Sonic Origins, Sega’s collection of all four legendary Mega Drive/Genesis games, will be released on Switch (and other platforms!) on Thursday, and the reviews have been flying in as quickly as the blue blur himself.
Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD are all included in this compilation, along with a variety of modes to appeal to novices, vintage Sonic aficionados, and, well, anyone who wants to return or check out the hedgehog’s past. Classic Mode allows players to speed through the games in their original 4:3 format, while Anniversary Mode adds widescreen, the drop dash, and the removal of lives to the classic quadrilogy. In addition, there’s a Sonic-only Story Mode, Boss Rush, a museum, and more.
After the first Sonic movie was released in 2020, producer Takashi Iizuka came up with the concept of rereleasing these games together, but is this a Super Sonic compilation or just a few Chaos Emeralds?
Of course, once we get our hands on Switch code, we’ll have our own comments for you – rest assured, we’ll give you wonderful readers the NL judgment as soon as we can.
Sonic Origins is a stylish re-release of four of the hedgehog’s finest titles, and it’s a delight to rediscover these classic platformers. Presentational embellishments like animated cutscenes, as well as a slew of bonus modes like Boss Rush and Missions, provide enough to see and do for aficionados and beginners alike, and the Museum is chock-full of intriguing artwork you may not have seen before.
While the song changes and audio glitches are a letdown, the Sonic Origins bundle as a whole is fantastic. Having the greatest versions of the classic Sonic story in one package is incredibly fulfilling, and Anniversary Mode’s improvements make going through them even more pleasant than before.
You wouldn’t think that a vintage collection of this quality would have some of the flaws and omissions that are there in Sonic Origins, which are surprising. There is neither a save-state nor a reload feature, nor are there any screen filters that can assist in making the display appear more like that of a CRT. There is a single “anti-aliasing” screen option, but all it does is make the display appear like it has been coated with petroleum jelly.
It would appear that the purpose of the newly released collection was to “modernize” the games by porting them into a new engine (amusingly referred to as the “Retro Engine”) rather than merely imitating the originals. If that’s the case, there’s no reason to stop at widescreen.
Sonic Origins is a compilation of Sonic’s most memorable adventures, and in my opinion, it is the only way that SEGA could have honored such a significant milestone for the spiky-haired fellow. Not only do they play quite well, but they also look fantastic in high definition, and the quantity of supplemental content is a lovely gesture toward veterans of the series.
