Is Sonic Mania Plus the best Sonic game ever? Well – let’s come back to that. It’s certainly the highest reviewed Sonic game in the last 25 years, which is amazing news. Check out this tweet from the official Sonic the Hedgehog Twitter account…

Tough to argue with! A perfect 10/10 from CGMagazine, and a staggering 9.5 from Dualshockers and EGM. I wonder what the 0.5 deduction was for?? Anyway, this is all encouraging stuff for the expanded version of Sonic Mania, which came out last week. As for the “25 years” bit – the last Sonic game that reviewed so well was Sonic CD which, incidentally, EGM gave 9/10 at the time, so apparently Sonic Mania Plus is half-a-point better. Jolly good!

Sonic Mania – for those of you who have yet to play it – is a Megadrive-inspired 2D side-scroller which offers a new spin on classic levels from Sonic’s heyday, as well as a number of new worlds such as Mirage Saloon and Titanic Monarch. In the game, Sonic is joined by his friends Tails and Knuckles, as well as two ‘new’ characters – Ray and Mighty – who open the doors to a wealth of play styles and some palm-sweatingly competitive multiplayer experiences.

Oh, and here’s another fun fact I unearthed in a dark corner of the internet: 52 per cent of Sonic Mania Plus’ sales were on the Nintendo Switch, followed by 34 per cent on the PS4 and 15 per cent on the Xbox One. Interesting!

So is Sonic Mania Plus the best Sonic game ever? Well, there’s no denying it’s pretty darn great. For me, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic Adventure will always be the shining jewels in the franchise’s crown, but I’ve had so much fun with Sonic Mania and I really hope the talented Christian Whitehead and co. (the developers) put their heads together for similar titles in the future.

My only regret is that this game leaned so heavily on the Sonic adventures of the past; I would feel even more proud of my favourite hedgehog if Sonic Mania had stood on its own two feet. That being said, there’s enough originality in the re-purposed versions of Green Hill / Chemical Plant etc. to distinguish them from their Genesis counterparts.

What do you think of these review scores? Is Sonic Mania Plus the best Sonic game ever? And let’s have a vote – which platform are you playing on? I’m curious. (PS4 for me.)

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