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In Sonic Mania Plus, extra lives cannot be earned – only characters can be added to the team, with one life each. This is in stark contrast to most other Sonic games, where extra lives could be stashed away to all but ensure that a game over scenario couldn’t occur. If all five characters die, a game over is immediately encountered. The order of characters can be seen in the bottom-left corner of the screen, which is where the lives indicator normally sits in previous games. Otherwise, the player is returned to the last checkpoint, or the beginning of the level if one was not passed to this point. If the lead character dies, their partner takes over wherever they are on the map, if possible.
![sonic mania sonic sonic mania sonic](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Sonic-Mania_20170811005241.jpg)
If playing alone, player one can press Triangle in most situations where both characters are on the screen at the same time to switch which character is leading. Only two characters can be active at once, in any combination. This also brings us to the new maximum number of lives that can be collected by the player. Two new characters bring us to a grand total of five when added to Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. Ray might take more time to master compared to Mighty, but the investment will pay off in the ability to reach more places more quickly than other characters. Whereas Knuckles can glide to and then climb walls to reach higher ground, in the right hands, Ray could simply glide high enough to avoid having to climb altogether. Pressing forward will cause Ray to lean forward, gliding much more quickly but consequently losing more altitude in the process. By holding back on the directional pad while gliding, Ray will pull back and begin to glide up, more slowly than his usual glide. It is similar to Knuckles’ glide, but noticeably different in execution. Ray looks like a cousin of Tails at first glance. It’s a new tactic that can come in handy in boss battles, and Mighty may become some players’ favorite character just due to this option. This means that jumping onto spikes does not cause the player to lose rings or die. Furthermore, and arguably more useful, if Mighty is attacking (that is, in ball form), he is impervious to damage, even from (non-squishing) obstacles. Mighty’s ability is a downward slam, like Sonic’s Mania ability, except holding the jump button in mid-air only causes Mighty to move downward, and does not result in a spin dash being automatically performed. But Mighty’s color shade is different, and his hair is more in style with Sonic’s. Mighty could easily be confused with Knuckles the Echidna, since both are red. Two old characters have been resurrected for Sonic Mania Plus: Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel. Still, this campaign will run the average gamer 3-5 hours on their first run, and much less time for those speed freaks out there, so there is a lot of game to run through. Pacing isn’t as stellar as in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, where multiple acts per zone were followed by three lengthier single-act zones, all leading up to an epic, multi-stage final battle aboard the Death Egg – in Sonic Mania Plus, things just kind of end after a drawn-out final fight, much like Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
The entire campaign technically takes place in one long camera shot, then.
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Each zone has a transition cinematic of some sort, where the player and partner are controlled by the computer and make some sort of jump, leap, or run to the next area. When visiting classic zones such as Hydro City, while classic sections remain intact, they are interspersed with new areas to uncover secrets from – nothing is ever truly left alone, perhaps with the thinking that if you wanted to play the old stages exactly as they existed before, you could simply play an older Sonic game. The zone names may be the same, such as the classic Angel Island and Green Hill Zones, and culminate with a final boss battle in Titanic Monarch Zone, but the individual acts have been remade in a new Encore mode, with special areas for this entry’s new characters. There are 13 zones to explore again, with two acts for all but the first – 25 acts total. Where to begin? Well, for starters, let’s go with the lengthy campaign.