Sonic Origins & Collections, Completions, & Re-Releases

[Mike Arcade]

So, while everyone is gearing up for the newest title in Sonic, along with an awaited Movie Sequel (feels surreal typing that), I wanted to give the latest upcoming Sonic Re-Release a highlight, alongside all those that came before it.

We don't know too much about Sonic Origins, other than being a Collection of Ports (Not Emulated, apparently) of Sonic 1, 2, CD, and 3&K.

With that in mind, what do you think this Collection will be like?

Also, what is your favorite Collection or Re-release of Sonic?

Let us know and get this discussion going.

[TheRedStranger]

On 1/3/2022 at 11:27 AM, Mike Arcade said:

So, while everyone is gearing up for the newest title in Sonic, along with an awaited Movie Sequel (feels surreal typing that), I wanted to give the latest upcoming Sonic Re-Release a highlight, alongside all those that came before it.

We don't know too much about Sonic Origins, other than being a Collection of Ports (Not Emulated, apparently) of Sonic 1, 2, CD, and 3&K.

With that in mind, what do you think this Collection will be like?

Also, what is your favorite Collection or Re-release of Sonic?

Let us know and get this discussion going.

 Common sense dictates it would be a consolidation and remade retelling of the first three Sonic games, in one grand composite story. But you know, Sega is not know to be commonly sensible, so for all we know it will be a corny reboot no one will like. I have more faith in the former though, despite Sega’s past goofs with the series. More likely they will play it too safe and just eek something barely above the originality of a new port. Keeping my expectations low, but I am often surprised because of that. So hey, best of luck to us all.

[MoKat]

On 2/2/2022 at 6:28 PM, TheRedStranger said:

Sega is not know to be commonly sensible, so for all we know it will be a corny reboot no one will like.

Good point, Red

On 1/3/2022 at 10:27 AM, Mike Arcade said:

Also, what is your favorite Collection or Re-release of Sonic?

The Sonic & Knuckles Collection for PC (1996) is still one of my favorites ^.^

(You can get it from GameJolt for free, BTW. You might need SEGA PC Reloaded to run it on a modern Windows system, but I thinks that's part of the package)

[Mike Arcade]

 

[Mike Arcade]

With the upcoming title Sonic Origins at the end of the month, I must note that it's been confirmed that those certain "Michael Jackson" tracks will NOT be in S3&K's Port for Origins. Technically, they aren't really MJ's tracks per say, but popular consensus calls them that (Specifically, those of Carnival Night, Ice Cap, and Launch Base for example, along with other jingles). Apparently Jun Senoue is gonna remaster tracks to replace them though it's currently unknown what that entitles.

My best estimation on that matter is that those tracks as seen in Sonic 3's Beta, as well as the S&K Collection for PC, will be those that replace the Genesis Tracks. So we'll get finished tracks compared to the Beta and Midi versions. While I'm interested to see how that turns out (if it's true, which is very possible), it still sucks that those in the Final Release won't come back. But for those who play it on PC, at least it's not hard to see upcoming mods that'll rectify that. XP

I find it odd that after all this time those legal issues regarding the Tracks has yet to be solved, or if it was just cheaper to remaster the older tracks for this collection. Apparently this may not effect future re-releases if they are emulated due to how copyright works, but don't quote me on that one.

Thoughts anyone? 

[Mike Arcade]

We got a new preview for Origins as it comes out next week. I think it’s a neat package overall from what I’ve seen. Although the never before seen content is quite tempting. Whenever I get it, I know I can breeze through this collection easy. XP

[Mike Arcade]

So Origins has been out for a few days! Anyone got tales on how it is so far?

I've heard some rather mixed reception on it myself, especially from the Devs of the Retro Engine Ports of the games (Team Headcannon), who I must point out are NOT the Developers of Sonic Origins as a collection who developed it in-house at SEGA. But there are a good amount of positives to this Collection.

For one, the new animated cutscenes and basically required Mission Mode, where you complete certain conditions in snippets of levels. A Story Mode where you Marathon All 4 (technically 5) Games as Sonic with New Animated Cutscenes like those of Mania and Mania Adventures. And of course the Gallery which DOES included never before seen artwork, both old and new. Actually, one of which was some artwork of the Manga Sonic/Nicky Parlorzer Series! Which I'm surprised they actually put in such a collection. There's another I saw from reviews where Sonic had clothes AND never before seen characters (A Raccoon and some sort of Bear)! Even a snip of Sonic CD that gives an idea on what the Lost R2 Stage could have been like. Lastly, the appeal of having S3&K on the Retro Engine finally being released is a major appeal, it's even got some really cool details during the transition from Launch Base to Mushroom Hill, and a New Blue Spheres Mode with Spheres from Mania! It seems like it's an idea collection, but there's a lot of choices and such that hold it back for me.

