Sonic Origins
Sonic the Hedgehog is 31 years old now, and it seems like age is only bringing ever more issues to everyone’s favorite blue blur.
And most of it seems to be the fault of Sega themselves.
The most recent case for this comes from the HD remaster and upgrade of the original Sonic games from the Sega Genesis and Sega CD add-on: Sonic Origins. Released in time for Sonic’s 31st birthday, Sega advertised this as coming from everyone’s favorite Sonic developers: Christian Whitehead and his crew of devious developers at Headcannon Studios. Responsible for fan-favorite Sonic Mania, and the DLC expansion Sonic Mania Plus, Heacannon Studios cut their teeth making remasters of Sonic CD, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for mobile platforms.
There was even an attempted port of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but Sega shot that down. Fans figured it was due to the rumors of Michael Jackson’s music being used in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and the King of Pop’s involvement in the soundtrack creation.
Amusingly, an earlier interview from 2017 had Naka claiming it was Sega’s job to admit if Jackson was involved or not.
Well, we have our confirmation now, and it does explain some of the issues with Sonic Origins.
Yes. Issues.
So, for those who are not in the know, Sonic Origins is a collection of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic CD, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and the fan-favorite combined experience of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. Not only are the original games from the early 90s included at an upscaled resolution, the mobile ports of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic CD, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 have been brought over to consoles for the first time. This includes widescreen display, and several minor improvements to fix issues that have plagued the games since the start.
Making fans salivate with anticipation was the knowledge that these people, who knew the 2D Sonic franchise inside and out, would be remaking Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in some form.
It seems at that moment, however, all four fingers on the Monkey’s Paw curled up and the paw crumbled to dust.
For those who wish to play Classic Mode, this is how it looks. It looks identical to the widescreen version, which does feel like a lost opportunity to smooth things out in widescreen.
Sonic Origins is a remaster that tries. It really does. Sega pumped a lot into the presentation of this game, as they were responsible for collecting all four games and putting them into a single experience. The ports of 1, 2, and CD are all well handled and play well in HD. The emulation of all four games also work fantastically, and are true to their original incarnations. The classic Sonic the Hedgehog 3 even keeps the original music, albeit in the altered “And Knuckles” state.
Headcannon Studios have really pumped a lot into the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles portion of this game as well. The game looks fantastic in HD, and the music that has been preserved is wonderful. Truly, this is almost the best version of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles, and is the best way for most fans to play the game.
Sega even tried to add in some bonuses via an unlockable system. Lives, formerly a staple of the entire platforming genre, no longer exist now. In their place are an earnable coin reward system that can be used to unlock items in Sonic Origin’s gallery mode. Some music, movies, and illustrations are unlocked as you proceed through the game, while others cost coins to utilize them. Coins can be earned where life boxes used to be, by collecting 100 rings, or earning bonuses at the end of stages or in bonus stages. An added Mission Mode also provides a way to earn coins while challenging players with heavy levels of experience in the franchise.
Also, the very concept of lives from Sonic itself is gone. Coins are earned instead, and coins can also be used to retry special stages… which is instantly amazing. I won’t lie, this allows players to finally earn Super Sonic… to a large extent. You still have to earn it, but it lets you practice.
For those who prefer the old life system, those still exist in the Classic iterations of the games. There is no combination to get a widescreen presentation and the life system, but that’s only a minor issue.
To add on extra content, there are even animated cutscenes to open and close each game, animated by the same crew who did the cutscenes for Sonic Mania and the online animated shorts Sonic Mania Adventures. The latter of which are also included in this game, and they look as amazing as ever. Sonic CD’s original cutscenes have been upscaled and remastered, but don’t quite look as good as the new content.
I mean, holy crap. Look at this.
These new cutscenes also play alongside the classic content, which is a strange decision.
In a lot of ways, this is the collection Sonic fans have been begging and proverbially dying for. The versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 here even surpass the recent Sega AGES ports. These are great, no arguments there.
However, there are some truly glaring issues. A lot of them are small, but they add up.
The first issue that really came up first was the music for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles. While it was known that key tracks would be missing thanks to Michael Jackson’s estate, it was also figured that tracks from Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s beta would be used instead. While they had been used clumsily in the PC port of the game decades ago, a beta version of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 that pre-dated Jackson’s involvement found those same tracks in the Genesis version of the game. And much better executed, thanks to the soundchip of the Genesis.
