Sonic Origins Collection - General Thread

Certainly explains why Sega was so mum on whether Whitehead and Headcannon would actually be involved with Origins up until now.

On another note. HC being commissioned to remaster 3&K on the Retro Engine as an independent project, rather than as part of Origins' production, is a bit noteworthy. Wonder if this means they're mulling over giving it a standalone release in some form. The iOS/Android releases of the remasters aren't part of the delisting of older releases of MD games coming up IIRC. Perhaps Sega's thinking about "completing the set" for those platforms, so to speak.

(If that is indeed in the cards, please don't wrap it in the Sega Forever nonsense, even if it was for free. I have zero problems paying for a mobile release of 3&K R, if it means the game will be untouched by that mess.)

 

I'd purchase S3K on mobile day one, no question.

 

I think it's because it looks a bit "generic old school game UI" would look like.

For example, compare how the mission UI looks compared to the ones you get in Generations, or the character select compared to the Advance series.

It's missing that Sonic ingredient to make them more interesting.

 

so Stealth said they aren't involved in Origins beyond the S3k remake and all of the decisions are taken by Sega

inb4 this means the games will be buggy as fuck at launch

 

This is really shaping up to be a very all flash and no substance kind of collection. I'll get it for S3&K's remake but it's sad thinking that once again it's gonna be up to fans to really make this whole thing shine.

 

I personally think that this collection is going to be just fine. Sure it's not as fancy as sonic mega collection with it's artwork and music, but honestly? 16:9 and bonus modes make up for that completely, and I'm looking forward to picking it up.

Honestly I'm just happy to see another sonic collection released, even if it is just a collection. I was introduced to these games via sonic classic collection for the nintendo DS, and there are many many more people who were introduced to these games through other collections, such as mega collection for gamecube or sonic's ultimate genesis collection for 360.

I wonder how many kids in the future will be saying that they were introduced to these games through sonic origins, in the same way I was with the classic collection. Only time will tell.

 

I love how the second we find out that Sega are the ones primarily developing this, we make an immediate 180 in attitude.

Not without reason mind you, but it's still funny.

 

It's not like that, it's just pretty obvious this is all the modern ports in one package with most everything being added not making the experience of playing those any better.

 

I don't think it's just that, but also the fact that:
- this confirms 1-2-CD won't have any changes and thus won't be anything like the "ultimate version" of those games we expected
- not even obligatory quality of life improvements like adding Knuckles to CD will be made
- we've seen the menus and stuff affecting the actual experiences of these games and they look mediocre at best
I think that's enough to be disappointed about this

Did you even see the latest released footage? Sonic 1 just says "press button" which is the default when running the decomps on PC, they didn't even bother to add any word to make the phrase make sense, and the mini menu to select a character is a quick pixel edit with mismatched pixels... that's how sad and corporate this collection is

 

Moreover, I'm wondering if the version of CD used in Origins is the Blit Software version for Steam and consoles, which never got a single bugfix patch unlike the iOS/Android versions that Whitehead worked on directly. I doubt Sega would bother re-porting the mobile version, so I'm not holding my breath that some of my grievances with the Steam version will be fixed in this collection. Here's hoping?

 

I honestly would like to Stealth's Sonic 3 & Knuckles getting a standalone release on Steam and Mobile.

 

The complaints were coming in as soon as the footage was revealed yesterday, not because of Stealth’s Twitter comments from a couple hours ago clarifying who did what. In fact I think Stealth posted those comments because of the complaints, most likely he probably didn’t want people thinking that he and his team are responsible for stuff like lack of Knuckles in Sonic CD and the weird plastered-on character select screen.

 

Well, as long as I can play CD on Steam without having to manually lower my monitor's refresh rate to prevent the game from running double speed, I'll be happy...

And as long as I can alt tab without getting a black screen... :-g

As scummy as it is for them to remove CD from Steam, I'd rather play the Origins version, assuming the game itself doesn't have the same bugs. I would like to think that the games all running in one program would alleviate some of those issues

 

I really hope that Hidden Palace boss is altered to make it a bit quicker, that thing is a real slog.

 

I think this assessment that the game will be naff because it's SEGA doing it internally is unfair. Sonic games recently have been very technically solid and the infamous Sonic jank has either been a result of adapting to new hardware or game design environments (i.e. Adventure) or just the perpetual crunch the franchise used to mandate. I don't have any worries as to the technical integrity of Origins.

On CD soundtracks, I hope we get an option to switch on the fly from the pause menu rather than having to quit the stage to do it.

 

I don't think it's unfair at all. Sonic games haven't been technically impressive to me since Unleashed. Also - did you see Sonic Colors Ultimate? Sure, Sega didn't develop it. But they did approve it.

Really, what concerns me is that Sega can't possibly be as familiar with the Retro Engine as Taxman or HeadCannon. This explains why the character select screen is so obviously tacked on. Additionally, I have 0 confidence that any bugs from the original mobile ports will be fixed. Unfortunately, the modded decompiled versions will probably remain the "definitive" versions for a while. Hopefully with time, many of the fixes can be modded into Origins. I'm still excited for S3&K and the new animations though...

 

You know Mania had internal SEGA staffers working on it too, right? Also, the Retro Engine is C+ based so I think it's a bit patronising to suggest it's beyond SEGA's capabilities when it comes to doing stuff like mirror mode or missions.

 

You know, I wanted to pick up a copy and play it on my girlfriend's Switch, but learning that Sega is the primary developer is a huge deal breaker for me. The four games themselves are probably going to be good anyway because of the Retro Engine and whatnot, but like others mentioned, the whole package is probably going to be mediocre and far from the "definitive" version many fans have been hoping for. Classic Sega at their best, always finding ways to screw up even the simplest things, even many and many years down the line.

 

Imagine if they did this someday and re-added Sonic and Tails to the game.

 

Sega has done a lot right with Origins. Things like the animated story mode, mission mode, mirror mode and museum hit it out of the park and exceed expectations. So the package isn’t lacking effort or ambition.

But then there are some glaring omissions. The lack of 2P spilt screen being the biggest (especially because mobile Sonic 2 has online 2P vs). But then to a lesser degree Knuckles in Sonic CD and them porting over features from Mania such as the Mania style character select/save screen, buddy mode and Ray and Mighty feel like a missed opportunity.

And these omissions stand out even more when you consider the price. And when you consider that most of the games have already been released on mobile (even S3K had many of its level gimmicks coded in Mania). So it’s not like they were starting from scratch.

It just feels like Sega had a grand vision for the collection. But then are compromising that vision to cash in on the movie release window (which they’ve already missed).

It still is an awesome package and we shouldn’t lose sight of the good parts, but yeah there’s no denying that it’s laced with disappointment.

Although I’m hoping this follows the pattern of Mania and we get a plus update that addresses some of the disappointing aspects. Also I doubt Sega has revealed everything and so there could be some surprises lurking in the package (although probably best not to get our hopes up for anything major).