For one, the whole Music Situation. Now I need to be clear, I completely understand why certain Sonic 3 Tracks were changed, due to Michael Jackson (or rather, his Team like Bill Buxer and co.) working on some music that for some reason are in a weird copyright limbo. I can't fault the tracks being replaced because of that, what I can put at fault is which versions of the tracks that were put on. You see, they could have easily put in say the Sonic 3 Beta versions of the tracks, but they instead went with the MIDI versions of the tracks from S&K Collection. Now you may think that they would have made new mixes for the track, but no. At least I don't think so, as I listened to the tracks for comparison I they sound a LOT like the MIDI versions. Which is a major bane regarding Carnival Night's Music, and just makes the music inconsistent due to either poor choices, laziness, or both. We DO however have a brand new mix for the Super Theme, which is not based on the Unused Beta Theme, and instead is from Jun Senoue...in the vein of Sonic 4...

I don't know what sort of Synthesizer he uses, all I know is that he should either never use it again, or trash whatever he uses.

If I could somewhat spin a positive on that Super Theme, it is slightly better than just listening to an endless 15 second invincibility loop, although why there is STILL no option to turn off the Super Theme in these games I will never know.

My main problem with Origins is Technical Quality of Life issues that aren't in the game. Like the lack of option to turn off the Super Music, or to disable the Drop Dash. Maybe I don't want the Insta-Shield in Sonic 3 and only want to use the Drop Dash, OR maybe I want the Classic Shield along the Elemental Ones in S3&K. Maybe I want to use the Spin Dash from CD, and use the Peel-Out in other Sonic Games? I've seen so many cool tweaks and such from the Retro Engine Dissembler Projects, yet none of which are in Sonic Origins. If there are any sort of QoL changes that were not in the Original Retro Engine Releases of Sonic 1, 2, and CD please let me know.

The biggest lack of content for me, and why I have not bought Sonic Origins, is that Knuckles is NOT playable in Sonic CD. Which really makes no sense to me at all. Would it really have been too much to make a few more sprites for Knuckles and put him in? I just find it far too egregious and a major lack of foresight, and while some may find it a small nitpick, it could have provided a major boost in sales for the collection. It could have been a major selling point for fans, and it's a darn shame this wasn't done.

A minor nitpick however would be that you can't have widescreen in Classic Mode (Having Lives and Game Overs), or Anniversary Mode in the 4:3 Scale of the Original Games. It's not like they put in the original ROMs for Classic Mode or anything like that, I just find it strange such options are limited in screen resolution.

I will say that having Anniversary Mode, where you have Infinite Lives, is a major appeal to get the game for a more Casual Audience and to get younger players into the series without being stomped on. I actually applaud that this mode was put in, and to give players some replay value in replacing Lives with Coins. Which I find it funny to have Coins in a Sonic Games, due to some people not familiar with the series calling Rings Coins. XD

The Pricing of the Game is also a not great, especially with the DLC packs amounting to stuff that should really just be in the base game by default. I Blame Sega as a Publisher for doing this, over the Devs of Origins themselves.

So, where do I stand with Sonic Origins? I'd say don't get it...yet.

Maybe on Sale, as it is now sadly the only version of these games you can get due to the delisting of previous digital releases last month. Something I have a major distain for, it's almost as bad as what happened with GTA, but to a slightly lesser extent. However, if you have little ones who have never played a Sonic Game before? I can see the appeal of getting it for them, and this is a pretty decent collection for a General Audience. There are a lot of cool, little things for the die hard Sonic Fans in Origins, but not as much as there could be.

I guess you could count this as a Review maybe? But if any of you have differing views on Origins please let me know.   

[Mike Arcade]

Apparently, Origins is the new Canon for how the first few games go from here on in. Thought it was important to add this in.

Also, I played it! I mean, they’re still great games, but the collection itself is far less optimal than it could have been. Also I ran into a bad glitch with Carnival Night that didn’t let me run up a slope. Granted, I flew over it as Sonic & Tails, but it’s concerning if that’s a constant.

[Mike Arcade]

Much like Sonic Mania, this Plus Expansion has been officially announced! Now with a playable Amy Rose, all 12 Game Gear games, and Knuckles in Sonic CD! The latter of which REALLY should have been included in the first release.

