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There seems to be some confusion in the Sega Dreamcast community recently after a video surfaced claiming that the long-awaited unofficial port of Sonic Mania had been released.
The port, developed by SonicFreak94, Falco Girgis, and Jnmartin, has been on our radar since 2024, so we were inevitably excited yesterday to see a new video from TheSegaGuru pop up, stating that the game "is now released" and "done."
In the video, TheSegaGuru was very complimentary about the team's efforts, calling it "truly incredible" and saying that the release was "something special" and "the wait has paid off."
However, it appears there has been some misunderstanding between the video creator and the developer, with the GitHub currently only featuring instructions on how to build for platforms like Windows, Linux, Switch, and Android.
In response, SonicFreak94 has since come out to issue a clarification that while the port "is functionally there," they have not "prepped up-to-date build instructions or release materials" due to personal issues and "it might be a little while before it's released for real."
In other words, there's sadly still work to be done before it's ready for the public to play.
Just to give you a little more background, just in case you haven't read our previous coverage, the Dreamcast port is based on a fork of RSDKModding's 2022 decompilation of the game, and even includes the 3D bonus stages, which apparently proved particularly tricky for the Sega Dreamcast to pull off, as you can read in our last article on the project.
As with other ports based on decompilation projects, players will have to supply their own legal copy of the game's files, with the developers echoing RSDKModding's warning that they do not condone using the decompilation project "as a means for piracy in any form," as it "would not exist without the work of Sega, Headcannon, and Evening Star."