Sonic Mania Plus, the expanded edition of last year’s retro-style platformer, will launch on July 18, Sega announced. Alongside the release date for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One game, the company released a very good new trailer that features some very good new animation from everyone’s favorite guy, Tyson Hesse.
You’ll remember Hesse as the artist behind the original Sonic Mania’s most memorable trailer, which revamped Sonic, Tails and Knuckles to look far more anime than we’ve seen them in years past. Hesse has since continued to illustrate the characters for short films and comic book covers, to our delight.
The Sonic Mania Plus trailer marks the animated debut for two other characters: Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. These old-school guys are Sonic’s friends from way back in 1993; they premiered in SegaSonic the Hedgehog, an arcade-only Sonic the Hedgehog game. While Sega previously announced that they’d be playable in Sonic Mania Plus, this is the first time we’ve seen them in action in several years. (Ray the Flying Squirrel hasn’t been in a Sonic game for more than a cameo since his debut, in fact.)
Sonic Mania Plus will also have new features like updated time trials and an Encore mode that changes up level layouts. People who already own the original Sonic Mania can buy the Encore mode content separately for $4.99. Look at some hot, fresh new screens below.
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Sonic Mania Plus
Sega
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Sonic Mania Plus
Sega
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Sonic Mania Plus
Sega
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Sonic Mania Plus
Sega
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Sonic Mania Plus
Sega
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Sonic Mania Plus
Sega
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Sonic Mania Plus
Sega
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Sonic Mania Plus
Sega