Any thoughts? Let us know. :)

[TheRedStranger]

4 hours ago, Mike Arcade said:

Much like Sonic Mania, this Plus Expansion has been officially announced! Now with a playable Amy Rose, all 12 Game Gear games, and Knuckles in Sonic CD! The latter of which REALLY should have been included in the first release.

Any thoughts? Let us know.

I like how they are bringing some solidarity to classic Sonic. 10 years ago you could play the classic games a million different ways on a million different platforms, which was both a blessing and a curse. Think about it, each port was slightly different in its qualities and novel features. This port maximizes the possibility space of these games with new gameplay features, while also making one consistent Sonic Classic product. They needed to do this for quite some time. Just need to add Sally Acorn. XP

[MoKat]

20 minutes ago, TheRedStranger said:

Just need to add Sally Acorn. XP

I would have prefered that to Amy being playable ^.^

Also nice to see it's available for the PS4 😎

[Mike Arcade]

On 3/23/2023 at 5:31 PM, MoKat said:

I would have prefered that to Amy being playable ^.^

Also nice to see it's available for the PS4 😎

I think I know why they made Amy playable, there was a mild backlash to Amy not being included in the game from YouTube channels like Video Game Story Time and fans. Mainly because she was so featured heavily in the promos of Origins. Which, I mean she's in Sonic CD so of course they were gonna promote her, but everyone knew she had a minor role in that game.

Granted, I'm glad to have another playable character in the collection (I'm more happy to have Knuckles officially in Sonic CD), and that fans of Amy got a win to play as her for the first time in years.

Although I'd honestly prefer to have Mighty and Ray more so than Amy, or Metal Sonic for that matter. They'd be nice unlockables, but you know they would promote Metal Sonic being playable if that was the case.

From the gameplay I've seen in the trailer, she seems to roll into a ball by default in her jump. So sadly she doesn't play like in Advance 1, which would make her a character for more experienced players.

I'd have to imagine she's a two button character though, as I saw her use the hammer on the ground. It also seems that her Hammer Spin Attack could be based off of the Insta-shield, but that's just my speculation.

[Mike Arcade]

The new update/DLC/Physical Release is out!

And yes, the moment we all dreaded waited for us here. Super Amy is real, and she can hurt you. XP

I’ll give my thoughts on it later, but I will say it seems they finally fixed the game overall in terms of glitches. Plus, I got my complete save file back! So that’s a good start.

[Mike Arcade]

So, on the Hedgehog's Birthday I re-downloaded Origins once again and got the Plus update. Which includes all 12 Game Gear Games, Knuckles in Sonic CD, and of course, Amy Rose playable on all 4/5 mainline games. Yes, I'm counting Sonic CD as a mainline game. XP

To start off, the lack of every technical quality of life stuff I talked about last year still applies. They still use lower quality music for the main games, no Original S3&K tracks, so yeah that's still a downer. However, I have no experience ANY major glitches that would have hindered my playthroughs of any of the games, so yes the games are fixed to my knowledge like with the Carnival Night loop working properly. There could have been a much earlier update that fixed it, but still.

What I'm saying is the main games function as they should, and that's great! While more could be done with Origins, it's still a great collection, only made better now that it's functional in all aspects. Still have that crap pixel filter, but if you have the game on PC then the Modding Scene can just about fix every issue from Music Quality to Screen Filter an lives/coins. Those of you who have the Console versions however, as far as I know are out of luck, sorry.

Regarding the Game Gear games, it is great to have them in. I enjoy and love a majority of them, and having a legal way to obtain them on modern consoles and PC is awesome. Although I have noticed that some games do run a bit slower? If not, at the very least the Audio isn't in the best quality. You at least get a save state with it automatically for each game, as a standard for any emulator. Not sure what they're using to emulate these games, but it could be better. At the very least, if you hadn't already, you now legally own all the Game Gear Sonic games, so emulate them elsewhere if you wish and there you go. 😛

One positive however is easy access to play the multiplayer for some of the games like Drift 1 & 2 and Mean Bean Machine is a simple game selection, so if you have a friend that's just as much of a mad lad as you are then that's good news for you. But overall the emulation could be a LOT better.

On that note, while that one Genesis Collection on Steam still has Spinball and 3D Blast, shame that those weren't thrown in there. I mean Mount Mobius and Flickies' Island is IN Origins' menu screen, you'd think that'd count for something. But really, that's just a petty nitpick on my part. It's because Sally is in Sonic Spinball isn't it?

Knuckles is FINALLY in Sonic CD, this was overdue a year ago, but we finally got our Rad Red Officially in this Time Travelling Adventure.  

