colin carrier

Sonic Mania. Where do I even begin with this game? This is the first Sonic game I've ever owned, and it's an absolute joy to play. Since I didn't grow up with the Genesis games, this game doesn't flood me with nostalgia like it's meant to, but it really doesn't matter. The fact that two random guys, Taxman and Stealth, were able to go from making fangames, to ports of of the classic games, to making their own official Sonic creation, is honestly mind-blowing. Every level is expertly designed. Chemical Plant Zone, the second level, is an absolute blast, and good ol' Green Hill is just as exhilarating as ever. The new zones are incredible too. Press Garden Zone, the fifth level, might just be one of my favorite Sonic levels ever. I also love how they took zones like Oil Ocean and Metallic Madness, which weren't so hot in their original games, and made them a blast like all the others. The extras were really surprising, too. I'm not going to spoil any of them for you if you haven't seen them yet, but one of them made me bust a rib from laughing. Also, the music is absolute fire. Each and every old zone has a remixed track, and they're great. Some of my favorite tracks include Studiopolis Act 1, Flying Battery Act 1 and the Special Stage. Like the Genesis games of old, you need to complete special stages to collect the Chaos Emeralds to transform into your super form, which gives you increased speed, invincibility, and a snazzy new look. The special stages in this game are nice. You need to chase a UFO carrying a chaos emerald, while grabbing blue spheres to increase your speed and rings to make sure you don't run out of time (as you lose one ring per second, and if you run out of rings the stage ends). These special stages are fun and have a good difficulty curve. Even though they're not my favorite, these special stages are still great fun. However, I can't spend this entire review singing this game's praises. It isn't perfect. The bosses are...decent. Sonic's bosses have never really been the star of the show, and that's true here. While some of them I found really cool (looking at you, Chemical Plant Act 2 and Mirage Saloon Act 2), the rest are kinda boring. Also, the DLC is a little bit underwhelming. You get two new characters, Mighty and Ray, which is amazing. These two have got to be some of the most obscure Sonic characters, so it's awesome to see them make a return here. However, while the premise of Encore Mode is interesting, almost nothing about the stages themselves are really changed besides the colors. For $5, you're certainly getting enough bang for your buck, it would just be nice if we got just a bit more. Overall, I love Sonic Mania, just like everyone has already said. If you're an old school fan who wants to suck on nostalgia, this is for you. If you're new to Sonic and want to find a game to be introduced to the series, this is for you. While it certainly isn't perfect, it was more than enough to satisfy me. Now I can only wonder where Sonic will go from here. Will we get a Sonic Mania 2? Will we ever be able to play as Amy, Cream or Shadow in a 2D Sonic game like Mania? Is this the last we'll ever see of Taxman and Stealth working with Sega? Only time will tell... (MAN this was a long review! Maybe I should have a game review YT channel instead...)

If you ever finish watching a speedrun of this game, what are you doing with your life? But seriously this game's pretty good. And by good I mean REALLY good. You can capture all these iconic enemies, explore vast kingdoms, beat up unique bosses, the whole 9 yards. Also I'm really happy that they replaced the Koopalings with the Broodals (though I really wish you could capture Bowser Jr.) Overall really great game 9.9/10