Were Those Sonic Mania 2 Cancellation Rumors Ever Confirmed?

[ChaosXVI]

So back in 2017, Sonic Mania released to near universal acclaim. Developed largely by a handful of cream-of-the-crop Sonic fans with Sega's backing, they got to update the game a year later with a physical release, 2 new characters, and some extra goodies and tweaks to make the game a 100% complete package. Sega released some short animations to follow up the game alongside the physical release in 2018, and that seemed to be that…it seemed glaringly obvious that a sequel of some kind would come…

…fast forward a few years, and no word of Mania 2 ever came. What did come were a few rumors that there was some kind of falling out between the Mania team and Sega. No one on the dev team ever confirmed this that I've been able to find. I remember seeing a video of Simon Thomley where he mentioned their pay being shockingly low after an unrelated Kickstarter failed. But considering they went on to help work on the Sonic Origins version of Sonic 3 and Knuckles, it doesn't seem like the bridge was burned.

In 2021 there was some supposed "insider" called Zippo (remember them?) claimed to have heard that Mania 2 was indeed cancelled due to bad blood between Sega and the Mania team, but I recall that person made a bunch of other bold claims that they couldn't back up and so their credibility is dubious, and I've not seen any other concrete info elsewhere.

Anybody heard anything on this that I haven't? Do you want some kind of Mania 2 or other type of successor to Mania? I've played through it no joke, probably more than 100 times in the nearly 6 years (!!!) since it came out and I just…need more.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

There has been no official confirmation one way or another and there probably never will be.

God, I wish we could have Mania 2, though. I love the original so damn much.

 

[SNRUB]

Zippo's claims were a bunch of bull. They're not credible.

 

[MGPanda]

I don't think I've ever seen Zippo be right about anything.

 

[Neoxon]

Zippo isn't a reliable source, best to ignore him.

 

[Marmoka]

I guess they have been working on Sonic Origins and that's why there is no Mania 2.

 

[Brake]

SEGA might have a new 2D title in development, but I doubt it will have the whole Mania team involved, after all most of them moved to form a new studio and are working for quite some time on their own new IP.

 

[Tansut]

Aren't some of the Sonic Mania devs helping with Origins Plus?

 

[TheKupoxBooper]

Everytime I hear Zippo mentioned I wanna punch that Mega Man helmet off that person's head. The fact that some people use him as a source is just awful.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

There was no falling out.

There is no bad blood.

Sonic Team and Iizuka were not jealous of Mania or its success like so many like to swear by here, and in fact Mania would flat out not exist if it weren't for the support and collaboration from Iizuka/ST's end. This is not aimed at you OP, but this jealousy remark comes up in almost every "where's Mania 2?!" discussion, when it's actually an incredibly rude and disrespectful assumption to BOTH teams by those who parrot it.

Sega simply never requested to green light a sequel. That's it. No sexy break up or zesty falling out.

the end.

As for "leaving money on the table" by not doing a Mania 2, I always look to Tyson Hesse's reasoning on the matter which is likely the logic as to why Sega chose not to green light a sequel on the topic of Classic Sonic:

FYI, to respond to an earlier comment I am not involved in this show. I've been in the loop about it but don't have the bandwidth to be a part of it right now. But for what it's worth I probably wouldn't have chosen to do a classic show anyway. Sega is never going to return to classic wholesale, and the split isn't doing this franchise any favors. The goal should be to just make Modern stuff good enough that people don't need to reminisce anymore. imo.

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[AuthenticM]

was Zippo Era's Verendus?

 

[Stalker]

As for "leaving money on the table" by not doing a Mania 2, I always look to Tyson Hesse's reasoning on the matter which is likely the logic as to why Sega chose not to green light a sequel on the topic of Classic Sonic:

FYI, to respond to an earlier comment I am not involved in this show. I've been in the loop about it but don't have the bandwidth to be a part of it right now. But for what it's worth I probably wouldn't have chosen to do a classic show anyway. Sega is never going to return to classic wholesale, and the split isn't doing this franchise any favors. The goal should be to just make Modern stuff good enough that people don't need to reminisce anymore. imo.

