Despite some of the criticisms I have towards the game (more reused zones than new ones, glitches, some cheap deaths), I greatly enjoy Sonic Mania. I've played through it multiple times and I've bought it twice, once on the PS4 and again for my recently purchased Switch. The game has been well received both by fans and critics. So the question on my and everyone else's mind is, why hasn't Sonic Mania gotten a physical release?
I've noticed a trend with 2D console Sonic games in recent years: they only get a digital release. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 Episode I and Episode II was released only digitally. While Sonic Mania fared much, much better than Sonic 4, it was still regulated to digital only status. However, SEGA did give Sonic Mania a pretty slick special edition release that costed three times that of the digital game. That Sonic statue and Genesis replica did cost SEGA money to make so it isn't as if expense of some kind was spared. Sonic Forces, which releases is November, is looking like its going to be a pretty solid game (in spite of Classic Sonic and Green Hill Zone returning for the millionth time) and it is getting a physical release.
It isn't like SEGA had no faith in Sonic Mania. They gave the game a lot of hype and attention before it released and the game has done tremendously well. I honestly can't fathom why SEGA wouldn't give such a highly praised and top selling game a physical release. Heck, they even went through the trouble of having insrtruction manuals for the game printed and given away at this year's SDCC event. These things now sell for insane prices online because people suck.
Shovel Knight, one of the best examples of why crowd funding isn't all bad, released digitally in 2014 and was a huge success for Yacht Club games. So much so that in 2015, they released a physical version of it, complete with a pretty beefy instruction manual. Buying games over again is hardly anything new and of course the fans went out and supported the physical release of Shovel Knight because they desperately wanted it for a long time. The demand for a physical copy of Sonic Mania is definitely there and I love for SEGA to package it with that manual. Come on and make it happen, SEGA.
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