Sonic Mania Cheats And Secrets Guide: Unlock Mean Bean Machine, Super Sonic, And More!
Warning: The following article contains some non-story-specific Sonic Mania spoilers. Sonic Mania [...]
Unlock Time Attack and Competitive Multiplayer
The first, and easiest unlocks in the game. Time Attack is exactly what it sounds like, and the Competitive Multiplayer is a split-screen race based on the mode from Sonic 2. These two new modes will join the main menu after you beat Sonic Mania's first stage.
prevnextUnlock Sonic 3’s Insta-Shield and Sonic CD’s Super Peel Out
Two favorite special moves from the past return, replacing Sonic's new Jump Dash ability. To unlock these, just get a single Silver Medal in the Blue Sphere bonus stages. To use them, enter Mania Mode from the main screen, select the "No Save" options from the file select screen, then press the Triangle Button (or whatever the "top" button is on your controller) to select which cheats you want to activate.
prevnextUnlock Knuckles Mode
Playing off the "& Knuckles" meme, you can now have Knuckles be your tagalong character instead of Tails. This even works if you're playing as Knuckles -- double the echidna! Like the special moves, Knuckles mode is unlocked by collecting Blue Sphere Silver Medals, then toggling the mode on after selecting "No Save" from the file select screen. Knuckles Mode is the second Blue Sphere unlock.
prevnextUnlock Mean Bean Machine
Yup, as mentioned, you can unlock a full version of Mean Bean Machine, aka the classic Sega puzzle game Puyo Puyo. While it doesn't have the wacky 90s cartoon branding of the original Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, it does have multiple difficulty levels and multiplayer. Like everything so far, this is accessed by collecting Blue Sphere Medals – this is the third unlock you'll get, and is accessible through the "Extras" menu.
prevnextUnlock Debug Mode
Every retro Sonic the Hedgehog game needs to have a debug mode! This lets you place items wherever you want, explore the boundaries of levels, and generally mess with the game. You know the drill by now – this is unlocked with Blue Sphere Medals. This is the last such unlock in the game.
prevnextUnlock Super Sonic and the True Ending
Anybody who's played through a classic Sonic game before probably knows this one – in order to get the game's real ending and play as Super Saiyan-style Sonic, you'll have to collect all 7 Chaos Emeralds and finish the game. Pretty straightforward, although not exactly easy!
prevnextUnlock the Level Select Menu
The most straightforward way to get the level select menu is to simply beat the game, although there's a sneakier way – the catch being, it only works on the Nintendo Switch. Simply hold down the B and Y buttons on the main menu, and the game will reset, and when you start the game again, you should be able to select your level. Again, this doesn't seem to work for Xbox One or PS4 – an issue with Achievements perhaps?
Phew! And that's it – all the Sonic Mania unlockables we know about (so far). I'm sure more will be discovered as hardcore Sonic fans continue to pick the game apart! You can check out WWG's full review of Sonic Mania here.
prev