Sonic Origins allows you to play the first four Sonic games on current-gen consoles. Is it worth it? Find out in our Sonic Origins Review.
Sonic Origins Review: What is Sonic Origins?
Sonic Origins is developed by Sega and Headcanon using the Retro Engine, published by Sega, and released on June 23, 2022.
Old fans will see this as yet another opportunity to replay Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and Sonic CD. For the same old fans, this is a great opportunity to get their hands on the rare Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. Most importantly, the new fans who became part of the Sonic fandom thanks to the recent films will have the chance to explore the original titles, especially for the younger ones who never had a Sega console their entire lives.
Sonic Origins is developed using the Retro Engine, the same engine that brought the original games to modern consoles and mobile devices. The games are remade at the supervision of Christian Whitehead, who has been responsible for bringing Sonic the Hedgehog back to its roots and the direction of the series back on track. Christian Whitehead developed Sonic Nexus, Retro Sonic, and the critically-acclaimed Sonic Mania, so everyone who enjoyed the latter game would find solace in these remakes of the timeless classics.
But is Sonic Origins simply a remastered version of the older Sonic games, or is there anything new that old and new fans alike can enjoy together in this rendition of classic Sonic games?
Gameplay
The iconic Sonic games are platformer games where you play as Sonic the Hedgehog, or as Tails and Knuckles, depending on which title you're playing. The goal is simple: players have to collect rings scattered throughout the levels and reach the end of a level. Sonic the Hedgehog is famous for its speed, allowing players to dash through courses. Sonic the Hedgehog's level design is thus more open and offers more verticality compared to other platformers from its era. In three of the games, reaching the end of a level with 50 Rings or more, the players enter a Special Stage, which gives them the chance to earn more Rings and the chance to obtain a Chaos Emerald. In Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, players will have to find these Special Stages scattered throughout the stage. Obtaining all of the Chaos Emeralds in the game is required to see each of the games' true/good endings.
Thus, it's important for players to keep their Rings safe at each level. There comes the challenge, as various obstacles and enemies stand in the way between Sonic and the end of the level. Each time Sonic collides with these obstacles and enemies in free fall, Sonic will get stunned, leaving him invulnerable for a few seconds and dropping the rings he has collected so far. Regardless of the count of Rings you have at the point of collision, Sonic will lose all of his rings. For a couple of seconds, Sonic will be able to collect the rings back before they disappear, but this usually leads to you losing a majority of your Rings pre-collision. But this also means that most of the time, as long as Sonic has any rings, you are at no risk of dying. Hence, it's important to be both speedy but also precise in your movement and quick to react.
Sonic Origins offer more than just a facelift for Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic CD, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. Various game modes and modifications have been added to the game, allowing players to enjoy the classic titles with new features that really add a new dimension to gameplay. Top of the list is the Anniversary Game Mode, which features remastered versions of the games. Aside from the facelift and remastered soundtracks and sound effects, all titles stay true to their original level designs, with a few modifications. The games are now playable in widescreen, now allowing players to choose to play as either Tails or Knuckles in some of the games they originally didn't appear in as playable characters. Anniversary Game Mode also removes the Life System of old arcades, allowing players to keep on replaying for as long as they like. Furthermore, players can collect Coins, a new currency, by finding the Coins in levels or performing well in Special Stages. These Coins can be spent in the game's Museum, where players can unlock artwork, animated scenes (including Sonic Mania Adventures), and music. These Coins serve a higher purpose, though – the Coins can be spent to retry Special Stages, allowing players to have multiple tries and making it less tedious to actually reach the games' true endings.
Apart from rehashing the older levels, Sonic Origins also feature various game modes related to each title. There are Boss Rush Modes for a majority of the games, letting you go straight to the good part – beating down the baddies. There are also new Blue Sphere levels available for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles for you to enjoy, which you can play alongside the original Blue Sphere levels right from the main menu.
Meanwhile, those who don't like the change could find solace in the Classic Mode of each game. These are largely untouched 1:1 re-masters of the original 16-bit games. For purists, this is the best way to play the game, and having these all collected in a single app without having to bother with complicated and somewhat inaccurate emulation would be enough of a reason for many Sonic fans to pick up the game at launch.
Sonic Origins Review: Story
Sonic the Hedgehog lives in the Green Hill Zone, a peaceful place where animals coexist together. However, one day, Dr. Robotnik arrives in the Green Hill Zone in search of the Chaos Emeralds, possibly wishing to harness the gems' powers for his own nefarious deeds. In the process. Dr. Robotnik and his mechanical monstrosities kidnapped many animal inhabitants of Green Hill Zone. This prompts Sonic to pursue Dr. Robotnik and go on a race against him to collect the Chaos Emeralds and save the animals that he has sworn to protect.
What's great about Sonic Origins is that the basic premise above gets expanded further with new animated sequences created specifically for this game. Cutscenes are added to weave together a coherent story that even bridges the events across the four games, making it now clear how each game is connected to each other in terms of story. Don't worry, though, the older cutscenes like the ones in Sonic CD remain untouched and still play out where you'd expect to find them in the game. These additional animated sequences were produced by Tyson Hesse and Powerhouse Animation Studios, the same guys responsible for the Sonic Mania Adventures animated series and some of the recent Sonic the Hedgehog printed media.
While Sonic the Hedgehog's story is straightforward in these four games (long before things got complicated when Sonic went dark and became a werewolf), the new animated sequences make it feel like the four games are all just one title, which makes Sonic Origins more than just a re-release of the four. Instead, Sonic Origins is somewhat like the Director's Cut of the four games., coming out thirty years after the first game was released.
