Sonic Origins (2022)

Rating is based off of the games in the collection - StH and CD are 4 stars, while StH2 and STh3&K are 5 stars.

The collection itself has some fun additions, like well-animated cutscenes with that Classic Sonic charm, pretty fun mini-missions across the 4 games, and some unlockable content in the Museum. There's also a Mirror Mode which is pretty empty, and I actually really enjoyed the boss rush mode. I know a lot of people mark down this collection because of the price, but I'm just rating this based on the games and the additional content. It's nice to have an accessible way for people to experience widescreen and more complete versions of these classic games. I obtained all the Steam achievements in 9 hours. This helped me get out of a gaming slump, so we love to see it.

All right, let's get my complaints out of the way, in order of how much they matter to me:

• The Sonic 3 & Knuckles soundtrack is one of my all-time faves. When I heard they were replacing the tracks, I tried to keep an open mind. Hearing the original tunes on anything but a Genesis or Mega SG always sounds kinda off to me anyway: Why not switch things up? But seriously, these replacements are horrendous. (Thank goodness there are mods to replace them.)
• Maybe I'm spoiled by Nintendo Switch Online and Digital Eclipse's compilations, but I really think a few of the games here would benefit from true "rewind" functionality.
• The bonus content is nice, but I'd have loved playable unlockables a la Master Collection. Even emulated versions of the 8-bit games would have been a nice nod to the franchise's history.
• There's no physical version as of this writing, the normal asking price is too high, and the side content DLC is silly. (I waited and bought the "digital deluxe" version on sale for about half the usual asking price.)

Complaints aside, I really enjoyed this collection. Sonic games in particular benefit from the widescreen presentation, the animated sequences are truly stunning, the "anniversary" modes make the games more approachable, and the optional missions are surprisingly fun. It ran great on my Steam Deck.

I won't dive deep into the games themselves, but here's my rapid-fire summary:

• Sonic 1: Iconic but uneven.
• Sonic CD: A fun, breezy oddball.
• Sonic 2: A classic!
• Sonic 3 & Knuckles: A masterpiece!

I know all the controversies surrounding this collection and the critics are absolutely right: the DLCs are weird and unnecesary, delisting other versions of the game was an dick move from Sega, is overpriced and yes, there are bugs...

... But these four games are still extraordinary and a lot of fun. The level design and music are still great (except for Sonic 3 but let's not open that Pandora's box).

Is this the best way to enjoy this games? I try to answer this (in spanish) in this article, but I really reccomend them for 2D platform fans. You should check it on this collection, on other versions or using "other" methods (wink wink).

Also, Anniversary Modes are a godsend.

Sonic Origins on jälleen uusi tapa pelata vanhoja Sonic-pelejä uudelleen. Tällä kertaa kyseessä on kuitenki normaalia kovempi paketti, kun mukana on mukavia QoL-parannuksia ja, ennen kaikkea, uudelleenjulkaisuille harvinainen Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Erikoisesti kokoelmassa olevat pelit eivät ole emuloituja vaan rehellisiä porttauksia, jotka hyödyntävät Sonic Manian ja Sonic-mobiiliporttauksia varten luotua kivenkovaa Retro Engineä.

Kokoelma tarjoaa mukavasti erilaista tekemistä pelien parissa. Joka pelistä on classic mode, joka mukailee pelien alkuperäistä muottia mahdollisimman hyvin, sekä anniversary mode, joka tuo modernia krumeluuria kuten laajakuvaa, loputonta elämää ja Sonic Manian drop dashiä mukaan. Näiden lisäksi on vielä story mode, joka latoo kaikki pelit anniversary modessa yhdeksi upein välivideoin ryyditetyksi pötköksi, time trial -listat, haastetehtäviä sisältävä mission mode sekä unlockattavaa multimediaa sisältävä museum mode. Myös S3&K-pelin Blue Spheres bonuskenttiä on tehty kokoelmaa varten lisää niitä halajaville. Museum mode on ehkä kevyt pettymys, sillä retrokokoelmissa on aina huumaavaa unlockata uusia pelejä (esim. Knuckles' Chaotix tai Master System -pelit olisivat olleet tässä hieno lisä), mutta tässä moista ei nähdä. Syynä oli halu keskittyä vain Mega Driven Sonic -peleihin. Ja nämä muut pelit olisi tarvinnut emuloida, joka olisi todennäköisesti tuonut omat ongelmansa.