This is not the music we got. Jun Senoue, who was a fantastic composer for the original tunes of the franchise, is also responsible for the horrendous music of the legendarily bad Sonic the Hedgehog 4. And sadly, we got Sonic 4 Jun Senoue. While you can hear the traces, the skeleton of those pre-Jackson level tunes, they feel scraped of the soul of the original songs. It’s rather a shame, honestly.
Keeping with the sound issue, I played the Xbox One version of this game for the review. For some ungodly reason, the achievement pop noise plays twice whenever one pops. Combine this with a weird whining noise whenever the player performs a drop dash, and it sounds like Sonic Origins has some minor issues that could have been fixed with proper testing.
The missions are a fun diversion, but can also be a royal pain in the butt.
Those musical failures aside, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles also feels like it is missing the level of polish we got from the other three games.
There are several areas where jumping itself is almost entirely broken. The worst example comes from the lightning shield’s double jump ability for Sonic. While the original allowed players to add a second jump in almost anywhere while Sonic was in mid-air, the HD remake somehow only allows it within the precise pixels of the apex of a jump. This left me feeling like my controller was actually broken, but playing Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles in the classic option showed it was not a broken controller or incompetence: there is a measured flaw in the jump engine for the remake.
This also extends to some of the standard jumps as well. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 made some more organic platforming by including half-height platforms in some stages. This allowed for some extra variety in the platforms, and jumping while moving between the two was treated like normal jumping.
Except now the game doesn’t recognize jump inputs during those key moments, acting instead like you’re falling between one level and the other. This also causes some minor, but aggravating issues with platforming and even with trying to complete some of the bonus missions in the game.
However, it doesn’t seem like Headcannon Studios is at fault for most of these issues. Recent twitter comments by Christian Whitehead himself seem to hint that Sega either “modified” the final code sent to them, or otherwise used an unfinished version of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles for Sonic Origins. Most of these issues can be patched, but they feel obvious, and likely could have been addressed prior to release.
Adding to the weirdness is that there are some truly off moments for the other three games as well. While they are mostly based off of the iOS and Android ports from 2013, Sega did modify them for the Coin system. There are currently reports of Sonic CD allowing time travel during death, or of Sonic the Hedgehog obstacles malfunctioning when they didn’t in the mobile ports. These can likely be fixed alongside the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Knuckles issues, but really feel like they should not exist in the first place.
The current launch-window DLC for Sonic Origins also has the downside of being entirely superfluous. The extra music given to players cannot be subbed in with gameplay, instead only acting as a jukebox bonus. The “extra characters” only show up on the menu. The other modes it promises are unlocked as you play through the game itself. This is somewhat disappointing, but it is something Sonic fans are depressingly used to.
The intro to Sonic CD looks great, but the animation is either played at the wrong speed, or was worse looking than the Sega CD add-on made it look.
So, much like so many Sonic games beforehand, what was a very promising release of Sonic the Hedgehog has been hit in the shin by Sega pushing the game right out the door to meet a deadline. The core content is still great, and there is a lot of good content here. But it does have issues that bigger fans of Sonic will notice instantly.
If you’ve been wanting to sample Sonic the Hedgehog because of his recent movies, this is a great way to get introduced to Sonic and his friends. If you’re just a casual fan who wants to pick up the old games again, this is still great… although the $39.99 price tag might be a little much.
If you’re an old-school Sonic fan who has extensively played these classic games, played most of the good romhacks in existence, and even bought the ports of Sonic on modern consoles before… well, you may want to wait. Either until the price is lower, or until the issues have been patched out - or a fan-mod fixes them for PC gamers.
It’s a solid collection, and the emulated games are fantastic. It’s just a shame the remastered games themselves just aren’t as good as they could have been. A few patches should be able to fix it, but until then…
The Good:
+Fantastic ports of the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games.
+The Michael Jackson music issue has been resolved.
+Fantastic animated cutscenes
+Removal of life system allows classic games to feel stronger as a whole
The Bad:
-Lots of weird little issues with the game physics that shouldn’t be there.
-The entire package feels rushed and incomplete.
-Too expensive for an HD remaster of four games.
-The replacement music’s remix is not the best.
-The animated cutscenes are always on, no matter the version you play.
