Given that this is supposed to be a collection of remakes/remasters, there's something to be said for putting the best sound possible in there. Right now it's just inconsistent.
In a theoretical yet impossible perfect world, there'd be a choice between clean remastered audio, and "authentic" retro audio of capture from the original machines, CD's lack of loops included. And there'd be more than just "anti-aliasing: on or off", like the restoration of the Mania CRT filters we know can work and the like. But nothing with Sonic ever hits that level of dedication officially.
But it won't be accurate until ring sfx break the other musical tracks during gameplay, just saying. Being able to actually hear sky sanctuary's melody is so very not the authentic hardware experience...
While there are options and there should be more, I do kinda wonder if at some point from Sega's perspective it's more about offering one specific choice for the game than a wealth of customisation. Like how Classic and Anniversary are strictly differentiated with their specific differences, not that they couldn't use more of them. I'd love more options for things, but I have to ask if Sega would mandate that there'd only be one set of music or otherwise to definitively represent the classic games (minus SCD's regional soundtracks and S3&K's Super theme toggle), at least in terms of audio quality. Again, may be off the mark here and would've been a nice fit to Classic/Anniversary to differentiate "authentic"/"clean" soundtrack rips.
I personally very much dislike how they reversed the Sonic CD 2011 music changes much more than any nonsense with S3&K, but I'll admit that keeping a "purist" version recorded from native hardware as the default official choice is actually not all that unreasonable as a standard going forward, the exception of course being the changed MJ songs (and the very odd way the new super theme was handled. Great tune, mediocre mix.) Again, it also reasonably explains why the beta songs came out the way they did, given that SEGA likely doesn't have access to the same proto we do on real hardware (and refuses to use a ROM transferred onto a chip for whatever reason), but instead pulled out some cart we have yet to see from their archives to achieve this. It's not ideal, but also not surprising why things would end up like this. They wanted to consistently record it all on real hardware, and the only beta they still had used an even older mix than the ones we have. If they had the physical copy of the ROM we now have on hand, they would have likely just used it. This very likely means there are certainly also more protos in SEGA's possession we don't yet know about, which is itself interesting to consider.
I don't disagree. That being said, I don't know any other retro compilation where they essentially remade all the games do to allow for improved aspect ratio, physics, etc. I think that's worth celebrating, even if the non-Sonic 3 ports are years old.
Something that nauseates me to think about that no one else ever seems to consider... The sound driver (that's what it's called, right?) in the Sonic 3 proto we have is horribly messed up and unfinished, so much so to the point that almost all of the build's songs and sound effects are messed up, on top of being early mixes of songs in general, with a ton of different instrumentation and pacing. But for whatever reason, the entire Sonic community has decided that, against every piece of evidence regarding Sonic 3's soundtrack and these oddities and tidbits leftover in the proto, that this particular build's non-MJ songs are absolutely the finalized versions intended to be used, and playing back exactly how they're 100% supposed to sound. You know, in the face of a bad sound driver and every single other song sounding completely whack. Then Sonic Origins comes out and seems to be using mixes closer to the PC version of the game. Strange. Upon taking time to go back and listen to the PC soundtrack myself, the entire library of music sounds infinitely closer to the Genesis version rather than the proto. I hear people always say that the PC versions of the songs have to be older versions because the prototype sounds better, and while I do agree on the subjectivity of the sound quality, I honestly cannot believe that the PC port team got midis of final (or near final) versions of the entire OST but somehow had to take the time to dredge up an age old, vastly incomplete, and somehow more WIP version of Sonic 3 to get the rest of the songs, even when at that time, Sega was still clearly content on using the MJ Team compositions, and would do so for many years to come. For all of this community's researchers and detectives, I'm honestly staggered that I've never seen a single other person entertain the idea that perhaps, just maybe, the PC and Origins versions of the songs are the intended versions we're meant to hear, and not the ones heard in an incomplete prototype with very obviously WIP music and sound playback issues. Just Sayin. If I'm wrong, please refute. I hate thinking about this because the prototype versions are just hands down better, but the release of Origins has had this thought eating me up and no one ever talks about it and I feel like I'm crazy.
