Sonic Mania DLC release date rumors: Additional content not expected to arrive anytime soon; physical game in the works?

"Sonic Mania," the latest exciting addition to the popular "Sonic" side-scrolling game franchise, has finally arrived.SEGA

"Sonic Mania," the latest addition to the popular "Sonic the Hedgehog" game franchise, was released by SEGA early last week. The game is what a long-time fan would expect from a "Sonic" game title with its classic 2D design and a side-scrolling video game format. "Sonic Mania" offers an amazing trip down the memory lane with the 90's nostalgia and fans could not get enough of the action and enjoyment of the game. Due to the game's initial success, it is speculated that "Sonic Mania" will have its first downloadable content (DLC) coming very soon.

Unfortunately for the fans, it does not look like the "Sonic" game publisher is eyeing a DLC pack at least in the near future. Takashi Iizuka, the "Sonic" game series producer, revealed in an interview with the Japanese website Gamer that any additional contents are not yet on the table. The game already contains all the stages and contents which the "Sonic Mania" development team had brainstormed for a long time. In fact, every stage that they developed has appeared in the game, and not a single cut was made in the final game product.

As reported by Twinfinite, the "Sonic Mania" launch this month was made possible by SEGA in cooperation with Christian Whitehead, PagodaWest Games, and Headcannon as co-publishers. It might be a huge risk for SEGA to release the game with the old school side-scrolling game platform, but the brand-new game stages and the re-created stages from the first three "Sonic" titles managed to capture the interest of modern players. 

For now, SEGA maintains that "Sonic Mania" is a digital game, as the full game can be downloaded from the Japanese game company's website although there are rumors that an actual physical copy of the game will hit the market soon. In fact, the listing for the latest "Sonic" video game was reportedly leaked online through a Czech video game retailer. The game listing includes an image of the boxart in which the installer CD will be placed. 

Another game listing for "Sonic Mania" was leaked, this time coming from a source in Italy. The listing reveals a physical copy of the game for Nintendo Switch. Despite the said listing, it is not known whether a physical game version will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and other consoles. However, the listing has already been removed as of writing.

"Sonic Mania" can be downloaded from the SEGA website, although only the console versions are available. The PC version released date has been moved to Aug. 29 due to developers working on few improvements so the game will work well on PC platform.