sonic origins review

1. Sonic Origins Review
2. Sonic Origins – Before You Buy
3. Sonic Origins Nintendo Switch Review – Is It Worth it?
4. Sonic Origins Review – The Final Verdict
5. Sonic Origins – The Digital Foundry Tech Review – Good… But Should Have Been Great
6. Sonic Origins: Definitive or Disaster?
7. Sonic Origins Review – Noisy Pixel

Sonic Origins Review

[Music],this is dave klein reading for heidi,kemps,theres no denying the appeal of classic,sonic the 16-bit sonic games are some of,the most memorable and influential,platformers around no matter what,happens with modern day sonic the old,games remain as wondrous and as exciting,as ever a sort of gaming comfort food,you can keep coming back to for years on,end its no surprise then that sega has,re-released the classic sonic games many,many times over in various compiled and,standalone forms sonic origins is the,latest such compilation with its main,selling point being that the games have,been completely rebuilt by many of the,staff behind the beloved sonic mania and,while the games remain as delightful as,ever the package as a whole feels a,little disappointing sonic origins,contains four technically five since,sonic 3 and sonic and knuckles were sold,separately classic sonic games from the,16-bit era the original sonic the,hedgehog sonic cd sonic 2 and the,combined sonic 3 and knuckles rather,than the emulation most re-releases,utilize each of the games have been,rebuilt in a new engine to play almost,exactly like their original versions,though with various quality of life,improvements added sonic 1 for example,has a spin dash and fixes the infamous,instant kill spike bug while sonic 2,adds a new level the mythical hidden,palace zone and sonic 3 and knuckles has,touched up sprite animation for its,cinematics and the supersonic,transformation and so on in addition,characters who might not have been,playable in the original releases also,are made available such as tales and,sonic cd and knuckles in sonic 1.,knuckles still isnt in sonics tv,likely because his playstyle really,doesnt match the way that games levels,flow,most of the original visuals and music,remain intact though some of sonic 3s,music long theorized of the involvement,of michael jackson by the way has been,changed likely for legal reasons all of,the games have a new anniversary mode,that increases the viewing area to 16×9,as opposed to the original 4×3 aspect,ratio and removes the lives counter you,can still die of course but youll just,respawn at the last checkpoint making,the threat of a looming game overmoved,coins can be collected within the games,from power-up monitors getting lots of,rings and clearing special stages you,can then spend these coins to unlock,extras in sonic origins museum or retry,when you fail to get the chaos emerald,in a special stage its a great feature,for sonic 1 and sonic cd where,opportunities to enter and clear a,special stage are quite limited less so,for sonic 2 and sonic 3 knuckles where,opportunities are more plentiful and you,can then blaze through the rest of the,game as supersonic if you prefer the,old-fashioned handling of lives and,special stages however you can choose to,play the games in classic mode instead,complete with the original 4×3 aspect,ratio while still keeping all of the,various additions and touch-ups,every game now has brand new and,exceptionally well done animation,sequences in its opening and endings as,well as an unlockable mirror mode which,flips the levels to run right to left a,boss rush and a story mode that allows,you to play all of the games in sequence,as one big sonic adventure finally,mission mode sees you attempting various,challenging tasks in modified classic,stages to earn coins there are some very,fun and creative missions but sonic,veterans will likely blow through them,all really quickly and the only way to,get more of the hard missions is to fork,over cash for some day one dlc,not that you really need more missions,to earn coins as completing all the base,missions will give you a treasure trove,of coins with which you can unlock,practically all of the museum content,easily leaving you to sit on the rest of,your earnings with practically nothing,to use them on the museum content is,rather disappointing in general theres,a lot of concept art thats already been,seen in other sonic titles and,collections classic music remixes that,have appeared in other games like super,smash brothers sonic generations and,even the recent sonic forces and,animatics of the new intro and outro,sequences it feels like there could have,been a lot more where are all the,commercials and weird sonic media we,havent seen since sonic jam way back on,the saturn for example its not just the,extras that feel a bit lacking either,sonic origins has some puzzling issues,and omissions that you wouldnt expect,in a retro compilation of this caliber,theres no save state slash reload,functionality nor are there any screen,filters that can help smooth the pixels,into a nice crt-like look there is one,anti-aliasing screen option that makes,the screen look like its been smeared,with petroleum jelly,but thats it the sound balance seems,wonky at times too with the bass sound,level a bit muffled while certain sound,effects and sequences are way too loud,in comparison its also disappointing,that playing with the traditional life,system limits you to 4×3 aspect ratio,similarly oversights like wallpaper,options for 4×3 being locked behind paid,dlc and needing to replace standalone,sonic cd in order to unlock all of the,stages for time attack even when the,game has been completed in story mode,are a dampener on the experience,dont get me wrong the games remain,excellent and the painstaking dedication,to recreating the complex levels and,gimmick interactions of the various,sonic titles is wonderful to behold it,warms this aged sonic fans heart to see,the faux rotation of special stages and,assorted stage objects made much more,smooth to see super sonic get new design,accurate animation frames instead of,reusing a bunch of those belonging to,regular sonic and to finally have a,dedicated super button in sonic 3 and,knuckles so i can transform only when i,really want to,and the long lost hidden palazzone,brought to life by the talented hands,that created the fantastic levels of,sonic mania is like my childhood,imagination made manifest its a,gorgeous stage filled with sleek curves,and glowing gemstones providing a,delightful mix of unique enemies and,gimmicks that give it a personality of,its own along with a very clever boss,design at the end but even