Sonic Origins | A Legacy Worth Celebrating

When it comes to my favourite platforming series, my immediate answer is Sonic - more specifically, the games starring the pudgy black-eyed version of him from the 90s, as well as their modern successors.

The original trilogy, CD, Mania and Superstars have been incredibly formative for my tastes, and continue to influence them to this day. They got me to love replay value and how your own skill can make a difference at traversing levels, and their brand of speedy platforming is still unmatched 30+ years later!

But all that love and passion has made the process of writing about these games incredibly stressful. I'm already hard on myself when it comes to the quality of my work, and that's doubly so when talking about my favourites. I want to make sure everything's perfect and that I explain all my points well, but my anxiety tends to get the better of me. My plan of writing a Sonic Superstars review for its first anniversary had to be canceled as a result of the stress, alongside some personal burnout regarding the game's discourse and how it affected my enjoyment.

I knew I wanted to talk about Classic Sonic in some form, but figuring out how to do that without causing needless stress was the tricky part. It wasn’t until I decided to replay the Mega Drive titles that an idea popped into my head. “Instead of reviewing the games themselves, how about I review a collection they’re a part of?”

And that brings us to Sonic Origins!


Released on June 23rd 2022, Origins is Sega’s most recent attempt at repackaging the blue blur’s glory days, and probably their most controversial. Launching in a fairly unpolished state, the game received middling reviews from critics and ravenous backlash from the Sonic community, but I don’t think all of it was deserved. Maybe it’s a result of my boundless positivity, but I genuinely think Origins is a great collection, and one that doesn’t get the respect it deserves.

But it’s about time that changed. I’m going to go in-depth on Sonic Origins and explain why it’s an excellent collection for newcomers and even diehards like myself!

 


Starting with the games themselves, Origins is already a step ahead of most retro collections. Instead of simply emulating the original ROMs, the four main games have been rebuilt on the Retro Engine, which results in some modern enhancements while retaining their original look and feel. The remasters of Sonic 1, 2 and CD were developed by Christian Whitehead and Headcannon in the early 2010s, but despite their status as the definitive versions, were only ever released on mobile devices. Origins is the first time they’ve been officially ported to modern systems and PC, and they’re as fantastic as ever!

Not much was added in the transition from mobile to console, but nothing major was lost either! Tails and Knuckles are still playable in Sonic 1, Hidden Palace is still accessible in Sonic 2, CD retains the soundtrack switching and playable Tails, and every game keeps its widescreen view. Being able to explore a long-lost zone like Hidden Palace or fly through Little Planet as Tails would be a plus for any version, but attaching them to these near-perfect remasters that add nothing but positive changes is enough to cement their status as the definitive versions.

 
 
 
 
 
 
But what’s even more exciting than having these remasters at home is seeing Sonic 3 & Knuckles finally receive the same treatment! Sonic 2's two-part sequel hadn’t seen a rerelease since 2011, meaning it missed out on getting a Retro Engine remaster. That streak’s finally been broken with Origins, as Headcannon’s stepped up to deliver a release that blows their previous efforts out of the water!

Unlike the earlier remasters, Sonic 3 doesn’t have many sweeping additions, but in their place is a bunch of polish! Unused animations are reinstated, cutscenes have more visual and sound effects, there’s an entirely new cutscene after Launch Base that’s based on Sonic & Knuckles’ title screen, the exclusive Competition stages have been rebuilt in the original resolution, and so much more that results in an incredible package. Quite frankly, the amount of love, care and effort that went into this one remaster is enough to make Origins entirely worth it for me!
 

However, it also stumbles in places the previous remasters didn’t, particularly with its music. Due to long-standing copyright issues, several zone and event themes have been changed to their equivalents from previous releases and a 1993 prototype. This didn’t have to be a bad thing; these alternative songs are really solid and have their fans, but the versions used in Origins are quite poor.

A few songs made it out unscathed, but around half of the zone themes are noticeably inferior to the songs they’ve replaced and their prototype iterations. Carnival Night’s went from upbeat and energetic to hollow and dreary, and Launch Base Act 2 has pitching problems that hamper the incredible melody, which sucks since it was one of my absolute favourites. Like I said, every other song is fine, but the fact Sega decided to use these mediocre renditions instead of the excellent pre-existing versions is a little embarrassing. This is definitely my biggest issue with Origins as a whole, but if its worst quality is a few crappy level songs, then that’s a very good sign!





