania a chance, and maybe approaching it with the mindset I did. You might discover one of your favorite games this year.
This is the best possible outcome, too, since I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it. I knew the art and animation and music would be worth the price of admission, so I felt either way it would be money/time well-spent. But I wasn't sure I'd enjoy the gameplay. This concern was based on my playtime with the Genesis original, back in the day, and my misunderstanding of the game's focus.
Before, 2D Sonic games would make me feel conflicted, presenting me with multiple paths in enormous levels that my inner completionist wanted to explore 100%, but leading me into pinball sequences that encouraged me to go fast and would lock me out of many areas. This felt "wrong" to me as someone reared on Mario games, where you can generally see everything and do everything on your first try, if you're thorough.
But with Sonic Mania, I think I finally "get it."
First, you need to accept that you won't see everything a level has to offer your first time through. This is actually great because it adds to the replay value, allowing you to revisit the levels at a later time (or even with a different character or pair of characters) and effectively get a new experience. So right from the onset you need to accept there is no "right" path — just the path you choose to pursue, and all other paths can be explored later. Of course, you can also stick to the path you did before and simply clear it more efficiently, your speed growing with your mastery of the level. This is also perfectly valid.
Second, rather than thinking of Sonic and friends as characters who "gotta go fast," I've come to think of them as characters who generally take things slow, but who can use their speed to reach different parts of the level. In other words, I focused on light exploration first, finding what I could, followed by selective uses of speed to, say, reach the top of a steep incline, or to navigate the loops and corkscrews that connect different parts of the level.
Third, I realize now that part of what makes these games so addictive is the constant push and pull of the player being completely in control one moment, and relinquishing control to the mercy of pinball physics the next. There's something exhilarating about this give and take between the player and the game, where the payoff to each pixel-perfect platforming segment is a spectacular pinball sequence that may be mostly flash with varying degrees of interaction, but is still rewarding in its spectacle, and in the gargantuan sense of scale it gives each stage as you see how they all fit together.
In a way, levels in 2D Sonic feel more comparable to sandbox-style 3D Mario worlds translated into 2D. These are some of the most immense and immersive settings I've ever experienced in a 2D platformer... And what continues to astonish me is the avalanche of ideas present in each level. There are 24 levels in the game — not counting alternate takes such as Knuckles' Mirage Saloon Act 1 — and each level has a wealth of one-off traversal mechanics and platforming challenges you won't see anywhere else, not to mention unique backgrounds, music, enemies, bosses, etc.
There's a sense of imagination and inventiveness that propels you forward the first time through, and that continues to entertain when replaying each stage, where you can better appreciate how intricately everything fits together, enabling amazing speed runs if only you're open-minded enough to see the opportunities, and reflexive enough to execute on them.
I love every zone in this game. I can tell there's a lot of fan service in this game, the meaning of which is lost on me since I simply don't have that much familiarity with the franchise. But as someone who really only knew Green Hill and Chemical Plant going in, and for whom everything else was new, I have to say nothing felt out of place, and each level felt consistent in its design and presentation. I loved every moment — and I'm very curious what kind of zones existed in other Sonic games.
So, to those sitting on the fence because these games didn't click before, I'd recommend giving Sonic Mania a chance, and maybe approaching it with the mindset I did. You might discover one of your favorite games this year.