A new Sonic game is on the way, and it looks exactly like Sonic did 20-plus years ago

For millions of people around the world, the war between Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog was serious business.

And for Nintendo and Sega, it was actually serious business. Nintendo controlled north of 90% of the video game market before Sega - and a speedy blue cartoon hedgehog named Sonic - showed up.

"Sonic the Hedgehog" - the original Sega Genesis game, not the character - is beloved among game fans of a certain age. It starred the hard-edged Sega equivalent of Nintendo's goofy, floppy-hatted Super Mario. Moreover, his debut game was really, really good. (It didn't hurt that Sega included the game for free with new Genesis consoles, making it the first-ever successful free-to-play game.)

For years, fans have wanted a return to the original, 16-bit-era version of "Sonic the Hedgehog" that they grew up with. And now, those fans are taking over the creation of exactly such a project.

This is "Sonic Mania":

More from Ben Gilbert:

• Nintendo's next major 'Super Mario' game is a fresh take on a classic - here's what we know
• It sounds like the new 'Destiny' is very similar to the old 'Destiny' - here's what critics are saying
• There's a simple, frustrating reason you can't play Xbox games with PlayStation owners online
• The world's most popular video game shooter isn't on Nintendo's new console - the game's director explains why
• There's an insane sale on Xbox games right now - these are the best deals (MSFT)