If the popular discourse is to be believed, Sonic The Hedgehog – the 90s 16-bit icon himself – had a rough time transitioning from a 2D to 3D. It's partially true. Concessions had to be made to take the speedy hero from the 2D plane of slopes and loops to run around 3D worlds. The main problem with that wasn't actually to do with speed at all, but momentum – which was just as vital a consideration, if not more so, in those Sega Genesis classics. Leave it to the excellent retro throwback Sonic Mania developer Evening Star, for their first original project, to solve the design problem even without the blue blur around.
After all, take one look at Penny's Big Breakaway and it's immediately clear that this is a love letter to the 90s with its high contrast, clashing colors, vaporwave-like piping, and Y2K-core aesthetic. But it's wholly modern in how it plays thanks to some incredibly slick running and jumping as you control Penny, a jester-like figure, as she attempts to save her kingdom while also evading capture from its penguin police force (there was an… incident… involving the King's undies).
