#SONIC MANIA PLUS XBOX ONE X SERIES#

Mighty also appeared as a member of Chaotix, so I’m not sure if I can call him a new character. Iizuka: Mighty and Ray appeared as main characters together with Sonic in the 1993-released arcade game SegaSonic the Hedgehog. When I learned about their appearance, I recall thinking “It has come to this!” Since Sonic Mania is all about things that stimulate expectations and curiosity from fans, as a result of thinking about what could we add to make things more exciting, we decided to add Mighty and Ray as new characters. Iizuka: We thought about elements that would make fans happy.

We currently don’t have any plans as far as what’s next for the series. Again, those who purchased the original game can acquire the paid-DLC “Encore Pack” and they’ll get everything that comes with Plus. Since we were going to increase the price, we figured we could contribute with some added value. Sonic Mania was originally available only digitally at a lower price to reflect that, however going physical meant added costs, so we couldn’t release it at the same price. Iizuka: No, we had a problem releasing the physical version. We had such a feeling of gratitude for everyone, we decided to go with a physical version. However, after release we had many fans say “We want a physical version!” Considering the older fans, I thought they would like to line it up next to all the other physical versions up until now. So you guys had to abandon a physical release at one point? Iizuka: Sonic Mania started out as a digital-exclusive project, but during its development we had people from the office say “We also want to release a physical version.” However, making the change to go with a physical version halfway through was a problem for the production line, and it would’ve changed the overall schedule, so we had to give it up. As for Sonic Mania Plus, how did its development start out? So it was met with favorable reception around the world. Again, up until the end of last year people had trouble acquiring Nintendo Switches around the world, so there seems to be some cases where folks finally got a hold of the hardware and are downloading the game. Moreover, physical games tend to sell a lot on its release day but then we often see it take a big drop afterwards, I’m not sure if it’s because Sonic Mania was a digital title, but its sales didn’t drop even after its release day. We’ve even had some people say “It’s the best game!” and we are most grateful about that.

#SONIC MANIA PLUS XBOX ONE X SERIES#

Takashi Iizuka, series producer: After its release in August 2017, its reception has been better than we could imagine. I heard fans from North America and Europe shared some exuberant support where it was favorably received. Series producer Takashi Iizuka talked about that and more in a recent interview with Famitsu.įamitsu: Before we get into the meat of it, please tell us about the reaction after the release of Sonic Mania. The addition of Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel for Sonic Mania Plus was a big surprise for old school Sonic fans.

Sonic mania plus xbox one x