When a team of developers launch their game, it can be a happy moment, one of excitement and anticipation as all that effort and hard work have resulted in a completed product that fans can enjoy. That's true to a degree when it comes to the recently launched Sonic Origins, but there's been some problems as well. Stealth, who is renowned and beloved for his projects and work within the Sonic community, and who is part of the team that helped get Sonic 3 & Knuckles finally released on modern platforms, is not pleased with the end result. Those intricately familiar with Sonic 3 were quick to point out issues and flaws with dev Headcannon's port of the game into the Retro Engine, critisizing them for not having fixed physics and hitbox problems before the game's release.

I'm extremely proud of my team for their performance under such pressure, but every one of us is very unhappy about the state of Origins and even the Sonic 3 component. We weren't too thrilled about its pre-submission state either but a lot was beyond our control.

— Stealth (@HCStealth) June 24, 2022

However, Stealth took to Twitter to let out a long string of Tweets that better explain the situation in its entirety: according to him, Sonic Origins isn't "what [they] turned in" to SEGA, and a lot of bugs and problems that players are having were instead introduced on SEGA's end of things. Stealth mentions how he and Headcannon did all they could so that Origins could be as good as they could make it be, suffering development crunch and stress over getting everything done in time. Some things, he notes as being bugs that Headcannon had to overlook due to the high pressure development, but not all of them are his team's fault. Just ahead of Sonic Origins' launch, the team tried to push some fixes out, but those reportedly weren't allowed due to submission and approval rules, and delaying the game at all just wasn't an option for SEGA. Headcannon has also apparently offered to iron out the bugs and keep working on making Origins better post-release, but the team isn't sure if SEGA will allow that to happen.

Why am I talking about it now, then? Well, there's just too much scrutiny over things that both are and are not related to us, and I don't want to sit in back in silence while people are asking why and how things happened to a product they put so much hope and money into

— Stealth (@HCStealth) June 24, 2022

Not all is negative, though--Stealth wanted to make sure to mention he's still on good terms with SEGA, and appreciated the opportunity and said that most of SEGA's staff was kind and respectful, just that he wanted to clear the air so fans better knew what went on behind closed doors.

 

[RedoLane]

I had a little chat with Simon last night and man, I feel so bad for him and the others, especially considering for how long i've known the guy from his time in the community.
I totally understand how he feels, from experience. SEGA are simply too incompetent nowadays, rushing projects that are treated as "birthday gifts". They've done it with Sonic 06(despite missing the deadline), and doesn't look like they learned their lesson since then.

This situation is a wake-up call for EVERYONE, both sides of the spectrum.
I won't deny that things went smoother with Mania, since the team behind it had a lot more freedom and control, but that doesn't mean it'll always be the case. SEGA wanted to push Origins as a part of their multi-project campaign to celebrate all-things Sonic, cutting it closer to Sonic Movie 2's release so all the new fans will be able to enjoy the classics, and since these fans aren't that aware of Sonic's history in the 90s or the little technicalities that we love and care about, they won't mind all the changes and issues that for us long-time fans, is very important.

A balanced and mutual partnership is the key to a great product. When you rush your third-party associates to finish the project in time, and reject all their offers regarding it's current state, leading them to crunch time, of course you'll get bad reception when you release it. Sure, that doesn't mean Headcannon and SEGA are fighting or something. They're actually on good terms, but the end result is what really matters to me, and unfortunately, Sonic Origins IS NOT POLISHED ENOUGH!

It's hard to tell at this point if anyone in that company is working on a patch, but my trust in them is starting to decrease dramatically, and I bet other fans feel the same way.
Very disappointed. You done goofed, SEGA.

 

[Lv44ES_Burner]

I had a little chat with Simon last night and man, I feel so bad for him and the others, especially considering for how long i've known the guy from his time in the community.
I totally understand how he feels, from experience. SEGA are simply too incompetent nowadays, rushing projects that are treated as "birthday gifts". They've done it with Sonic 06(despite missing the deadline), and doesn't look like they learned their lesson since then.

