Timeless icon of the 90s as opposed to the plumber Nintendoin more than thirty years of career Sonic the hedgehog has gone through countless incarnations, being born on consoles SAW and then landing on all platforms on the market. A cast of charismatic characters with inimitable charm that recently conquered cinemas with two unmissable feature films that have earned the palm of best transposition of a video game on the big screen. A success that today we can celebrate on our consoles and PCs with an anthology of the four original sixteen-bit titles released for the first time on SEGA Mega Drive and on its peripheral Mega CD. Available from last June 23, SONIC ORIGINS brings four classic titles to current consoles and PCs enriched with interesting new features: let’s find out together in our review.
- Title: Sonic Origins
- Platform: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
- Version analyzed: PlayStation 5 (EU)
- Genre: Platform
- Players: 1-2
- Publisher: SAW
- Developer: SEGA, Sonic Team,
- Tongue: Italian (texts)
- Exit date: June 23, 2022
- Availability: digital delivery
- DLC: Premium Fun Package, Classic Music Package
- Note: Sonic 3 songs, originally composed by Michael Jackson, have been replaced by new tracks
We reviewed Sonic Origins with a PlayStation 5 code given to us free of charge by SEGA via Koch Media.
The pourpose of Sonic Origins is to become the definitive anthology for the original chapters of the House Hedgehog franchise SAWbringing four titles that have made history to the latest hardware: the first Sonic the Hedgehogfor many bundled with their own Mega Driveits sequels Sonic 2 and 3 (with the expansion relative to Knuckles already included in the package) and finally Sonic CD, the flagship title of the bulky disc peripheral characterized by dynamic levels and anime-style movies, previously unthinkable for a game on cartridge. But Sonic Origins is not just thatnot just the four original roms slammed into a package with a careless interface. Far from it.
A 16-bit heart
When you first start the Sonic Origins we immediately notice one of the biggest innovations introduced in this collection, the stunning 2D animated movies made in the same style as the shorts by Sonic Mania Adventureswhich among other things we will find in full as bonus content within the mode Museum along with all the original Sonic Origins footage. These original movies are very high value added content, as they introduce and they link each game in the best possible way and show some background narrated so far only in a textual waysuch as the “origins” of Tails and how he was bullied by his fellows on his home planet.
We will be able to deal with Sonic Origins in many ways: first of all we can decide whether to try our hand at the modality Classical or Anniversary. The first will allow us to face the four games in their original incarnation, with 4: 3 aspect ratio, limited lives and “continues”. The second, Anniversarywas rebuilt entirely in 16: 9 and replaces lives with special tokens and will eliminate continues. Finally, there is a modality History it will allow us to play the four titles as a single great title in chronological sequence, interspersed with the videos mentioned above. To these are added the unprecedented modality Mission as well as the very rich modality Museumwhich includes music tracks, illustrations, game manuals in all languages, all game videos (also in work in progress version), the complete series of Sonic Mania Adventures and last but not least the orchestral concert in all its glory.
Every hedgehog a whim
The modality Anniversary it allows us to tackle each of the four games in its most modern form, although there may be some annoying bugs that will probably be fixed in the future. At the beginning of each game we will be able to choose which of the three protagonists to impersonate: Sonic, Tails or Knucklesor (depending on the game) the couple Sonic & Tails or Knuckles & Tails. Unfortunately, the little two-tailed fox suffers from the most annoying of problems and for this reason you will often prefer to play without it. It will constantly tend to die, to get stuck in some obstacle, to get lost in the level as you go along, or not arriving with the right timing when called to lift us off the ground for a few moments. Fortunately, this is one of the few problems we have encountered in the version PlayStation 5 considered for this review, along with some sporadic moments where we got stuck bouncing endlessly, or dealt with hitboxes that aren’t quite “legal” for some enemies.
Each game will take into account our completion with each of the available characters, and we will be able to continue from the beginning of the level where we have arrived at each start of the game. Unfortunately, and he really felt the need, it is not possible to save the game in the middle of the level and pick up where we left offas it happens in other versions of the titles (SEGA Mega Drive Classicsor the version Nintendo Switch Online of Sonic 2). The aids made available to the player are limited only to the presence of infinite lives and continues in the Anniversary modeas well as for the use of specials coins that allow us to retry the bonus levels if we fail to make our children emeralds of chaos. There is no other help, such as the rewind of the two titles mentioned above, and this could discourage younger or novice players, not used to extreme cruelty of the games of the early nineties. And we can say that we have had quite a few problems in completing the entire adventure made available by Sonic Origins.
