Sonic Origins Collection - General Thread

All this about...Europe specific boxart? I don't think it's that big a deal, honestly.

Anyway, I love that SEGA choose to embrace the 90s airbrushed style for these games' cover art. It's something that's easy to take for granted and I certainly can't imagine it being any other way, but god it just looks so nice.

 

Do you guys think that they'll just port this game to successive console generations, or will we still see standalone emulation again? It feels like there's less going-back once we've reached this point, especially now that we know Sonic 3 isn't showing up in any other format.

If so, I'm kinda still really annoyed that they haven't given anything but the core genesis platformers the attention they need. There's like seven more games that still aren't in this thing and even the GG games haven't displayed any improvements over SADX in 2004.

 

Honestly there's little excuse not to bring this to future console generations. Console architecture is a lot more stable and homogenised than 10-15 years ago and these aren't demanding games in the first place, not to mention HE2 and Retro Engine are probably relatively straightforward to update for future consoles if such an effort is required (particularly Retro Engine since it's C+). It's not like bringing like remastering something like Dark Souls where the game was pushing visuals at the time of release and a facelift would be expected for the game to stay contemporary.

 

I guess it's just weird to think that Sonic Origins could eventually become like Doom 1, just existing on everything.

Still makes me bitter that the 8-bit games aren't the best they could be and the other 7 are still hung out to dry. I feel like a lot of the "what about Advance/Heroes/Rush/Riders rerelease?" questions would be easier to tackle if SEGA could at least get everything classic Sonic-branded under one roof. I know people have speculated about the possibility of another collection, but I think you just need core Sonic platforming gameplay to sell something like that, and the best-case scenario I can imagine with that is either shoving Mania or some reimagining of Sonic 4 in there as a stocking-stuffer, and that's both a pipe-dream and pretty anachronistic. Maybe if Origins does get ported to more stuff in the future, that'll be the time to spice it up with another DLC.

It's just crazy how often I see people saying "I wanna get into Sonic how do I get into Sonic", and even being willing to tolerate worse games, only to have to be told that a huge chunk of them are totally unavailable.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Origins becomes the next new game that gets re-released every generation. These games have always been SEGA’s go to for the new consoles since the Saturn.

But the real question would be: what if they somehow want to go back to emulation? How will they handle the Sonic 3 situation? Who would hack in the beta soundtrack?

I kinda feel like going back to the emulation route would be the only way we would see a collection with all of the Genesis games again (unless they pay Taxman and Stealth to remaster what’s left)

Digital Eclipse really outdid themselves with the Cowabunga Collection and I feel they would be the best choice if SEGA decides to do it again.

As for the Sonic 3 music, it could be as simple as getting M2 to modify the original ROM like how they did with the SEGA Ages ports.

Only time will tell but I’m eager to see how this will turn out in the future.

 

The missing Mega Drive games are on "Sega Mega Drive Classics". I wouldn't be surprised if Sega are leaving them out of Origins, so people will pick up "Sega Mega Drive Classics" to complete the set.

 

They've continued releasing emulated versions after Origins came out as we got CD & 3D Blast in the Mini 2, so I don't think SEGA are finished with emulation.

As for porting Origins I doubt SEGA will see any point because it will no-doubt be playable via backwards compatibility for next-gen consoles anyway.

Could be interesting if future official emulated releases get more features added (like with SEGA Ages); such as playable Amy, Tails with is flight which SEGA has never added via emulation and time attack. This would be more appealing than just dumping the original unchanged roms yet again.

Yeah perhaps, and Fighters is also playable in Lost Judgment. However, I see no reason why the Master System games can't be added which would probably require less effort than adding Sonic R, Chaotix, SEGASonicTH or 3D Blast (Saturn).

 

I feel like Origins might be the go-to for Sonic 3 and Knuckles due to obvious reasons (or at the very least using assets from it such as the retooled soundtrack). Otherwise yeah I don't see emulation dying any time soon. It's just too quick and simple a way to rerelease these titles.

The 32 bit games are a different can of worms altogether, I could possibly see them even saving them for a collection of their own if they see it profitable enough, similar to Mega and Gems Collection. They do have ports of Fighters and R handy I suppose.

 

I'd have love to see all of these games added. I don’t think it would be even that hard, because emulation has come a long way.

If Sega's thinking is that they don’t want to waste development resources on emulating these other games because they'd rather use the time to polish up the re-masters, then that's cool, and I'd say that's the right call.

