This Sonic Mania opening is seriously so freaking good

Regardless of how you feel about his adventures in the new millennium, few would dispute the greatness of the original Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy (& Knuckles). The '90s were a wonderful time for our favorite spiny speed demon, and the magical feeling his games gave to kids of all ages has been expertly captured and portrayed in the Sonic Mania opening animation.

If you're just getting caught up, Sonic Mania is simultaneously a re-release of the Genesis games and some wholly new stages, all of which have been remixed and remastered with new controls, features, and graphics. It's basically a peek into an alternate universe where Sonic never went 3D, so the fun and frantic 2D animation we see in the intro really fits.

If you're curious, the music was done by Hyper Potions, which has contributed to the Sonic franchise before. Here's the song "Porta Vista," which was used in the trailer for Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice:

Other fun trivia note: the short was produced and directed by comic book writer and artist Tyson Hesse, who has previously contributed to the comic book adaptations of The Amazing World of Gumball and Bravest Warriors, as well as his own original series, Diesel. Here's some of his earliest Sonic-related work from his DeviantArt page:

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm officially uncomfortable. In a good way, I think? Sonic Mania comes to Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch on August 15, while it'll be on PC a bit later, on August 29.