Get your speedrunning shoes on and prepare your glitches: Awesome Games Done Quick has arrived for its yearly speedrunning extravaganza. As with previous years, the charity event is raising money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. It’s been live since yesterday evening and runs until this Sunday, and there are already some fab runs in the likes of Mirror’s Edge and Dragon Age: Origins to catch up on.

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As a nostalgia trip, Sonic Mania is impeccably precise. So, naturally, you’ll want to really nail those throwback kicks by, uh, playing it through an unrelated publisher’s digital subscription service. The blue blur and his grossly mutated twin-tailed fox friend are now sprinting through EA’s Origin Access Premiere service, with Two Point Hospital and Endless Legend set to join them in the near future.

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Humble unveiled a brand-new game bundle last night and it’s absolutely rammed with Sonic games. There are 12 in total, ranging from the blue blur’s early forays into marathon running and chilli-dog eating with Sonic 3 & Knuckles and Sonic CD all the way through to his more recent revivals in games such as Sonic Generations and Sonic Mania.

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With Sonic Mania, a modder was put in charge of creating a new Sonic game with official backing. Decades after Sonic the Hedgehog came to PC, the modding scene had shown some incredible creativity, from a version of Sonic 1 where Dr. Robotnik is capturing animals, to another where you go fishing. But one of the more popular mods came in the form of Sonic Megamix, which introduced new characters and moves. Its creator, Christian Whitehead, went on to create the definitive version of Sonic CD, but it’s Sonic Mania that got Sega’s nod, with the Plus add-on reintroducing some old friends.

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I was unprepared for Sonic the Hedgehog to have human teeth. Seeing as chilli dogs are his favourite food yet he eats them without soaking the bun in milk, I suppose I knew that Sonic wouldn’t have the mouth and teeth of a real hedgehog in our world. I was still not ready for human teeth and weird lips. The first trailer for the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie (or Sonic the Hedgepig, as it’ll likely be named in the UK) has arrived, starring a CGI hedgepig voiced by Ben Schwartz (best known as Jean-Ralphio in Parks and Recreation) alongside human actors including Jim Carrey and James Marsden, and I just wasn’t ready for the teeth.

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Sonic Mania brought back Sega’s blue hedgehog in style, fully deserving of applause. Now it’s delivering an encore performance as DLC today. Part of the new Sonic Mania Plus re-release, the Encore DLC lets us existing owners ride again. It features two new playable characters but the real main event is the titular Encore Mode. A remixed, re-lit and harder second trip through the game with some new story and surprises. I’ve played a few stages of it, and have had a ton of fun so far.

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Sonic Mania was a joy> – a true return to form for Sega’s spiky blue mascot. It’s due to get even better later this month. Sonic Mania Plus, is a re-release (available as a $5 upgrade for existing owners) adding two new playable characters from the little-known SegaSonic The Hedgehog arcade game, plus some new content. In the first of a series of developer diaries, we get a peek at the new characters in action. Plus an all-too-brief glimpse at Encore mode; a second loop through the game with new lighting, cutscenes and enemy placement.

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The old quote is wrong: neither death nor taxes are, it seems to me, as terrifyingly certain as the Steam Summer Sale. Yes, once more we can add to the heap that is our backlog by buying games for, what, five quid, on average? But there are so many to choose from that it’s easy to get flustered, so who better than the staff of RPS to hand-pick the best ones for your consideration (rhetorical question; do not answer)?

Check out the full list below for a mix of games that should suit all pockets and tastes.

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Last year’s Sonic Mania was a return to the hedgehog’s days of plain ol’ side-scrolling platforming. It was a celebration of nostalgia, though, made by a small team with roots in the fan game scene. So ah, sure, go on, wham in some weird obscure playable characters. With no terrible cutscenes, I’ll be able to pretend Mighty The Armadillo and Ray The Bubsy are brand new anyway. Those two are arriving in Sonic Mania Plus, an expanded version that’ll come to us as DLC – on July 17th, Sega announced today. (more…)

I’m still in a state of mild disbelief that Sonic Mania even exists. A glorified fan-game by some of the best and brightest creators in a scene that’s often looked down on and frequently sneered at. Backed fully by Sega, it recaptured the spirit of what made that weird blue hedgehog a cultural icon through the ’90s and beyond.

If only there was a little bit more of it. While not quite the full sequel announcement we’ve been hoping for, the game is getting a physical retail re-launch under the name Sonic Mania Plus, and the new content will be available as paid DLC for anyone who already owns the game.

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