This situation is a wake-up call for EVERYONE, both sides of the spectrum.
I won't deny that things went smoother with Mania, since the team behind it had a lot more freedom and control, but that doesn't mean it'll always be the case. SEGA wanted to push Origins as a part of their multi-project campaign to celebrate all-things Sonic, cutting it closer to Sonic Movie 2's release so all the new fans will be able to enjoy the classics, and since these fans aren't that aware of Sonic's history in the 90s or the little technicalities that we love and care about, they won't mind all the changes and issues that for us long-time fans, is very important.

A balanced and mutual partnership is the key to a great product. When you rush your third-party associates to finish the project in time, and reject all their offers regarding it's current state, leading them to crunch time, of course you'll get bad reception when you release it. Sure, that doesn't mean Headcannon and SEGA are fighting or something. They're actually on good terms, but the end result is what really matters to me, and unfortunately, Sonic Origins IS NOT POLISHED ENOUGH!

It's hard to tell at this point if anyone in that company is working on a patch, but my trust in them is starting to decrease dramatically, and I bet other fans feel the same way.
Very disappointed. You done goofed, SEGA.

I'm sure it doesn't bear repeating, but Stealth has a lot of fans on his side who don't blame him for this. Dude and the staff of Headcannon deserved better. This just reeks of the same stuff that happened post-Mania to me.

 

[Viri]

Only Square and Sega can fuck up 16bit game re-releases. lol

 

[shaunj66]

As a die hard classic Sonic fan Origins is a somewhat disappointing package to me honestly. It should have been a home run but it just feels so cheap and half hearted. The menus and museum are so barebones it's laughable.

Thankfully the core 4 games, the majority of which were made nearly a decade ago are still one of the best ways to experience these games but they didn't even get the original devs to go back and bug fix/update the titles. Many of the issues that these ports have had since their launch are still an issue.

Not only that but the implementation of the drop dash in 1 & 2 and to some extent CD is completely broken and inaccurate.

3&K is actually a very good port and from my perspective even more accurately emulates classic Sonic than Mania did. It has its own issues of course, mostly relating to stage gimmicks that if Stealth and co get the opportunity to, I'm sure they'd rectify.

Then we get to the music. What the fuck happened here I never know. The volume levels, mastering and overall quality of the tracks throughout the collection vary wildly. Some tracks honestly sound like placeholders. And as for the replacement prototype 3&K tracks they used for Origins , these versions (except maybe ICZ) are so, so bad and out of place. Why they didn't just use the 1993 proto tracks I don't understand.

On the plus side, the addition of the wonderfully animated cutscenes and the story mode are some saving graces to enjoy
but there is a lot of work to be done to make Origins the definitive collection SEGA has promoted it to be.

They should honestly just turn the entire package over to Headcanon for future updates.

 

[UltraHurricane]

It’s not how you do business, plain and simple. I can appreciate “taking his lumps”, but while speech is silver, silence is gold when money’s changing hands. It’s in the best interest of the company to keep such things under wraps and simply state that you’re sorry about the issues and that they’ll be addressed in the future. This isn’t the first game that had a rocky start on release day, and not the last - no point in turning it into a drama.

unless you have first-hand experience working for Sega, i don't see what you gain from trying to discredit Stealth when it's shown time and time again that upper management at Sega of Japan is a shit-show and treat their western devs like garbage

saying that devs should stay quiet about matters like this and keeping the public in the dark about WHY their product wasn't up to snuff gives less incentive for the public to get companies to fix the problem, cause i SERIOSULY doubt it was Stealth's idea to cut the original music from Sonic 3 and add confusing and forced DLC packs

 

[PacBunnyXV07]

Oh my god do you guys smell that? " Sniff Sniff Sniff" Does that smell like...THE OPPORTUNITY FOR SONIC FRONTIERS TO BE THE BEST SONIC GAME OF 2022?!?!?!?!.

 

[cucholix]

Oh well, will buy in a future sale then...

 

[appleburger]

*Clutches onto Sonic Jam

 

[slaphappygamer]

But this is how it’s supposed to work. Rush the game out to meet a deadline. Then patch it if enough people complain. It’s been like this for a long time, even before cd project red thingies.

 

[Jonna]

Wait, what's wrong? Other than the music situation for Sonic 3&K, I've been having a blast, and any glitches I've come across were in the original as well. Hell, there's been some amazing small improvements here and there.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

Sonic is being re-released almost yearly, do anyone still believes that Sega gives a shit about how it will turn out?

