Now, all of the Sonic Mania Plus games came with a very nice holographic cover, a reversible Genesis/Mega Drive cover (sorry Xbox One buyers), and a 32-page art book covering many different details of Sonic Mania Plus’ story through development.

With all that out of the way, there is one particular thing we are going to be looking at, the art book. The book itself has very detail descriptions about Sonic Mania’s development from 2016 and how the transition from dedicated fan-game to mainstream game came to be. It is full of amazing concept art of characters and zones, but were not here to talk about that.

Hidden at the very end of the book, there is a line of Morse Code on the very top.

For those who can’t see the code:

– — –. . – …. . .-. –..– / .– . / .- .-. . / –. .-. . .- – . .-. / – …. .- -. / – …. . / … ..- — / — ..-. / — ..- .-. / .–. .- .-. – … .-.-.-

It is indeed filled with mystery. After consulting to the finest of Morse Code convertors on the internet, this is what the code translates to:

TOGETHER, WE ARE GREATER THAT THE SUM OF PARTS.

That’s a very odd quote to put on the back of an art book. After doing some more digging, it turns out that this is loosely based off a quote by famous Greek philosopher, Aristotle.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

― Aristotle

Not to get into too much philosophy here, but Aristotle is referring to synergy, and synergy is the cooperation of two or more organizations that put a combined effort that will be greater than the effects of the organizations themselves.

So tying this back to Sonic Mania Plus, this is basically telling everyone that none of this, the physical copy, would be possible without the help of the Sonic community and quite possibly, everything else that has happened within the Sonic community, such as a Sonic toaster being developed.

This is just a nice way of SEGA telling us thank you for the support we have given them over the past year. So how can we repay them, by playing Sonic Mania Plus.

And always remember: Fun is Infinite.

There will a number of presentations, including one by Sonic producer Takashi Iizuka, who will share more info about Sonic Mania Plus as well as other Sonic-related announcements. Various merchandise will also be sold at the event, so be sure to bring your wallets!

The event will be streamed on YouTube and Periscope, with links to the stream being shared at a later date.

Via Gematsu 

SEGA has officially announced that Sonic Mania Plus will be coming out on July 17th for all consoles. As stated in our previous article. The game will be a physically release, many which fans have pleaded for since the initial launch, and will feature old-school characters, Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel.

The case itself will hold a holographic cover as well as a reversible Genesis cover. It will also feature a 32-page book showcasing the concept art and screenshots during development. For those who purchased the original digital version of Sonic Mania on consoles and PC, an Encore DLC pack will be available for sale digitally on July 17 to upgrade to Sonic Mania Plus.

Here are some amazing screenshot from SEGA Press

In this week’s show we discuss:

• SXSW Sonic panel discussion
  • Sonic Mania Plus is getting a physical release with new characters this summer
  • SEGA is teasing a new Sonic racing game
  • Sonic Mania Adventures series announced at SXSW
  • ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ comic pre-order on SEGA Shop

News Stand

• SEGA Genesis Collection coming to PS4, Xbox One, PC this May
• Yakuza Kiwami 2 is Coming West

Listen now: [powerpress] Duration – 1 hr, 19 min. @ 38 MB
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We hope you enjoy the show!

The company sent us an email earlier today to clarify things:

“For all gamers who purchased the original digital version of Sonic Mania on console and PC, an Encore DLC pack will be available for sale to access the new features, with more details to come at a later date.”

What this means is that if you already own Sonic Mania, you’ll have to buy the DLC when the game releases. Of course, if you’re like us, you’re going to buy the physical version anyway, so you’ll be getting it anyway.

However, SEGA didn’t specifically state that the Encore DLC pack will include Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel, both of whom were announced as additional playable characters. We’ve reached out to SEGA to confirm this and will be sure to update this post once they’ve responded.

The Sonic Mania Plus physical version will include a 32-page collector’s artbook, a reversible SEGA Genesis cover and holographic packaging. The game will release on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch in both physical and digital versions, and on the PC digitally this summer.

It will be interesting to see if the new DLC will mark the return of the Sonic slot machines that were first introduced in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Casino Night Zone). Similar to real money slot machines like these, this gimmick could actually yield some neat rewards, up to 100 rings. The Sonic slot machines then became a recurring feature in later installments of the franchise, such as Sonic Adventure, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I and many more.