the,recreations of the games themselves have,some issues with strange bugs that,werent present in the originals partner,tails in sonic 2 has a bad habit of,getting stuck in places and trying,desperately to reach you for a very long,time before his flyback to sonic routine,kicks in leading the stages filled with,the obnoxious background noise of,constant jumping and spin dashing,[Music],some of the transitions in sonic 3,knuckles dont quite work right i got,stuck at the transition to sandopolis 2,and could only proceed after pressing,the option button,and sometimes the death slash respawn,checkpoint system in sonic 3 knuckles,feels really off ive had multiple,instances where i die and not respond at,the stage start rather than a checkpoint,id touch or respond with a shield,intact after pit or crushing death and,even seen a good chunk of his stages,checkpoints marked as touch before i,even encountered them in terms of dlc,for an additional cost you can get a,bunch of hard missions some extra,wallpapers for use in classic mode,additional music and decorative extras,and camera angles on the menu screens,given the relative death of unlockable,extras charging money for these features,leaves a sour taste in my mouth with so,many coins im not using these feel,perfect for including as unlocks i can,earn through normal gameplay,instead its available at an extra fee,to bolster an already unsatisfying,offering i know a lot of my problems,with sonic origins sound like nitpicks,but i adore these games and i want to,see them restored and presented with joy,and reverence as the masterpieces they,are,not tainted with frivolous dlc that,should be unlockables and lackluster,presentation sonic origins comes close,to being the definitive

Sonic Origins – Before You Buy

(logo beeps),- [Falcon] Hey, welcome back,to another episode of Before You Buy,,the show where we give you some straight up gameplay,and first impressions on the latest games releasing.,Today, we are looking at “Sonic Origins.”,And hi, folks, Im Falcon.,This is a collection of four, kind of five,,classic Sonic games from the Sega Genesis.,Theyve been rereleased so many times,that it is hard to count,,but what makes this collection different,is were finally getting all of these games,,including “Sonic 3″/”Sonic & Knuckles”,in a fully widescreen format,,which, I mean, thats probably reason enough to buy it,for a lot of Sonic fans, especially ones like myself,who played those games as a kid,and returns to them pretty often.,But again, considering theyve been rereleased so many times,at, frankly, much lower price points,,other people might need a little more convincing.,Now, there is a ton of fun to be had with “Sonic Origins.”,Theres a couple of strange choices,and a few annoying things,,and youll have to deal with those,,but for the most part, it is a good collection.,So lets get the basics out of the way.,”Sonic Origins” contains remastered versions,of “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,”,”Sonic CD,” and “Sonic 3 & Knuckles,”,which is technically two games,,but one used a lock-on cartridge,and you could connect them together,,and they were originally planned all to be “Sonic 3,”,but they split the development,,so, A, they would have two products to sell,,and, B, so that they could work on two deadlines,instead of one deadline.,But none of that really matters.,All these games have been remastered with the Retro Engine,,meaning that this is not emulation.,Theyre new versions of classic games,running on an engine created by Christian Whitehead,that was used to make “Sonic Mania,” and because of that,,the basic gameplay is pretty much at its absolute best.,Its unaltered.,If you played the games way back in the day,,youre not gonna be shocked or surprised by any moment.,Everything runs exactly like it did back then,,except better.,Youre still mostly running fast.,Youre still hopping and bopping on enemies,,collecting power-ups, fighting bosses,,classic platformer stuff.,Ill give a short review of each game later,,cause there are minor differences between them,,but lets just focus on the widescreen aspect for now.,It probably doesnt sound like a big deal,,but with Sonic games, it makes a huge difference.,Youre going fast,,so having a little extra screen real estate,to see whats coming just feels a lot better,,almost as if thats how it was supposed to be played,,like as if it was designed for Sonic to be smaller,on the screen and for you to see more ahead of you.,Theres no real way to know,if thats how the idea worked out in anybodys head,a long time ago, but man, does it work good on widescreen.,Its easily the biggest improvement,and what makes the “Sonic Origins” collection,the definitive way to play these games.,The collection gives you a few different ways to play,,and this is where the strange choices,make their appearance.,So you can either go through all the games in a row,with Story Mode, play them individually in Anniversary Mode,,or go back and play them the way they originally appeared,,with four-by-three aspect ratio in Classic Mode.,Now, on top of having widescreen,,the Anniversary and Story modes,also take a modernizing step forward and remove lives.,Instead, you earn coins that can be used to unlock stuff,in the museum or to try again if you fail in a bonus stage,,stuff that makes these games a lot more user friendly.,For special stages in “Sonic 1,”,it was difficult to get into them,to even have the chance to earn a Chaos Emerald,,but now, assuming that you have coins,,you have the ability to restart these if you dont get it.,And you get a coin in the exact same way,you got an extra life.,Before, you either found it in a monitor,or you got 100 rings, and its great.,Heres the odd choice I was talking about.,If you wanna play the game with lives and with widescreen,,you cant do that.,Youd think youd be able to choose,how to play Classic mode,,like whether its in 16:9 or 4:3,,but you cant, And that feels very unusual.,Its not a big deal because Im thinking most people,are probably going to want to play without lives anyways,,but for those who want the classic experience,but also want it in 16:9,,its not possible, at least not yet.,I suspect some vocal minority might make a stink about it,,and it may get patched in.,Well see, but I find myself enjoying the coin version.,Now, the controls are really responsive,,physics are accurate to the original games,,and everything plays exactly how you remember it.,I know these games like the back of my hand.,I know what you need to do to get certain results.,And all of that stuff still happens exactly the