40 Fun Facts About Sonic Mania

Sonic Mania's composer cited which pop star, long linked to the Sonic 3 soundtrack, as a 1990s influence?

Michael Jackson's music was among the 1990s pop that shaped the score, alongside older Sega soundtracks such as The Revenge of Shinobi.

Which checkered tropical level from the 1991 original Sonic the Hedgehog opens Sonic Mania as a remixed first zone?

Green Hill is the only stage in the game taken from the very first Sonic, and its new second act adds caves, ziplines and a mountain backdrop.

In Sonic Mania's special stages, what must players chase down to win each of the seven Chaos Emeralds?

A UFO carries each emerald around a pseudo-3D track, echoing the UFO-hunting special stages of Sonic CD.

On which console's download chart did Sonic Mania hit number one at launch, outselling Minecraft on the same system?

Nintendo Switch owners sent it to the top of the console's download chart at launch, and the game went on to pass one million copies across all platforms within a year.

Which new move in Sonic Mania lets Sonic charge a spin in midair and roll away fast on landing?

The Drop Dash was designed with newcomers in mind, so players could keep their momentum on slopes instead of stopping to charge a spin dash.

Which character, absent from Sonic Mania's playable cast, stars in the holiday bonus episode of Sonic Mania Adventures?

Amy Rose got her own December 2018 short because the makers could not find a natural place for her in the five main episodes.

Which mysterious gemstone, dug up by Eggman's robots, gives the villains their reality-warping power in Sonic Mania?

The Phantom Ruby returned later in 2017 in a 3D Sonic adventure, where it powers a mercenary villain called Infinite.

Metal Sonic is the boss of which Sonic Mania zone, a night-time city with acts set in the past and the present?

Stardust Speedway comes from a 1993 Sega CD adventure, and its robot boss was reworked in a 2018 update to echo his look in Knuckles' Chaotix.

Which streaming company published the 2024 iOS and Android release of Sonic Mania Plus through its games service?

Netflix offered the game to its subscribers from May 2024, in a mobile port built by Lab42, a studio owned by Sumo Digital.

In Sonic Mania's opening, Sonic and Tails fly to investigate a strange energy reading aboard which biplane?

The Tornado is later knocked out of the sky over a desert level by one of Eggman's robots, a magician who works in disguise.

Which Sonic 2 zone returns in Sonic Mania as a polluted industrial level that is set ablaze for its second act?

Oil Ocean catches fire once its first boss is beaten, and the heroes arrive there by being fired out of a giant revolver.

Which world from Sonic CD, home of the Metallic Madness factory, does Eggman take over again in Sonic Mania?

Little Planet vanishes in the true ending, just as a wormhole swallows Sonic and carries him off.

Which Puyo Puyo-style puzzle game starring Eggman does the Chemical Plant Act 2 boss fight in Sonic Mania recreate?

Mean Bean Machine was itself a Western reskin of a hit puzzler from 1991, and a full two-player version can be unlocked as an extra.

Which Hollywood-themed level was the first original zone designed for Sonic Mania, built to impress Sonic Team?

Studiopolis takes its name from the American company that dubs the series into English; Opening Night and Fame Plaza were the backup names.

Which hero added in Sonic Mania Plus can slam the ground and shrug off spikes while curled into a ball?

Mighty the Armadillo was picked for the expanded edition because he had so rarely been playable, and levels were altered to suit his moves.

Which checkerboard-globe special stage from Sonic 3 returns in Sonic Mania as a bonus stage reached from checkpoints?

Blue Sphere stages award silver or gold medals, and collecting enough of them unlocks extras such as a debug mode and a sound test.

Sonic Mania's lead developer, a fan-game maker known online as Taxman, comes from which country?

Australia is home to the programmer, who first pitched himself to Sega in 2009 with his own demo of an old Sonic game running on an iPhone.

Sonic Mania Plus added a new bonus stage set inside a giant table for which arcade game?

Pinball stages borrow their look from the bonus rounds of Sonic Spinball, and a round ends when the ball-shaped hero slips past the flippers.

Act 2 of Press Garden Zone in Sonic Mania is a snowy temple garden styled after which country's architecture?

Japan's rapid industrial growth in the Meiji era was an influence on the level, whose first act is a printing house where Eggman churns out propaganda.

Which feature added in Sonic Mania Plus replays the adventure with altered levels and a reworked lives system?

Encore Mode is set after the ending of the main game, and its special stages are harder than the ones in the standard Mania Mode.