But if Origins Plus ends up being as equally unpolished as the vanilla Origins, then it's going to be hard to shake the feeling that Origins Plus is a cash grab and that Sega probably felt the Game Gear games would be enough to make Origins Plus an appealing package at retail and so there was no need to bother with anything else.

 

See that's my thought as well, since really I think the main priority here should be taking these remakes of the original games and adding as many bells and whistles as they can to make it divergent from every other Sonic compilation we got. That it's the old games with loads of new directions, hence extra playable characters and modes and what not. Quality over quantity.

After all most fans can access these other games quite easily. it's nice to have an official option, but at this point we've played them to death and some extras would really change that up.

If Origins Plus manages that with its extras then I agree it's the better call, but if it turns out all they added was a halfassed version of Amy and some poor emulations of the Game Gear games with most of the glitches and downgrades remaining, I won't be impressed.

 

See, my thinking is that stuff like general SEGA collections and mini consoles don't really "count". Nobody's buying those just because they want to play Sonic 2. They're gonna have to have a way to play Sonic 1, 2, 3 and CD on successive console generations, and that's what annoys me. This is their chance to have people shut the fuck up about a lot of releases permanently, and I don't get why they're not taking that chance when it'd be just as easy as slapping the 12 GG roms in. And I just don't think these seven games can sell a Sonic collection on their own! They'd be better off with the 8-bit games if a separate collection were to be made at all.

 

If anything, Sega should be trying to slowly build up Retro Engine versions of these games with re-releases.

It could eventually lead to some kind of full (or even individual) collection some day.

 

I don't even believe that -- retro engine remakes use more resources, and the only game which would really adapt cleanly is Chaotix -- the improvements to the other eighteen titles are so much more obvious. Turn off lives, give us rings in the boss fights, use the full expanded screens, maybe some save states, boom. 8-bit games done. Drift and Skypatrol don't really have any obvious improvements, but all Tails' Adventure needs is to access the full inventory. 3D Blast? Well, the Jon Burton improvements are nice, but it would be best to use them with the Saturn graphics, and a toggle for the OST. That does take more work, and I'd personally pull for a "no flickies" mode, but it shouldn't be that bad. Fighters? Already fine. Spinball and Mean Bean? Maybe give the player some survivability options, otherwise fine. Sonic R? Well, the PC version isn't exactly stable -- but it has a lot of fan fixes already. SegaSonic? Yeah, probably some balancing needed there, and I'm sure the trackball controls aren't too easy to emulate.

I dunno, it just doesn't seem completely out of the realm of doable. I'd pay twenty dollars for a DLC that does these fixes. The idea of having a complete "classic Sonic" game that doesn't need qualifying and can safely exist for good -- even if it's only permanent on PC -- is too tantalizing. They're so close to getting it.

 

I can imagine they're neglecting much more than just box art. But the fact that they're neglecting it in the first place, even though it IS different from the rest of the marketing, is a failure of marketing and if done really bad might make someone think they'll be getting something they're not.

 

The trackball internally works more like your modern control stick. X to go left and right, Y to go up and down. The real problem is analog sensitivity... maybe they couldn't do it the last time because literally every controller in the 6th gen were these pointy bulby monsters.

 

I dunno, I never figured out how to set it up so it felt right in MAME. I still really enjoyed the vibe when making the video about it, but it definitely needs the hand of someone smart to balance that with arcade game difficulty.

 

I think the big catch here is that SEGA, as shown through Origins, still struggles to port these games properly without Taxman and Stealth's teams on board, and they have made clear they don't wanna just remake Sonic games their whole career, which is a fair demand, they have other projects.

I think if they really wanna keep going with rereleasing the classics this way, they need to hire or train a capable team on board that can do the same magic as Taxman/Stealth.

I think ultimately a few titles would go outside of what the Retro Engine is compatible with anyway, especially the early 3D games.

 

Fan translations are the order of the day for most of Saturn hacking at the moment. There is a small homebrew scene, as well.

 

I almost positive Jon Burton would be able to make the same improvements to the Saturn version - I imagine it was just a bit too much trouble when the Mega Drive version is so much more accessible. If it were for an official release and he was getting paid, I don’t think it’d be difficult for him to implement.

I’d really love to see it happen, official or not. I prefer everything about the Saturn version except for the actual gameplay lol. It pales in comparison to the Director’s Cut.