Now that I’ve established the games themselves are still great, it’s time to go over how you can play them! Origins offers two main modes - Anniversary Mode and Classic Mode. They both use the Retro Engine versions as a base, but make various tweaks for the sake of accessibility and accuracy.
 
 
 


Anniversary Mode’s essentially a straight port of the remasters with some modern luxuries. The widescreen view is still present, but lives are completely removed! They’ve been replaced with Coins, which are earned the same way and can be spent on extra tries for the Special Stages.

Just having these games in widescreen is enough to make them more accessible, but the extra changes are still very welcome! Not having to worry about lives or failing Special Stages removes some of the old-school stress while retaining the core design that made these games great. And even for a veteran like myself, being able to retry Special Stages makes going after the Chaos Emeralds/Time Stones so much less of a hassle.





But if you do want an old-school experience, Origins can deliver! The appropriately-named Classic Mode retracts a lot of Anniversary Mode’s changes and reverts the aspect ratio to 4:3, making these remasters much closer to the Mega Drive originals. This is a really cool idea on paper, but it's one of the many things in Origins that feels like it's not reaching its full potential.

While the broad strokes are present, a lot of little details aren’t. Sonic can still Spin-Dash in the original game, Hidden Palace isn't blocked off in Sonic 2, and plenty of other gameplay elements aren’t changed, which results in a noticeable lack of accuracy if you’re familiar with the original versions. A lot of this might come off as nitpicking, but since Origins is likely to be the way most younger fans play these games for the first time, having a more accurate showcase of what’s changed should’ve been a priority. What makes it worse is that many of these options can be toggled in-game through cheat codes, so I’m not sure why Sonic Team couldn’t have just enabled specific settings for each mode.

Regardless, Classic Mode’s still a worthwhile addition despite the lack of accuracy. Preserving these games in their original forms was essential, and I'm glad Sonic Team cared enough to do it.





Only having four games might be disappointing compared to previous Sonic collections, but something I really like about Origins is how it manages to squeeze plenty of leverage out of each title, by rearranging elements and creating new challenges/ways to play. There’s a surprising amount of extra modes and variants, and they’re all quite enjoyable!

 


Boss Rush is exactly what it says on the tin; you fight against all the Eggman bosses from a specific game on a limited set of lives. This mode’s hampered by inconsistent Ring distribution and the simplicity of the bosses themselves, but it’s a fun distraction and a solid way of earning Coins.


Mirror Mode completely flips each game horizontally, resulting in an entirely new feel. This is definitely the mode I've put the least time into, but I love the concept; simply flipping the lefts and rights is enough to make these levels feel new again, and it can be a solid test of muscle memory.
 

Story Mode lets you play all four games in one continuous run, transitioning from one to the other with special cutscenes made just for this collection. I don’t play this mode often (mostly due to how long it goes on for), but it’s great for a marathon session. The cutscenes are definitely my favourite part; they’re quite short and completely void of dialogue, but they perfectly capture the charm of this Sonic's world while connecting the games together in some cool ways.
 

And last but not least is Mission Mode, my favourite of the four! Each game receives a set of bite-sized, objective-focused stages that remix the pre-existing gimmicks in interesting ways. These missions aren’t particularly replayable or even that challenging for a veteran like myself, but I appreciate the effort, and playing them for the first time was still very fun! They’re also a solid way of racking up Coins, which will be important for the next section…





I’ve briefly alluded to the Coins before, but didn’t mention their true purpose until now. Granting extra tries at the Special Stages is only a bonus; their main use is as currency for Origins’ Museum! Previous Sonic collections have featured modes like this, but instead of having an explorable 3D hub or letting you browse everything right away, you’ve got to earn these extras by spending Coins in the Premium Collection and completing minor challenges in the Normal Collection. Not every section is created equally, but there’s some fantastic content here! Let’s go through each section so you can see what I mean.


First up is Sounds, which lets you listen to every song from the four games (alongside Spinball, 3D Blast and Knuckles’ Chaotix if you own the Classic Music Pack DLC) and various remixes used in projects like Sonic Generations. It would’ve been nice to see some music from other Classic-era games, but it’s a fairly solid section regardless. You can even make playlists and browse the Museum while listening to them, which is neat!
 

