The GHZ Forum

Christian Whitehead recently announced the formation of Evening Star a new studio which is made up of the Mania Team. They'll be making games using the Star Engine which is an evolution of the Retro Engine.

So I wonder if this means we will be seeing more 2D Sonic games from them. Or if it means that Sega has decided to drop 2D Sonic and so the team have moved on to new pastures. Time will tell...

It's a very nice logo.

As someone who enjoyed Mania, but felt it was really let down by the recycled material, I'm very interested to see what these guys can do with a (hopefully) original idea. The Retro Engine was a lovely piece of kit, and I'm sure the Star Engine is even better, so now's the perfect time for the team to prove themselves without an established IP to lean upon. In my wildest dreams, they'll team up with DotEmu and create a new generation of hand-drawn 2D platformers - they have all the opportunity in the world to work with.

I'd personally like to see them do a Sonic game that was free of recycled content (especially as it was Iizukia who mandated the old stuff).

I've been playing Freedom planet lately, which originally started off as a Sonic fan game. As nice as it is, the Sonic elements are so strong that I wish it was a Sonic game. As much as I like new IP, it's annoying to have a new property that feels like Sonic anyway. Mania showed there's so much life left in Classic Sonic, so I'd rather see this new studio unlock some of that potential.

I suspect we've seen the last of Mania. Sega (or Japan in general) doesn't seem to understand the longevity of the classic formula. I don't believe Sega foresaw Mania as being as successful as it was. Too bad. We really needed a Sonic 3 and Knuckles game to complete the classic Genesis trilogy. Hell, I'd buy a game disk with all four remakes and Mania on it.