Sonic Mania is now four years old, which may not be a huge landmark but, well, this Sonic-nerd wants to celebrate it anyway. It is the game, after all, that reminds players old and new that, actually, there's more to Sonic than 'alright' 3D platformers.
Created by a group of small developers and super-fans with SEGA's blessing (and actual financial backing, to be fair), it was the first full 2D retro-styled Sonic game in a couple of decades when it landed on assorted systems, including the Nintendo Switch. We described it as 'Sonic back to his best' in our review and, well, this scribe stands by that.
A little later we had the DLC expansion / re-release of Sonic Mania Plus, which added new modes and additional playable characters to round out what was already a strong package; that edition had a much-requested physical release too.
Naturally the Sonic account has celebrated the occasion with some awesome artwork, and we've also thrown in an older tweet from Christian Whitehead featuring some photos of the development team.
There's been no real sign of a follow-up and it doesn't appear to be on the cards, though SEGA has Sonic Colors Ultimate on the way soon.
Let us know if you're a Sonic Mania fan and if you haven't played it yet… get on that.