same.,But if you are new to these games,,theres a very heavy emphasis on momentum,,and it can take a little getting used to,,but all in all, these games are great to play.,One cool feature that they added is, A,,you can spin-dash in “Sonic 1,”,which was something theyve added to it,in previous re-releases, but even better,,the drop dash from “Sonic Mania”,has been added to all of the games,,so you can jump into a spin dash whenever you want,,and it just makes this game so much smoother.,Every single one of these titles plays better,with the drop dash.,It was such a fantastic addition to “Sonic Mania,”,and it basically belongs in these games at this point.,Its a huge update to the classic Sonic formula,,and what I like is,if they do decide to do any further 2D Sonic games,,it pretty much says,,hey, were gonna put this in every Sonic game,like this from now on, and Im excited for that.,Now, before we get too in-depth with the games themselves,,I do wanna talk about the general presentation.,Its great.,The 3D islands on the menus are charming,,and the new animated intros from Tyson Hess,are beyond fantastic.,They look very much like the old “Sonic CD” intro,,except way, way nicer looking.,But on top of the Classic, Story, and Anniversary modes,,you get a couple of other options on the main menu.,Theres a boss rush.,Theres Blue Spheres where you can play the bonus game,that booted up when you put any non-Sonic games,into “Sonic & Knuckles,” which is a neat little bonus,,but I doubt theres anyone whos dying to play it.,Its nice that its there, but I mean,,Id have to get pretty bored to want to do Blue Spheres.,What would really matter here is if the games hold up.,And for games that are now nearly 30 years old,,they hold up, mostly.,Theres obviously still tons to like about them,,but the first game is the roughest.,Level design, boss design, its all a little more archaic,than everything else in the collection.,Theres certain things that will remind you more of Mario,,because obviously,,that was the definitive platforming experience at the time,,and it has had influence over every platformer,thats ever existed, so you see more slow platforming,and a few things that are gonna remind you very much,of how a dungeon works in Mario, especially in Marble Zone.,But Id particularly like to mention a massive improvement,on the Labyrinth Zone in the first game,,which was a level that just performed like absolute crap.,The engine couldnt handle whatever it was,they were trying to do, and there was so much slowdown,,and none of that is here because theres no reason for it.,Theres no technical limitation.,Its not built on that old engine anymore.,Its built on a new engine,,and its so nice to play that level without the slowdown.,Its still kind of clunky,,but it just feels a million times better.,Now, “Sonic 2” is an instant classic.,Theres not a lot more to say about it.,Tails is a really fun addition.,The level design really leans into the speed aspect,of the game.,Its all very good, and they kind of figured out,what was fun about a Sonic game here.,Theres all these exhilarating sections,where you can really go al

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Sonic Origins Nintendo Switch Review – Is It Worth it?

hello felix from nintendo live here and,today were here to review sonic origins,for the nintendo switch,but these words are not going to be mine,since this review was written by the,wonderful mitch vogel but it was,reworked into this video by me,[Music],one particularly bright spot in sonics,recent history was the release of sonic,mania,one part sequel and another part,reimagining the 2d classics the retro,revival proved to be one of the best,rated and best-selling sonic projects in,recent years,in the frankly baffling absence of a,true follow-up to sonic mania sega has,instead opted to look to that games,inspiration for sonics latest 2d,release billed as sonic origins this,collection presents all the original,four sonic games including the rarely,re-released sonic 3 and knuckles in an,enhanced widescreen format with a new,option to treat all the 2d entries as,they were all one big game,the end result is well exactly what,youd expect all these classic sonic,games look better than ever with their,new presentation and some small quality,of life updates but those of you whove,already run through green health zone,more times than you can count well you,might be left wishing for a little bit,more,clearly the main draw of the package is,the original 16-bit platformers and,were happy to report that each of these,remain tremendously fun,theres a good reason why so many sonic,fans remember these games so fondly and,thats because these games really got,what sonic was all about no overwrought,stories and bizarre self-insert,characters here just a blue hedgehog who,fights an evil mustache man to save a,bunch of animals and eventually,the world,theres a clear maturation to be,observed with each release here the,original sonic the hedgehog presented a,rougher but cohesive version of the high,speed momentum based platforming and,each game that followed took the games,in new directions with interesting new,ideas,sonic cd for example focused more on,exploration and tied with the time,travel mechanic which saw you visiting,the past to alter the future meanwhile,sonic 3 and knuckles included elemental,shields which gave sonic new moves the,level design slowly became more refined,too over time with sonic 3 and knuckles,representing a near-perfect realization,of a mixture between blazing fast,flowing level design and slower more,measured platforming parts,everyone probably has their reasons why,one game was better or worse than the,other but the point here is that its,very hard to go wrong with any of these,releases even the first game which feels,a little simplistic by comparison,handles like a dream and provides plenty,of thrills plus there is an option to,experience all these games as one,continues experience complete with some,cute animated cutscenes and this helps,sidestep any issues you might have with,the short length of each individual,entry,none of these games are more than 5,hours they are 30 year old 2d,platformers after all but playing them,back to back as one big game makes for,an interesting and surprising cohesive,experience,each game can be played in either,classic mode where each title is,displayed in its original aspect ratio,or anniversary mode which is arguably,the main draw here anniversary mode,retro fits each title with modern,improvements like widescreen support,sonics drop dash move from sonic mania,and