The tracks in Origins just sound less polished and even actively broken in a few instances. You can hear crackling in Carnival Night Zone Act 1 that's characteristic of a missing PSG envelope, the instrumentation of Ice Cap Zone Act 1 and 2 are nearly identical, and Launch Base Zone Act 2's instrumentation is *very* weak. You listen to the Origins and November prototype versions of Carnival Night Zone Act 2 and you tell me which sounds more complete. I think this thread does a better job of explaining it
Yeah I don't know if it was quite Sega's intent that a very slightly less unique set of Ice Cap tracks (in Act 1 using less unique instruments shared with Act 2 compared to the leaked prototype, that being the only difference) is considered "better", though then again these games did leave a lot of superior little details on the cutting room floor that only the remasters viewed as worthy enough to reimplement. And like I've said prior, I think Sega trying to go in and fix up the tracks now by fundamentally tinkering with their composition at that point evades it being an "authentic" music track that was at least from the game's development in 1994, whether they went with their prototype or the leaked one. It's an awkward spot for unused music from nigh on three decades ago. Also I've been trying out Tails in Sonic 1 on my Steam copy of Origins, and while he definitely has the newly introduced "moon jump" physics glitch as seen in Spring Yard Zone, I actually haven't gotten the game to crash with him underwater in Labyrinth Zone as fabled by others. Is this glitch only present on consoles? Feels weird for once I'm reporting on a Tails-related S1 crash NOT happening lol.
I also tested if the crash was present in the PC version, and it appears that is a console exclusive issue. However, the moon jump glitch is present.
Does Sonic Origins not have the animation of Knuckles waving you forward in Sky Sanctuary? I couldn't get it to trigger. Maybe because I was playing as Amy
No it definitely has the animation. You can see it in this Amy playthrough I did (at 1:51:10): To trigger the animation; stand next to Knuckles (to the right of Knux), face him and press down and then stop pressing down.
It had it when I tried it out, don't know if it's an error with Amy. Maybe I'm wrong here, but did the sprite animation seem to "jitter" a bit in the original, to be properly stationary in Origins? EDIT: Whoops, ninja'd.
I've tested the new patch on PS5 & Switch and the animation triggers with Amy and all other character-formations everytime. Are you playing on PC or console?
Fwiw the positioning is not quite the same as it was in the original, you have to press down in a slightly different spot.
One thing I've noticed now I'm replaying the games as Amy: in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the bug where the slot machine Bonus Stage would never fade to black properly once finished has finally been fixed. Was shocked when I exited the stage as Amy and it actually fully faded out before returning to Angel Island Zone! Since they're still supporting the game, I wonder if any effort will be made to bring Amy's moveset more in line with Superstars once that game has launched? It's clear her sprites were drawn with heavy reference to her Superstars incarnation, which makes it even stranger that she doesn't actually function the same. The biggest barrier art-wise would be that she'd need rotation sprites for her hammer attack as well as new sprites for a stationary variant of it - otherwise I think everything exists, even if it's currently used differently. Side note: Knuckles is really fun in CD - as someone who's never played any of the mods, it's great to see how well he fits in with the exploration-based gameplay of hunting down transporters/holograms etc. His moveset gives a lot more options for navigating the stages without being able to totally cheese things on certain stages like you can with Tails. Definitely the character I'll be playing as next time I revisit that game.
Here's the Sonic Origins collectors' edition that Pix'n Love previously announced and then mysteriously pulled without any explanation: https://x.com/pixnlove_games/status/1706323971870703747?s=20 It includes: A copy of Sonic Origins Plus physcial edition • A certificate numbered to 1200 copies. • A brand new 96-page artbook. • One acrylic plate. • Four lithographs. • A large-format cardboard box with screen-printed plastic sleeve. There's a Mega Drive snap case with Sonic Origins Plus cover for all pre-orders.
Very cool to announce this months after the original physical release. I guess Sega wanted to triple dip.
