Review cover Sonic Origins (PlayStation 5)
Official GBAtemp Review

Product Information:

  • Release Date (NA): June 23, 2022
  • Publisher: SEGA
  • Developer: Heacanon
  • Also For: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S

Game Features:

Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative
Taxman finally gets his shot at recreating Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It's the exciting release every Sonic fan has been waiting for, right?

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My very first memory is of Sonic the Hedgehog; specifically, a re-run of the 1996 OVA film. Children often have a favorite something that they get excited for, whether it’s princesses, dinosaurs, animals--whatever. Mine was, without a doubt, Sonic. For my fourth birthday, my mom gave me a gift that would be a turning point, something that would jumpstart a love of video games, and of writing about them. Unsurprisingly, that gift was a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog

From then on, I have followed this franchise through its highs and lows--particularly the many, many lows. So, when Sonic Origins was announced, my first reaction was of complete and utter joy, which was quickly replaced by apprehension and unease. Christian Whitehead, Stealth, and the many talented Sonic fans at Headcanon have proven their ability to craft the definitive versions of Sonic games in the past, but would SEGA manage to get in the way of such and mess it up? If you are a fan, you should know by now that the answer is a resounding “yes,” but what exactly went wrong here? Sonic Origins manages to do right by the franchise’s tradition of quality, because it is a game that gets so much right, while somehow managing to screw up so much else.

For those unaware, this isn't "just" a collection of SEGA Genesis ROMs, nor is it a remaster. Sonic Origins is a compilation, yes, but of what is known colloquially as the Taxman Sonic remakes. Originally released on mobile, and in the case of some of them, only ever on mobile, these were from-the-ground-up remakes of the classic Sonic games in Christian Whitehead's Retro Engine, which aims to try to perfectly recreate these games in widescreen, with better visuals and other upgrades. These are the unequivocal definitive versions of Sonic 1, 2, and CD, now finally released on consoles and Steam. That alone makes Sonic Origins worth it. This is also the first time in over a decade that we've seen a release of Sonic 3 in any form, taking what is considered to be the best Sonic game ever, and remaking it in the same way. At least, that was what everyone expected. 

And, to a degree, that is what we got, just with a few snags. Sonic 3 & Knuckles looks and feels better than ever before, and upon first glance, is what every Sonic nerd had been praying for. The bulk of this review will focus on that game, because outside of two very small annoyances--no Knuckles in Sonic CD and a wonky dropdash move shoehorned into the others--these versions of Sonic 1, Sonic 2, and Sonic CD are the same as what we had before, glitches included. It's confusing as to why these bugs weren't ironed out, especially given they've had a decade to do so, but at the end of the day, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is really the star of the show here. 

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Those aforementioned Sonic nerds have played Sonic 3 an unholy amount of times, whether it's through Sonic 3 AIR or Sonic 3 Complete, on original hardware, with ROMhacks, via the Sonic Mega Collection, or any of the zillion ways the game was re-released in the early 2000s. I know this, because this is exactly how I've experienced Sonic 3 throughout those 21 years since I first originally played it. If I need to test a new TV, or input lag on my capture card, or a controller, or if I just need a comfort game to replay every few months, I always grab Sonic 3. Without fail. So for these weirdo obsessive fans, any sort of difference from that well trodden original, even one as minor as the placement of a rock, or a few frames in a cutscene, would be nothing short of insanity. 

Unfortunately, Sonic Origins fails to fully recreate the beloved classic. Don't get me wrong--you can complete the game fully, and there are no "game breaking" bugs that I encountered; I have plenty of praise for Headcanon's work on this, but all those good moments are slightly soured by newly introduced glitches and oversights. Throughout my first playthrough, there were things that threw me; the first problem was in Angel Island Zone Act 2, where I noticed that Sonic was moving way faster than I remembered, but I assumed I was crazy, living in some Sonic 3 Berenstain universe. Then the disappearing and reappearing platforms at the very end of the Act were erratic. I've never had an issue jumping on them, but this time, I fumbled around, barely able to get the timing right. That threw me off majorly, but again, I chalked it up to me being weird, rather than the game. Same went for the tops in Marble Garden, where my colleague who was watching--and had never played Sonic 3--was asking why their physics seemed all screwed up.