 

[ChiefReginod]

It does seem a bit iffy to air their dirty laundry in public, but maybe they felt the need to protect their own reputation since some of this (apparently) happened against their will.

I'm sure they understand that this might affect their relationship with Sega and other publishers in the future, but sometimes you just have to take the least-damaging route when no good options are available.

 

[_v3]

Honestly, this sounds like “dog ate my homework”. This is not how you resolve issues - there are obvious flaws with the product which manifested at some point between handing the game in and getting it released. The solution is to get in contact with SEGA and negotiate, look at what went wrong and patch the game. The guy is shooting himself in the foot by publicly venting like this.

Actually, no he isn't. Sega can't produce a GOOD Sonic game for shit and HC+PW have started taking their place as the only ones capable of doing so. What is Sega going to do, axe the only people capable of keeping a sinking franchise afloat??

 

[Maximumbeans]

This is, honestly, sad to see. I won't put Sonic Team at fault for this, either; no, the fault lies squarely with the upper management at Sega of Japan. I would hazard a guess and give benefit of the doubt to Stealth, as well as to Takashi Iizuka of Sonic Team, as to why Origins has suffered such a mediocre showing of a release because of it.

And it's even sadder when you consider the following: All of this has happened before with Sega. The Western development houses of Sega and the Eastern development houses in Japan have always, always had a disconcerting problem of (being unable to) seeing eye-to-eye. It's corporate arrogance on the SoJ branch's part that has persisted ever since the days of the Sega Genesis in the early 1990s.

I'll gladly stand corrected but this seems to be a common issue when you get these 'east and west splits' in companies that are predominantly running the show from Japan. Though Sega does seem to be the worst.

 

[ChiefReginod]

This is, honestly, sad to see. I won't put Sonic Team at fault for this, either; no, the fault lies squarely with the upper management at Sega of Japan. I would hazard a guess and give benefit of the doubt to Stealth, as well as to Takashi Iizuka of Sonic Team, as to why Origins has suffered such a mediocre showing of a release because of it.

And it's even sadder when you consider the following: All of this has happened before with Sega. The Western development houses of Sega and the Eastern development houses in Japan have always, always had a disconcerting problem of (being unable to) seeing eye-to-eye. It's corporate arrogance on the SoJ branch's part that has persisted ever since the days of the Sega Genesis in the early 1990s.

It's actually heartbreaking to see that what wrecked Sega's potential is still a problem within the company today. Just imagine how many more great games we could have had by now if it wasn't for this mindset eating away at the company from within for the past 25 years.

I mean, I don't know if this is really what caused the problem here, but I wouldn't be surprised either.

 

[Rahkeesh]

When I see this stuff getting aired in public I presume they've already stopped talking privately. It's the last desperate resort to go to Twitter which does actually work from time to time if you've got enough pull. Doesn't bode well for Origins getting the patches it needs.

 

[DarkCoffe64]

Bet if this was a fan project instead of a corporate release, it would've been way, way better.
For shame Sega, for shame. Much like Shadow's "I am" song, you go one step forward, and two (or more) back.

Guess will be waiting for the inevitable disappointment that will be Frontiers, unless some miracle happens. shrugs

 

[DoctorBagPhD]

I didn't even stop to consider blaming Simon or any of the Headcannon guys for the dire release, I'd automatically put it all on SEGA...

Hopefully the bugs can get ironed out, and we thankfully have mods for the Switch and PC releases to restore the real music.

 

[Glyptofane]

Complete trash, big surprise. And with Sega's big recent announcement being the wasting of Creative Assembly's talent on developing a soon to be DOA team-based FPS, may I say, fuck Sega.

 

[Foxi4]

unless you have first-hand experience working for Sega, i don't see what you gain from trying to discredit Stealth when it's shown time and time again that upper management at Sega of Japan is a shit-show and treat their western devs like garbage

saying that devs should stay quiet about matters like this and keeping the public in the dark about WHY their product wasn't up to snuff gives less incentive for the public to get companies to fix the problem, cause i SERIOSULY doubt it was Stealth's idea to cut the original music from Sonic 3 and add confusing and forced DLC packs

I don’t worship developers, and I’m not “trying to discredit” anyone. I don’t know how you gathered that from what was said. He’s simply behaving in a way a contractor shouldn’t.