Sonic Origins Collection - General Thread

Honestly I've kind of assumed they meant to make a different track for the past with the drum beat but then just didn't get around to it with all the other music they did.

 

There's something fucky with that track in general. Anyone ever notice that it keeps playing in cutscenes even when there's other music playing on top of it? That shit infuriates me.

 

Super off-topic, but I am personally digging this idea that Mystic Ruin's Past theme was just some type of placeholder that was...never properly fixed up. That track just became weirder the older I got and I swore I had a great deal of difficulty finding it alongside the other .wmas in the 2004 PC port (does the game store this track differently from the others?). I was young, so I very likely simply missed it.

Okay now to actively diverge back onto discussion about the contents of Origins:

I definitely agree this was more than likely a 'uniform' decision due to all of the '8-bit' titles lacking a Master System port, but ehhh. I think at least Ancient's Sonic 1 and definitely Aspect's Sonic 2 benefit from the increased screen resolution that the Master System releases offer (and MS Sonic 2 nerfing the first boss). The other titles felt like they were designed around the smaller screen resolution more carefully, so I'm a bit less choked up about those not getting the same treatment.

I wouldn't have minded the Master System versions being an unlockable of some kind if uniformity was a concern? Something similar to Sonic Mega Collection hiding 'Revision 0' and 'Revision 1' of Sonic 1 through the use of a button cheat code. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that existed, as I feel the default 'JP2' option is a better experience for a large majority of players, and I would only recommend players try the others out of morbid curiosity (sorry, Mr. Spike Bug - I guess it's me!). Players have to go out of their way to try these two revisions, so it's kind of on the player if they want to try something that's different.

Hiding the Master System versions behind a small task in one of the other titles with some sort of description explaining what the heck the Master System was and what's different about it compared to the default Game Gear versions I feel would also be acceptable. Think Sega Genesis Collection's little bonus unlockables.

I suppose I might just be salty that the Master System versions were only officially re-released once, and said re-release has been made unobtainable relatively recently. I'd gladly pay any money to see a little Master System collection that puts them back in the spotlight.

I also have the Unpopular Sonic Opinion(s) in that I actually prefer Ancient's version of Sonic 1 over the one on the Sega Genesis? Both are incredibly solid platformers at the end of the day, but Ancient's Sonic 1 felt more 'well-rounded' in balancing it's platforming and speed. I found the Zone concepts that Ancient had to presumably completely make up really fun and energetic. Yuzo's original compositions slap too, and I find his take on Labyrinth Zone a bop.

 

Making it a plain drum loop was a secret nod to Knuckles' theme in Sonic 3

 

Over the past weekend, I visited a friend who lives about 3 hours away. It was a nice road trip weekend and all. I showed her Sonic Origins and primarily the remaster of Sonic 3 since that was her favorite of the classics. After that was done she asked to play Sonic Spinball, completely unaware the Genesis version was not in the collection, but I showed her the GG version and hilarity ensued. Goes to show you how even more casual Sonic fans would have appreciated more familiar titles even if they were just emulated. Only other way to play 16 bit Spinball on the Switch (legally) is cough up the dough for NSO Expansion Pack.

 

Spinball deserves a remake.

 

It does turn 30 this year, after all

 

Should be available on the Genesis/Mega Drive Classics release as well, though I've put no money toward it or the NSO expansion and so can't vouch for how good one is over the other.

 

I mean if they somehow couldn't even add Game Gear games without input lag/volume fluctuation, I don't know how the other Genesis games emulated would've fared. It is a shame for only the Game Gear to get its weird spin-off games in the collection, and for the Game Gear versions to be "the" premiere editions of these titles alongside RSDK ports specifically picked over their Master System equivalents, when they also give you the option to change the region of the ROMs so it's technically not one best version of a game they committed to here. Unless you pretend that feature is just like Anniversary/Classic Mode options for the other games, or their cheats that also change the title screen or enable regional differences in S1's Spike bug and Miles' name in S2 (I think?).

Also what, Mega Collection had that ability to change S1 revision? Growing up with Mega Collection Plus's European PS2 version, there doesn't even seem to be a known cheat code to do that in that specific version. The hell?

 

Only the Gamecube version lets you change S1 regions. You had to do it via a cheat code.

For Sonic Mega Collection Plus (for PS2/Xbox/PC), the extra S1 versions are on the disc, but there is no known cheat code to access them.
Sonic Mega Collection Plus also has an extra version of S2 on the disc, but again there is no known cheat code to access it (Although, this thread seems to imply the extra version is nothing special, but I'm not sure if it's actually talking about Mega Collection).

 

Oh ok I guess they can patch it after all

They could have done this the whole time right??? Did they literally not know about the blur problem until now???

 

Seems like a solid list of updates. I hope we got one more in store but who knows

 

HA! That's hilarious.

I mean, I'm glad they're doing it. "Better late than never" and all that, but the fact that we didn't get this update until post-Origins-Plus is hysterical.

 

Is there a definitive list of all the changes in this patch? I am happy they fixed up the GG games and the blur!

 

Sonic Origins has been released twice now, has had paid DLC and multiple patches. And yet somehow, it continues to disappoint. Christ...

Yep.

 

They only decided to do this just now? Lmao that's craazy. At least Origins is starting to become less of a letdown.

 

So what's Origins still missing/doing wrong?

• Classic mode is still the remasters, just running at 4:3 and with lives instead of coins. I still don't think it's asking too much to have emulated versions of the original roms as Classic mode.
• No coins/lives toggle for Anniversary mode.
• Character select screens still don't use sprites matching the specific games.
• Character options limited, especially in 1 and CD.
• 3D and Spinball are still MIA.
• No Master System versions of applicable GG games. If they can have separate versions for 2P mode, they can also have separate GG and MS versions.
• S3K's music still sounds like it's being played underwater.
• S3K's replacement tracks are still incomplete with bad looping points.
• S3K's Super Theme is still an abomination.
• Crushing deaths are still eat more likely than in the original games. They specifically mentioned one fix in FBZ, which leads me to believe that all of the other instances (e.g. Spring Yards "elevators", Chemical Plants "box stairs" and Carnival Nights barrels to name a few are still broken).

Origins continues to be a mediocre great product.

 

Those aren't glitches, they're just design decisions.

 

The game will no longer crash while playing as Sonic and Tails after collecting the 6th Chaos Emerald in Sonic 1.
Woot! This long-running bug has finally been fixed.

But given all the flexibility the retro engine offers, not to mention what Sega has been charging for Origins, it's deeply disappointing that they made these dumb design decisions.

 

You are correct in what you are saying, but I think they are bad choices which should be changed. Especially the lack of emulated roms and the refusal to give customisation options.