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Where all the oddities finally resulted in a lightbulb moment was in Carnival Night Zone, during the Act 1 boss. The one where you have the top that bounces around and destroys the platform while you need to make it crash into the boss. After barely scrambling to get two hits in, I realized the top was moving differently, while the boss itself was caught in the top part of the screen--to the point where I was struggling to kill it before it drilled through all the blocks and made the fight impossible. It's beatable, at least, but it's such a noticeable mistake, and one that genuinely messes with the gameplay so badly that I'm shocked wasn't fixed prior to release. These weird speed-up bugs continued to irk me until the end--the missiles in Doomsday Zone are far more erratic now, sometimes you move so fast you'll clip through things instead of hitting them, monitors won't pop up from the correct signpost placement at the end of a level, and if you're (un)lucky enough to go fast enough you might run offscreen and get "crushed" by nothing. 

Normally, I'd say I hope for issues like these to be patched out by the developers shortly after launch, but after Stealth's official confirmation that SEGA hasn't green-lit a bugfixing patch as of the time of writing, these problems might be permanent. There's so much wrong that it makes it incredibly hard to recommend Sonic Origins, while still loving it so much. Especially at the price that SEGA is commanding for this: a console/PC release of high quality ports we've had for at least 10 years on mobile and one new-old game, for $40. Let alone the bizarre DLC cash grab that makes absolutely no sense, because who is buying this 16:9 widescreen collection so that they can spend extra money on 4:3 borders? Locking missions behind a paywall is equally bonkers, and fans have every right to be disgusted by that fact alone, when a decade ago it would have been included for free. Bethesda would be proud, at least. 

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Those of you that might prefer using Origins as their zillionth version of a ROM collection to play the true originals via the game's "Classic" mode will also be confused to learn that they are not that, and are instead the Taxman versions, just forced to run in 4:3. There is zero reason to want this in any capacity. There's also a sound test mode that allows you to listen to each of the four game's soundtracks, and it even has Sonic CD's "You Can Do Anything" with its vocals restored! Surely that's something to be excited for, right? Well, yes, but no. See, you might not notice while playing on a TV, but once you plug in headphones, you'll instantly notice that the whole collection's sound is messed up. The mixing is all over the place, with sound effects way louder than the BGM, and the music itself weirdly muffled. I well and truly believed my headphones were broken until I tried two more pairs, then booted up Sonic 3 AIR to test them, only to realize the culprit was Origins all along. I will say that I didn't notice a single problem with the sound until I plugged in headphones, so your mileage may vary. 

New to this collection, besides Sonic 3 & Knuckles, is the mission mode. These are really truly fun challenges set in each game, requiring you to make the most of your skills in each of the four respective titles. This was a highlight and I find them to be a cute addition. There's a decent amount of them, too, which felt worthwhile, at least, if some weren't locked behind a DLC paywall, proving that this game can't do something right without shooting itself in the foot. 

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I realize I'm being overwhelmingly negative here, but that's because I have a pedantic passion for this franchise, especially its older entries, to the point of caring immensely about glitches and problems that only nerds and speedrunners would care about. People playing these games for the first time will likely be overjoyed by the modernizations, and for the casual nostalgia-bait, this is a pretty solid package. But at the end of the day, shouldn't the fans who love the franchise and these games so very much be the target audience--the ones that should be the happiest about this release, and not the most upset? After completing Sonic Origins the first time, I was happy with it, in fact, I would say I had a great time replaying my favorite games of all time. But the more I thought about it, really critically observed the things I saw in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and put that up against all the other ridiculous things SEGA has done in the past, that I felt more and more annoyed by the flaws. And yet, if those problems were fixed, and all it would take is a patch or two, we'd have what we've been waiting so long for: a definitive, official, Sonic 3 re-release. After all, this is the same team that made all the other wonderful remakes, and Sonic Mania, so we know the talent lurking just behind those glitches. 

