Why Didn’t Sonic Mania 2 Happen?

Sonic Mania, which was released in 2017, became a huge success for the Sonic franchise. It was so successful that it appeared inevitable that the Blue Blur would develop a sequel in collaboration with Christian Whitehead and PagodaWest Games. It never came to pass. Takashi Iizuka as well Christian Whitehead both asked us what became of Sonic Mania 2, but it never happened. 

Headcannon worked with Sonic through Sonic Origins 2022 and Sonic Origins Plus 2023, while Whitehead, along with fellow Sonic Mania creators, founded Evening Star in 2018. Evening Star’s first title, Penny’s Big Breakaway is due to be released in 2024.

Sonic Mania

Sonic Superstars will be released in June 2023 instead of Sonic Mania 2. Sonic Team (headed by Naoto Ohshima’s Sonic co-creator) and Arzest are the developers. Sonic Superstars feels like an extension of Sonic Mania’s 2017 achievements, with updated visuals, Emerald Powers that are exclusive to the game, and new zones. Many wondered, however, why Sonic Mania 2 never materialized. It seemed like it could have been a slam dunk success.

Zippo, a 2021 gaming insider reported that Sega was unable to reach an agreement with Sonic Mania’s developers. Iizuka, while not directly commenting or confirming that report, confirms that Whitehead and he spoke after the release of Mania.

“There was a period after the development of Sonic Mania when we worked with them to consider concepts for the next generation of Classic Sonic,” Iizuka says. It’s a shame that the game didn’t get finished. Superstars has brought us the next generation Classic Sonic we had discussed.

Sonic Superstars

Iizuka’s and Sonic Team’s desire to get away from pixel graphics in their next title for the Classic Sonic Series is a big obstacle. He says that when you create a 2D title using pixel-art, it’s hard to avoid targeting a core group of people. We wanted this game to be available to the widest audience possible. To achieve that, we used 3D assets. “We know the core Sonic fan wants the classic look. They want to feel the classic Sonic. We focused on the controls and making the game look like a classic Sonic.”

Whitehead supports this story by recounting his own account of the events. He says that when he founded Evening Star it was his goal to go beyond 2D graphics and into 3D, as well as create a brand-new original IP. “Evening Star did work with Sega to explore possible directions Classic Sonic could go after the success of Sonic Mania. Sonic Mania 2 wasn’t developed, but we agreed to try and make something different, like hand drawn 2D or even 2.5D. Evening Star, which was working on our Star Engine at the time, also made a prototype of a Sonic game that explored depth and 2.5D. We then came up with some new gameplay ideas as well.

Evening Star then began working on Penny’s Big Breakaway after the initial planning session and mutual agreement to forgo development. “As Iizuka-san said, though, [Evening Star] did not continue to full production on the game, at which point Arzest took the helm and made Superstars alongside Sonic Team,” Whitehead says. We moved ahead with our plans for developing an original 3D game, and that is of course Penny’s Big Breakaway. Our team can’t wait to get their hands on Superstars when it is released.

Penny’s Big Breakaway

Whitehead has also dispelled one of the most popular rumors among Sonic fans, that the cancellation of Sonic Mania 2 is due to bad feelings between Sega’s executives and the members of Evening Star. Contrary to rumors we have a good relationship with Sega, and I hope that fans will be excited to play the games when they are released,” Whitehead says.

Whitehead, his team and their influence on Sonic Superstars are all evident. Christian talked to us about a lot of things, including how we could make a game with graphical depth that wasn’t just pixelated. Don’t repeat the Mania practice of recycling stuff. Iizuka describes the moment when the idea of creating a new game with brand-new levels was born. But then, everything stopped,” he says. When we started Sonic Superstars, we already had a few conversations with Christian in mind. We also began creating a game in a similar spirit of “Let’s create something brand new” and “Let’s not make it pixel.”

Sonic Mania 2 was a major influence on the development of Sonic Superstars. Iizuka says, “I did not expect the level of support and success that Sonic Mania would receive.” This success gave us the chance to consider the next generation Classic Sonic, which led to Sonic Superstars. Sonic Mania made us aware that Classic Sonic was still popular and wanted by fans.

Sonic Superstars

On Twitter, Whitehead provided further confirmation that he approves of the work being done on Sonic Superstars, with one retweet about the game’s physicsThe thumbs-up symbol is the only emoji that appears in this search engine. another tweet stating‘Will be able to comment on this more when the time is right, but Mania physics have been fully translated into 3D.

Despite Whitehead’s confirmation that this work was done, Iizuka says the programming is completely unique to Sonic Superstars, created from the ground-up by Arzest. Iizuka asserts that the team did not just refer to Mania but also Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic 3 and Mania while creating Sonic Superstars. “The game was created from zero – from absolutely nothing – but we were still looking at all those four Classic games and creating physics that are going to match and feel like what the Classic series needs to be, from scratch. These four games were the ones we looked at when we talked about Classic Series and the way we referenced the physics.

Sonic Superstars is not the Sonic Mania 2 many expected or hoped for, but rather a spiritual sequel. Sonic Superstars’ physics are similar to those of Sonic Mania, and many other Classic Sonic titles. However, it has modern graphics and features. Sonic Superstars will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S (PS5), PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Switch this fall. Visit our Sonic Superstars exclusive content hub below to learn more.