Louis Hughes’ Favorite Games of 2017
Sonic Mania (Switch)
Developers: Christian Whitehead, Headcannon, PagodaWest Games, SEGA of America
Publisher: SEGA
Words could not explain how ecstatic I was when Sonic Mania was revealed during Comic Con of 2016. I learned the game was being made by Christian Whitehead, who made fan-made Sonic games of such good quality that Sega took notice and hired him. I had this game as my “Most Anticipated for 2017.” The moment you boot the game up with the classic “SEGA” sound chip you are in for a treat. Coming from someone who grew up with the Nintendo/Sega rivalry, this game could’ve been a lost Sega Saturn game because that’s how legit it felt. I stated in my review the only fault was the Switch Pro Controller not having a good D-Pad. That has been changed, since I have the Pokken Tournament Controller and that D-Pad works much better. Not to mention, the Switch version having a bug where the game would get stuck if you want to go to the home menu has been fixed via patch.
Thanks to positive word of mouth, I’m hoping Sega would put his team (Christian Whitehead) on working with other dormant Sega IPs. Also as a wake-up call to have fans make games with the approval of the company instead of a cease and desist. After all, fans are the reason for your success, so why not give back by showing how much they support you.
