Sonic Mania Plus (ソニックマニア・プラス Sonikku Mania Purasu?) is an expanded version of Sonic Mania. It was released in July 2018 both physically for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and as a digital-only release on Steam for the PC and as downloadable content to digital copies of the original game for all platforms.[3]
This re-release adds two new characters to the game, Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel, as well as a new game mode, Encore Mode, and expands the Competition Mode up to four players.
Around the time of Sonic Mania Plus' release, a v1.05.0713 patch was released for the base game which includes many changes and bugfixes from Sonic Mania Plus, but does not include the extra characters and modes.
Development
During an interview with Famitsu, Takashi Iizuka explained that Sonic Mania was not intended to have a physical release; Sega staff requested one, but a retail version would have presented a challenge for the production schedule. After the game launched, fans also expressed interest in a physical version. As a retail release would cost more than the downloadable version, the team added value with new content.[4]
When it came to deciding the new content, Sonic Team followed Sonic Mania's way of giving stimulus to fans’ curiosities and expectations by adding Ray and Mighty, two highly requested characters, to the game, despite the two characters being considered "sealed characters" by Iizuka; to accommodate them, level designs had to be altered. When the team had to decide on Mighty and Ray's special actions, Mighty received his "Hammer Drop" after the team reflected on his "strong guy" setting and hard shell, while Ray received his "Air Glide" as a callback to his species. Multiplayer was also updated to have up to four players at once because there were more characters to select from.[5][4]
Hyperkinetic Studios was part of the development of this update. One of the people who are part of Hyperkinetic, Hunter Bridges, worked on the new music tracks since Tee Lopes was busy working on the soundtrack for Sonic Mania Adventures.
Plot
Mania Mode
Encore Mode
Sonic finds Mighty and Ray trapped in Angel Island Zone.
In the conclusion of the War to Take Back the Planet, Sonic is transported back to Angel Island by the Phantom Ruby. He traverses the land and finds Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel trapped within Schrodinger's Capsule. After freeing them, the Heavy Magician reveals herself to have been disguised as one of the prisoners (the one that the player did not select to team up with). She steals the Phantom Ruby, leaving Sonic and his new teammate to chase her down. The Heavy Magician gives the Phantom Ruby to the wrecked remains of the Phantom King, among the Phantom Heavies. The Phantom King then uses the Ruby to restore the Hard Boiled Heavies, leaving Sonic and his teammate to begin hunting them down in Green Hill Zone.
Making their way back to Titanic Monarch Zone, the heroes once again fight Dr. Eggman in his Phantom Egg. After defeating the doctor, the Phantom Ruby is claimed by the Heavy King as Eggman and the heroes escape. If the player manages to collect all seven Chaos Emeralds, the Phantom Ruby will instead open up a portal that begins to destroy the base. Eggman will escape in a rocket car as the heroes fall behind, the heroes will then activate their Super States and barrel past Eggman, causing him to get sucked up into the portal.
In an end credits scene, the five heroes all meet up one of Mirage Saloon Zone's ice cream parlours to relax. The heroes are then interrupted by the Heavy King, who appears from behind the bar with a large ice cream sundae. The scene freeze frames on the photo of this moment with the caption "You're Too Cool!"
Characters
| Image | Characters | Biography |
|---|---|---|
 |
Mighty the Armadillo | An armadillo with remarkable defensive power! His hard shell protects him from attacks, and by curling up into a ball he can use it to smash through enemies. |
 |
Ray the Flying Squirrel | A young and enthusiastic flying squirrel. He loves adventure, and often glides to high places to get a view of the land below. |
Gameplay
New features
- Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel are featured as playable characters.[3] Like the original playable characters, Mighty and Ray play similarly to Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. They also have moves exclusive to themselves. Mighty has the Hammer Drop, which makes him blast downward in a burst of speed, slamming Badniks and obstacles and making hidden items fall out of trees. Meanwhile, Ray has the Air Glide which lets him glide large distances through midair and even gain altitude.[6] In Mania Mode, they will play the same Acts and bosses as Sonic and Tails.
- Optimized difficulty for boss fights.[7]
- A new Metal Sonic boss fight.
- The unused Sweep badnik from the original version of Sonic Mania has been added as an enemy in Angel Island Zone.