Once again, SEGA is outdone by fans. I'm happy with Sonic Origins, but only in that way a prisoner would be happy to receive their scheduled meal for the day. It should be par for the course that they manage to botch such a simple concept of repackaging old games and adding one new one in, but I'm still shocked. Sonic 3 AIR remains the definitive way of playing Sonic 3, at least for now, but at the same time, my lizard brain is delighted by completing my favorite games all over again to get those shiny achievements on my digital profile. It's also the only way that console players are able to legitimately enjoy these games like this, and even PC players have to go to the efforts of extracting mobile game assets and using delisted Steam game files, assuming you bought them years and years ago. SEGA once more holds its fans captive, giving them the barest of scraps to keep them happy, and not a full and complete experience that they deserve. 

Verdict

What We Liked ...
  • Sonic 1 and 2 finally get a release on consoles and PC in their best form
  • Sonic controls superbly in Sonic 3
  • The dropdash added for S3&K is genius
  • Sonic 3 in the Retro Engine is beautiful
  • All the games are amazing to see in 16:9 widescreen
What We Didn't Like ...
  • Ridiculous DLC
  • Sonic 3 in the Retro Engine is a beautiful mess
  • Generally shoddy music quality/the prototype OST remixes are just bad
  • Knuckles got banned from being in Sonic CD, I guess
7
Gameplay
As messed up as Sonic 3 is, all the other games are great. Even Sonic 3 isn't beyond hope, and still feels fabulous to play, when it's not falling apart.
5
Presentation
How do you manage to mess up the sound files for existing games, across all platforms, SEGA? Add to that the atrocious remixes for the MJ music, and the blurry default antialiasing and you have a bad mix of failure on every front. The new animations bring me so much happiness, at least.
9
Lasting Appeal
There's plenty of replayability here; you have all four games and the ability to play them as Knuckles or Tails, too. The mission mode is pretty great, too. Whether or not that deserves a full $40, you have a lot to sink your teeth into at least.
6
out of 10

Overall

With the decompilations and Sonic 3: AIR a lot of effort to get working, Sonic Origins is the most accessible way to play these classic games. However, even if you bought the Android ports and owned the ancient version of Sonic 3 on Steam, it'd still be cheaper than buying this collection. I want to love it, because it should be perfect, but winds up being far from it.
Sonic 3 new replacement music sounds mostly awful (there's a few good tunes, yes).

Sega really fucked this up. Let's see how Frontiers turns out
 
I'm going to say it. This is your best review yet.

Concise, honest, and unbiased.

I'm a huge Sonic fan myself (I still have my original cartridges with mega hours on them), and I sure as hell am glad I didn't buy this at launch.

One question remains, are the Sonic 3 tracks Michael Jackson worked on with Brad Buxer in this release?
 
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I'm going to say it. This is your best review yet.

Concise, honest, and unbiased.

I'm a huge Sonic fan myself (I still have my original cartridges with mega hours on them), and I sure as hell am glad I didn't buy this at launch.

One question remains, are the Sonic 3 tracks Michael Jackson worked on with Brad Buxer in this release?
MJ tracks were replaced.

Feel free to listen to the replacement tunes on YouTube, but I'd not recommend. Stick with the good memories when Sonic 3 had good music.
 
MJ tracks were replaced.

Feel free to listen to the replacement tunes on YouTube, but I'd not recommend. Stick with the good memories when Sonic 3 had good music.
That's a deal breaker right there, I still listen to the originals as just audio tracks outside of the game. Not having those tracks just wouldn't be the same.
 
Wow, people don't like carnival music. (That's how I'll refer to these new sonic 3 music tracks.) Which is also funny because CARNIVAL NIGHT ZONE EXIST! :P

I noticed people also don't like filters. Honestly I do, but it should be optional just like sonic mania. The one filter I wish they did was a decent NTSC composite filter. God know we need that for those games using all that dither blending. :ninja:

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I also am kinda wondering why the classic mode isn't just emulated versions of the games. (Glitches and all) considering they delisted the ones you can buy on steam are emulated. Instead, they just made the game run in 4:3 instead of 16:9 and disabled some features anniversary mode has. I would have been interested in seeing these emulated honestly. Probably cause the music issue with sonic 3. They would have had to put together a rom that had the music changes instead of just use audio streams like the collection already uses. :ph34r:

I'm still shocked this game cost the same price as sonic forces, team sonic racing (and probably sonic frontiers) if that's not $50 or $60. How do they measure their product's value here? :unsure:
 
Sonic 3 new replacement music sounds mostly awful (there's a few good tunes, yes).