Once you have completed each game in the mode Anniversary we will also unlock two other modes: the Mirror mode And Assault on the Boss. Very explanatory from the name, the first will allow us to play the title with completely mirrored levels, while the second will allow us to face all the bosses of each title one after the other. However, among the contents that I appreciated the most in the title (in addition to the aforementioned modality Museum) there is the mode Missions, which will allow us to easily accumulate coins to spend for the Museum and to complete the stage bonuses. In the missions we will be called to face a series of more or less difficult challenges divided by game (some of them, unfortunately, only included in the DLC pack Premium Fun).
For example, take down a certain number of specific enemies before crossing the finish line, collect a certain number of rings, or finish the level without taking out even one of the creatures of Robotnik. Each challenge will reward us, as well as with tokens, with a vote ranging from C to S, which will be assigned to us according to the time it will take us to complete the challenge. A very satisfying mode.
Porco… spino
The original pixel art of these four Sonic games doesn’t feel the weight of the years in the slightest and is incredibly current even more than thirty years after the original release. On PlayStation 5 the title feels smooth and perfectly enjoyable on a 4K screen, however I would have preferred to find some more settings in the options that concerned the display modes of the four games, since unfortunately we can only choose whether to play with anti-aliasing active or not. In the first case, the pixels will be horribly blurred, I strongly advise against anyone to enable this setting. It would have been much better to be able to activate the different filters that simulate them at will CRT scanlineas happens instead in the titles of the anthologies of Capcom Arcade Stadiumwhich even manage to replicate the curvature of old CRT TVs.
From the sound point of view, except for Sonic 3 & Knucklesthat does not feature the original music tracks (made up of Michael Jacksonnot by any fool), we find all the music we used to hear as kids, as well as new tracks used in the menus and rearrangements and remixes present in the mode Museum. It must be said that, in terms of quality, the audio sector is truly excellent. In addition, as a touch of class, the development team went to great lengths to make the main menu of the anthology quite appealing from an aesthetic point of view, designing rich polygonal models of the islands that we will also be able to observe in a close-up way, with characters and enemy creatures that move inside them as if they were alive. I would like once again to sing the praises of the splendid animated cutscenes, which greatly contribute to embellishing a final product that is already quite valid in itself.
Who do we recommend Sonic Origins to?
The anthology of Sonic Origins is aimed at both those who have lived through the heyday of Mega Drive and she loved these four mascot adventures SAW, and to all those who have never had the pleasure of playing them until now. Maybe even all the younger ones who have approached Sonic with the recent film adaptations, who will be able to find many of the situations and characters seen on the big screen in the three numbered games. From the giant mecha of Robotnik to the alliance between the latter and the echidna Knucklesfrom the world of mushrooms (dig at Mario?) to the famous sequence on the red biplane. Origins is the best way to step back in time and enjoy the original games that shaped this stainless franchise thirty years ago.
- Four great timeless titles
- The Missions mode
- The museum is truly immense and rich in precious material
- The splendid animated cutscenes
- Total absence of CRT filters
- Sporadic bugs
- The absence of cheats and save states could make games frustrating for some
- Available in digital download only
Sonic Origins
Backfire for the blue sprinter
Not many games have stood the test of time as well as the four titles of Sonic contained in this collection. It was enough to bring them to 16: 9 and modify the limited lives system to create a game that is certainly challenging, but far less than the original four titles were thirty years ago. Sonic Origins is a product aimed at longtime aficionados as well as all new friends of the blue hedgehog, even the youngest who love challenges. With all the precautions implemented by the developers Sonic embraces the philosophy of trial & error without game over screens that force the player to start over, but at the same time it does not make things too easy by offering easy tricks to “cheat” as it is possible to do in SEGA Mega Drive Classics. The four games in mode Anniversary are more fun than ever and with the mode Classical it is possible to enjoy them in the same way as they used to be. In addition to this the modalities Missions And Museum they constitute an excellent added value which, together with the animated cutscenes and the care placed in the user interface, contribute to creating a truly unmissable package.
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