Sonic Mania 2 isn’t in development and never was, according to the devs behind the celebrated 2D revival of the blue hedgehog. Contrary to rumours, that’s not because of a falling out between publisher Sega and Sonic Mania’s devs, but because both sides of the creative team decided they wanted to make something new.
]]>Get your speedrunning shoes on and prepare your glitches: Awesome Games Done Quick has arrived for its yearly speedrunning extravaganza. As with previous years, the charity event is raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. It's been live since yesterday evening and runs until this Sunday, and there are already some fab runs in the likes of Mirror's Edge and Dragon Age: Origins to catch up on.
]]>As a nostalgia trip, Sonic Mania is impeccably precise. So, naturally, you'll want to really nail those throwback kicks by, uh, playing it through an unrelated publisher's digital subscription service. The blue blur and his grossly mutated twin-tailed fox friend are now sprinting through EA's Origin Access Premiere service, with Two Point Hospital and Endless Legend set to join them in the near future.
]]>Humble unveiled a brand-new game bundle last night and it's absolutely rammed with Sonic games. There are 12 in total, ranging from the blue blur's early forays into marathon running and chilli-dog eating with Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic CD all the way through to his more recent revivals in games such as Sonic Generations and Sonic Mania.
]]>With Sonic Mania, a modder was put in charge of creating a new Sonic game with official backing. Decades after Sonic the Hedgehog came to PC, the modding scene had shown some incredible creativity, from a version of Sonic 1 where Dr. Robotnik is capturing animals, to another where you go fishing. But one of the more popular mods came in the form of Sonic Megamix, which introduced new characters and moves. Its creator, Christian Whitehead, went on to create the definitive version of Sonic CD, but it's Sonic Mania that got Sega's nod, with the Plus add-on reintroducing some old friends.
]]>I was unprepared for Sonic the Hedgehog to have human teeth. Seeing as chilli dogs are his favourite food yet he eats them without soaking the bun in milk, I suppose I knew that Sonic wouldn't have the mouth and teeth of a real hedgehog in our world. I was still not ready for human teeth and weird lips. The first trailer for the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie (or Sonic the Hedgepig, as it'll likely be named in the UK) has arrived, starring a CGI hedgepig voiced by Ben Schwartz (best known as Jean-Ralphio in Parks and Recreation) alongside human actors including Jim Carrey and James Marsden, and I just wasn't ready for the teeth.
]]>Sonic Mania brought back Sega's blue hedgehog in style, fully deserving of applause. Now it's delivering an encore performance as DLC today. Part of the new Sonic Mania Plus re-release, the Encore DLC lets us existing owners ride again. It features two new playable characters but the real main event is the titular Encore Mode. A remixed, re-lit and harder second trip through the game with some new story and surprises. I've played a few stages of it, and have had a ton of fun so far.
]]>Sonic Mania was a joy - a true return to form for Sega's spiky blue mascot. It's due to get even better later this month. Sonic Mania Plus, is a re-release (available as a $5 upgrade for existing owners) adding two new playable characters from the little-known SegaSonic The Hedgehog arcade game, plus some new content. In the first of a series of developer diaries, we get a peek at the new characters in action. Plus an all-too-brief glimpse at Encore mode; a second loop through the game with new lighting, cutscenes and enemy placement.
]]>The old quote is wrong: neither death nor taxes are, it seems to me, as terrifyingly certain as the Steam Summer Sale. Yes, once more we can add to the heap that is our backlog by buying games for, what, five quid, on average? But there are so many to choose from that it's easy to get flustered, so who better than the staff of RPS to hand-pick the best ones for your consideration (rhetorical question; do not answer)?
Check out the full list below for a mix of games that should suit all pockets and tastes.
]]>Last year's Sonic Mania was a return to the hedgehog's days of plain ol' side-scrolling platforming. It was a celebration of nostalgia, though, made by a small team with roots in the fan game scene. So ah, sure, go on, wham in some weird obscure playable characters. With no terrible cutscenes, I'll be able to pretend Mighty The Armadillo and Ray The Bubsy are brand new anyway. Those two are arriving in Sonic Mania Plus, an expanded version that'll come to us as DLC - on July 17th, Sega announced today.
]]>I'm still in a state of mild disbelief that Sonic Mania even exists. A glorified fan-game by some of the best and brightest creators in a scene that's often looked down on and frequently sneered at. Backed fully by Sega, it recaptured the spirit of what made that weird blue hedgehog a cultural icon through the '90s and beyond.
If only there was a little bit more of it. While not quite the full sequel announcement we've been hoping for, the game is getting a physical retail re-launch under the name Sonic Mania Plus, and the new content will be available as paid DLC for anyone who already owns the game.
]]>We've already seen which games sold best on Steam last year, but a perhaps more meaningful insight into movin' and a-shakin' in PC-land is the games that people feel warmest and snuggliest about. To that end, Valve have announced the winners of the 2017 Steam Awards, a fully community-voted affair which names the most-loved games across categories including best post-launch support, most player agency, exceeding pre-release expectations and most head-messing-with. Vintage cartoon-themed reflex-tester Cuphead leads the charge with two gongs, but ol' Plunkbat and The Witcher series also do rather well - as do a host of other games from 2017's great and good.