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My opinion is that that ship has already sailed and they're is 100% now 2 different Sonic franchises running alongside each other.
Classic and Modern, Mania and Origins are awesome additions, I expect they're cost effective to produce too and Sega should spin off a department to continually pump out those types of experiences.

Especially given how bad modern sonic has been for a long time despite glimmers of hope here and there

 

[steviestar3]

Headcannon is working on Sonic Origins Plus releasing later this year so the idea that the bridge has been burned between Sega and them is dumb.

 

[pswii60]

There was no falling out.

There is no bad blood.

Sonic Team and Iizuka were not jealous of Mania or its success like so many like to swear by here, and in fact Mania would flat out not exist if it weren't for the support and collaboration from Iizuka/ST's end. This is not aimed at you OP, but this jealousy remark comes up in almost every "where's Mania 2?!" discussion, when it's actually an incredibly rude and disrespectful assumption to BOTH teams by those who parrot it.

Sega simply never requested to green light a sequel. That's it. No sexy break up or zesty falling out.

the end.

As for "leaving money on the table" by not doing a Mania 2, I always look to Tyson Hesse's reasoning on the matter which is likely the logic as to why Sega chose not to green light a sequel on the topic of Classic Sonic:

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That reasoning is BS. Nintendo still does 2D takes (ok not pixel-art though) on their franchises, and their 3D games are a hell of a lot better than 3D Sonic.

 

[Aaron]

That reasoning is BS. Nintendo still does 2D takes (ok not pixel-art though) on their franchises, and their 3D games are a hell of a lot better than 3D Sonic.

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Yeah, if the New Super Mario Bros. series can run concurrently with the 3D Mario titles (not that they've released one in a while, though you could argue Mario Maker replaced it), there's no reason Sega can't keep making throwback 2D Sonics to supplement the 3D releases.

I think people get way too hung up on the notion that the modern and classic Sonics have to be explicitly different characters. Mickey Mouse isn't drawn the same in every cartoon he's in, kids really aren't going to be that confused if Sonic has green eyes in one game and black eyes in another.

 

[Shard Shinjuku]

Sega never greenlit a sequel, which is it own and different brand of oversight.

 

[Synohan]

Everything Zippo has said was a lie.

 

[HardinBuffalo]

Was there anything Zippo said about Frointers that lined up with the actual game? There are lots of confirmed leaks about the game going back to 2019 so if he was saying stuff that went against all that then that really makes him dubious.
On the other hand I remember him giving Sega's reasoning for not doing another Mania and it distressingly resonates with that Tyson Hesse quote, it was the same post I believe where he claimed Sonic Team was just going to make a 2D game instead or have someone like Dimps do it for them. It might sound outlandish but it's absolutely par for the course in Sega's handling of Sonic, Mania could have been their best selling game of all time and they'd still shrug it off somehow.

 

[Roliq]

Yeah, if the New Super Mario Bros. series can run concurrently with the 3D Mario titles (not that they've released one in a while, though you could argue Mario Maker replaced it), there's no reason Sega can't keep making throwback 2D Sonics to supplement the 3D releases.

I think people get way too hung up on the notion that the modern and classic Sonics have to be explicitly different characters. Mickey Mouse isn't drawn the same in every cartoon he's in, kids really aren't going to be that confused if Sonic has green eyes in one game and black eyes in another.

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I mean would help if Sega stopped being ridiculous by literally having them divided

 

[criteriondog]

Zippo isn't an insider, and when he gets called out he gets incredibly defensive and quite rude. Also, one time on his blog after he posted a "leak" that ended up being wrong, he removed the post and acted like it never happened.

Dude piggybacked off other insiders/journalists too, who were credible, and would word them as his own. He's legit the only "insider" who makes me frustrated when I see their "rumor/leak" posted on a game site. Fortunately gamingleaksandrumours call out his stuff whenever someone posts it.

As for Sonic Mania 2, no, there has never been a confirmation of anything.

 

[Qwark]

I just read Zippo's 2022 predictions, they got almost everything wrong lmao.

 

[Aaron]

I mean would help if Sega stopped being ridiculous by literally having them divided

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100%, not really sure why they started doing it considering even a year before Sonic Generations we had this

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[Ryuman]

Probably a load of bull like seemingly most of Zippo's rumours. BTW Zippo blamed producers at SoA, not the extremely stupid idea that Sonic Team was jealous which some people ran with. Stealth publicly called out Sega post-Origins and Headcanon still came back to work on Origins Plus.