Sega really fucked this up. Let's see how Frontiers turns out
The tracks are good, it is just that Origins' take on their isn't as well done as it should.
If you listen to them in their original form (from a leaked prototype), they sound really nice, and some fans have done some great work to "finish" them that puts the final take from Origins on shame.
 
As someone who has played these games countless times over the years, you would think that I would be critical of how this turned out. I totally get the purest ideals of wanting everything to match the original. But I came at Sonic Origins with a bit of a different perspective...

It's easy to nitpick if you are comparing side-by-side with what "should be" and what it is, but truthfully, the game plays well in isolation. The differences are so subtle that you do have to be a bit of an expert to spot them. (Well, aside from the tracks which are completely changed.) I have to imagine someone experiencing S3&K for the first time won't find any issues with the physics.

Reviewing a port is always tricky though. How much do you judge the game based on being "true-to-form" and how much of the rating should be granted just for the game being good? I thoroughly enjoyed playing through these classics, even with the minor differences. They didn't diminish my experience because I went in expecting and accepting that it wouldn't be a perfect reproduction.

I get why some people would be down on this and just prefer one of the older collections or emulators to run these games. At the same time, I think the criticism is overstated by die-hard fans, and make this game out to be much worse than it is. The missions add a little value, and anniversary mode is a more forgiving way to play the game than worrying about lives and single-try special stages. Some people won't like that, but you can always play classic mode then.

This collection could be appealing to people who have only heard these games recommended and have never tried them out before. In that sense, I think Sonic Origins is a solid title for the record books, despite the mixed reviews.
 
Excellent review!

I'm glad the analysis of this game was tackled from a 'Sonic nerd' perspective here, because it's a perspective more mainstream outlets definitely seemed to lack. A lot of this game's faults are definitely on the more subtle side, but they absolutely make for a suboptimal experience especially when you can easily compare them to other excellent options.
The game definitely does have some more obvious issues though - like there's a BUNCH of music in the sound test that's just titled completely incorrectly and it just really shows the lack of polish the Sega-handled parts of this collection have
 
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That is an excellent review and I really enjoyed the video. The intro alone almost gave me tears of nostalgia. Awesome.
 
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I managed to get this game (with DLC) for 10$ using a massive stockpile of gold points I've been saving up on the Nintendo eShop, as I don't usually buy digital games, and I have to say, I agree with the entirety of this review down to the final score. The attempts to "re-imagine" the original Sonic 3 beta tracks for Ice Cap, Carnival Night, and Launch Base fall rather flat. Although personally for Ice Cap and Carnival Night, I prefer the MJ versions for sure, but I don't dislike the launch base from the Sonic 3 beta. The issue is certainly that the remixes are rather sub-par in themselves, and are worse than if they just dumped in the unfinished tracks from the beta.

The game is undecideably meh and if they don't patch the glitches in Sonic 3, people would be better off just playing Sonic 3 Complete or Sonic 3 AIR. Definitely not worth the retail price in it's current state, and really not worth it for the price of the "DLC" which amounts to some extra pictures and animations. Oh and free coins which you could just get through missions anyways. Which unlock pictures from a 90s wallpaper collection and remixes of a few songs, that can't be played in levels from what I can tell... sigh.
 
Also I feel it's worth noting the tagline is a bit inaccurate, Taxman didn't remaster S3K and wasn't involved in S3K beyond some engine work, Stealth (of the prior "Taxman and Stealth remakes") and the newly-formed Headcannon team did.
 
I'm going to say it. This is your best review yet.

Concise, honest, and unbiased.

I'm a huge Sonic fan myself (I still have my original cartridges with mega hours on them), and I sure as hell am glad I didn't buy this at launch.