the option to play as other,characters like tails and knuckles in,the games they didnt originally feature,in,the new features dont do much to change,the core experience these are remasters,not remakes but we thought they did a,good job of presenting these classics in,the best light possible,new to this collection is mission mode,which contains a couple of dozen,bite-sized challenges for each game,this will have you doing things like,clearing a certain portion of a stage,while defeating a given number of foes,or surviving a level with only one ring,and the speed in which you must meet,these objectives determines what rank,you get,higher ranks will earn you more coins,giving you some incentive to meet the,narrow requirements to convert an s rank,and these coins are not to be confused,with rings though nothing revolutionary,we enjoyed the rapid-fire structure of,these missions they often cause you to,think about a level in a way you,wouldnt normally and later demands you,to pull off some advanced tricks to,finish them on time,additionally there is a boss mode and a,mirror mode to fool around with,the former tasks of running a gauntlet,of bosses with no or some rings and,three lives and the latter simply,mirrors the levels,both are welcome inclusions and good for,mixing things up but feel a little,shallow once youve adjusted to their,gimmicks,using the coins earned from across all,the modes you can then go into the,games museum to spend them on,soundtracks pieces of concept art and,brief videos and animation from across,sonics history,although it feels like the museum,portion is a little light on content we,appreciated having something that ties,together your progress across all four,games theres a nice sense of,accomplishment to slowly unlocking and,filling out the museums collection a,welcome addition to an already rewarding,experience of playing each game,one thing that we think best mentioning,is that pleasant note may be sonic,origins simply represents yet another,re-release of these classic sonic games,and a rather expensive one at that aside,from sonic 3 and knuckles weve seen,most of these classic sonic games,released in some form on virtually every,gaming platform over the last several,years some of them are even available on,switch multiple times in fact via other,re-releases and services,the point here is that this is a great,collection for anyone out there who,hasnt played these classic sonic games,and is looking for worthwhile entry,point but wed encourage those of you,whove already played these games to,death to take a beat and ask if its,really worth it if the answer is yes,then take a second beat to ask if its,not worth waiting for a sale,theres very little about this release,that easily validates at double dip its,simply all the old sonic games featuring,some nice but in the end inessential,modern tweaks,we feel it also must be said that,theres a lingering sense that this,collection could have been so much more,the four games on offer here are,certainly well presented and enjoyable,but something like sonics pinball sonic,3d blast might have helped to justify,the 40 price tag,what about save states or a rewind,feature like many other classic,collections why isnt there an option to,play sonic 3 and sonic and knuckles,separately well we dont know,also the replacement of several sonic,3s audio tracks which infamously,featured contributions from michael,jackson is another sticking point if you,adore these originals especially when,sega is building this as the ultimate,way to play them,the new tracks arent terrible they,arent really new either but theyre not,the bangers we remember from the 90s,then theres also the mata that features,like hard emissions in mission mode and,some screen borders in classic mode are,gated behind dlc that sega wants you to,buy separately from the base release,we dont want to be too quick to judge a,release based on what isnt instead of,what it is but it feels like sega is,being a bit tight fisted with this one,its fine for what it is but it feels,more like a 20 game than a 40 one,in conclusion sonic origins is simply,more of the same which is both its,greatest strength but also weakness on,one hand its a near definitive way to,experience four stone cold classics that,represent some of the highest peaks of,sonics career on the other most of,these games are already readily,available and there arent really that,many new features or additions to,justify buying them again,if you dont have a reliable or,convenient way of playing these games,now or this is genuinely your first time,playing through them then wed say t

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Sonic Origins Review – The Final Verdict

[Music],regardless of how rocky the road became,for sonic the hedgehog after a certain,point its legacy stands unshakable back,in its earlier years when nintendo and,sega were going head to head when mario,and sonic were the faces of video games,when sidescrolling platformers were king,back in those days sonic put out one,excellent game after another and did so,consistently for quite some time over 30,years later even with all the ups and,downs that segas iconic mascot has seen,sonic the hedgehog is still gaming,royalty,celebrating the 30th anniversary of a,franchise as massive as that is no,enviable task but thankfully sega is,more than up to it sonic origins is a,love letter to the franchise its classic,golden era and its fans and it pays,tribute to its early days in style,far from a simple compilation its a,much more comprehensive upgrade and a,much more full-featured collection than,many would have expected whether youre,a long time fan hoping to relive sonics,glory days or a newcomer hoping to,understand what the fuss is about sonic,origins does what it sets out to do in a,thoroughly convincing fashion by,reminding everyone just how good the,series was when it was still young,sonic origins brings together the four,original 2d side-scrolling platformers,of the series before decided to start,experimenting with other styles of,gameplay sonic the hedgehog sonic the,hedgehog 2 sonic cd and sonic 3 and,knuckles are all present and accounted,for here allowing players to speed,through the blue hedgehogs classic,adventures in a single package but the,collection does much more than bringing,those four games together the additional,bells and whistles it bolts on to the,package are a big highlight here because,theres just so many of them,you could play each of the four games in,several ways though the two main ways,are of course the classic and,anniversary modes the former