Kokoelma ilmeisesti tuupattiin ulos Segalle tyypilliseen tapaan keskeneräisenä "juhlajulkaisuna", mutta tästäkin huolimatta se on pääosin hyvä paketti. Muuten peli toimi itselläni hyvin (Xbox Series X:llä), mutta yksi räikeä ongelma pelin kanssa oli jatkuvat kaatumiset Sonic CD:tä pelatessa. Tätä peliä pelatessa jouduin vetämään useamman kentän uudelleen (esim. viimeisen lopparin kolme kertaa), koska peli kaatui ennen autosavea. Muutama muukin kaatuminen tuli eteen. Tarkkasilmäiset Sonic-fanit ovat puolestaan löytäneet käsittämättömän pitkän listan pikkuvirheitä. Toivottavasti näihinkin puututaan.

Kokoelmaa kohtaan oli myös kaksi tunnettua pelonaihetta: DLC ja Sonic 3:n tekijänoikeuslimbossa olevat musiikit. Peliin julkistettiin käsittämättömän typerä vertailutaulukko eri versioiden ja DLC:n sisällyttämistä asioista. Loppujen lopuksi pelin DLC on niin pientä lisähöttöä, että on typerää, ettei sitä ole sisällytetty pääpeliin valmiiksi. Niille, jotka haluavat rahansa säästää, DLC on todella helppo skipata. Sonic 3:n musiikkien suhteen peli myöskin toimii melko haparoivasti. Sonic 3:n soundtrack-sotku on aiemmin ollut syy, miksi peliä ei ole voitu uudelleenjulkaista niin helpolla. Nyt ongelma on ratkaisu ottamalla tekijänoikeuskiistassa olevat kappaleet pois ja korvaamalla ne Sonic 3:n prototyypillä kuultujen kappaleiden "remasteroinneilla". Harmillisesti nämä korvaajat ovat aika rupuista kuunneltavaa verrattuna alkuperäisiin. Tyylikkyydessään ne häviävät alkuperäisen julkaisun ralleille ja fanien prototyypeistäkin kalastamat versiot ovat paljon pirteämpiä kuin tätä kokoelmaa varten tunkkaistetut lussuversiot.

No, entä ne pelit? Ne ovat edelleen kovaa tavaraa. Jokainen peli on tyylikäs, hauska ja pelattavuudeltaan hyvä tasohyppely, poikkeuksena ehkä sekava mutta päräyttävä Sonic CD. Pelien välillä on pelisuunnittelunsa puolesta mukavasti pieniä eroja, joita kokoelmaa pelatessa huomaa: Sonic 1 on perinteisempää tasohyppelyä, Sonic CD eniten kenttien tutkimista, Sonic 2 ja S3&K tuovat sulavuuden ja nopeuden kaiken keskiöön. Etenkin anniversary moden tuomilla pikkuhelpotuksilla ja lisäominaisuuksilla pelejä on harvinaisen hauska pelata.

On pieni harmi, että kokoelmalle ei voi antaa täysiä pisteitä, sillä se olisi todella helpolla päässyt niihinkin lukemiin pienellä lisähuolellisuudella ja vaivalla. Olen kuitenkin itse kokoelmaan tyytyväinen ja pelasin ilolla taas kerran nämä klassikkopelit läpi. Toimii edelleen.

Alright, I finished Sonic the Hedgehog. Here's my thoughts:

Objectively, this game has some issues. It emphasises speed in the first zone, building your confidence prematurely. It then immediately rips the rug out from under you, zone 2 instead focussing on slow, precise platforming. This wouldn't be an issue, except Sonic is built for speed - he's a slippery little bastard that is a pain to control. The game starts to open up again, but now with an increased amount of hazards, often lulling you into a false sense of security with loop-de-loops before slamming you with spikes or a bottomless pit. I hated the bottomless pits. One of this games strongest aspects is that each level feels like multiple levels layered upon one another, so that if you fall there is usually another path. I loved that, but once it introduced the occasional bottomless pit it felt like a betrayal of that core concept.

If I had been playing the original release these things would have bothered me a lot, but the simple addition of unlimited lives really makes this an accessible experience. Personally, I am happy they didn't go the rewind/save state route, because I know I would have abused that system and ruined the experience for myself. It probably sounds like I didn't like this game. I REALLY REALLY liked this damn game. Every time I hit an unexpected spike trap I laughed and loudly proclaimed, "You got me this time!" I was talking to myself so loudly and often that my partner was confused and worried. I need rings! She just doesn't understand my need for rings.

