Sonic Mania Plus vs Sonic Mania?

[marioxb]

I'm talking about physical retail releases only. Sonic Mania Plus came with a cardboard sleeve over it and an art book. Sonic Mania is just a regular game case with no sleeve or book. Is the game content actually different? Would they really have removed content? Sadly they probably removed the reversible cover too. I just thought I got a great deal on Sonic Mania -not- Plus on Switch for $16.99 at Walmart. Didn't even notice the word Plus was missing until I got home. Good thing I didn't open it, probably going back.

[SegaNomadman]

I can't say for the reversible cover, but the game content in Plus is different. Plus has the DLC content that adds Mighty and Ray as playable characters along with Encore mode which adds a bonus starting stage and reworks the rest of the zones. You can just purchase Mania and buy the Plus DLC separately if you wish. Other than that Plus just adds the sleeve and art book physically speaking.

[marioxb]

So yeah, that's what I was wondering. I thought maybe the retail Mania possibly could have been the same as Plus, just with a new name, sorta like how the Star Wars Special Editions from 1997 became the new normal editions.