Sonic Mania also makes the most of modern hardware. It's a simple, easy-to-use move that finally puts Sonic on the same level as his sidekicks. Once on the ground, players can instantly change direction without coming out of the attack. Sonic Mania fixes that, giving the blue hedgehog a new 'drop dash' move that lets the player drop down from a jump into an accelerated, controllable spin-dash attack.

'Sonic had nothing.' Somehow, the game's titular character became its least versatile. 'Tails flies, Knuckles can glide and climb,' Sega's Aaron Webber told Engadget. It embraces the spirit of classic Sonic games while subtly improving upon almost everything - starting with the heroic blue rodent himself. Think of Sonic Mania as an evolved approach to how Christian Whitehead handled the Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and Sonic CD HD remasters. This retro Sonic throwback gifts its mascot with new abilities, new levels and incredibly smooth pixel animation. Mania doesn't just bring players back to the 16-bit era with classic graphics and gameplay - it adds to it. I'd seen the trailers and indeed, it looked like a grand homage to franchise, but I was surprised to find that the game is more than that. When Sega invited me behind closed doors to get an early look of Sonic Mania at GDC last month, I wasn't expecting much.

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