Sonic Mania: 11 Easter Eggs & References You Need To See

4. Sonic 3's Alternate Intro

Even the introduction of Sonic Mania is a headtrip, mainly because if you're like me, you read about how the game cherry-picks various levels from the iconic original trilogy, to then deliver them at random.

As such, when I fired up the game's Mania Mode and was booted into Sonic 3's opening, it was a bit of a head-spin.

Thankfully, all of this is intentional, as Mania starts with the same iconic beach landing scene, only for Robotnik's goons to steal the Chaos Emeralds, rather than Knuckles.

From here you're plunged into a series of broken universes as you retrieve the jewels across time, allowing Sega and Headcannon to drop you in wherever they like.