One question remains, are the Sonic 3 tracks Michael Jackson worked on with Brad Buxer in this release?
Thank you, I appreciate that. I'm not as confident in my reviewing capabilities compared to my news writing, but I did try my best to really put passion into this one, so that comment makes me happy.

As someone who has played these games countless times over the years, you would think that I would be critical of how this turned out. I totally get the purest ideals of wanting everything to match the original. But I came at Sonic Origins with a bit of a different perspective...

It's easy to nitpick if you are comparing side-by-side with what "should be" and what it is, but truthfully, the game plays well in isolation. The differences are so subtle that you do have to be a bit of an expert to spot them. (Well, aside from the tracks which are completely changed.) I have to imagine someone experiencing S3&K for the first time won't find any issues with the physics.

Reviewing a port is always tricky though. How much do you judge the game based on being "true-to-form" and how much of the rating should be granted just for the game being good? I thoroughly enjoyed playing through these classics, even with the minor differences. They didn't diminish my experience because I went in expecting and accepting that it wouldn't be a perfect reproduction.

I get why some people would be down on this and just prefer one of the older collections or emulators to run these games. At the same time, I think the criticism is overstated by die-hard fans, and make this game out to be much worse than it is. The missions add a little value, and anniversary mode is a more forgiving way to play the game than worrying about lives and single-try special stages. Some people won't like that, but you can always play classic mode then.

This collection could be appealing to people who have only heard these games recommended and have never tried them out before. In that sense, I think Sonic Origins is a solid title for the record books, despite the mixed reviews.
See, your stance is where I started, after first completing the collection. And I can get behind that kind of perspective--the fact we got this kind of release at all is really great, and they're perfect for new fans. But after playing Sonic 3 AIR and realizing how much effort fans put in to get almost the exact same result, combined with SEGA's ways of generally releasing bad Sonic games and bad ports, and even too many ports throughout the years, combined with the weird bugs...it just felt like too many missteps.

Excellent review!

I'm glad the analysis of this game was tackled from a 'Sonic nerd' perspective here, because it's a perspective more mainstream outlets definitely seemed to lack. A lot of this game's faults are definitely on the more subtle side, but they absolutely make for a suboptimal experience especially when you can easily compare them to other excellent options.
The game definitely does have some more obvious issues though - like there's a BUNCH of music in the sound test that's just titled completely incorrectly and it just really shows the lack of polish the Sega-handled parts of this collection have
That was what shifted my perspective, really. I had intended to go into this with a more positive, general outlook, but in playing all these games again, it really hit a lot of nostalgia, which got me caring more about it from that kinda POV. A lot of people were fine with this--and that's totally okay! But I think Sonic nerds deserve better when fans are doing the exact same for free.

I managed to get this game (with DLC) for 10$ using a massive stockpile of gold points I've been saving up on the Nintendo eShop, as I don't usually buy digital games, and I have to say, I agree with the entirety of this review down to the final score until I saw "atrocious remixes for the MJ music". These aren't remixes of the MJ tracks at all, and are actually an attempt to "re-imagine" the original Sonic 3 beta tracks for Ice Cap, Carnival Night, and Launch Base. Personally for Ice Cap and Carnival Night, I prefer the MJ versions for sure, but I don't dislike the launch base from the Sonic 3 beta. The issue is more that the remixes are rather sub par in themselves, and are worse than if they just dumped in the unfinished tracks from the beta.

Other than that, I completely agree with this review as the game is undecideably meh and if they don't patch the glitches in Sonic 3, people would be better off just playing Sonic 3 Complete or Sonic 3 AIR. Definitely not worth the retail price in it's current state, and really not worth it for the price of the "DLC" which amounts to some extra pictures and animations. Oh and free coins which you could just get through missions anyways. Which unlock pictures from a 90s wallpaper collection and remixes of a few songs, that can't be played in levels from what I can tell... sigh.
Yeah, I moreso meant the "remixes for" as in exchange, but that's bad wording on my part--a few lines above, I even say, "the prototype remixes" suck.
 
