![]() While Sega isn’t pinning Sonic’s entire near-future on a game created to be an overload of retro nostalgia-that’ll be the job of the more mainstream Sonic Forces when it hits later this year-it’s still shocking to see something like this be an official, canonical part of the series. ![]() It’s important that you at least understand some of the details in what lead up to Sonic Mania’s existence, because it helps explain just how daring of a release this is. Using the Retro Engine, Christian worked with Sega to re-release Sonic CD, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on various platforms-eventually leading Sega to then entrust Christian, along with developers Headcannon (who have their own history with Sonic) and PagodaWest Games, to work on a new project called Sonic Mania. Christian-otherwise known as The Taxman-was a creator of Sonic fangames who then created the Retro Engine, a platform upon which past Sonic games could be re-created with additional features, proper widescreen support, and more. Handing the fate of your property over to fans is an utterly terrible idea in most cases when it comes to entertainment, but Christian Whitehead is no ordinary fan. When Sega once against promised last year that they’d be “going back” to Sonic’s roots for the latest game in the franchise, it seemed like yet another chance to let us down. While I don’t mean to personally insult all of the fine people working for the developer, I don’t think Sega has much of a clue as to what to do with the most popular and influential franchise they’ve ever created, and even their attempt to revive Sonic’s origins in Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was an awkward mess that just helped prove that point. While he’s gotten a handful of “not bad” games over the years, Sonic has longed for-and, more importantly, deserved-a return to form. Unfortunately, those terrible games were indeed looming like dark clouds on the horizon, and once Sonic’s 16-bit glory days were over, so too was most of my love for him and his adventures. Years prior to him spawning a number of terrible games (and questionable fandom circles), Sonic was daring, he was fast, and he was way cooler than that mushroom-eating plumber guy. ![]() The one thing we were really missing on the Genesis, though, was a proper mascot-and then Sonic the Hedgehog came along. When it came time for the 16-bit era, my loyalty was squarely with the Genesis, and nothing the Super NES could offer would change my mind. Long before gamers argued over the internet about whether the most powerful console around has “PlayStation” or “Xbox” in its name, schoolyard battles were waged between those who pledged their allegiance to Sega or Nintendo. ![]()
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