Encore Mode
Encore Mode on the main menu.
Encore Mode is a game mode exclusive to Sonic Mania Plus that takes place after the events of the game's Mania Mode and the conclusion of Sonic Forces, and sees the player progressing through altered Zones with new gameplay rules.
Encore Mode includes all the Zones from Mania Mode (except the Egg Reverie Zone) and remixes them with different color palettes. In addition, there are new areas and different object placements that makes Encore Mode appear as an expanded version of Mania Mode. New pathways make use of all of the five characters' abilities. Bosses are also now either easier or harder, and some Giant Rings have been moved to other locations. The Special Stages remain figuratively unchanged from Mania Mode's, but the artistic layouts are in reverse order, and the Stages themselves are more difficult. Also, a brand new Bonus Stage set inside a giant pinball table has been added, and can be accessed from any Star Post with at least fifty Rings. Angel Island Zone has also been added as an introductory Zone; as a result of this, Green Hill Zone is the second level in this mode instead of the first.
Encore Mode also features a new party and lives system. At the beginning, the player starts with Sonic and either Mighty or Ray. The player is in control of one of the characters while the other is controlled by the AI and can be switched by pressing 
/
/
/[W].[3][8] Only the first two characters can be switched between, and only when both are on-screen and not jumping. To get the rest of the playable characters, the player must find a monitor with cycling character faces on it. When they break it, the character shown on the monitor will be added to the player's party. Player Swap monitors from Competition Mode are also used, and breaking one of them will change the player's character to the next one in waiting, and Random monitors will shuffle the character order. Instead of traditional lives, the characters behaves as lives. If the main character dies, that character will be lost and another character in waiting will take his place. If all characters are lost, it will result in a Game Over.
4-Player Competition Mode
The Competition Mode setup screen with four players.
The Competition Mode is expanded to allow up to four players simultaneously.[3] When playing with two or three players, player 1 can customize the screen division.
Replays
Sonic Mania Plus adds the option to save replays of completed Time Attack attempts.[7] The player can save as many replays as their system's storage will allow. Once a replay has been saved, the player can play back the replay, or challenge it. When challenging a replay, the player's previous attempt will be shown as a ghost during gameplay.
Changes from the original version
Sonic Mania Plus includes some of the changes made to Sonic Mania. Changes include:
- On the title screen for Sonic Mania Plus, the word "Plus" transitions under the logo while Eggman can be seen in the background flying with a chained Schrodinger's Capsule containing Mighty and Ray.
- The drowning theme music in Encore Mode was replaced with a remixed version of the drowning theme from Sonic the Hedgehog CD.
- Mighty and Ray appear alongside Tails and Knuckles in the Competition Mode option on the main menu.
- If the player chooses to play as Mighty or Ray in Mania Mode, Sonic will be the one to fly the Tornado for them.
- Additionally, the variation of the normal ending plays in which Mighty and Ray appear alongside Sonic instead of Tails and Knuckles.
Promotion
Sonic Mania Plus promotional North American poster.
With the announcement of Sonic Mania Plus, a wave of promotional material was announced. Those buying the physical version of Sonic Mania Plus received a holographic slip cover, a reversible SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive-themed sleeve (for the United States and Europe, respectively), and a 32-page art book.[3]
Exclusive to Japan, the physical release of Sonic Mania Plus included limited edition packages that featured artbooks and the game's soundtrack on CDs. The soundtrack was a double disk album with fifty-four tracks, which included all Sonic Mania tracks (excluding compositions by Masato Nakamura), all Hyper Potions tracks (including "Time Trials Plus") and all Sonic Mania Plus songs, including "Time Trial Plus" with Crush 40’s Jun Senoue on guitar.[9]
There was also a SEGA Shop Japan exclusive Deluxe package containing physical goodies like a t-shirt, canvas purse, and stickers.[6][8][9]
Reception
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 86% (PS4)[10] 90% (XB1)[11] 91% (Switch)[12] |
| Metacritic | 86/100 (PS4)[13] 86/100 (XB1)[14] 91/100 (Switch)[15] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 9.5/10[16] |
| GameRevolution | 3.5/5[17] |
| GameSpot | 9/10[18] |
| IGN | 7/10[19] |
| Destructoid | 8/10[20] |
| Comics & Gaming Magazine | 10/10[21] |
| DualShockers | 9.5/10[22] |
| Gaming Trend | 95/100[23] |
| PlayStation LifeStyle | 9.5/10[24] |
| We Got This Covered |   [25]
|
| COGconnected | 80/100[26] |
| Twinfinite | 4/5[27] |
| Nintendo Insider | 9/10[28] |
| Nintendo Life | 9/10[29] |
| Attack of the Fanboy | [30]
|
| GameSpace | 9/10[31] |
| This section requires an expansion. |  |
Cheat codes
New cheat codes were added which can be entered in the Sound Test on the Level Select:[32]. These cheat codes can only be accessed in No Save Mode (This is done by enabling Debug Mode in the Game Options and holding 
/
/
/[Q] while selecting a No Save game) but can be accessed from the base game without the DLC.
