 We don't usually do hot takes, but this is a story that we felt we needed to tell as soon as possible. Last night, after we got Baby Gamer to sleep, Kotor and I stayed up to do some cleaning and tidying, because we're parents, and that's how we roll. Almost immediately, Kotor got distracted. A tweet from Tyson Hess reminded him of the South by Southwest Sonic the Hedgehog panel, and so he attempted to tidy the living room and the kitchen while also watching the livestream on his phone. The panel was hilarious. I regularly heard squeals and chortles from Kotor as he reacted to the many fake outs and meme references that dotted the presentation, as well as his excited response when the Sonic Mania 2D cartoon he'd been expecting got announced. Sonic Mania Plus in particular seemed like a godsend. We recently bought a PlayStation 4, which we'll discuss a little more in an upcoming video, and Kotor had been considering buying Sonic Mania again for the console. All week, Amazon ads have been teasing Kotor as they drew his attention to collect his edition for the game. Kotor has no use for a big Sonic statue, but it's been hard to resist the appeal of a physical release of sorts for the game. Sonic Mania Plus then meets that need with a package that's far more appropriate. The idea of new, extra game modes, and in particular, new characters, makes this even more exciting. When two new mystery characters were announced in the panel, it seemed logical that Amy Rose would be one of them. After all, she's the only other classic Sonic character from before the Dreamcast era that could be included, right? Turns out, nope. Sega is going obscure with the new Mania characters, picking out Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel from an old arcade game, Sega Sonic the Hedgehog. This was exciting for Kotor, who's been waiting to see Mighty return ever since he was mysteriously left out of Sonic Heroes over a decade ago. Mighty was a big part of the British Sonic the Comic series, and he was one of Kotor's favourites as a child. That said, in the wake of this announcement, it's hard to ignore the big problem at the centre of Sonic Mania Plus. In overlooking Amy Rose as a playable character, the developers behind Sonic Mania Plus are missing out on an opportunity to pander directly to their most important fan, our daughter. Baby Gamer is a big fan of Sonic the Hedgehog, and she's a big fan of pink. It's completely logical then that her favourite character is Amy, particularly the classic Amy design from Sonic CD. We're not exaggerating here. Baby Gamer loves Amy with a fiery passion. Often, she'll sit for an hour at a time just watching the ending animation from Sonic CD on YouTube just to get a brief glimpse of Amy. This character has had very little presence in the 2D Sonic series, but it's enough to capture our daughter's heart. You might wonder what the big deal is about having Amy as a playable character in Mania. She's shown up in plenty of other games, so why shouldn't this celebration of Sonic's history instead focus on some blast from the past characters? For our family, Amy is important. She's one of the few female characters in the Sonic franchise, a series of games that's filled with colourful characters but which has only a few occasionally used female characters. This isn't just a Sonic the Hedgehog problem. Without delving too deeply into the discussion surrounding women in gaming, it's worth noting that Baby Gamer's favourite game on the SNES mini is Mario Kart, because it's the only one that lets her play as a princess. We even did a poll recently among you guys on the channel's community tab, looking for good games that involve playing as a princess. It turns out there are very few of these, and while you guys provided some excellent suggestions for games we should try out, it's clear that there aren't enough funky platformers that will allow Baby Gamer to indulge her princess obsession. As an aside, if we ever make a game which we've considered as a hobby project, it'll be about a princess saving the day. Sometimes you just want to save the day while wearing a pretty dress. All is not lost for the possibility of Baby Gamer playing Sonic Mania as Amy Rose. Thankfully, mods for the game exist that will allow us to make this dream come true, as they also exist for other Sonic games on the Genesis. Still, it would be nice for Sega to recognise this important part of the classic Sonic mythology and provide an incentive for a younger, female audience to embrace the game. We're not trying to be overly negative here. In truth, the purpose of this video is simply to add our voice to the fantastic Sonic the Hedgehog fan community. It's clear from the South by Southwest panel that Sega is happy to listen to fan feedback surrounding their games. This being the case, we'd love to encourage the team behind Sonic Mania Plus to consider giving Amy at least some love in the updated game. If Ray the Squirrel deserves a moment in the spotlight, then it'd be great to have Amy somewhere in the game for fans of the bright pink hedgehog. In the meantime, we're all going to be watching the sneak peek of Sonic Mania Adventures on repeat. Some of us have been waiting a long time for more 2D animated Sonic fun.