Out of all the Sonic games that deserve to be put through the wringer for criticism, Sonic Mania Plus is the least likely. There’s a good reason for that, as the game pretty much offers a perfect experience for fans of all players. But that isn’t stopping the team at Honest Game Trailers from giving it a shot.
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The latest episode in the series focuses on Sonic Mania, but it isn’t nearly as brutal as, say, its treatment of Crash Bandicoot from last year. Instead, it starts out with the narrator talking about the developers “of some of your favorite miscolored animal mascots,” and how they won over fans by “basically just making a Genesis game.”
“After years of failed reboots, spin-offs and generally ducking the good name of Sonic face first into an outhouse, watch as Sonic Team finally just gives up entirely and lets fans make the game for themselves, as Sega pulls a dastardly trick that either gets them a genuinely good Sonic game or let’s them say, ‘See, harder than you thought, huh?’ and go back to making Sonic kissing the ladies for another 15 years. Luckily it ended up being the first one.” Yep, they talked about Sonic kissing human girls.
It also does away with “the awkward 3D, unearthly melodrama and try-hard-cool-guy attitude” and replaces it with “a mercifully mute Sonic that never has anything to say about chili dogs or Internet memes.” And “features gameplay that blends the familiar look of the Genesis games with the unforgiving mechanics of the Genesis games that will have you running, jumping and collapsing into a perfect sphere, obsessively collecting gold things, rescuing captured critters and getting sucked into a series of tubes until you inevitably run into some spikes and spill all your spaghetti.”
Oh, yeah, and there’s a shout-out to the Puyo Puyo boss battle with Dr. Robotnik. Because of course there is.
It’s pretty fun to watch, and, again, pretty fair compared to other Honest Game Trailers. It’s definitely got some praise, which it deserves compared to other games in the series. (Looking at you, Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric.) You can watch it above, then pick up Sonic Mania Plus for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC.
