Is 2D Sonic dead?

>we could have had Mania 2 but Sonic Team wanted to do something ~new~ instead of following a working formula
The Advance strategy of making 3 games with the same formula is fine actually. We used to do this shit all the time in the industry; sequels would polish and expand on the old games, give chances for new devs to become acquainted with things, etc. So strange Sonic Team doesn't want to do sequels anymore.

Taxman has just revealed a scrapped 2.5D Prototype made sometime after Mania was released.
https://x.com/TailsChannel/status/1956413797737845037
It featured Kanga Clanga, a badnik first planned for an outback-themed zone before debuting in Sonic Superstars’ Pinball Carnival.

Whitehead has shown us what Sonic Mania 2 would potentially look like...