Sonic the Hedgehog turned 25 this year. Now that he’s finally old enough to rent a car, SEGA held a big anniversary party during San Diego Comic-Con. Two brand new Sonic games were announced. Sonic Mania, and the yet untitled “Project Sonic.” Both games are coming in 2017.
Sonic Mania returns to Sonic’s 2D, 16-bit roots. It remixes original levels from beloved 90s Sonic games as well as all-new zones in the same styles.
“Sonic Mania was born out of our fans’ love of the classic Sonic 2D platform games,” said Takashi Ilizuka, Head of Sonic Team. “Sonic Mania has been a passion project for the entire team and we look forward to sharing more details about it later this year.”
Ilizuka mentions that the collaboration with developers PagodaWest Games, Headcannon Games, Christian Whitehead, and Simon Thornely is a first for SEGA. Whitehead and Thorley previously produced remastered versions of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD. It’s always exciting to see passionate, talented fans get tapped to work with the official publishers.
Sonic Mania is coming to PlaySation 4, Xbox One, and PC in Spring 2017.
But wait, there’s more!
The actual Sonic Team is working on a new title coming Holiday 2017. The trailer shows Sonic running through a city besieged by giant robots. It looks like a follow-up to Sonic Generations. Sonic Generations was one of the few well-received Sonic games in the last decade.
Apparently the 25th anniversary celebration was a bit of a disaster, and plagued with audio problems throughout. That’s probably a sobering analogy to Sonic’s own rocky history. However these new titles both look like steps in the right direction. I look forward to an age when the blue hedgehog isn’t the laughing stock of the gaming world. But I’m not holding my breath.
