Sonic Mania is a game packed with references to classic Sonic games and other Sega series. While some callbacks to previous games are obvious, there are a handful that go pretty deep into Sega and Sonic fandom. A lot of these references might go over your head unless you’ve been scouring Sonic fansites for decades on end, as many involve unused content from the Genesis games that fans and hackers have dug up from the ROMs and early game design documents. To help showcase just how deep the rabbit… er, hedgehog-hole goes, we’ve highlighting several Sega and Sonic references scattered throughout the game, ranging from mildly to incredibly obscure. You might be surprised at just how deep the inspiration for Sonic Mania runs!
Once You Pop...
The Studiopolis Zone is chock-full of references to various Sonic and Sega games. Here’s one for you: a machine labeled “SegaSonic Popcorn Shop.” This is based on a real machine that cooked the tasty treat for you as you watched Sonic battle Eggman over delicious popped goodness.
The real-life inspiration for the SegaSonic Popcorn shop in Studiopolis Zone.
(Image credit: Sonic Wikia)
DAYTONA!
Sonic’s not the only Sega game about going fast. There are some references to Sega’s much-beloved Daytona USA throughout Studiopolis acts one and two. First off is this truck that will beam you around the level, marked with “Hornet High-Class”: a bit of text seen on the car of the same name from Daytona.
LET’S GO AWAY!
Daytona's iconic Hornet in action.
DAYTOOOONAAAAAA~!
In addition, this giant lottery machine bears a “Gallop” logo--another design seen on the venerable Hornet. And the enthusiastic announcer for the competition mode? None other than the vocalist behind Daytona’s amazing soundtrack, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi.
Club Sega
Studiopolis also has some interesting background imagery. “Club Spin,” seen here, is a take on the “Club Sega” arcades seen across Japan, right down to the font used in the logo. The “Pink Bot” neon signs you see throughout are based on similar signs from Streets of Rage.
Ode to Spring Yard Zone
And the weird graffiti on the subway trains? “CPU” and “COPE” aren’t just random words--they’re also neon messages seen in the original Sonic the Hedgehog’s Spring Yard Zone, one of Studiopolis’ strongest inspirations.
A Game Gear
Take a look at this TV monitor next to tails. Does that three-color oval logo beneath the screen look familiar? If you have an old Sega Game Gear lying around, take a close look at it!
To Be This Good Takes Slogans
Sonic, along with some catchy advertising slogans, were Sega’s biggest weapons against Nintendo during the console wars. You’ll see several familiar phrases of the day scattered across Studiopolis acts 1 and 2 that you might recognize if you grew up in the 90s.
Studiopolis act one features an LED sign with a scrolling message that says:
TO BE THIS GOOD TAKES AGES
TO BE THIS GOOD TAKES SEGA
While this is probably very familiar to our UK readers, North American players might be left scratching their heads. That’s because this was the slogan of Sega UK’s advertising campaign during the height of the Mega Drive’s popularity there.
Genesis Does..
But then there’s the opposite. In Studiopolis 2, you can flip some letters out to spell:
GENESIS DOES
This is part of Sega’s early slogan pushing back against Nintendo’s near-monopoly; “Genesis does what Nintendon’t.”
The Next Level
Finally, there’s another batch of letters that, when flipped, spell out WELCOME TO THE NEXT LEVEL, a well-known Sega slogan from the early-mid 90s.
Special Secret Stage
In Sonic Mania, you unlock features through the Blue Sphere stages. Several of these Blue Sphere stages are based on classic patterns from Sonic 3 and Sonic and Knuckles, but the final stage in the Blue Sphere gauntlet is based on an obscure secret. By selecting “07” in the Sonic 3 stage select sound test, then holding “A” as you pick the “Special Stage,” you’ll unlock a secret--and extremely difficult--special stage map. The final Blue Spheres stage in Sonic Mania is based on this map with some minor revisions--here are rings where some spheres would be so you can actually get a Perfect on the level-- but it’s still as tough as ever!
The Goggles, They Do Nothing
When you begin a game as Sonic, you’ll see Tails in a cute little aviator hat flying you to Angel Island. But if you begin as Tails, you’ll see Sonic sporting some funky yellow goggles. What’s the deal with this fashion accessory? Well, Sonic fans who have dug deep into the code and graphics of the original Sonic the Hedgehog found a power-up monitor containing an icon for goggles--and the graphics for the yellow goggles themselves, which fit perfectly over Sonic’s sprite.
Speculation is that the goggles were planned to help Sonic during the game’s underwater sequences, but were ultimately scrapped. Fortunately, Sonic Mania has given us the (brief) opportunity to appreciate Sonic’s underwater specs, though in a different context.
Victory Lap
Sonic’s jumping celebration at the end of a round has its roots in content cut from the original game, as well. Early screenshots showed Sonic doing a victorious jump at the end of a level, and the sprites for this animation are still in the game data.
Bouncing Bunny Boy
Who’s this rabbit? His name is Splats, and he’s an enemy that’s been a mystery to devoted Sonic fans for decades. Splats was first showcased in promotional material for the original Sonic, having appeared in media like trading cards and comics, and was even made into a figure. But the funny thing is, Splats was never in an actual game. His graphic data is’s in the Sonic 1 ROM, but his coding was never completed.
(Image credit: Twitter, @Sonic_Hedgeblog)
Bouncing Bunny Boy Reborn
But here the bunny enemy is in the Press Garden Zone, finally utilized! He’s a basic foe, but he’s a cutie--he hops around and leaves splats of ink where he hops, and spawns infinitely from jars scattered throughout. He can also be occasionally seen in the trash heaps of Flying Battery.
He's On Fire!
Being able to torch the spike bridges in the Green Hill Zone with Sonic’s Fire Shield is a fun little novelty, but the idea for Sonic’s literal bridge-burning actually goes back as far as Sonic 2.
Fireproof
In design documents, we can see an idea for an enemy that torches bridges and unveils new areas for Sonic to explore.
Early ROMs of Sonic 2 that have leaked out onto the internet even have remnants of burning bridge graphics buried in their code. It’s nice to have the opportunity to play with fire after all these years!
Image: Sonic Retro
Rolling start~!
Like the classic Sonic games, Sonic Mania has a debug mode--though you unlock this one by collecting medals in the blue sphere stages rather than entering a code. One of the objects you can find is this checkered ball. But this object has a long history: it was first seen in early screenshots of the original Sonic the Hedgehog--and even described in media previews--but was nowhere to be seen in the finished game. It was also visible in that game’s debug mode, but couldn’t be placed in the stage.
Image credit: Sonic Retro
Keep Rollin'
Now, however, you can place it in the stage, and even play around with it by pushing and riding on top of it. What’s especially funny, though? It’s still not present in the actual stage.
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