Back in June, I put SEGA on blast for the way they chose to handle the release of Sonic Origins. You know, the digital only release, extra features like more music, extra character animations and such being tucked underneath a $5 blanket. I still think that sucks. But for all my bravado, I went ahead and bought Sonic Origins on release day.
So how did SEGA get me? Mission mode. The way they showed it off in trailers really stirred my interest. Mission mode is pretty lit even if some of the challenges do make me a bit salty. This mode is also a great way to earn coins to buy stuff in the museum.
What is becoming one of my favorite features of retro compilations is the archival of artwork that usually comes with them. Yes, we can see a lot of this artwork online but I always love it when developers go that extra mile to include it in game. I was playing Mega Man X Legacy Collection some time ago and I found myself looking through the original artwork from the first Mega Man X. The character designs from that era still look amazing in my book. I ended up spending more time than I thought looking through the old images from Sonic the Screensaver that have been thankfully included in Sonic Origins along with the concept art and a few images I'd never seen before. Being able to look through this artwork with a playlist of Sonic tunes I created from what the game gives you is pretty neat, though I do wish the songs looped twice. An option to have songs play endlessly would be nice. And the music from Sonic Mega Collection such as that ultra soothing Extras Menu music would have been heaven if it was included.
As for the games themselves, I like most of what is here. Sonic 3 & Knuckles in wide screen on the Switch is a dream come true and is without question the best game in here. Sonic 2 is mostly a good game and Sonic CD's crazy, uneven, whacky level design is still a headache for me to slog through, which only serves as proof that the Classic era of Sonic is not all sunshine and Flickies as many fans would like you to believe. The first Sonic game is still one of the best and isn't held back by it's slower paced levels.
You can use coins to buy art and music from the Museum, but coins are also excellent for retrying the Special Stages. Coins, saved my sanity while playing Special Stages in Sonic Origins. I have never gotten all of the Time Sones in Sonic CD due to the limited times you could try for them in past releases of the game. But the coin system in Sonic Origins let's me retry the Special Stages as long as I have coins on me.
Could Origins be better? Of course it could. Filters, which are standard fare for these collections are nowhere to be found. By no means is the absence of them a deal breaker but you'd think they would be included. I get that fans are upset that not all of Sonic 3 & Knuckles original music could be included but the replacement music is not the disaster all the memes and YouTube videos make them seem. Far from it. I found myself humming some of the replacement tracks while at work and that Super Sonic theme for S3&K one-ups the highly repetitive original.
Oh, I had $6 in coins on my eShop account so that took some of the sting out of paying $40 for a collection of some nice games that I still felt was a bit overpriced.
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