History Heartwarming / SonicMania

** Heck, the original Splats, same model and all, appears in Debug Mode (within Green Hill Zone) as a placeable enemy!
* A meta example that also doubles as a SugarWiki/{{Awesome Moment|s}}: [[https://twitter.com/sonic_hedgehog/status/880834856330043393 Naoto Ohshima]], [[https://twitter.com/sonic_hedgehog/status/889549948961738752 Yuji Naka]], and [[https://twitter.com/Yasuharah/status/897703474577760256 Hirokazu Yasuhara]] [[ApprovalOfGod have each given their support and praise to the game's development and success.]] To be praised by the franchise's original trio of creators that made the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis trilogy you worked so hard to recreate in your own game is nothing short of a great honor.
* 25 years ago, a very obscure arcade game came out called ''VideoGame/SegaSonicTheHedgehog'' which gave Sonic two friends - Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Outside of ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' and ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', Mighty only showed up in ''VideoGame/KnucklesChaotix'' and both were dumped into the world of obscurity. Then, on March 16, 2018, it was revealed that ''Sonic Mania Plus'' would bring these two lost friends for the first time in decades, with Ray getting his very first 2D sprite ever.
** Furthermore with the Special Stages being in 3D. It would also technically mean the pair's 3D model debut at that! As well as being able to go super no doubt.
** Ray's redesign deserves a special mention. He was given blue shoes instead of the red shoes in his debut. It's a minor change, but it was done likely because ''Archie Sonic'' itself gave him a redesign with blue shoes. This is worth noting because this came less than a year after ''Archie Sonic's'' cancellation. In that sense, it's a neat tribute. Ian Flynn himself gave the redesign his approval, even.
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUhuOwwD4n8&feature=youtu.be The reveal trailer.]] It starts with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles at the end of ''their'' trailer, before a sketched-in Mighty forces the elevator door back open with a look that screams "didn't forget about ''me'', did you?" with Ray just waving to his old friends as if no time had passed. Sonic happily recognizes his old cohorts and shakes hands with the armadillo, giving them full color again. The trailer ends with Knuckles and Mighty brofisting, and Tails and Ray just chilling out together. Sonic's in the middle of the group, smiling as he knows the gang's all here.
** In Encore Mode, rather than lives, your ability to keep playing is determined by how many characters you have with you (moving through the party each time the primary character is felled until you have none left and have to burn a continue to keep going). Having the whole team together is a warm, fuzzy feeling, even if you can only control two of them at a given time.

* After ''Puyo Puyo Tetris''[='=]s rave success, to actually have a fully playable remake of ''VideoGame/DrRobotniksMeanBeanMachine'' as a boss fight, as well as unlockable mini-game, in a tribute game such as this shows SEGA does remember that ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' made Sonic great as well.

* 25 years ago, a very obscure arcade game came out called ''VideoGame/SegaSonicTheHedgehog'' which gave Sonic two friends - Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Outside of ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' and ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', Mighty only showed up in ''VideoGame/KnucklesChaotix'' and both were dumped into the world of obscurity. Then, on March 16, 2018, it was revealed that ''Sonic Mania Plus'' would bring these two lost friends for the first time in decades, with Ray getting his very first 2D sprite ever.

* 25 years ago, a very obscure arcade game came out called ''VideoGame/SegaSonicTheHedgehog'' which gave Sonic two friends - Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Outside of ''ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog'', Mighty only showed up in ''VideoGame/KnucklesChaotix'' and both were dumped into the world of obscurity. Then, on March 16, 2018, it was revealed that ''Sonic Mania Plus'' would bring these two lost friends for the first time in decades, with Ray getting his very first 2D sprite ever.

* [[http://info.sonicretro.org/Polygon_Jim Polygon Jim]] was a well-known and prolific member of the Sonic fangames community, who tragically died in a car accident in 2013. Among his projects was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGlC-YVFvQY "Motobug the Badnik in Sonic the Hedgehog"]], in which a slow-moving Motobug replaced Sonic as the playable character in [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 Sonic 1]]. The badnik had a ridiculous telescopic wheel that fully extended whenever it jumped. In ''Sonic Mania'', the Heavy Rider constantly rides on a Motobug. When you finally battle it as Sonic or Tails in Lava Reef Act 2, it sometimes jumps over you using that same telescopic wheel. And if one bothers to read the game's digital manual, they'll find out that the Motobug has a name: Jimmy.

[[caption-width-right:350:Team Sonic rejoice, like the good old days.]]

* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA9zwpMj_8A opening animation]] is very cheerful and full of colorful, spunky character from the three protagonists. The music is also pretty uplifting and it sets the mood of "Yeah! Sonic's back! Just the way you remember it from when you were a kid!"

** In Encore Mode, rather than lives, your ability to keep playing is determined by how many characters you have with you (moving through the party each time the primary character is felled until you have none left and have to burn a continue to keep going). Having the whole team together is a warm, fuzzy feeling, even if you can only control two of them at a given time.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUhuOwwD4n8&feature=youtu.be The reveal trailer.]] It starts with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles at the end of ''their'' trailer, before a sketched-in Mighty opens the curtains with a look that screams "didn't forget about ''me'', did you?" with Ray just waving to his old friends as if no time had passed. Sonic happily recognizes his old cohorts and shakes hands with the armadillo, giving them full color again. The trailer ends with Knuckles and Mighty brofisting, and Tails and Ray just chilling out together. Sonic's in the middle of the group, smiling as he knows the gang's all here.