Sonic Mania's blend of classic stages and ROM-hack inspired originals created a mix tape of everything awesome, fast, and blue. The Encore DLC, released today as part of Sonic Mania Plus, embraces the mixing and matching that made the base game great.

I've played approximately two billion video games this year. Narrowing that list down to 10 was a painful and bloody process, but I finally managed to choose my favourite games from one of the most exciting years in recent memory.

In a recent interview with FACT magazine, The Thing director John Carpenter spoke of his history with video games, his music career and a speedy blue hedgehog.

The Sonic Amateur Games Expo is a yearly showcase of ROM hacks and fan games. This year's selection was full of gorgeous art, twisty levels, and new takes on the franchise's speedy gameplay. These projects are as artful as anything Sega makes and some are just as massive as any AAA Sonic game.

Green Hill Zone's loop-de-loops and tropical scenery make for one of the most iconic stages in Sonic The Hedgehog. Sonic Mania's version of GHZ adds new complications and complexity that's turned it into one of the game's most hotly contested speedrun courses.

The video game gods have been good to us in 2017, but that means there are way too many games to choose from. Take this quiz to find out which one you should devote your precious time to.

Moto Bug is the first enemy you ever encounter in Sonic. Is the series' Goomba, in other words, and there's one in Sonic Mania named after a member of the Sonic hacking community who died a few years back.

Sonic Mania is a lot of fun but one of its most exciting features is a dangerous string of bosses. Reshuffling and changing what Sonic can do adds a lot of danger to each encounter. We take a look at the boss design in this critical video.

Sonic Mania released on PC yesterday, bringing its colourful levels to even more players. However, many of them were inconvenienced by protection software that prevented them from playing offline. Sega has responded to concerns and fixed the issue following outcry from players.

Part of Sonic's charm is finding all the secrets in a level. But if you really want to find all the secrets, you have to go a step further.

I've seen some remarkably silly headlines surrounding Sonic Mania over the last week. None of them, mind you, was due to Sonic Mania being bad. The opposite, in fact.

Today on Highlight Reel we have existentially depressing Sonic clips, gun tricks, Battlegrounds depression, and much more!

Some might joke that the biggest surprise about Sonic Mania is that it was a good Sonic game. The game does have actual secrets, though, and they're really fun.

Sonic Mania may just be the best Sonic game in years, but it also seems broken in a small but annoying way on the Nintendo Switch.

Sonic Mania hides a few goodies, and this one in particular shows that SEGA knows exactly how to meme.

Sonic Mania is a celebration, a digitised block party of blistering speeds and bright worlds. Sega's decision to hand their famous mascot over to fan creators and artists has paid massive dividends, creating a game that is not just a welcome return to form but a raucous, delightful experience.

It takes a while, but if Sonic fans want a quick answer as to whether Sonic Mania is worth it, this video will do it.

What better way to get fans ready for some newfangled old-school 2D Sonic the Hedgehog action than some newfangled old-school 2D animation?

Were you enjoying the lull in game releases over the last month or so? Well, I have good (or bad, depending how big your Pile of Shame) news. It's over. Well and truly over.

Take this week as an example. There's the console release of Sonic Mania. StarCraft: Remastered finally launches. There's the Nidhogg sequel. Night Trap is back. Undertale is getting a console launch, as is Conan Exiles and Tokyo 42. Strap in, it's getting busy.