Sonic Mania, your best bet for a retro-style Sega platformer, releases in August
Sonic Mania - the one built by fans, for fans - is nearly here.
Sonic Mania, to refresh you, is a sort of official fan game, developed by former fan remix creators now given Sega's go ahead to put together a professional package of all-retro Sonic action.
It's one of two major Sonic projects Sega announced last year, and if you're a fan of old school Sonic, Sonic Mania's probably the one you're most interested in. (If you're slightly younger and into the whole cartoon and DeviantArt Sonic-sonas thing, Sonic Forces is for you.)
And now, at last, it's nearly here: Sega has opened pre-orders for Sonic Mania, and whacked an August 15 release date on it. It's coming to PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch, by the way.
The good news for those of you a little taken aback by the Sonic Mania Collector's Edition's $70/£80 price tag is that Nintendo Everything Sonic Mania will only cost $20 or regional equivalent if you pick up the bog standard digital edition.
The terrific trailer that accompanied the release date announcement features art from Tyson Hesse, probably as close to an official retro Sonic illustrator as we'll ever see named given his regular work on the comics, and new music from Hyper Potions. It bodes well for Sonic Mania that these new materials gel so well with the classic assets, hey.