Which fan-game programmer, hired by Sega to remaster early Sonic games for phones, led the development of Sonic Mania?

Christian Whitehead won the job by showing a playable prototype to Sonic Team's producer after only a few months of work.

Which Sonic Team producer saw the first Sonic Mania prototype and suggested filling it with remixed classic levels?

Takashi Iizuka also gave the game its title, a working name that stuck because nobody came up with a better one.

Which composer, first known for Sonic remixes on YouTube, wrote the soundtrack of Sonic Mania?

Tee Lopes was born in Portugal and went on to write music for Streets of Rage 4 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.

Which Archie Comics artist led Sonic Mania's animated opening and later redesigned Sonic for the 2020 film?

Tyson Hesse first got noticed for a viral Sonic fan comic, and he wrote and directed every episode of Sonic Mania Adventures.

Sonic Mania runs on which custom software, first built by its lead developer for a 2007 fan game?

The Retro Engine is tailored to pixel art and palette tricks in the style of 16-bit and 32-bit consoles, with widescreen support added on top.

Mirage Saloon Zone in Sonic Mania is a Wild West desert modelled on which real region of the United States?

Monument Valley's mesas shaped the scenery, while the idea itself came from a desert level that was dropped from a 1992 Sonic game.

Which zone, the last regular level of Sonic Mania, is the secret base of Eggman and the Hard-Boiled Heavies?

Titanic Monarch is named after the huge mech at its centre, and its second act takes place inside the machine itself.

Which secret final zone of Sonic Mania can Sonic enter only after collecting all seven Chaos Emeralds?

Egg Reverie is a purple void where Super Sonic battles both Eggman and one of his own rebel robots for the gem.

The Hard-Boiled Heavies of Sonic Mania began as elite versions of which Eggman robot from the 16-bit Sonic games?

EggRobo units were transformed when the gemstone they dug up warped them, giving each one a costume and a personality of its own.

Which member of the Hard-Boiled Heavies betrays Eggman in Sonic Mania's true ending and seizes the gemstone for himself?

The Heavy King wears a red cape to mark his rank as leader, and Eggman has to fight him to try to win the gem back.

Which Sonic Mania opening theme by Hyper Potions was reused in the prologue of the 2020 Sonic the Hedgehog film?

Friends plays over the hand-drawn intro, while the reveal trailer used a different track, Checkpoint, made with Nitro Fun.

At which July 2016 fan convention did Sega announce Sonic Mania during a 25th anniversary party for Sonic?

San Diego Comic-Con hosted the reveal, and a year later visitors to the same show were handed a promotional instruction manual for the game.

Sonic Mania's visuals aimed for a quality between the 16-bit Genesis and which later Sega console?

The Saturn comparison meant mostly hand-drawn pixel art with a few polygon graphics, plus an optional filter that imitates an old tube TV.

Eggman's robots dig up the gemstone at the start of Sonic Mania in which floating land guarded by Knuckles?

Angel Island is also where the 2018 expanded edition begins, as Sonic lands there and meets two extra playable heroes.

The two heroes added in Sonic Mania Plus both debuted in which trackball-controlled arcade game from 1993?

SegaSonic the Hedgehog has never been rereleased, which helped make its two co-stars rarities for a quarter of a century.

In Sonic Mania, the knightly Heavy Rider charges into battle on Jimmy, an oversized version of which classic badnik?

Jimmy the Motobug is named in tribute to a late member of the Sonic hacking community, whose own hack made that enemy the playable star.

Which giant mech, built by Eggman in his own image, is the boss of the opening zone's second act in Sonic Mania?

The Death Egg Robot was designed for a 1992 sequel, with a look inspired by the machines of the anime Armored Trooper Votoms.

Which independent studio, home of programmer Simon Thomley, co-developed Sonic Mania alongside PagodaWest Games?

Headcannon returned in 2022 to help Sega remaster the 16-bit Sonic adventures for a new compilation.

Which 2024 yo-yo platformer was the first game from Evening Star, the studio founded by Sonic Mania's developers?

Penny's Big Breakaway runs on a 3D rebuild of the technology behind the hedgehog's 2017 hit, and it shares a composer with it too.

Which anti-piracy software in the delayed Windows version of Sonic Mania led angry players to review-bomb it?

Denuvo was blamed by some players for the two-week delay, while Sega said a launch-day offline problem was an unrelated bug and patched it a day later.