Full winners and runners-up below, with links to our previous coverage of each game if you're so-minded. Plus: I reveal which game I'd have gone for in each category.
]]>We asked a handful of our contributors to put together a list of their three favourite games from 2017. Their picks are running across the week while the rest of RPS slumbers.
I've been thinking about time a lot recently - how we create and manipulate histories and the present in video games and in general - so you'll forgive me if my end-of-year choices are a bit Back to the Futurey.
]]>This fella, Sonic The Hedgehog, recently turned twenty-six years old, which means he's fast-approaching the stage of his life where he's not sure how long he can describe himself as being in his 'mid-twenties' and panics every time a survey asks him to select an age range: '18-25' is in the past, '26-31' is the new now. And should he listen to the people who say those red and white sneakers make him look like he's trying a bit too hard?
While Sonic frowns into a mirror, you can save a bunch of money on a stack of games that star the little blue guy. Head to Bundle Stars and you'll be able to pick up 17 different Sonic games with some nice discounts. That even includes Sonic Mania, which is something of a return to form. He might be getting older, but he can still recapture the glory days every once in a while.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day, perhaps for all time.
The famous blue forest animal is back with a new game. But true Sonick fans will never forget his first adventure, in which he raced across freshly cut lawns and battled the evil Dr Robot Nick. That villain has since changed and developed over time into the largely sympathetic character of Mr Eggman. Not only has he been given motivation and depth, he has become a complicated father figure to Sonec, not to mention loyal confidante to Knuckle, the red hedge hog.
But these modern interpretations have lost some of what made our azure anti-hero so compelling. For me, you can only find that pure feeling of speed, terror and heartache in the original. The one, the only: Sonnic The HedgeHogg.
]]>Must travel quickly! That’s the infamous blue hedgehog’s catch phrase and it is doubly meaningful this afternoon, as the noted fugitive’s new two-dimensional adventure has been released on personal computers for all his troubled fans TODAY. Sonic Mania [official site] sees an alledgedly solid return for the steel blue country animal with a disturbing past. You'll be using his trademark guddies and retro style to traverse whole new levels, including but not limited to:
- The Green Place
- Consumption Zone
- Fermented Cactus Juice Bottling Grounds
- Disco Wetlands
- Customs & Immigration
- Mammal Hell
Hogamaniacs might scream "Gotta go fast!" while slamming chili dogs and practising roly-polies, but sometimes a 'hog has gotta go slow. Platforming remix-o-rama Sonic Mania [official site] is delayed once again, though this time only the PC release is affected. Sonic's retro adventure is due out on Tuesday but, alas, the PC version is now delayed to August 29th. Mate, given how many modern Sonic games are rubbo, I do not mind waiting another fortnight for one which looks like it might be pretty decent.
]]>The ageing blue hedgehog who simply will not die was due to be back on all our machines by now in the retro-styled Sonic Mania [official site] but got delayed after, I don’t know, his shoes fell apart because he can’t afford new ones or something like that. It's too late in the day to come up with a "Sonic is not being very fast" joke. Anyway, he’s been re-scheduled for an August 15 release date, according to a fresh pre-order trailer.
]]>"I live my life a quarter-mile at a time," Sonic the Hedgehog famously said. "Nothing else matters: not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free."
But when you look up from the asphalt, oh boy, life comes at you fast. As recently as last Friday, Sonic was telling everyone that his new throwback 2D adventure Sonic Mania [official site] would arrive in spring. And now spring is but three days away, whup! He's pushed Sonic Mania's release back into summer. Sonic, come on, you can't keep living this furiously. Live fast, sure, but the fury is gonna catch you.
]]>The upcoming Sonic Mania [official site] is a fascinating idea: an official Sonic game in the '90s Sonic style, made by fans from the Sonic community out of bits of old Sonic games and some new parts of their own. Unexpected! You can see how that's coming on in a new five-minute commentated gameplay video, which whizzes through Mania's reworked Green Hill Zone to show off new areas, new style, and new abilities. See:
]]>As Old Father Time grabs his sickle and prepares to take ailing 2016 around the back of the barn for a big sleep, we're looking to the future. The mewling pup that goes by the name 2017 will come into the world soon and we must prepare ourselves for its arrival. Here at RPS, our preparations come in the form of this enormous preview feature, which contains details on more than a hundred of the exciting games that are coming our way over the next twelve months. 2016 was a good one - in the world of games at least - but, ever the optimists, we're hoping next year will be even better.
]]>In the same way that ageing rockers prove they've still got 'it' by collaborating with hip young pop musicmen, Sonic the Hedgehog is getting re-re-remixed. As part of his 25th birthday celebrations, Sega have announced Sonic Mania, a new 2D platformer with a 16-bit style and zones inspired by ye olde Sonic games from the Mega Drive. It looks pretty interesting!
To prove that Sonic's new material is still really good and powerful and as good as he ever was, okay, Sega also announced a yet-unnamed new 3D Sonic game.
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