- All Chaos Emeralds: Play sounds 04, 01, 02, 06. This gives the player all of the Chaos Emeralds, enabling super transformation.
- 14 Continues: Play sounds 01, 09, 09, 02, 01, 01, 02, 04.
- Encore Mode: Play sounds 02, 00, 01, 08, 00, 06, 02, 03. This sets the game to Encore Mode, allowing the player to play Encore Mode Zones (except Angel Island Zone) and use Debug Mode in Encore Mode. If the player tries to enter Egg Reverie Zone after activating this code, it will send them to the first Special Stage in Mania Mode instead.
- Fly anywhere as the character's Super State: Play sounds 02, 00, 01, 07, 00, 08, 01, 05. This allows every character in their Super State to fly in any zone like Super Sonic normally would in Egg Reverie Zone.
- Max Control: Play sounds 09, 00, 00, 01. This gives Sonic access to the Insta-Shield, Drop Dash and Super Peel Out at the same time.
- Disable Super Music: Play sounds 06, 02, 01, 04.
- Ricky Mania: Play sounds 01, 09, 07, 09, 00, 08, 01, 01. All animals will be replaced with Ricky.
- 32 Gold Medallions: First, while on the title screen, input the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 level select code (Up, Up, Down, Down, Up, Up, Up, Up) in the time between sonic appearing and the press start option appears. After that, go into level select and put in the Ricky Mania code. Once the player has done that, they can now play sounds "01, 09, 08, 09, 00, 05, 00, 01" and get thirty-two gold Medallions. This effect is lost upon closing the game. This means, for example, that if the player originally had six silver medallions and then obtains all thirty-two gold medallion through the cheat code, then the player will go back to having six silver medallions after exiting and re-entering the game. It also does not unlock the "Full Medal Jacket" or the "No Way? No Way" achievements on the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Steam versions of the game.
Miscellaneous
- Vape Mode: A mode called "Vape Mode" (short for Vaporware Mode) that goes unused in the game but is still intact in the game’s code and can be reactivated via a cheat engine. Every song in the game is slowed down to 75% its original speed, though is restored if the player obtains a 1-Up.
- Instant Special Stage Speed Up: In the PC version of the game, pressing the Character Swap button while in a Special Stage will fill up the player's Gauge instantly, allowing the player to gain Mach 3 quickly, as well as repeatedly give themselves a Mach Bonus, increasing their Score by a great amount. This was likely a developer function left in accidentally.
Trivia
- This is the first game that Mighty returns as a playable character since Knuckles' Chaotix in 1995, while Ray has not been playable in any game since his debut in SegaSonic the Hedgehog in 1993.
- In addition, this is the first 2D sidescroller Sonic game that Ray appears in.
- On the back of the artbook, there is a Morse Code message near the top. It reads "TOGETHER, WE ARE GREATER THAN THE SUM OF OUR PARTS."
- Some players accidentally got an unintended patch for Sonic Mania for PlayStation 4 in the UK on 17 April 2018. The patch added transitions to stages that lacked them in the original (such as going from Flying Battery Zone to Press Garden Zone), options to use the No Save mode special abilities, a no time limit mode, a completely redesigned Metal Sonic boss, new menus, and the option to download the Encore DLC (which was not able to function properly at the time until the the v1.04 update.)
