'Sonic Mania' News: Special Stages Announced at San Diego Comic-Con
Nokia capitalized on nostalgia with its recently released revamped 3310, and Nintendo did the same with "Super Mario Odyssey." Not one to be outdone, the Sonic Team used the recent San Diego Comic-Con to revive the fun-loving, high-speed Sonic the Hedgehog in "Sonic Mania." With a little over a month before the release date, the panel at the convention revealed several details that fans can look forward to for a healthy dose of nostalgia.
According to reports, the panel at this year's San Diego Comic-Con consisted of Sonic Team head Takashi Iizuka, Sonic Mania developer Christian Whitehead, programmer Simon Thomley, artist Tom Fry, composer Tee Lopes, and moderator and Sonic the Hedgehog social media manager, Aaron Webber. Together, the team announced that there will be special stages in the upcoming "Sonic Mania." They also released some new soundtrack that can only be described as attention-grabbing.
Furthermore, it was revealed that the special stages are meant to draw out nostalgia as it is reminiscent of the previous titles in Sonic's universe. Players will be chasing an unidentified flying object to collect a Chaos emerald, moving faster through blue, portal-like spheres, and prolonging their time by collecting rings.
Another thing that was announced during the San Diego Comic-Con is the fact that a lot of "Sonic Mania" is meant to induce flashbacks, especially for those who grew up with Sonic the Hedgehog back in the 90s. From graphics to storylines, fans will get a dose of what it felt like to speed through levels like they did back in the day. The panel also explained some things about the origin of Sonic, and all in all, "Sonic Mania" is beginning to look like one of the game titles to anticipate this year.
"Sonic Mania" will be released on Aug. 15 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 (PS4), and Xbox One.