brings over,the original games as is updating them,with remastered visuals and soundtracks,but leaving the gameplay experience,untouched that means you have limited,lives and time limits in levels with all,of it being presented in a 4-3 aspect,ratio the anniversary mode meanwhile,attempts to modernize the experience by,switching to a 16-9 aspect ratio,removing time limits and introducing,unlimited lives no matter which of the,two you pick you cant exactly go wrong,sonic 1 2 cd and 3 are all excellent,games though cds time traveling gimmick,has proven divisive over the years and,their inherent strengths have rendered,them timeless good game design is good,game design after all no matter what,ancillary features you may or may not,have the point of sonic games has always,been to explore their layered and,complexly designed levels learning their,ins and outs and their many paths and,running through them again and again,until you figured out the best way,possible to maintain speed and momentum,from beginning to end the way the speedy,hedgehog was always meant to all four,sonic games and sonic origins had,excellent movement and level design that,facilitated that perfectly that of,course remains as true now as it was all,those years ago when these games first,came out,visually the games have been touched up,excellently each looking absolutely,gorgeous in its own right with its,classic pixel art and purely from a,visual perspective i preferred,anniversary mode for its 16 to 9,resolution it is a bit of a shame that,theres no way to mix and match the two,having the option to play with classic,rules and limited lives without having,to be stuck with a 4-3 resolution would,have been a huge bonus and its,disappointing that the option is not,available especially since the letterbox,backgrounds for anything beyond a black,background screen in classic mode are,locked behind dlc,meanwhile sonic origins also offers a,story mode which allows you to play,through all four games as a single,continuous experience in chronological,fashion which is another excellent,addition that fans of the series will,surely appreciate not least because,story mode also comes with completely,new animated cutscenes for all games in,the collection sonic fans dont need to,be told how good these cutscenes can be,when theyre at their best and happily,they most definitely are at their best,in sonic origins and they elevate the,story mode experience greatly,other smart retrospective improvements,and additions have also been made to the,games in the collection for instance,unlike the original releases you can now,place both tails and knuckles in all of,the games except sonic cd where knuckles,remains unplayable which is a major,addition being able to run through,familiar levels as characters that play,and control completely differently,presents them in a totally different,light and its easily one of the best,features of sonic origins,and theres still so much more beyond,that in the collection to round out the,experience theres a boss rush mode that,lets you take on a barrage of iconic,sonic bosses in sequence a mission mode,that presents you with specific,objectives and levels and ranks your,performances at the end an unlockable,mirror mode that allows you to play,through mirrored versions of sonic,levels online leaderboards to compete,against players for best times on levels,and much more besides one of the biggest,attractions is the museum comprising of,a collection of music artwork cut scenes,comics and more some of which is,completely new content that had never,been officially released until now,a lot of this is automatically unlocked,as you play more of sonic origins but,theres also a whole section of the,museum that locks some of this stuff,behind purchases which are made using,coins that you earn from either the,anniversary mode or the boss rush mode,or the mission mode coins are another,smart addition that add a ton of,replayability to the game running,through boss fights and missions or,replaying levels in anniversary mode to,seek out hitting coins will surely keep,plenty of completionists coming back for,more all of this is presented neatly as,a single package that excels in the,presentation department as well the main,menu for instance is a huge world map,that ropes in familiar and beloved,elements from all four games in the,collection with the games themselves and,the different modes being presented on,it like everything else in the,collection its overflowing with love,for the franchise,sonic origins is truly a celebration of,segas beloved hedgehog the future of,the franchise remains typically unclear,based on what weve seen of sonic,frontier so far it can honestly go,either way but sonic origins reminds us,that nothing will ever be able to,diminish its past when sonic was good it,was better than almost anything else out,there and this collection celebrates,those glory days in the best way,possible and that brings us to the end,of the video a quick request we upload,new videos every single day and if you,like what were doing 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Sonic Origins – The Digital Foundry Tech Review – Good… But Should Have Been Great

[Music],sonic the hedgehog has been a staple of,the gaming industry since 1991 and while,hes had his ups and downs theres no,denying that when at its best theres,real magic here the combination of,high-speed platforming action catchy,music and eye-popping visuals come,together to create something truly,special and his 16-bit adventures are,widely considered some of the best games,in sonic history and for my money some,of the best games ever made since their,original appearance however these games,have been re-released many times over,and most of these examples are little,more than emulators paired with original,roms,but sometimes we get something a little,different which brings us to the latest,re-release sonic origins at a glance it,may not seem like an interesting,prospect these games have been,re-released many times after all but,this is one of the few which eschews,emulation entirely instead promising a,fully rebuilt suite of 16-bit sonic,games built using the retro engine the,same technology on which sonic mania was,built,i love emulation of course but proper,ports enable a wide range of features,that wouldnt otherwise be possible so,the question is what does this package,include in terms of content and what,does it offer over other re-releases,content-wise the big addition is of,course the inclusion of sonic 3 knuckles,which had remained out of rotation for,years,sonic 1 2 and cd