- Sonic Mania Plus' official trailer theme song ("Time Trial Plus") is a modification of "Time Trials" by Hyper Potions featuring Jun Senoue on guitars.[2] This is the second time the trio have performed together, if including a live performance at Magfest 2018.[33]
- The mock infomercial for Sonic Mania Plus is a reference to the humorous television infomercial that debuted in 1991 for the original Sonic the Hedgehog. It even uses the line "a whole lot more for less".
- The salesman in the infomercial is Nathan Barnatt while Aaron Webber played the customer.
- The "SEGA!" line that Kazuyuki Hoshino apparently screams at the end of the infomercial is a reference to the former commercials for both Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles, where someone would look as if they are screaming "SEGA!" at the end.
- The fake shooter game prototype that played alongside Sonic Mania Plus was a prototype game that the Sega team created and titled "Finger GunZ".[34]
- Mighty and Ray's high speed running animations resemble the ones they performed in SegaSonic the Hedgehog.
- Ray uses his tail as well as his hands when moving across bars. This is a technique that he could perform in SegaSonic the Hedgehog.
- One of Ray's idle animations depicts him looking out into the distance in a pose similar to a piece of artwork from the original Sonic the Hedgehog. One of Mighty's idle animations has him holding out his hands and looking at the player in an impatient tone, similar to Sonic's idle animation in the 8-bit version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
- Mighty's animations when he is near the edges of a platform are based on his animations from Knuckles' Chaotix.
- Ray's end level animation is based on his character select animation from SegaSonic the Hedgehog.
- A hidden cheat can be found in Encore Mode called "Vape Mode". In this mode, all the music is slowed down as a reference to vaporwave music genre.[35]
- Some of the cheat codes reference other things in the Sonic the Hedgehog series:
- The code "04, 01, 02, 06" is a reference to the same code found in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but backwards.
- The code "01, 09, 09, 02, 01, 01, 02, 04" is a reference to the North American release date of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (24 November 1992) and the Debug Mode code in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
- The code "02, 00, 01, 07, 00, 08, 01, 05" is a reference to the North American release date for Sonic Mania on consoles (15 August 2017).
- The code "02, 00, 01, 08, 00, 06, 02, 03" is the date for the Sonic the Hedgehog series' 27th anniversary (23 June 2018; a video to celebrate the series was uploaded on that same day).
- The code "01, 09, 07, 09, 00, 08, 01, 01" is a reference to the birthday of Simon Thomley (11 August 1979),
- The code "01, 09, 08, 09, 00, 05, 00, 01" is a reference to the birthday of Hunter Bridges (1 May 1989).
Videos
References
- ↑ 7月19日発売予定『ソニックマニア・プラス』ゲーム情報第1弾を公開 新キャラクター・新モードを紹介！ (Japanese). Sega Japan. Retrieved on 29 June 2018.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1
Sonic Mania Plus - Official Trailer. YouTube. Sega (25 April 2018). Retrieved on 25 April 2018. "Sonic Mania Plus arrives July 17th! Check out the game’s new features, a first look at Mighty and Ray, and treat your ears to a special remix of “Time Trials” by Hyper Potions and Jun Senoue!
Sonic Mania Plus is available both as a physical copy and as DLC if you already own the game. The physical edition comes with special packaging, a reversible cover, and a 32 Page Art Book. It was the #1 request from our fans, so we worked really hard to make it something special for you all, and we hope you’ll love it!
Special thanks to Tyson Hesse for the gorgeous animation, and Jun Senoue and Hyper Potions for their remix ("Time Trials Plus"!)" - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Sonic the Hedgehog on Twitter. Twitter (16 March 2018). Retrieved on 17 March 2018. "Sonic Mania goes packaged with Sonic Mania Plus! Mighty and Ray join as playable characters, new Encore mode, 4P Competition mode, Holographic packaging, 32-page art book, and more. Summer 2018."
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sato (1 May 2018). Sonic Mania Plus Producer On How Mighty And Ray Made It In; No Plans For A Sequel. Retrieved on 15 June 2018.
