I'm a huge Sonic nerd. I played the original Genesis classics, but after the switch to 3D and the god-awful Sonic 4, I lost interest with the game franchise, so you can imagine my excitement when a new 2D adventure in the style of the classics was announced. I immediately went to Steam to pre-order the game, as I knew there could be no way that Sega would ruin this concept, besides, it was only £13.49.
The day before, August 14, I went to check Steam, and to my utter dismay, this is what I read:
"Gotta go slower: Sonic Mania delayed on PC."
Well, I could always just refund and get it on Switch or PlayStation 4. As I clicked Support, a notification appeared, flashing in red, telling me that I'm too slow. Huh. Whatever, I'd try the next day when it came out on console and see if I can it refund then.
The next day, to my surprise, the game was there, fully downloaded. I went to the Community Hub and no-one there is mentioning the game coming out? I went to post, but the same notification appeared, flashing in red, telling me that I'm too slow. Huh. Under hours played, it said I had played for 666 hours.
"Tacky..." I said to myself, "But whatever keeps the story moving along, I guess."
I clicked on play. The Sega scream sounded, and it went to the title screen. The first thing I noticed that was out of the ordinary was when I pressed enter, there was a split second when the cartoon, fun-loving style twisted into something more sinister. As it was only quick, so I can't recall much detail, but the screen was more red, the waving embalm fell, and Sonic looked upset.
It was 2 am, so I thought that I was just imagining things. I selected Mania Mode and continued through the game. Angel Island opened and Tails was flying Sonic in the tornado through the vast ocean, similar to the opening from Sonic 3, but it crashed and I heard hyper-realistic screaming. Then it went to Game Over, then to Green Hill.
Green Hill Zone was supposed to be an island paradise, but this was the opposite. The palm trees, jagged mountains, and the beautiful bright blue lake in the background that I saw in the trailers were not there. Instead, it was a large and dense forest area in a slightly mountainous region, filled with lush, tropical and colossal trees at the size of skyscrapers. It was not what I was expecting, but maybe this was just a Beta version that was leaked a couple of weeks early. As I played through it more, the mini-boss wasn't there. For the third time, the same notification appeared, flashing in red, telling me that I'm too slow. Huh. I thought the game had glitched, like most Sonic games do, but as it turned out it was part of the game. I jumped on top of the message and it changed.
"Aaron..."
"I gave this copy to you."
"You bullied me in school."
"Now you must pay."
"-Christian Whitehead (formerly known as Dex Bowman)"
No... I couldn't believe it. Christian Whitehead was a Sonic nerd I used to bully in school called Dex Bowman. He must've changed his name... I immediately shut the PC down and downloaded it on Switch. The same thing happened. It was half past two in the morning, I was probably dreaming this...
And I was.
I woke up and played it on the Switch. It was pretty good. Would recommend.