Graphics
The graphics are crisp and accurate, with all animations pleasing to the eye, and the colorful landscapes beautifully forward. There are no framerate drops or graphical glitches throughout the time we spent playing the game for this Sonic Origins review, and this is the definitive way to play these four games today.
On top of the upgraded visuals, players can opt to replay the 16-bit games instead, but these too were upgraded. Smoother framerates and higher fps, in general, make Sonic's and co's movements much more fluid, making it feel like a modern game in spite of its graphical fidelity.
The game's UI is also very well-designed, with clear and crisp visuals that sufficiently communicate what the menu options are supposed to do.
Music and Sound Design
Music and sound design also received an upgrade, with a much crisper audio quality present without sacrificing any fidelity to the source material. The music and sound effects sounds “right”, bringing you back to the old days and giving you such a nostalgic feel. The sounds aren't a 1:1 replication of how they sounded back then, but they feel the same. The soul and sensibilities of the music and sounds have been preserved in this recreation, and we couldn't ask for anything better.
This gives these versions of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic CD, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles a natural advantage over emulated versions of the game, making these versions really the definitive versions of the games they remade. Sonic Origins' music and sounds were re-tweaked using the original files found in the original games, and thus, they are enhanced to sound how they used to sound in the original consoles, but with better quality. Emulated versions of Sega games are notorious for having modified or inaccurate emulations of sounds, making them feel “not right.” In Sonic Origins, you'd feel the nostalgia flowing, because everything sounds just as they're supposed to. Enjoy Green Hill Zone's level theme in all its glory.
One thing to note, though. To make this remake of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 possible, they had to change the soundtrack to avoid possible litigation. The new songs are still lit and given that not a lot of people have actually played the original, a lot of players are none the wiser with this change. Still, I expect some fans to be disappointed by this change.
Accessibility
While the game offers different ways to make it easier to achieve the grandest prize, there are sadly some remaster/remake accessibility options and quality of life features not present in Sonic Origins. Standing as its own “title” instead of a collection of classics, Sonic Origins treats itself like any other game would. That means features you'd come to expect from re-releases and remasters of old games, such as rewind features, save states, and invulnerability, just to name a few, are not present in Sonic Origins. Hence, you'll have to earn every Chaos Emerald you collect in the game.
Furthermore, the game doesn't offer a lot of accessibility options to make the game easier to play for the differently abled. We imagine those playing on PC could easily rectify this oversight, but those playing on consoles will have to accept the game as it is when it comes out of the box, figuratively.
Sonic Origins Review Verdict – Is Sonic Origins worth your time and money?
Sonic Origins is the definitive way to play Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD. It is one of the few ways to play Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles without having to recourse to an emulator.
However, Sonic Origins' positives are hampered by two very important issues: the gameplay-tampering anti-cheat and anti-piracy tool Denuvo, and the steep price you'll have to pay to enjoy the game.
Denuvo is notorious for severely hampering gameplay because of its heavy disc and memory requirements, something that PC players usually have to contend with. Since our review copy is a PS5 copy, we weren't able to test just how much Denuvo hampered Sonic Origins on PC. Our experience with the PS5 was smooth and flawless, but it bears to mention that Denuvo is attached to Sonic Origins.
Then, there are the controversial microtransactions and packages involved in the game. Instead of just releasing Sonic Origins as a whole package with all of the different game modes and bells and whistles at launch for everyone, Sega instead made this convoluted pricing scheme:
Sonic Origins – Digital Pre-Order Bonus
● 100 Bonus Coins
● Mirror Mode Instantly Unlocked
● Letterbox Megadrive Pattern
Sonic Origins– Digital Standard – $39.99
● Main Game
Sonic Origins – Digital Deluxe – $44.99
● Main Game
● Difficult Missions
● Mirror Mode Instantly Unlocked
● Letterbox Megadrive Pattern
● Characters in Main Menu
● Island Camera on Main Menu
● Character Animation during Music Islands
● Exclusive Tracks from Mega Drive & Genesis Titles
Sonic Origins – Premium Fun Pack – $3.99
● Difficult Missions
● Letterbox Megadrive Pattern
● Characters in Main Menu
● Island Camera on Main Menu
● Character Animation during Music Islands
Sonic Origins – Classic Sound Pack – $3.99
● Exclusive Tracks from Mega Drive & Genesis Titles
At $39.99, we really feel that the game is worth it. However, knowing that Sega had these flairs and game modes locked behind a paywall leaves a very bad taste in my mouth. Had Sega released only the Standard Edition without any additions, I would have been happy to purchase it for $39.99. That's how good these remade games are. But with these extra features selfishly locked behind a paywall, we can't help but feel sad that Sega didn't take this as an opportunity to pay back their fan base instead. The inclusions in the Digital Deluxe, in fact, do not feel worth it at all for the added $5, so why didn't Sega include these in the Standard game instead?
We do feel that the Pre-Order bonuses are worth the “risk” of getting the game on Day 1. The 100 Bonus Coins will quickly run out, but they will provide you with a lot of comforts, either by unlocking additional content in the Museum, or by giving you extra shots at getting the Chaos Emeralds.
So, while we think that $39.99 is a fair price for this game, we still feel bad that Sega didn't actually give us the full experience for that price.
Score: 7.5/10
Editor’s Note: ClutchPoints received a review copy from Sega for the PlayStation 5. This copy did not, in any way, affect this Sonic Origins Review’s final score and verdict.
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