You can tell Sonic Mania’s been made by fans of the franchise, can’t you? The new Special Stages are like a nostalgia overload, as they fuse elements of every 16-bit era Sonic game into one. Essentially your objective here is a little like in Sonic CD: you need to catch the UFO. But eagle-eyed fans will notice the spheres from Sonic 3, and even some of the imagery from Sonic 1’s pinball-style special stages. There’s even a touch of Sonic R to the low-poly animations that we’re sure isn’t coincidental.

Here’s the thing, though: the Blue Spheres are back as well. These are being billed as bonus stages, and while it doesn’t sound like they’ll be required for Chaos Emeralds, completing them will reward you with bonuses like extra lives and so on. Oh and if all that’s not enough, SEGA has also confirmed that there’ll be a Time Attack mode in the full game. Just a couple of weeks to go now, folks.

[source youtube.com]