- ↑ Stenbuck, Kite (26 April 2018). Takashi Iizuka Explains the Additions of Mighty and Ray in the Sonic Mania Plus Interview With Famitsu. PlayStationLifeStyle.net. Retrieved on 9 May 2018.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Sonic Mania Plus article (Japanese). Famitsu. Enterbrain, Tokuma. April 2018. p. 24.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 SSF1991 (31 March 2018). Amazon Germany Listing Contains New Sonic Mania Plus Info. TSSZ News. Retrieved on 1 April 2018.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Sonic Mania Plus article (Japanese). Famitsu. Enterbrain, Tokuma. April 2018. p. 25.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Sonic Mania official website (Japanese). Sega. Archived from the original on 12 May 2018. Retrieved on 27 April 2018.
- ↑ Sonic Mania Plus for PlayStation 4 (10 July 2018). Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ Sonic Mania Plus for Xbox One (16 August 2018). Retrieved on 6 September 2018.
- ↑ Sonic Mania Plus for Nintendo Switch (10 July 2018). Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ Sonic Mania for PlayStation 4 Reviews (10 July 2018). Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ Sonic Mania for Xbox One Reviews (18 August 2018). Retrieved on 6 September 2018.
- ↑ Sonic Mania for Switch Reviews (10 July 2018). Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ L. Patterson, Mollie (10 July 2018). Sonic Mania Plus review. Electronic Gaming Monthly. Retrieved on 10 July 2018.
- ↑ Leri, Michael (10 July 2018). Sonic Mania Plus Review – Blue-Tinted Glasses. Game Revolution. Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ Espineli, Matt (10 July 2018). Sonic Mania Plus Review - Encore! Encore!. GameSpot. Retrieved on 10 July 2018.
- ↑ Kemps, Heidi (10 July 2018). SONIC MANIA PLUS/ENCORE DLC REVIEW. Eurogamer. Retrieved on 10 July 2018.
- ↑ Carter, Chris (10 July 2018). Review: Sonic Mania Plus. Destructoid. Retrieved on 10 July 2018.
- ↑ Biordi, Jordan (10 July 2018). SONIC MANIA PLUS (NINTENDO SWITCH) REVIEW. Comics & Gaming Magazine. Retrieved on 10 July 2018.
- ↑ Franzese, Tomas (10 July 2018). Sonic Mania Plus Review — An Expertly Enhanced Physical Release for this Series Celebration. DualShockers. Retrieved on 10 July 2018.
- ↑ Anstadt, Nathan (10 July 2018). The best the Blue Blur has ever been — Sonic Mania Plus review. Gaming Trend. Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ Contreras, Paulmichael (10 July 2018). Sonic Mania Plus Review – A Mighty Ray of Hope (PS4). PlayStation LifeStyle. Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ Morgan, David (10 July 2018). Sonic Mania Plus Review. We Got This Covered. Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ Paley, James (10 July 2018). SONIC MANIA PLUS REVIEW – AN EXCELLENT ENCORE PERFORMANCE. COGconnected. Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ McGlone, Ed (10 July 2018). Sonic Mania Plus Review. Twinfinite. Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ Galizio, James (13 July 2018). Sonic Mania Plus Review. Nintendo Insider. Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ Whitehead, Thomas (11 July 2018). Sonic Mania Plus Review. Nintendo Life. Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ Hanson, Kyle (9 July 2018). Sonic Mania Plus Switch Review. Attack of the Fanboy. Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ Murphy, William (10 July 2018). SONIC MANIA PLUS – SWITCH REVIEW. GameSpace. Retrieved on 15 July 2018.
- ↑ CodeNameGamma on Reddit. Reddit (21 July 2018). Retrieved 24 July 2018.
- ↑ Hyper Potions on Twitter. Twitter (21 January 2018). Retrieved on 25 April 2018. "Had such a fun time at MAGFest, thanks again to everyone that came out for our set. We want to thank @crush40 again for performing with us, such an honor!!! Also, if you guys have been waiting for our new song w/ @itsQORA, it's coming out Tuesday!!!"
- ↑ Aaron Webber on Twitter. Twitter (16 July 2018). Retrieved on 17 July 2018.
- ↑ CodenameGamma (20 July 2018). "Vape Mode" Hidden Cheat Activated - Sonic Mania Plus. YouTube. Retrieved on 20 July 2018.
External links
- Official website (English)
- Official website (Japanese)