Sonic Mania/Gameplay

Sonic Mania is a side-scrolling platformer developed with the intention of mimicking the first games in the series on the Sega Genesis. As such, the aesthetic remains nearly identical, albeit up-scaled in a higher resolution in order to accommodate the new technology. Special Stages, which is where Chaos Emeralds can be collected, are borrowed from Sonic CD (and are similarly accessed through giant rings), while Bonus Stages, in which all blue spheres must be either converted to red spheres or rings, are borrowed from Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (and are similarly accessed by jumping into the sparkles that fly above checkpoints when at least 25 rings are carried). Zones are also borrowed from older Sonic games (though they are reworked), with the exception of four original zones.

Characters
There are three playable characters in the original game (Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles) and an additional two in Sonic Mania Plus (Mighty and Ray). The choice of character can drastically change how a zone is played due to their unique abilities. For more information on the characters, click on their image to be redirected to their page. Keep in mind that the secret final zone can only be accessed by Sonic if he has collected all seven Chaos Emeralds.