Sonic Mania Will Be Getting Some Nostalgic Bonus Stages

We’re less than a month away from speeding along with the 2D style Sonic Mania from Sega, and during San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, the publisher revealed yet another piece of the puzzle, a glimpse of what we can expect from the bonus stages for the game – and they’re overflowing with nostalgia.

The bonus stage design was revealed for the first time during a special Sonic Mania panel, and they will be very similar to the 3D stages found in both the Sega CD and Sega Saturn stages, where you run around in 3D areas while picking up rings and avoiding obstacles.

In addition, the team also noted that the cutscenes for Sonic Mania will share inspiration with the design of Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles, so fans of those games will easily recognize a similar art style with them.

You can check out a look of the image in the tweet below, which was posted by the Sonic Stadium. While it is just a still shot, it gives an idea of what to expect from the stages, and they’ll mix in nicely with the 2D action that the game will provide over its many old-school stages.

There’s also video of the announcement above, and it’s great to hear the crowd reaction, even from just the screenshot. (Thanks, Sollux Captor!) On top of that, though, we’ve also posted the soundtrack sample that will be playing during the bonus stages, titled “Special Stage (Dimension Heist)”, and, like the rest of the game’s soundtrack, it’s pretty inspired stuff.

There was a surprising amount of focus on Sonic Mania during the show, though Sonic Forces got a little love as well, as Sega debuted a new trailer for the game right before San Diego Comic-Con started, introducing a new adversary in the form of an odd-looking hedgehog named Infinite. Both of these games should be pretty well received by Sonic fans when they arrive over the course of the rest of the year.

But there’s something about Sonic Mania that will certainly dial in the nostalgic vibes players have come to expect from Sonic over the years. Players can check it out for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC and Nintendo Switch when it arrives on August 15th.