That's a really silly special edition. Why not remove all that useless Mega Drive repro case, acrylic plate and lithograph stuff and do a proper 200 - 300 page hardcover art book? 96 pages is not worth the $85 they're asking for this package.
Would you look at that? This includes a physical copy of the game. The description specifies "Sonic Origins Plus physical game", which means the Plus DLC will be built in. E: This is wrong. The retail edition of Sonic Origins Plus is a download code, which means this is too. I am leaving this post up as a reminder to not act like i know what i'm talking about
That doesn’t guarantee it’s all on the disc/cart though. May very we’ll be a code still. But anyways, neat, but too late. I’ve spent enough money on Origins you’re not getting me to buy a 4th version for a console I don’t own (Xbox)
Ngl, this collector's edition is is a bit naff, isn't it? I'm so not impressed by art books. They're just few pages of nice concept art that I'll look at just once in my life and then proceed to put away in a box never to be touched by humanity again for as long we're on this planet. And aside from the art book, there's nothing really here. It's several months late for a physical copy of an incomplete game with the rest locked behind a DLC code. Sigh
In the right hands, art books can be good. Insight Editions do some phenomenal art books where they show off previously unseen concept arts and even get the creators to talk about their designs. It's just with Sonic we rarely get that. Most of the Sonic art books (or coffee table books that have art sections) treat the concept art as side pieces and put them in the margins. And instead, they focus on the same stock art we've seen thousands of times before (or worse still blow up sprite art to full page, making it look ugly). I don’t know if this is because the licensors fundamentally misunderstand what fans want or if Sega puts too many restrictions. The last book Pixel Love did wasn't that great, so I am not expecting anything of this new one.
Whilst Origins' files are still being updated on SteamDB (presumably for another patch to fix the Tails in S1 glitches), LittlePlanetCD and company have also been making a "Sonic Origins Ultrafix" mod that fixes ~160 little issues with the collection. From bug fixes to making the Drop Dash Mania-accurate in S1/SCD/S2. https://x.com/LittlePlanetCD/status/1706228894641148198?s=20 She stresses that this is about fixing/enhancing Origins' existing content rather than adding to it like Forever/Absolute stuff, so don't expect more characters being added or even Max Control in all games. It can be used in conjunction with other mods like S3&K's MJ soundtrack, tho. It's pretty vindicating to finally see this level of mod support to fix up Origins' issues even further when the mentality prior seemed to be to just stick to the existing Forever/Absolute/AIR (CD Restored to a lesser extent?) projects. As an end to support presumably gets closer with each patch, at the very least we can have fan fixes for details Sega will probably only patch so much of when all's said and done.
I have been following this mod on REMS and even asking her about certain things regarding the project so I am very eager to try it.. the only thing I’ve been struggling with is finding a good tutorial on how to properly install HedgehogModManager on my Steam Deck
It's pretty scummy to finally announce a special edition of the game three months after the physical edition came out. I held out for a while on buying Origins Plus because I expected a special edition, but when months went by without word I finally caved and bought the game. Now they want us to buy another one? Feels scummy to me.
I just found out I have to (yes, I have to - don't argue) purchase a physical edition of P3P after hearing it was digital-only and caving, months before the release of a remake of P3, when I already own P3 FES on PS2 and a DL’d copy of P3P on my Vita. But even with that level of suckerness and fanboyism, I'm not touching this release of Origins with a 10 foot pole. Japanese reversible cover or bust on classic Sonic games for me.
Apparently in some patch they added a bridge part to the beginning section of HydroCity Zone Act 2. Left is from a YouTube video of original release Origins, right is the most recent patch snapshotted by me. This isn't present in at least the combined version of the original game from what I can tell. It's weird because I thought I noticed that weird small detail being different upon replaying the game with Plus. https://x.com/TomTheyy/status/1708240276731424855?s=20
Yep, this was an addition to the patch. I’m guessing they added it because Knuckles or Sonic could theoretically get under the wall with a glide or drop dash, but, to be honest, it’s not really something they needed to add - the bug doesn’t do much except make the stage unplayable anyway, as you need to be in-front of the wall in order to beat the stage.
