We don’t usually do hot takes, but this is a story that we felt we needed to tell
as soon as possible.
Last night, after we got Baby Gamer to sleep, Kotor and I stayed up to do some cleaning
and tidying, because we’re parents, and that’s how we roll.
Almost immediately, Kotor got distracted – a Tweet from Tyson Hesse reminded him of the
South by South West Sonic the Hedgehog panel, and so he attempted to tidy the living room
and the kitchen while also watching the livestream on his phone.
The panel was hilarious.
I regularly heard squeals and chortles from Kotor as he reacted to the many fakeouts and
meme references that dotted the presentation, as well as his excited response when the Sonic
Mania 2D cartoon he’d been expecting got announced.
Sonic Mania Plus in particular seemed like a godsend.
We recently bought a PlayStation 4 (which we’ll discuss a little in an upcoming video),
and Kotor had been considering buying Sonic Mania again for console.
All week, Amazon ads have been teasing Kotor, as they draw his attention to the collector’s
edition for the game.
Kotor has no use for a big Sonic statue, but it’s been hard to resist the appeal of a
physical release of sorts for the game.
Sonic Mania Plus, then, meets that need with a package that’s far more appropriate.
The idea of new, extra game modes and, in particular, new characters, makes this even
more exciting.
When two new mystery characters were mentioned in the panel, it seemed logical that Amy Rose
would be one of them – after all, she’s the only other classic Sonic character from
before the Dreamcast era that could be included, right?
Turns out, nope, Sega is going obscure with new Mania characters, plucking out Mighty
the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel from an old arcade game, SegaSonic the Hedgehog.
This was exciting for Kotor, who’s been waiting to see Mighty return ever since he
was mysteriously left out of Sonic Heroes over a decade ago.
Mighty was a big part of the British Sonic the Comic series, and he was one of Kotor’s
favourites as a child.
That said, in the wake of this announcement, it’s hard to ignore the big problem at the
center of Sonic Mania Plus.
In overlooking Amy Rose as a playable character, the developers behind Sonic Mania Plus are
missing out on an opportunity to pander directly to their most important fan: our daughter.
Baby Gamer is a big fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, and she’s a big fan of pink.
It’s completely logical, then, that her favourite character is Amy – particularly
the classic Amy design from Sonic CD.
We’re not exaggerating here, Baby Gamer loves Amy with a fiery passion.
Often, she’ll sit for hours at a time watching the ending animation from Sonic CD on YouTube,
just to get a brief glimpse of Amy.
This character has had very little presence in the 2D Sonic series, but it’s enough
to capture our daughter’s heart.
You might wonder what the big deal is about having Amy as a playable character in Mania.
She’s shown up in plenty of other games, so why shouldn’t this celebration of Sonic’s
history instead focus on some blast from the past characters?
For our family, Amy is important.
She’s one of the few female characters in the Sonic franchise; a series of games that’s
filled with colorful characters, but which has only a few, occasionally used female characters.
This isn’t just a Sonic the Hedgehog problem.
Without delving too deeply into the discussion surrounding women in gaming, it’s worth
noting that Baby Gamer’s favourite game on the SNES Mini is Mario Kart, because it’s
the only one that lets her play as a princess.
We even did a poll recently among you guys on the channel’s community tab, looking
for good games that involve playing as a princess.
It turns out there are very few of these, and while you guys provided some excellent
suggestions for games that we should try out, it’s clear that there aren’t enough funky
platformers that will allow Baby Gamer to indulge her princess obsession.
As an aside, if we ever make a game, which we’ve considered as a hobby project, it’ll
be about a princess saving the day.
Sometimes, you just want to save the day while wearing a pretty dress!
All is not lost for the possibility of Baby Gamer playing Sonic Mania as Amy Rose.
Thankfully, mods for the game exist that will allow us to make this dream come true, as
they also exist for other Sonic games on the Genesis.
Still, it would be nice for Sega to recognize this important part of the classic Sonic mythology,
and provide an incentive for a younger, female audience to embrace this game.
We’re not trying to be overly negative here.
In truth, the purpose of this video is simply to add our voice to the fantastic Sonic the
Hedgehog fan community.
It’s clear from the South by South West panel that Sega is happy to listen to fan
feedback surrounding their games.
This being the case, we’d love to encourage the team behind Sonic Mania Plus to consider
giving Amy at least some love in the updated game.
If Ray the Squirrel deserves a moment in the spotlight, then it’d be great to have Amy
somewhere in the game, for fans of the bright pink hedgehog.
In the meantime, we’re all going to be watching the sneak peak of Sonic Mania Adventures on
repeat.
Some of us have been waiting a long time for more 2D animated Sonic fun!