I'd rather just play them on wherever SEGA didn't manage to take them off, like the 3DS. TBH, these "newer" versions sound too buggy for my taste. Reminds me of several buggy games, like UNO for Switch, Scribblenauts Ultimate, and every game TT Games has made since they started doing LEGO games exclusively with LEGO Indiana Jones 2.
 
Yeah, I moreso meant the "remixes for" as in exchange, but that's bad wording on my part--a few lines above, I even say, "the prototype remixes" suck.
Oh, my apologies, dunno how I missed that. I'll edit that out of my original comment as I completely do agree with that.
 
"Sonic 3: AIR a lot of effort to get working"
Word?
According to the beginning of the review they axed Co OP and VS modes?
Also calling it Taxman's remake of s3&k isn't accurate either (read the full thread)
 
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The tracks are good, it is just that Origins' take on their isn't as well done as it should.
If you listen to them in their original form (from a leaked prototype), they sound really nice, and some fans have done some great work to "finish" them that puts the final take from Origins on shame.
The Prototype sounds vastly superior to the Origins version. Sega has a lot to fix from what they unnecessarily fucked up.

Great review! Sad that they rushed it... freaking Sega!

They were reportedly given a far better version and still downgraded God knows why.



That makes me not want to support Sonic Origins at all since they butchered it for no good reason. Well, there wouldn't be a good reason to do so either.
 
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I like how everything looked fine and dandy until reviewers got the game revealing the game's real issues. This happened with Colors Ultimate as well and I'm betting all my money this will happen again with Frontiers. This company lives on negativity and they're benefitting from it in the long end.

Overall, good review. This is the first review that I actually spent time reading (or rather watching while reading along).
 
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The Prototype sounds vastly superior to the Origins version. Sega has a lot to fix from what they unnecessarily fucked up.



They were reportedly given a far better version and still downgraded God knows why.



That makes me not want to support Sonic Origins at all since they butchered it for no good reason. Well, there wouldn't be a good reason to do so either.

I like how Sega fucked up two ports so bad, that there are conspiracy theories that Sega purposely did it.
 
I like how Sega fucked up two ports so bad, that there are conspiracy theories that Sega purposely did it.
The dev who worked on it spoke up. What part of that is a conspiracy theory?

People these days call whatever they don't know as ct.
 
Great review!

I’m reluctant to purchase due to Sega been awful with the DLC… that’s not acceptable when you look at the price this has been priced at, everything should have been included as standard. With that in mind and for the asking price this should be the most polished Sonic release ever, which it’s sadly far from.

My friend has Origins on the Switch, something we noticed playing two player Sonic 2 is on the special stages the game randomly doesn’t register the button press to jump, which got a bit annoying. That doesn’t seem to happen all the time, however we certainly noticed this enough times due to re trying the special stages to get all the emeralds as quick as possible.

If playing Sonic 2 with Knuckles and Tails, at the end of the level we noticed it still says Sonic in the on-screen text. I’d have expected it to say Knuckles.

I think the price of this is just too high to consider purchasing, even more so when you factor in the crappy day one DLC and number of bugs the community is discovering.
 
Great review!

I’m reluctant to purchase due to Sega been awful with the DLC… that’s not acceptable when you look at the price this has been priced at, everything should have been included as standard. With that in mind and for the asking price this should be the most polished Sonic release ever, which it’s sadly far from.

My friend has Origins on the Switch, something we noticed playing two player Sonic 2 is on the special stages the game randomly doesn’t register the button press to jump, which got a bit annoying. That doesn’t seem to happen all the time, however we certainly noticed this enough times due to re trying the special stages to get all the emeralds as quick as possible.

If playing Sonic 2 with Knuckles and Tails, at the end of the level we noticed it still says Sonic in the on-screen text. I’d have expected it to say Knuckles.

I think the price of this is just too high to consider purchasing, even more so when you factor in the crappy day one DLC and number of bugs the community is discovering.
Here's what Stealth stated:



Somehow this is a "conspiracy theory" for some. Who knows why Sega botched it, maybe they thought they did a better job than dedicated fans/devs.

This does not look promising for Frontiers.
 
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how can people claim this is the first time we can play ....., sega have milked its retro sonic games already.

and its not like we cant already play these for free with better improvements and graphic filters.....
 
