Digital Foundry Analyzes Sonic Mania on All Platforms, Which Version Is Best?

Digital Foundry has pushed out a highly anticipated analysis of Sonic Mania on all three platforms, four if you include the PS4 Pro! Sonic Mania is a game that we’ve been looking forward to since the mid-90s, and many of us are multi-console owners, so it’s imperative that we learn which console offers the best experience! As you’ll see from the video above, pretty much any platform is a great platform for Sonic Mania, and only one version offers of any significant advantage.

That version is the PS4 Pro version. Sonic Mania offers up a few different display options, one of which is a “pixel perfect” mode. On the PS4 Pro, Sonic Mania will render at a perfect, native 4K, and still maintain its rock-solid 60fps performance. If you have a PS4 Pro and a 4K TV, then this is a next-gen retro Sonic experience that simply can’t be missed. Playing through a classic 2D Sonic game at native 4K sounds dreamy, and apparently it’s even better than we could have hoped. If you have a Pro, don’t discount the 4K advantage.

Otherwise, performance is comparable across the board. Whenever a multiplatform title comes to the Nintendo Switch we always expect that version to cut a few corners — you know, because it’s about 15% the size of a PS4 or Xbox One — but we see that the Nintendo Switch version maintains performance parity even at 1080p. The one exception is in a few bonus stages, during which some slight slowdown can be detected by those sensitive to inconsistent frame rates. This will very likely be patched soon, though, since there’s nothing at all in those bonus stage sequences that would push the Switch’s hardware to its limits.

So there you have it. If you haven’t realized already, everyone freaking loves Sonic Mania. This Digital Foundry analysis turned into more of a passionate review of the game, and we can’t say we blame them. You can find WWG’s full Sonic Mania review right here. Check it out, and then download this game! You won’t regret it.