had all previously,received retro engine ports but aside,from cd these were exclusive to mobile,phones but of course with these,re-releases theres always potential,issues that can arise and thats exactly,what i want to look at today so for this,video well check out the content,compare and contrast with prior versions,and see how it all comes together across,multiple platforms so lets get into it,[Music],this is sonic jam for sega saturn,released in 1997 this disc stood as the,first complete collection bringing,together each of the original mega drive,games to a new platform it offers a huge,selection of bonus material including,videos music and illustrations while,offering updated versions of each game,that had been rebuilt for sega saturn,proper native ports in that sense sonic,origins feels like a follow-up to this,collection effectively a sonic jam 2 if,you will you have all the 16-bit games,plus the addition of sonic cd surrounded,by a wide range of bonus material and,alternative gameplay modes designed to,expand upon the formula just like sonic,jam when building a collection like this,there are two key target areas that,require attention firstly the user,interface itself this is the glue which,ties the collection together and,secondly the presentation and accuracy,of the original source material in this,case the sonic games themselves,with sonic jam it was split between the,game selector menu and a bonus material,section for the bonus material the,development team opted to package the,information within 3d structures,peppered across what they call sonic,world this is a bespoke environment in,which players were given the opportunity,to run around in full 3d as sonic now,this isnt the full 3d sonic game that,fans had been hoping for on sega saturn,but it certainly hinted at some of the,possibilities that would only be,realized with the release of sonic,adventure,in building sonic origins then sonic,team opted for a different approach,essentially theyve built an entire,interface centered around these six,islands,four of the islands represent key games,in the package while others include,bonus features such as a movie gallery,illustrations a comprehensive jukebox,a mission mode and even the option to,play through all of the games as one,continuous experience this front end was,created using sonic teams proprietary,hedgehog engine the very same engine,powering many of its games including,sonic forces and sonic generations the,games themselves powered by the retro,engine then are displayed as a surface,within the hedgehog engines user,interface it may seem convoluted at,first glance but its an approach weve,seen in numerous other retro collections,in this case unfortunately there are,drawbacks the first and most significant,issue stems from the presentation of,each game essentially each game is,rendered to the screen using a bilinear,filter rather than a sharp scale which,would have been preferable resulting in,softened pixel edges sonic mania offers,four display options within its retro,engine framework which solves this,problem entirely this includes a pair of,crt filters and a sharp scale option,with sonic origins the developer does,not surface these options to the player,and every game is rendered using the,default soft option instead,if we compare this with sonic mania the,difference in clarity is significant,but you may stumble upon an option,labeled anti-aliasing buried within the,games menu enabling this option further,degrades image quality resulting in an,unacceptably blurry presentation my best,guess here is that this option,corresponds to the anti-aliasing toggle,available in most other hedgehog engine,powered games it is not designed for,this use case in other words its a,worthless option that should be replaced,with the four options available in sonic,mania,the other major drawback ties into the,multi-platform nature of the project,when played on a newer console such as a,playstation 5 or xbox series x you enjoy,a pristine native 4k front end updating,at 60 frames per second its a joy to,navigate if youve opted for the switch,version however the frame rate of the,menu system is halved and image quality,suffers while far from ruinous this,decision does reduce the overall,fluidity of the menu navigation on,switch and more importantly highlights a,flaw in the way videos are displayed all,of those beautiful new animated videos,and museum features are incorrectly,scaled,on the switch,if we zoom in slightly take note of the,jagged lines surrounding sonics face,given that these video clips are a key,element in this package its highly,disappointing that sonic team has,allowed this to occur but whats extra,weird about that is if we switch over to,this shot,this is the same video as captured from,the museum section,so basically when videos are played from,the museum they are correctly scaled and,filtered but the scenes that play before,and after each game or during the games,actual introduction are incorrectly,scaled,so its a bug,unfortunately there are numerous other,issues present within the user interface,system some of these are minor such as,the typos that appear in the music list,sandopolis for instance is misspelled as,sandpolus here but not on the subsequent,screen furthermore most of the track,names applied to the knuckles chaotic,soundtrack are mislabeled,[Music],others are perhaps more glaring the,overall volume levels are too low this,becomes a problem when playing the,switch version in portable mode without,headphones,but the real issue here is that the,video clips played in sonic cd,specifically the remastered versions of,the original video clips are played at,too high a decibel level making them,much louder than anything else in the,game,[Music],but hey at least the vocals have been,restored for this version they were,absent in the 2011 release sonic cd also,has its own unique interface issues the,soundtrack selection the spin dash mode,all of this is hidden within its own,menu that appears to have been hacked in,from the original 2011 release of the,game it feels wildly inconsistent with,the rest of the package then theres all,the tacked on dlc which feels like it,should have been included in the,original package especially given the,cost the user interface is certainly,well made and visually attractive but,there are glaring issues with it that i,feel need to be addressed the most,serious issue however is the bilinear,filter applied to the games rendering,them extremely blurry it should be,mentioned however that if youre playing,this game on the pc

Sonic Origins: Definitive or Disaster?