 While the Sounds section was simply fine, the Illustrations section is fantastic! Your options are fairly slim in the Normal Collection, but the Premium Collection is stuffed with cool bonuses. There’s the artwork made for Sega’s Harmony magazine, various American/European illustrations, clean rips of cover art, reference sheets for Origins’ animations, never-before-seen concept art, and even a few extras! It’s an incredible incentive for grabbing and spending Coins, especially if you’re a casual fan who’s never seen these rarities before!
 

 Instead of following this trend of excellence, the Movies section goes out with a whimper. The Normal Collection seems promising enough, with Origins’ Story Mode cutscenes being present alongside CD’s original animations (restored in gorgeous fashion) and all six episodes of the Sonic Mania Adventures web series. However, things start to fall apart once you get to the Premium Collection; there’s some videos of the 2021 Sonic Symphony show, animatics of the animations, and… that’s it. Maybe my expectations were too high after seeing the jam-packed Illustrations section, but the lack of rare material here is very disappointing. There’s a wealth of TV commercials, trailers, rare animations and other content that would’ve been great to see, but none of that potential was capitalized upon. It’s a shame it ended up so underwhelming, especially since Sonic Jam’s movie section featured a lot more, and that was a collection from 1997 on much weaker hardware!
 




Funnily enough, one of my favourite things about Origins is something that wouldn’t even matter in most collections: the menus. It might seem strange at face value, but there’s a good reason for my praise.
 

Each game’s menu screen is represented by a 3D diorama of the island they take place on, as well as Spinball’s Mt. Mobius and 3D Blast’s Flicky Island for Mission and Museum, respectively. This is definitely a result of my immense love for these games, but seeing these locations in a 3D space is so exciting - and better yet, they’re packed with details! From the various landmarks representing each zone to the cycling animations of Sonic and the gang, these little dioramas are so chock-full of character that just looking at them is fun! And Sonic Team clearly knew this, as a feature you get from buying the Digital Deluxe DLC is the ability to zoom in and take a closer look!


On the topic of presentation, something I’ve really come to appreciate about Origins is its music. There’s not many original tunes like previous collections, but there’s some fantastic remixes of pre-existing ones. The main menu theme (remixed from the 3D Sonic World in Sonic Jam) always gets me pumped to play these games again, and the remixes composed for each game’s cutscenes are delightful. One touch I really love is how the music for Origins’ intro and ending sounds remarkably similar to the main theme of Sonic Superstars, hinting at Classic Sonic's next adventure before it was even announced!




I won’t lie, writing this review was incredibly difficult. Not because of the structure or my feelings, that was basically all figured out. The real mental block was my own expectations.

I already mentioned that I'm pretty hard on myself when it comes to my writing, and those feelings are always amplified when talking about Sonic. This is my favourite game series of all-time, and the games starring his classic counterpart are incredibly important to me. I so desperately want to sing their praises and cover every inch of their excellence, but the fear of screwing up and doing a poor job is a little terrifying to me. Putting out a mediocre piece would be one thing, but putting out a mediocre piece on a series I love would be infinitely more disappointing for my own psyche.

But after some reflection, I've realized that my thoughts on my writing will always change... and that's okay! Just like all forms of art, writing's something you'll only improve at as you keep doing it. A lot of my work from 2022, 2023 and even last year feels so unrefined compared to the stuff I'm putting out now, but I can only say that with hindsight. In a few years' time, maybe even this review will seem rough compared to whatever I’m doing in the future, but it’s hard to say.

All I can do is just try my best in the present, rather than worrying how it'll reflect on my future.



To get back to Sonic Origins, I’ve made my verdict clear - it’s an excellent collection! Certainly not a flawless one, but still worth playing, especially if you’re a newcomer or have kids that are interested in Sonic. There’s certainly a lot to love about Origins even if you are a veteran, though; from the Museum’s rarities to the new cutscenes and Sonic 3’s remaster, you can still find things to appreciate even if you’ve played these classics hundreds of times.

I wouldn’t say Sonic Origins is the definitive way to play these games if you consider fan projects like Sonic 3 AIR or the Retro Engine decompilations and their litany of mods, but it’s certainly the most accessible option for casual folks. And honestly, that’s important to remember; not everyone wants to set up a bunch of mods or tinker with various options, they just want to sit down and replay some favourites. And while it’s not perfect, I think Sonic Origins is the best way to do that through official means.