Christian Whitehead, the director of Sonic Mania and the person responsible for its engine, gave an interview to Eurogamer about the game's development. He revealed some interesting information, including what defines the "Sonic" series.
Whitehead said the following about it:
"Sonic is interesting. There are many different fans, and they all have different feelings about what Sonic means to them. So I can only use my own opinion of what Sonic is, and for me it has always been... Obviously, the character has a very appealing design and is quite iconic. For gameplay, there are many pinball influences — all those outside elements — it is almost like skateboarding, the idea of gaining speed while going down curves. Everything is in the interactions with physics."
"The game's basic premise is quite simple — just reach the end of the stage and win — but there are so many different ways you can interact with the stages, gain speed at certain angles, and jump at certain angles. It feels like a playground. Going fast feels great — and during the Mega Drive era that was a very impressive technical achievement — but the freedom in gameplay is also what interests me as a Sonic fan."
He was then asked whether he would be interested in trying his hand at 3D games, and he had this to say:
"3D interests me a lot as a game developer. It presents a different world of design challenges. The retro aesthetic is something I do very well because, when I was younger, it was much easier to develop 2D games since I only used the computer my family had. But to make a 3D game you need a larger team, although I am personally very interested. I would definitely do it."
Sonic Mania Plus is available for current platforms: Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Steam.