Was really looking forward to Origins but until the issues and bugs are fixed completely, I'm refraining from buying this. Large companies like Nintendo and Sega really only listen to money, and not their fans and communities
Sometimes its better to not listen to the fans.
 
I like how everything looked fine and dandy until reviewers got the game revealing the game's real issues. This happened with Colors Ultimate as well and I'm betting all my money this will happen again with Frontiers. This company lives on negativity and they're benefitting from it in the long end.

Overall, good review. This is the first review that I actually spent time reading (or rather watching while reading along).
Lives on negativity? No, try again.
 
Tbh they should of remade the classic games with those animations graphics from the trailer. Thinking about how this collection ended up makes me wanna give up on Sonic. SEGA can't do right with him, the fans can't do right with him, WHO WILL!?!?!?!?!?
 
I saw this coming from a mile away. Ever since the first announcement trailer.

- Day 1 DLC
- Terrible pre-order DLC chart
- High price tag
- No regional pricing
- Denuvo
- Delisting original games

And now the games suck. What a surprise!

I'm a huge Sonic fan. Look at my name and profile pic! And yet I'm calling the hell out of everything about this game. Who would defend this? Fans? That can't be it, seeing as how I'm a big one myself. It seems the only people defending the game either want to be contrarian, are feeling buyer's remorse, or just don't know any better.
 
No, I'm not going to pretend in the slightest that this was a botched port on Simon Thomley's behalf. As I stated elsewhere on the forum, Stealth and his team were put under undue crunch and time restraints and passing it over to Sonic Team, whatever the major differences were in the builds he and his team produced, we definitely did not get from the Japan end when all was said and done. I honestly think it's refreshing and reinvigorating that Stealth refuses to let Headcannon be the scapegoats for something that was clearly botched on the Japan end of things.

I think your article could use a revision, honestly, clarifying Stealth's involvement in the port, as while Taxman can be credited for the major work developing the Retro Engine, Stealth and his team were the only ones contacted for this particular release; Whitehead's only involvement was reportedly minor, an advisory role while Thomley and Headcannon took point.
 
the ps5 version got an update about 5 or 6 hours ago. not sure what it did, but maybe it fixed some issues.
 
I could accept the flaws if they included some bonuses beyond the 4 widescreen games. Like if these are Sonic's origins, why not include the Master System and Game Gear games, they were coming out at that same time, you don't have to remaster these games, they can stay in their original aspect ratio and be nothing more than roms being emulated within the collection. And you know what, you don't have to include Sonic Blast, just do 1, 2, Chaos, and Triple Trouble. The 4 8-bit originals (worth remembering) to compliment the 4 16-bit originals. It's really not unreasonable, they included a ton of Game Gear/Master System Sonic games and spinoffs in previous Sonic collections like Mega Collection and even Adventure DX.
 
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I could accept the flaws if they included some bonuses beyond the 4 widescreen games. Like if these are Sonic's origins, why not include the Master System and Game Gear games, they were coming out at that same time, you don't have to remaster these games, they can stay in their original aspect ratio and be nothing more than roms being emulated within the collection. And you know what, you don't have to include Sonic Blast, just do 1, 2, Chaos, and Triple Trouble. The 4 8-bit originals (worth remembering) to compliment the 4 16-bit originals. It's really not unreasonable, they included a ton of Game Gear/Master System Sonic games and spinoffs in previous Sonic collections like Mega Collection and even Adventure DX.
Having some of the other Classic Sonic odds and ends would have made the steep price tag more worth it. Like, they include music from Spinball/Chaotix/3D Blast, and then... don't let you play the games.

Then again, they made the effort to crop the retro engine versions to 4:3 for classic mode, instead of using roms... so maybe they just really really didn't want to bother putting an emulator in.
 
Sometimes its better to not listen to the fans.
I agree that sometimes fans have an unrealistic expectation, or simply an uneducated opinion, but they are the life-blood of a product. Afterall who are you going to sell to when you have no customers?
 
