Mid-Week Review: Sonic Mania Plus

I was positively glowing in my reaction to Sonic Mania last year. In fact, I would have happily called it my favourite video game of 2017. Had Nintendo not put out what might be the best Legend of Zelda game they’ve ever produced. It goes without saying I’d be excited to play an expansion to the game that adds new characters and features, aptly named Sonic Mania Plus

For every good thing to be said about Sonic Mania, the highest praise I could ever give it was the obvious love and care for the franchise that went into making it. It was made by people who “get” what fans actually want out of the franchise, mostly because it was made by people who were fans themselves.

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The Mini Console Bandwagon

Video game preservation is an important topic when it comes to the retro space. The industry is producing more video games now than ever before, and thanks to the digital and online nature of how we access the majority of modern games, there is a baked in solution to preserving all of the dating sims and shovelware than Steam has to offer.

It’s when you look back at the games of the earlier days of the industry, when you feel a sudden urge to play some obscure childhood favourite from the PS1 or TurboGrafx-16 that you realise you have no idea how to play those games today. If you didn’t manage to hang onto a still working original console, you’re short on luck. Or are you.

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Looking Back At : Digimon World

Back in 2001 there was a war. One between two titans of children’s entertainment, both trying to outdo one another. This was, of course, the war between Digimon and Pokémon. Okay, let’s be honest, it was less of a war and more of Bandai desperately trying to keep up with Pokémon huge success. And right in the middle of this war was me, happily enjoying both franchises simultaneously, because even back then I knew that brand loyalty was dumb.

Spawned from the Tamagotchi-like virtual pets, Namco decided to make a game to compete with the likes of Pokémon Red/Blue/Green, which gave us a game I was both fascinated and flummoxed by; Digimon World. To this day, have such fond memories of the game, and going back to it always felt like something I needed to do sooner or later. Would it be something I’d end up regretting?

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