I don’t think it’s hard to expect to be able to play the original games in widescreen like the mobile versions, at the very least as an unlockable. It’s also really not hard to make decent Mega Drive sounding music especially when the exact tracks already exist. Lastly, I’m fed up of hearing about the islands. “Oh, the islands, this magical quality of life menu!” (voiced by Jay from The Inbetweeners). A BLOODY MENU. Honestly I’ve never been within a community that’s put so much focus on a 3D menu screen. Maybe this was the sort of thing we’d be in awe at in 1996 but honestly that being a selling point of this game is just funny to me and shows how little other content we have. The new cut scenes and remastered cut scenes are great. The engine running the games and the effort put into porting the graphical and engine assets seems to be pretty great, but that’s really basic requirements for something that’s mimicking a pre-existing set of games. The rest of this has really fallen short of… everything else? Why couldn’t players have had the option to swap between the original game tracks (barring S3&K) or the mobile ports? Why is widescreen locked to a single mode? Why aren’t other games on here as emulation, like Spinball or Chaotix? Why is there a ridiculous DLC structure? I really don’t think that’s being that particular, and looking at early reviews, it seems other people are asking similar questions. I find that, being a fan of a lot of things and active in various communities, people think that complaints are because of fans being specific and difficult, when actually they’re not. It’s the same old talk in any community; James Bond, Jurassic Park, Mario, Star Wars, Dragon Ball, whatever. We live in a world where companies do their very best to talk as much talk as possible, but do as little as possible. Within the social media zeitgeist of the last decade or so, it’s become even worse. Companies use the overall public discord of media as a way to hide in plain sight; they can produce sub-par products and have their “fans” do all of the talking and defending for them. Suddenly, there’s no “bad” products, only “upset fans”. A lot of big companies crap this stuff out, and we continue to eat their shit. You might think I’m over-exaggerating, that I’m the image of a pimply angry bloated fan sat fuming into my crusty keyboard with literally nothing better to do, but you couldn’t be more wrong. I’m disappointed for other people. I can play these games any time on other platforms but I’ll be damned if I won’t speak up against these shitty practices and hope it makes a difference. I don’t know, nor can I accuse anyone in particular about how this ended up, and I won’t, and neither should anyone else. Somewhere along the line though, the project that was seemingly meant to be THE definitive way to play these games, lost sight of its goal. If you’re still not convinced and need a comparison game from a small studio that did everything and more, take a look at Streets of Rage 4.
Yeah to be clear, while I am disappointed by Sonic 3's OST and the lack of customisation options in game (somewhat mitigated by cheat codes but feel we are repeating Manias launch failings again), I am very hyped for Origins. The best versions of some of my favourite games with loads of bells and whistles. It's easily up there with the best Sonic compilations ever made. I also feel like a little perspective is needed here. We as a fandom have much higher standards now. People would criticise Mega Collection for being a lazy set of poorly emulated games. We'd attack Gems Collection for poor emulation and not having both Sonic CD OSTs. Etc. I think it's something that happens in the modern era where standards and quality raise to such an extent that fans don't often realise how far quality has gone up.
Okay. So the re-arranged music is... just... man. I always prefered proto Launch Base Zone to it's MJ counterpart, but it's painful to listen to in this edition. It somehow feels... unfinished? And don't get me started on Ice Cap... I had faith that the rearranged OST will sound good. Couldn't they literally record themes from the prototype and put it into Origins? I feel doubly stupid because I was defending the proto ost back a few days ago... because I really like these tracks both in proto and in PC Collection. It's tiring that Sega will always find a way to disappoint my expectations with Sonic products.
The more i listen to the remade tracks the more I'm convinced what's been packed in the releases so far might be an incomplete version of the tracks. If you squint your ears really hard for CNZ1 you can hear the +octave square wave playing for a fraction of what it played in the proto. If I listen to CNZ2 and lbz2 very closely I can tell that the notation for the tracks seems almost 1:1 with the protos. The real issue seems to be the mixing of each channel and the instrument definitions. Almost like WIP/placeholder tracks were put in hastily with the intent of being replaced down the line (which would explain why the competition menu and blue sphere result screen are literally straight from the proto) Maybe I'm being too optimistic but I feel like there's gonna be a patch soon to make everything more consistent.
I was going to suggest a competition for better fan made versions, or "Operation: Beat Jun Senoue". "Hey Sega, your music isn't very good, but don't worry, we have 20 better versions". Incidentally the Bouncy Glow tracks are most on-point, as is our own Mastered Realm... at least as far as pseudo-authenticity goes. But I'm not totally sure if this was ever the best answer. The prototype tracks may be legitimate heirs to the throne but I think "like the final, but not" might sit better with those used to the MJ versions. I don't know - I feel like "make Sega talk to Brad Buxer" should be something to promote too.
So no one's figured out how to access CD's level select huh? Seems like a weird oversight but given it looks like you can't pick up from any level after beating a file it's just the kind of oversight I'd expect from this collection. Just like the fact Sonic 3 still credits the Jackson sound team even though we don't hear their music anymore
Hey what's the situation with the emeralds in story mode? Do you have to recollect between each game?
Hmm…. I’ve had this on Switch since Friday. And now it’s showing an update is available. Could it be a day 1 patch? (Sorry if this has been posted. I did check, but I’m also skimming to avoid spoilers)
https://twitter.com/SEGAbits/status/1539718701724876800?s=20&t=h-RzfnnrtCkk_gA5USMY1g Sonic 2 code for Proto Palace works, but is inaccessible.
Just started playing… I went to check out the sound part of the museum and a ton of the Sonic 3D and Chaotix tracks are mismatched, like the invincibility song playing for the credits etc. Hopefully there’s a patch to fix this stuff. And are the only unlockabke tracks really just the Smash Bros version of Angel Island, parts of the Generations OST, and a track from Team Sonic Racing…?
Honestly my mood regarding this game is best captured by the Flying Battery prototype background Spoiler "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
They have the ability to do better, they should know better and they should also have ears, somehow they do not.
They had to know that the missing Sonic 3 music was going to be a sore spot. They had to know the music they substituted was bad. I guess I need to be thankful for what there is, AT LEAST THEY ARE ALLOWING US TO PURCHASE SONIC 3 FROM THEM AGAIN, but I'll have to boot up my Genesis, PS3, or Gamecube if I want to actually experience Sonic 3 like the fanboy I am. Anyone else planning on turning down the music and running the correct tracks off their stereo?
It’s mentioned in the digital manual that Tails can carry Knuckles with the Up+Jump input, not sure the mechanism for choosing that combo
Nope, but I am planning to fire up my cartridge and play it with music that wasn’t birthed by Sonic 4’s ugly cousin Just to clarify also, the issue isn’t that it’s not the original MJ music, it’s that it’s muffled or unfitting synth music.
https://twitter.com/SEGAbits/status/1539723765550129153?s=20&t=h-RzfnnrtCkk_gA5USMY1g S3K debug code found
Yeah, but we already know that applies to Sonic 2 since we've seen the menu where they're selectable in Sonic 2 (but not 1), or is it in Sonic 1/3's part of the manual?
There do seem to be a lot of sound oddities going on with the game so far, especially S3K. Not to mention the new tracks having a kinda muffled audio compared to the others, suggesting they haven't been given the same remastered touch yet. That said I really feel like them being placeholders before the Day 1 patch is likely the only way the music would ever get replaced at this point.