It's a short game, so I finished it, and then I... uh... I started playing it again. It's fun. It's a fun game. I am sure the sequels are better, and I'll get to them eventually. But replaying this I am already having even more fun exploring the levels confidently, well aware that it always kind of wants to fuck me over.

Managed to play a bit of Sonic Origins last night after it released. Here are my initial thoughts.

• The anniversary mode is great! Just having drop dash in these games feels fresh. The addition of infinite lives and chance of retrying special stages makes for a lot more chill and, in a way, modern feel. And widescreen is of course cool.
• The animations are top notch.
• The DLC stuff is pretty unnecessary. You get the soundtracks of couple of non-included games (like Knuckles' Chaotix which has god-tier soundtrack but that's also on Youtube), some extra hard missions for mission mode, different borders for classic mode and some characters appearing in the menu backgrounds. I'm a sucker for extra fluff so I got the Digital Deluxe but if you want to save your pennies, that's one easy way. You won't miss pretty much anything.
• The overall presentation is really nice. The main menu is very stylish and full of life. Other menus are not as flashy but in general it's a nice package.
• The museum mode has cool unlockables (music, videos, illustrations) but it's still not a smorgasbord of crazy Sonic stuff that it could have been. Some obscure Sonic games (SegaSonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles' Chaotix) would have been a really cool extra but what can you do. They especially wanted this game to just present the Mega Drive Sonic games.
• There's time trials and rankings for each game and every stage! Super nice. Although this is a bit hidden in the game. There's no separate time trial mode but when you go to view your rankings, you can select a stage to play and it let's you retry that after each attempt too. So basically everything necessary for time trial grind.
• The price is pretty steep for five Mega Drive games but I don't really mind it. There's enough extra stuff and care in the ports to make it worthwhile in my opinion. If these games were sold separately 10€ each, it wouldn't seem that much anyway.

What do people think about this now that we draw closer to release? Sonic fans, will you pick this up? If I like Sonic 2 and my partner grew up on Sonic, is this a worthwhile purchase? I know we discussed this in a previous thread around the time it was announced, but I'm curious if time has changed anyone's minds about the collection.

I really wish this was was getting a physical release.

I'm trying to understand what's the point of this collection. Most of or all of these games are available on Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear, Saturn, PS2, PSP, PS Vita, PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360, GBA, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Gamecube, Wii, Switch, PC, Iphone and Android.

Why is it so exciting that they are released again for Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X? Especially considering that M2 (arguably the best remaster-developers out there) already have redone Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 Switch very recently, and you can get those two for like 8$ when on sale.

Finally, a release date! June 23rd (Sonic's birthday)

The good:

• Sonic 3 and Knuckles is BACK bay-bee! And in widescreen! And it's Headcannon (Sonic Mania, the mobile ports) doing the remaster (and Stealth specifically worked on it)
• Sonic 1, 2, and CD mobile ports finally available on modern consoles (widescreen, new features, new content such as 2's extra level)
• Can finally play as Knuckles in Sonic 1
• New enhanced mode with infinite lives, no timeouts, and coin-earning to unlock stuff in museum
• Classic mode included for the purists (4:3 scale, finite lives, timeouts, game overs)
• Mission mode for challenges to complete in all the games
• Story mode that ties all the games together, and will include new animated cutscenes (Sonic Mania-style -- Tyson Hesse) -- and apparently Ian Flynn (writer for the comic books) contributed for these cutscenes too
• Mirror mode to play through the games... right to left (hey, why not?)
• Museum full of unlockable content to check out, including stuff that has never been shown before apparently
• Menus and general presentation looks really slick

The bad:

• $40 is a bit steep (at least it's not a full $60? and I'm sure it'll go on sale for those who don't need it Day One)
• The DLC bullshit is bullshit (apparently you've got to shell out $5 for aspects of that slick presentation? what were they thinking?)
• No word on the music situation for Sonic 3 yet (will we get the Michael Jackson-related tunes, or the PC versions of certain songs? or both?)
• Would've been nice of course to see some new characters (Mighty and Ray? Amy?) and other games included (even just as unlockables -- 3D Blast, Spinball, etc -- Chaotix would've been especially cool to see, oh well)

Overall I'm pretty stoked, my main hope is just that everything will run smoothly. If the gameplay delivers, I'll be pleased. I know people complain about the same Sonic games always getting re-released, but that's really only the case for 1 and 2 -- and even for those, this will be my first time playing the mobile versions, which many say is the best re-release those games have gotten. It's been a hot minute since I've dived into CD and 3&K properly though, so I'm also excited for those (especially 3&K).