Have you heard of SegaSonic the Hedgehog? Unless you’re a huge Sonic fan, you probably haven’t. It was a 1993 arcade game that only came out in Japan. It had three players using trackballs to control Sonic and two new characters, Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. But thanks to Sonic Mania Plus, those character are coming back.
Sonic Mania Plus is a new version of last year’s retro 2D side-scroller. It is coming out for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch this summer. The packaged game includes Mighty and Ray as playable characters. The new content will also become available as an update to the original Sonic Mania. Sega has not released exact sales numbers for Sonic Mania, but Sega gave it credit for helping improve game sales for the first half of 2017.
Sonic Mania received a lot of love from fans and critics (including us) for capturing the look and feel of Sonic’s original side-scrollers. Plus will also include an Encore Mode (presumably some sort of New Game+ feature), four-player competitions, and a 32-page art book. The box also has a reversible cover that makes it look like packaging for a Sega Genesis game.
Although Mighty made one more appearance as a playable character in 1995’s Knuckles’ Chaotix, this is the first time Ray has had a significant appearance in the series since SegaSonic the Hedgehog. As a big Sonic nerd, I love seeing these two plucked out of obscurity and brought back to prominence.