So since this was bugging me as answers were hard to find, I tried to compare input latency between fanmade Game Gear emulation and what Origins uses. Through an extremely sloppy method of OBS-ing RetroArch and Origins alongside an in-browser controller input graphic and jumping/moving/crouching, which I'm guessing isn't extremely accurate. But, I mean no one else was looking into this. Basically I actually seemed to get a few lag frames for the GG platformers in RetroArch that weren't Sonic 1, and coincidentally that was the least laggiest game in Origins. That went from 0 frames in RetroArch to 1-3 in Origins whilst the others went from 0-3 to 3-5 or such. I did hear someone mention in the comments of that "Sonic Origins Plus is still not finished" video that GG games always had some input lag baked in. Maybe Origins has a uniform amount of added lag that's just more noticeable with games like Sonic 2? Or again, maybe this is all wrong and RetroArch just emulated that ROM better or something, grain of salt and all that. For what it's worth, I got 0-2 lag frames out of regular Sonic 1 in the RSDK. I don't know what people's threshold for input lag is, but at least some people definitely noticed it in Origins' GG games. Not sure it's any problem with the RSDK stuff. It's just so weird to me that they'd let these sole games be added alongside the RSDK remasters if they were going to have this noticeable issue, especially as one of the three pillars of the Plus DLC. I get that this was a very easy way to bolster the game amount like previous collections, but that's still 20 years of standby Game Gear emulation to have this issue in 2023. Maybe the Hedgehog Engine is to blame? I'd hope another patch could fix things (I did mention it in a bug report, which says "solved" on the case but I didn't receive an email back), but I don't know how often input lag ends up fixed in patches or if it's just the quality of emulation they can't or won't bother to improve post-launch? There's also still the volume fluctuation bug with I think only Sonic 2, presumably a result of the weird new stereo effect, though it's present in both mono and stereo. And from what was mentioned prior, the GG's actual stereo audio isn't quite what Origins has, so it's again a wonder if they'd bother fixing that emulation in a future patch. I just want to conveniently play these games without issues, man. Maybe this is overreacting. On a lighter subject, I've noticed some more decompiled script mods have been popping up on Game Banana. Though I couldn't get Shields Plus to work, I've seen stuff for Super Peel-Out in S1/S2, Drop Dash improvements, SCD's 2011 menu and restoring Proto Palace Zone, Egg Gauntlet Zone and Boss Attack Zone, playable with Amy or otherwise. Finally making it possible to choose between 3 completely different Boss Rushes in Sonic 2.
I’ve been playing the GG games before bed the past week or so and I’ve noticed the lag. It’s bad but not unbearable. The games are so easy that the only time it has gotten me killed was on the Sunset Park boss where the jump came out too late. I don’t remember how the games played on hardware though, and I haven’t played them enough on emulators enough to say whether they introduced more lag. I’d be surprised if the games were this unresponsive on actual Game Gears though.
The game gear games felt bad to play before and they feel bad now. That's not an excuse, I just wasn't going to be getting much enjoyment out of them anyway. I was frankly shocked they even bothered adding save states, though I maintain that with the proper aspect ratio, ring additions and lives system (read: no lives system) they wouldn't even be necessary.
So did we ever actually know why Amy's moveset is slightly different between Origins and Superstars? There might not be any greater reason other than for the sake of it, but having played through the latter, is it because a double jump makes a bit more sense in a game with no Electric or Elemental Shields and instead explicit alternatives to their functions (Magnet Item Box and double jump for a couple characters instead of Electric Shield, Fire Chaos Emerald ability is kinda like the Flame Shield) rather than S3&K and to a lesser extent S1/S2 w/ cheats? Like, Sonic Blast didn't have the Electric Shield. I'm guessing it wasn't just lazy programming; a second jump probably could've been programmable. And it's not like a double jump would've "broken" SCD as a game not designed with it in mind, what with Tails and Knuckles being playable. I also actually wasn't aware Amy doesn't have her take on the Drop Dash in Superstars and instead just keeps hammering to the player's control, a reasonable trade-off for the double jump with Sonic also only having the Drop Dash in this game. I do actually kinda miss her alternative Drop Dash a little when playing. Just kinda weird to establish Amy as a rare new classic playable character with this huge inconsistency in how she functions between appearances, both kinda mirroring Sonic and asking what she IS in these games, assuming it's not just to tailor fit each respective title better.
I always tought that she must use an early moveset or there was some communication problem between the teams, because I don't think SEGA would think that deep into it, and probably they will have copied the lightning shield code and altered it if they wanted, the difference in her hammer rush is probably just sloppy implementation, I think the double jump is kinda just there anyways in Superstars and they should have gotten rid of it imo not just for consistency, but specially since another character in the game has one already, and Sonic not having the instashield makes the hammer attack more unique in that game
It also makes it more annoying that they added such a bland gameplay style to Origins and it's not even for the sake of consistency with this new game. They actually somehow managed to make it WORSE.
Honestly, I prefer Amy’s Hammer Rush attack in Origins because it maintains a consistent speed boost (even underwater!) and has instant turning (even in midair! Except in S3&K). In Superstars, it doesn’t make her go any faster.
