Actually, Obi Wan, ‘Sonic Mania’ Really is the Sonic I’m Looking For

  Like all you decrepit Ego-gamers of a certain age, I have fond memories of the good ol’ days of gaming. A happier, simpler time, before all the bitching about on-disk DLC, overpriced season passes, ‘casual’ mobile games, and all of that BS. When did video games become such a goddamn series business? 

All we had to worry about then was the cool kids not wanting to play with us at recess, because we were on the wrong side of the Nintendo and Mario/Sega and Sonic divide. As for me? Sega through and through. The Genesis will always be the sexiest console of all time.

Why? For the likes of Streets of Rage, Golden Ax, Alex Kidd, Super Hang-On, Gunstar Heroes and all the other games that owned my childhood. The nostalgia is strong with this one. Not forgetting, natch, the original Sonic titles. Still some of the best platforming games the genre’s ever brought us, that’s for damn sure.

We all know how that story goes: Once upon a time, Sonic was great. Then he was bollocks. The end. Still, things are looking up. It’s taken two decades, but the team finally seem to have realized what fans want: no more talking swords and other gimmicky crap, just Sonic doing Sonic things. The upcoming Sonic Mania promised just that, and the more I see, the more convinced I get.

Take an ogle at this latest IGN gameplay from PAX West 2016. There are two zones on show, a little vintage Green Hill action and the all new Studiopolis, and I really like what I’m seeing. It’s all so authentically Nineties, I can almost hear Will mocking Uncle Phil’s fatness in the background.