Life comes at you pretty fast.,This Sonic Origins video review was originally  going to be very different. However, an aunt  ,that lives in town was in the middle of trying to  sell her house, which included holding a bit of a  ,perpetual yard sale for a few weeks while she got  rid of some clutter in preparation. Unfortunately,  ,being the only family member in town that  lacked a real 9-to-5 job, it fell on me to  ,help her move heavy furniture and help deal with  customers. Thats not necessarily a complaint,  ,as I had some of my Moms stuff I needed to sell  off. But it did mean I spent weeks and weeks  ,baking in the summer heat, and I live in a desert,  and it was during an unprecedented heatwave.,By the time I got home every evening,  ,it meant I had very little energy left to work  on the video, and it really slowed things down.,I managed to get about 75% done on the original  version of this video, when Sega released a  ,patch for Sonic Origins. Given that close to  half of my video was talking about specific  ,problems Id encountered while playing, and  the patch itself was pretty significant,  ,it seemed like a better idea to just throw that  whole video out and start over from scratch.,I almost just canceled the review entirely,  but after my previous Sonic Origins video,  ,I figured we deserved some kind  of closure on my thoughts about  ,the finished game. Though let me tell  you, maybe I should have canceled it,  ,because I fought against writers block really  hard having to rewrite this entire script.,If youre curious about the original  version of this video from pre-patch,  ,I got far enough along in production that  I have a full length voice over track,  ,which I will be posting up for patreon donors to  listen to. Consider it sort of a lost episode.,So now that the game has been patched,  where does that leave us with Sonic Origins?,Well, at the very least, I suppose I should  probably formally introduce what it is. Sonic  ,Origins is the latest in a long line of  many different Sonic game collections that  ,bundle the main 16-bit Sonic games into one  package. Those games being Sonic the Hedgehog,  ,from 1991, Sonic 2 from 1992, Sonic CD from  1993, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles from 1994.,But Sonic Origins is different. Most other  collections of these games use something  ,called “emulation,” which attempts to simulate how  these games played on their original hardware. If  ,youve seen my previous Sonic Origins video,  then you know all about emulation. Emulation  ,can be a pretty good substitute to pulling  out an old console, but rarely is it perfect.  ,Most Sonic collections were plagued  with emulation problems related to  ,inaccurate sound, input latency,  or slowdown, just to name a few.,Sonic Origins doesnt use emulation.  Rather than simulate a Sega Genesis,  ,all of these games have been rebuilt from the  ground up in something called Retro Engine.  ,Its a special coding framework  focused on creating accurate,  ,retro-style games with modern enhancements.  As such, these Retro Engine versions of these  ,Sonic games come with a number of new features  that arent easily possible with emulation.,These include basic enhancements  like 16:9 wide screen visuals,  ,the total elimination of latency and  slowdown, and higher quality sound. Or,  ,at least, higher quality in  theory. More on that in a bit.,Remaking these games in Retro Engine also  allows for brand new modes and features,  ,as well. All games feature both  Classic and enhanced Anniversary modes,  ,as well as a boss rush and  a brand new Mirror Mode,  ,which tasks you with playing through every  level in the game with the scrolling flipped.,It also makes inserting new content very easy.  Not only does Sonic 2 contain a rebuilt version  ,of the long lost Hidden Palace Zone level, but  a brand new Mission Mode remixes elements from  ,all four games, giving you a long list  of simple challenges to complete in new,  ,but familiar scenarios. Perfect for the Sonic  fan that just cant get enough classic Sonic.,And since youre working directly with raw  source code, in theory it means greater  ,standardization across all four games.  Get to play as Knuckles in Sonic 3? Well,  ,now you can also play as Knuckles  in Sonic 2 and, for the first time,  ,even Sonic 1, complete with all-new  areas designed around his abilities.  ,Some games even get a special “Knuckles and Tails”  mode, where Tails follows Knuckles instead. The  ,Drop Dash from Sonic Mania has also been added  as well, usable in any games Anniversary mode,  ,and you can even use Sonic Manias version of  the airlift ability in any game with Tails.,And theres even a brand new Story Mode, which  ties all four games together into one, long,  ,continuous narrative, complete  with new animated cutscenes.,Sonic Origins had the potential to be the  definitive way to play Sonics legacy games,  ,backed up by the fact that these remakes  were created by some of the development  ,team that eventually went on to do  Sonic Mania later on down the line.,Thats because the Retro Engine itself was  the co-creation of Christian Whitehead and  ,Simon Thomley, aka “Taxman” and “Stealth.” The  pair have become legends in the Sonic community,  ,and it was their nearly ten-year-old  remakes of Sonic CD, Sonic 1,  ,and Sonic 2 that eventually  gave us Sonic Mania in 2017.,The problem was, a lot of these Retro Engine  remakes were trapped on mobile phones.  ,For years, fans begged Sega to release ports for  console and PC, but their cries fell on deaf ears.  ,Sega was more content to pump out  cheaper, easier retro game compilations,  ,using questionably emulated  versions of the Genesis games.,Sonic Origins was a chance to finally set things  right. To not just re-release the Genesis Sonic  ,games yet again, but to improve upon them, to  create the ultimate collection of Sonics history.,But reality is a harsh mistress.,Sonic has had many collections over the last  30 years. Most of them are pretty basic,  ,but there was one that stood head  and shoulders above all else:  ,Sonic Jam for the Sega Saturn. It was part of  what Sega was calling “Project Sonic”. Ysee,  ,despite Sonic the Hedgehogs explosive success in  America and Europe in the 1990s, his games were  ,nowhere near as popular in Japan. With Project  Sonic, Sega hoped to raise awareness in their  ,home country, and they started by bundling all  of the Genesis Sonic games into one package.,But Sonic Jam contained more than just Sonic  games, it was a whole museum of Sonics legacy  ,up to that point. You could discover cheat codes,  view character profiles, and listen to music.  ,But there were three features that really  defined Sonic Jam: first was the 3D Sonic World,  ,where we were offered our first glimpse of what  a polygonal Sonic game might look and play like.,Second of all was the history section,  offering a rundown of every major event  ,in the Sonic franchise from 1990 through 1996.  