'Sonic Mania': Everything to Know About the Upcoming Game
Nostalgia is a very powerful thing. It drives people to reenact memories, or in this case, purchase something because of the familiarity of it. There are times when nostalgia is truly a driving force, and game publisher Sega hopes this will be true in the upcoming release of "Sonic Mania."
"For Mania, I'm really confident to deliver this title. It's a classic 2D, horizontally-scrolling action game. So this is aiming at those people who like their action from the past titles," Sonic Team's Takashi Iizuka told Metro. "The developer of Sonic Mania — from the music to the graphics and everything — they have a really deep love for classic pixelated Sonic games. So fans who really like those past titles will be really excited about this."
Furthermore, Iizuka has also said that the specific target market of "Sonic Mania" is the fans who loved "Mega Drive" when it was released years ago. Although they aim to broaden the audience by understanding what children would like to see, the developers found that they actually like the old-school, 2D hedgehog version.
Iizuka also said that Sonic's future will rely heavily on how "Sonic Mania" will be received. It will let the team learn how best to proceed with the popular game franchise. Thus, if fans would like to see more of the high-speed hedgehog in the coming years, they would have to give "Sonic Mania" a shot first. As for the more mainstream audience, the team is set to release "Sonic Forces."
"Sonic Mania" brings back the popular hedgehog of the past years. It was originally planned to be in line with the company's 25th anniversary to bring back the interest of the older generation. "Sonic Mania" is set to be released on Aug. 15 to PS4, PC, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch users.