Yeah, it's Knuckles and he don't chuckle. It's really fun to play as him and the Sonic CD sprites made for Knux are well done, not much else can be said. The only negative is that this really should have been in the collection a year ago, honestly I think his inclusion should have been part of a free update as an apology to fans. But I digress, it is still well worth it to play Sonic CD with the Echidna, even if you are spoiled by previous Sonic CD 2011 Mods. Then again, I'm also pretty bias with Sonic CD so your milage may vary. I'm just happy to see him, an obvious but personal high point in Origins Plus.

But that's now what a good chunk of fans have been excited about, what they were really talking about for months on end since it was announced as the inclusion of the lil' Pink Hedgehog. Amy Rose is indeed playable in every Classic Sonic game.

I've been very curious as to how she'd play, how the character was imagined throughout the Advanced Series and if that would translate to her Classic version.

Long story short, underwhelming first impression but very fun. Amy is great for Beginners.

Short story long, Amy Rose like all three Sonic characters throughout Origins only uses one button. This limits her whereas Amy in other games works perfectly with a two button set up. If you are expecting her to play as in SA1 and Advanced 1, you will be disappointed. Her move set also isn't like say the Mania Mod with Amy where she has a Hover Hammer Twirl in the air, nor does she have a Hammer Jump, or using her Hammer to bounce higher on springs.

So, what does Amy have?

For one, she has a Hammer Spin in the air that you can activate by pressing the button again in the air. You hold that, and once she lands on the ground she'll do a Hammer Rush Dash. Not sure what it's called, but she'll run at a set speed and swing her hammer toward the ground a few times before stopping, unless you are running which in that case you'll keep going without the Hammer.

At first, yeah it's like Amy is a watered down Sonic. I had that impression too, and maybe gameplay wise she is overall. However, as I tried her out and played several levels, if you know what you're doing...

While she can't fly or glide, Amy can bust the game open with her crazy offense, especially in bosses. That Hammer Spin? It works like the Insta-Shield, except it always stays active until you land. It won't protect you from projectiles to my knowledge, but for bosses like Mecha Sonic (Sonic 2) and the Death Egg Robot? You're not gonna have a problem with them anymore as Amy. Best comparison as to how it works is like the rom hack The S-Factor with Sonia's Axe Kick. Any enemy with spikes is almost a non factor with the Hammer Spin, it's great.

Also, you can jump out of the Hammer Dash any time you want, and if you go off a cliff it'll still act like a big hit box (I just hope you aren't flying off to a pit).

Then we have Super Amy, and yes she exists and is as fast and jumps as high as every Super form. Shines a light pink, similar to how other Super forms that aren't Sonic, Shadow, and Silver. Naturally, she is effective, and in Sonic 1 she has a screen shake effect with her Hammer Rush, it's neat.

However, if you play S3&K and collect the Super Emeralds, you get...Super Amy!

...yes really.

All jokes aside, you do get something if you press the Super button while in her Super form with the Super Emeralds. Let's just say it makes the game far easier, and breaks the game in a hilarious way. Not as much as Hyper Tails' Super Flickies, but far funnier if you mash the button. XD

The best way to describe Amy in Sonic Origins Plus is that she's like the equitant of Cream in the Advanced Series. If you know how to play as Sonic in Anniversary Mode, you can smash and bash your way throughout the games. She may not have a Chao or a Flicky of Death, but she is someone I'd recommend for beginners or who just want to have an easier time.

I can't exactly be mad at the Devs on how she turned out, how do you make a one button gameplay style for Amy, yet also make it simple enough for any player to have fun with? There are ways I can think of that I'd prefer her to play like, but that would make her more complicated to play as.

Overall, yeah she's fun, and I'm sure Amy fans are glad to finally have her in. Now never ask for anything ever again, especially her getting together with Sonic XP

You also get a Surprise picture by completing very simple, Achievement like conditions to celebrate Sonic's Birthday, which can net you a few bonus coins that may or may not help you out if haven't unlocked everything in the gallery. They're not difficult at all if you've beaten all the games though, so you can breeze through them, except maybe the Wacky Workbench 1 Eggman Stature as I had to look that one up, I don't go to that spot often.

Also, if you don't have the pre-order stuff, you'll get them by just buying the Origins Plus upgrade, just a heads up.

Overall...these bonuses are pretty nice, but we could have had a bit more.

Like an unlockable Metal Sonic, or Mighty and Ray. Is that too greedy? I'm not sure, but with those QoL issues still present it's still a flawed collection that been polished to be really presentable.

If you haven't gotten Origins already, I would still say wait for a sale to get it with Plus, but at least now I'm more confident when I say it is now worth it to get to play the Retro Engine port of Sonic 3. So check it out whenever you can.