What it lacked in depth it made up for in scope;  ,everything from game releases to major  marketing campaigns were mentioned,  ,even including oddities like the naming of  the “Sonic Hedgehog” genetic protein in 1993.,Lastly was the theater section, containing a  wealth of rare and interesting Sonic-related  ,video content. Almost all of these  focused on content exclusive to Japan,  ,and to an American like myself, this  was a treasure trove. It showed me a  ,side of Sonic Id never seen before,  opening my eyes to a different world.,And the games were pretty good too!  Since the Saturn wasnt powerful  ,enough to emulate a Genesis, these  were probably native ports — some  ,of the few Sonic ever received. And just  like with Sonic Origins and Retro Engine,  ,this allowed them to add new modes, like  Easy Mode, and add the SpinDash to Sonic 1.,The only downside is that since the Saturn  could not replicate the FM synthesis found  ,on the Genesis, all of the sounds and music had  to be stored

Sonic Origins Review – Noisy Pixel

[Music],in retrospect its surprising that a,collection housing the iconic classic,sonic games took this long to be made,all franchise contention aside those,older titles were genre defying and,remain widely beloved to this day so,this collection seemed like an instant,home run when it was announced and on a,base level it delivers however several,questionable design decisions and,technical hiccups prevent this,collection from being as qualitative as,it could have been,[Music],sonic origins houses four classic sonic,titles sonic the hedgehog sonic cd sonic,the hedgehog 2 and sonic the hedgehog 3,and knuckles theyre all 2d platformers,where their collective identity is,primarily based on momentum not,necessarily speed by itself and with the,exception of sonic cd i had a blast,reliving these games since my last time,playing them via the sonic mega,collection this was my first time,playing sonic cd and well it was,something while it boasts an ambitious,time travel mechanic that alters each,stage and enjoyable special stages the,level design felt pretty messy with,bizarre hazard placements further the,stage aesthetics were too bland and,unmemorable for my tastes i greatly,appreciated the option to choose between,the english and japanese soundtracks at,least on the other hand the other three,games in the package were joyous romps,that were fulfilling to revisit the,addition of two selectable modes,anniversary and classic helped provide,further replayability with the former,adding widescreen support and infinite,lives and the latter being in 4×3 with,classic life implementation still i find,it odd that these modes arent more,customizable such as lives being,possible in anniversary mode while,seemingly minor it does seem like a,design oversight not to allow lives in,one specific mode even if it catered to,modern audiences regardless few major,significant setbacks impeded my,enjoyment the spindash being present in,all titles as well as the dropdash from,sonic mania were neat inclusions that,added intriguing supplementary decision,making throughout the zones though there,is a possible overlooked point in sonic,cd when using the dropdash since that,games time travel mechanic is dependent,on building up enough speed the dropdash,can be used in quick succession to,trigger time travel far more rapidly,than intended granted i dont find the,mechanic all that fun to engage with,normally so i dont necessarily mind,this oddity but it is indeed peculiar,and now that i think about it thats,part of the consistent issues i have,with sonic origins for as generally,great as the experience is there are,always overtly notable caveats,everywhere returning to sonic cd,knuckles is oddly excluded from being,playable while everyone else is usable,throughout the other three games there,are obvious problems in various facets,including the non-cd games for instance,during sonic 2 an invisible wall,prevented me from progressing in,chemical plant requiring me to restart,and i fell through the ground once in,sonic 3s sky sanctuary it is worth,emphasizing that issues like these only,occurred a few handfuls of times so,technical obstructions were not,overwhelmingly incessant the game is not,completely broken whatsoever still their,existence in a collection of classic,titles is undeniably troubling i,occasionally experienced frame drops,when using supersonic 2 which is,immensely concerning for what these,games are a new inclusion within the,collection is coins a collectible,serving two purposes first they can be,used to retry special stages throughout,each game which is immensely helpful for,those newer to these extra areas,additionally they can be used to buy,bonus content from the museum a menu,containing illustrations videos music,and more the concept of obtaining,celebratory franchise material based on,in-game performance is thrilling yet i,gradually found the rewards to be,lacking the content here is moderately,interesting and i wasnt expecting other,games to be locked behind there or,anything however one can quickly amass,far more coins than necessary for the,museum making their continued pickups,perplexing its just strange how much a,major part of this collections identity,rapidly becomes moot after only a few,hours of playing the missions follow a,similar philosophy these optional events,have players complete time challenges,themed around the four games to earn s,ranks and gain coins depending on,performance unfortunately even as,someone not particularly proficient in,classic sonic titles these missions were,mostly pathetically easy to achieve at,max rankin save for a few standouts i,was hoping for these missions to add,genuine challenge and replay value but,they feel like filler content with,little substance the most endearing part,of this package is easily the new,cutscenes introduced and concluding each,game theyre all gorgeously animated,also acting as bridges in the packages,story mode which connects the games back,to back these scenes undoubtedly aid in,further cementing sonic origins,celebratory identity sonic origins is an,ideal package for newer fans to dive,into to learn more about the franchises,beginnings sadly a myriad of odd design,choices and bizarre technical hiccups,personally brought down this package,more than a few notches of course i,could have been more vexed by these,issues than the average fan so i may be,an outlier still if youre a dedicated,classic sonic fan you may want to,purchase this package during a sale or,investigate whether the console versions,fair any better noisy pixel is giving,sonic origins a 7.5 out of 10. thanks,for watching please be sure to check out,the full review at noisypixel.net noisy,pixels run by a group of gamers who work,hard to deliver news reviews previews,and more please subscribe to keep up,with all our future content,[Music]