Let's be frank, the huge amount of music included in Sonic Origins makes up for three zones tracks lost because of Michael Jackson's heirs and/or Brad Buxer. Interestingly, Brad Buxer still appears first in the Sonic 3 & Knuckles credits. The new arrangements of the Windows version of Sonic 3 made by Jun Senoue sound good and, although it's sad to see the wonderful techno Icecap song go, Sega can't be blamed. If anything, they have likely tried to make a deal in the thirteen years that have passed since Jackson's demise to no avail.
Certainly, Sonic Origins has the best presentation that the games have ever seen and exclusive features have been added, including Knuckles in the first game, the restored vocal songs in Sonic CD, Hidden Palace in Sonic 2 and both the insta-shield and drop dash in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, among others. Most importantly, this is the first time that these five games have been remade in widescreen HD/UHD format for consoles and PC except Sonic CD, that it's not exactly the same either because of the restored songs and the rearranged menus. This is also the first release since 2011 of the best Sonic games ever made, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles, that are presented combined as was the original intention of its creators. They look and play better than ever.
The fact that this release is a compilation of remakes that run on Christian Whitehead's updated Retro Engine means that there isn't any noticeable input lag, as I confirmed running both Sega Mega Drive Classics (that only includes Sonic 1 and 2) and Sonic Origins at the same time on Series X. Another handy feature is that Sonic Origins saves automatically at every checkpoint for every character, separately. However, I can't confirm whether the collected emeralds are saved for later playthroughs in every game. I only collected every emerald in Sonic 3 in my first playthrough and I still have to start my second playthrough to confirm how the emeralds, superemeralds and time stones are handled. I any case, special stages can be retried with in-game currency.
There are some negative bits, too. The original Sonic CD opening and ending are included and remastered but have not been remade and their presentation is jarring when played next to the brand-new gorgeous animated sections made by Powerhouse Animation Studios, Sega, Tyson Hesse and scripted by Ian Flynn. The classic mode restores the original lives system that makes the games much more challenging and triggers the game over screen every now and then (for newcomers, at least) but there is no option to turn widescreen video on in this mode. The marketing has been confusing with emulation footage in the reveal trailer and a complicated chart comparing the standard and deluxe editions. The Deluxe Edition seems a bit unnecessary but it costs almost the same. In regard to the controversy triggered by Headcannon's Simon Thomley raving on Twitter and blaming Sega for several glitches not present in their work, I can confirm after beating all the games that there are no glitches or performance issues of any kind on the Xbox version, except for a weird sound glitch I found in Sonic 2. The reported graphical glitches and performance issues seem related to the PC version and are likely caused by Denuvo software and not introduced by Sega like Simon suggested.
Sonic Origins is a timeless masterpiece and a must-have collection because of the physics, controls, graphics, audio and the inherent quality of the remade content. Although the original Sonic the Hedhegog is more linear, the sequels improved everything in a groundbreaking formula that encourage every player, new or old, to find new ways to beat each level and, every time, the games reward the player with something slightly different. Some games age, others don't.
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Topic: Sonic Origins review
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