Here’s a fun topic to bring up among your video-game-loving friends, Sonic the Hedgehog. I can already tell that you’re rolling your eyes and groaning, and for good reason. For a minute here, let’s go back a bit to when Sega released the Genesis. The Super Nintendo was a huge hit and Nintendo practically turned anything it touched into money with a virtual Midas touch, people lost their mind over the mere thought of a 16-bit console, and the world saw the advent of a certain blue blur.

Stemming from the games that put everyone’s favorite hedgehog on the map such as Sonic 1, 2, 3, and Sonic Adventure 1 & 2, we haven’t been so lucky in recent years. While we did get some of the best installments in the series, we’ve also gotten a lot of trash. For every rare, incredible game in the series like Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, and Sonic Unleashed, we got a game of more than questionable quality ranging from the dreaded and WIDELY hated Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric to the even more hated, infamous contender for the worst game of all time, Sonic ’06. None of the fans were sure what exactly Sega was on when they made those games, but clearly they’re clean of whatever it was, now, and it’s all because of the most recent redeeming installment in Mr. “You’re too slow!’s” tarnished legacy. Enter, Sonic Mania.

Throughout Sonic’s lifespan as a video game icon, ever since his days of being the Pepsi to Mario’s Coke, people instantly fell in love with three games in particular: Sonic 2 and the two Sonic Adventure games. Anything after that was of questionable quality, and the fanbase began to turn against this flagship mascot. Because of this, everyone has been begging Sega to just make another 2D Sonic game like 1-3 and Sonic & Knuckles, or a 3D adventure game just as good as Adventure 1 and 2. Many were mostly failed attempts to keep the series fresh and original, but it wasn’t until now that Sega finally heard our prayers that the Sonic series be redeemed, and it’s purely a love letter to the fans.

Sonic Mania is the return to the side-scrolling speed-demon’s 16-bit roots where the plot remains as simple as it once was: Dr. Robotnik, I mean, Eggman, has been enslaving animals and turning them into robots; seven Chaos Emeralds, get them back; become Super Sonic, you know the drill if you’ve played any of the original games. The controls don’t feel a day over June 23, 1991, and you can even control not only Sonic, but Tails or Knuckles in this game. As per the usual, the only difference in using the other two is that Tails can fly and Knuckles can glide and climb walls.

I seriously can’t get over how fast he goes in this game. Sure, it’s not as fast as Sonic Unleashed made him go, but it’s just the right amount. Even the graphics are a beautiful blend of 16-bit familiarity and a nice paint job of fresher, more vibrant colors to make everything pop, more. The appreciation that I have for the design and the music is off the charts. Speaking of which, the music consists of the funk-heavy, bass-y tracks that the Genesis was known for, and Sonic Mania recaptures the essence of it beautifly.

The game is absolutely worth the money, especially with how cheap the game is already. As someone who managed to get their hands on the collector’s edition of the game, I don’t regret a single cent. If you’re bored, want to play a GOOD Sonic game, and are a bit strapped for enough cash to get the biggest new release, I’d point you to this game. Hopefully, this is the start of the new age of really good Sonic games without as much pessimism.