I agree that sometimes fans have an unrealistic expectation, or simply an uneducated opinion, but they are the life-blood of a product. Afterall who are you going to sell to when you have no customers?
Rather have Sonic die than to put up with the fans and these 3D Sonic games that tries to meet expectations to certain fans that don't care about what these 3D Sonic games offer. Whats the point of fans complaining about these 3D Sonic games when they know its not gonna offer what they want?
 
Is there any reason, besides expense, that these games couldn’t have been remade to look like actual HD titles? Besides the coin feature, and a few videos, what’s the difference between these games and what you could have via an emulator?
 
Is there any reason, besides expense, that these games couldn’t have been remade to look like actual HD titles? Besides the coin feature, and a few videos, what’s the difference between these games and what you could have via an emulator?
They have been remade - these are widescreen versions of the originals with added features and slight tweaks to the gameplay. If you've ever played the mobile versions of Sonic CD/1/2, it's the same thing as those.
 
They have been remade - these are widescreen versions of the originals with added features and slight tweaks to the gameplay. If you've ever played the mobile versions of Sonic CD/1/2, it's the same thing as those.

I’m talking about making the games look as though they were made in 2022, rather than the 90s, via HD graphics. It would require a massive overhaul of the game, rather than a simple widescreen tweak. That’s what I want.

That’s what we saw when the ratchet and clank ps2 games were Ported to the ps3. Or when a Zelda gameboy title was enhanced and ported to switch.
 
I’m talking about making the games look as though they were made in 2022, rather than the 90s, via HD graphics. It would require a massive overhaul of the game, rather than a simple widescreen tweak. That’s what I want.

That’s what we saw when the ratchet and clank ps2 games were Ported to the ps3. Or when a Zelda gameboy title was enhanced and ported to switch.
the ratchet and clank ps3 ports are just remasters lol
 
I’m talking about making the games look as though they were made in 2022, rather than the 90s, via HD graphics. It would require a massive overhaul of the game, rather than a simple widescreen tweak. That’s what I want.

That’s what we saw when the ratchet and clank ps2 games were Ported to the ps3. Or when a Zelda gameboy title was enhanced and ported to switch.
There's a fan project that might be up your alley:



It's also been in development for like ten years, and is probably like a quarter finished. "Make the game HD" is hard work, there's a reason Sonic Mania used pixel art graphics as well. The Taxman remasters are damn great, even with the games being graphically identical to the Genesis titles.
 
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I’m talking about making the games look as though they were made in 2022, rather than the 90s, via HD graphics. It would require a massive overhaul of the game, rather than a simple widescreen tweak. That’s what I want.

That’s what we saw when the ratchet and clank ps2 games were Ported to the ps3. Or when a Zelda gameboy title was enhanced and ported to switch.
You're asking too much, especially from a company with little money to make these games HD. Also, why do you cared?
 
You're asking too much, especially from a company with little money to make these games HD. Also, why do you cared?

Sega is one of the biggest publishers in the world. It’s too much effort to expect them to have an HD remake of the peak games of their biggest franchise? I’d much rather see that than the same basic genesis ports we’ve seen for over two decades.
 
HD remasters. Meaning the resolution was significantly upgraded from the original 480i ps2 games. I’m sorry but this port, even without the bugs, wouldn’t impress me.
this is by definition an hd remaster too lol
Yup. Putting pixel art in a new widescreen engine is just about the same amount of work as taking a PS2-era 3D game and just putting it in widescreen-HD. It's the same assets as the original, but with the engine reworked for better hardware.
Worth noting, sections of the original games that were in Genesis psuedo-3D originally have been significantly redone to look a good bit more polished too - the special stages of Sonic 2, for instance.
 
Yup. Putting pixel art in a new widescreen engine is just about the same amount of work as taking a PS2-era 3D game and just putting it in widescreen-HD. It's the same assets as the original, but with the engine reworked for better hardware.
Worth noting, sections of the original games that were in Genesis psuedo-3D originally have been significantly redone to look a good bit more polished too - the special stages of Sonic 2, for instance.
shadow of the colossus was a whole different game when remastered
 
Review cover
Product Information:
  • Release Date (NA): June 23, 2022
  • Publisher: SEGA
  • Developer: Heacanon
  • Also For: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative

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