Sonic Mania Will Revisit Sonic & Knuckles' Flying Battery Zone

At this year's SXSW convention, Sega made a number of Sonic-related announcements, including a short delay from Spring to Summer. They also revealed a new area for the game, again pulled from previous games in the series.

The panel began with a brief look at Sonic's 2016 year-in-review, filled with the lighthearted in-jokes the Sonic The Hedgehog twitter account. The group then moved on to talk about the latest news for Sonic Mania, including a new group of enemies, bosses, and levels. After teasing the silhouettes of some of the bosses coming to the game and showing off the pieces of the game's special edition, before showing the first trailer for Sonic Forces, they showed off one of Sonic Mania's returning levels, the Flying Battery Zone from Sonic & Knuckles.

The short trailer showcased the degree to which Sonic Mania hews closely to the original Sonic games, while showing the game off at a higher (albeit still pixelated) resolution. You can watch the full trailer below.