Mania was a one-off celebration made through special circumstance. Sega took advantage of that and warped Classic Sonic into Forces. Then Mania had a small expansion. Then it had a run of short cartoons. Later there were even post-Mania IDW comic stories. Honestly that whole sub-brand was fairly capitalised on in the end. Sega just didn't want to pull the same trick twice so soon. Since then Sonic Team had been real busy with Frontiers. In the meantime projects like Colours Ultimate, Team Sonic Racing and the Prime cartoon filled the pipeline.

And of course, the plan for Origins eventually came together. This has not only given the Classic Sonic brand another little soft-reboot, but we also now have the new lore team to rebuild everything. That's your Mania sequel in a way. They probably could've fit another game between then and Origins but I wonder if they lacked the creative bandwidth (Not to mention the hit and miss states those other games released in). I do think the series could do with more, smaller titles that aren't on a phone. 'The Murder of Sonic' is sorta proof of that desire for more, different Sonic content.

 

[Virtua King]

That wasn't real. I'm just holding out hope that whenever Evening Star is done making their 3D game, they come back and do another 2D Sonic (it doesn't have to be a literal Mania 2) for the 35th or *sigh* 40th anniversary.

 

[G_Shumi]

1. You can't cancel a game that was never in production.

2. Don't believe Zippo.

 

[Aaron]

1. You can't cancel a game that was never in production.

2. Don't believe Zippo.

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tbh the fact that Zippo claimed it should actually be proof that it was never in development.

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

No, it was never confirmed because it was never true. I find it so frustrating how some rando online that has never gotten any "leak" correct can just make up some random bullshit and it sticks for years after because people like to imagine drama.

When Sonic Mania was coming out there were a lot of people asking "why not port the original games in this quality?" "where is the Sonic 3 mobile version" "please port the mobile versions of 1 and 2", etc. And the answer given was more or less that such a project would take time and they opted to create a new game instead, so we got Mania instead of 3&K. But they clearly heard the clamoring because... Sonic Origins is a thing. That's what the Mania devs moved on to next, Origins.

Not all of them, to be fair, Whitehead for example left to form his own studio and start up his own IP that he's still working on, but if there is any reason involved in that choice beyond wanting to make his own thing, we'll likely never hear of it. And given the fact that other Mania devs moved on to Origins, I'd really hope we could finally put to bed the rumors of bad blood and jealousy and whatnot. Hell, Stealth made some splash talking about Origin's issues at launch and SEGA is still working with him on Origins Plus. They aren't THAT petty.

 

[Chumunga64]

there is no bad blood between the mania and sonic team. In fact, I'm pretty sure the mania team has nothing but praise for Izuka for being crodial

it's just that mania was a perfect storm of talent and after it shipped, everyone just went off on their own

 

[andymcc]

Zippo lol

 

[Xwing]

Mania 2 (perhaps not in title but in spirit) will happen eventually, probably as another anniversary game, and HOPEFULLY with all original level themes/aesthetics (The best levels in Mania are Studiopolis, Press Garden, and Mirage Saloon).

After Mania 1, based on the very limited evidence there is, there was not a desire on either end to immediately jump into development on a sequel, instead, opting for other projects.

As many others in the thread have pointed out, SEGA and the Mania devs are still on good terms, Origins Plus is coming out in a month or two.

 

[Dooble]

While I would disagree with SEGA having an overt grudge against the Mania team, in the end there is a feeling of Sega preferring to do it right by themselfs. It's why Origins was a a package that was done overall by Sonic Team, with all the missions, UI etc. rather than having it all done by Headcannon.

 

[Mesoian]

While I would disagree with SEGA having an overt grudge against the Mania team, in the end there is a feeling of Sega preferring to do it right by themselfs. It's why Origins was a a package that was done overall by Sonic Team, with all the missions, UI etc. rather than having it all done by Headcannon.

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And why it was bad.

 

[Rahkeesh]

I'd probably have a bit of a grudge after Stealth publically shitted on my company. But I guess Sega doesn't have a lot of options if they wanted to finish Origins plus.