Sonic Origins

Coletânea boa

bom com o ultrafix

[h1] Comfortably Numb [/h1] [hr] There's a good chance you may have stumble upon with one, two or more Sonic collections over the span of your life, they're basically everywhere. You can't unsee them — they've changed size, mutated into other formats, snuck their way onto weird systems, there just wasn't a "proper" way to play these classics. The Genesis ROMs were the de facto way to experience these games on most systems and even though there were re-releases made around the early to mid 2010's, they were rather perceived as, little oddities. But, Sega had plans to make the blue hedgehog relevant once again in response to the success of the first movie and finally be able to reach new audiences with their games. And thus Sonic Origins was announced in 2022, in the franchise 31st anniversary. This is quite a bittersweet beginning to a what is in my opinion a game that all around was quite, well, bittersweet. Yes, a collection made from cold market data sheets won't automatically translate itself into a good game — just one that's guaranteed to sell. Sonic Origins launched in a state that is somewhat hard to describe. The games themselves worked mostly as intended, but everything surrounding them felt, off. For starters, why were most the DLCs in Origins just features that could've been in the base game? These individual DLCs are now included with the Plus Expansion, which is a good change. But then again, features such as being able to zoom the camera to at the very least see the characters in more detail were aspects you had to individually pay for. PC players had to deal with the fact Sega added Denuvo DRM into what are essentially 30 year old games, tanking the performance on ancient hardware while unnecessarily taxing capable hardware more than what was really needed. And among other issues Origins introduced, that again, have nothing to do with the quality of the games inside this collection. Here’s something that I've noticed, Origins doesn’t feel like much of a celebration as Sonic Jam, Mega Collection, Gems Collection or even Sonic Generation did. Instead, this feels like another repackage, this time built on a modern, engine — the same one used in various past re-releases. BUT at the same time, I still consider this the definitive (and official) way to play these classics without going out of your way to download emulators or mess around with fan decompilations — even though its not like we have a lot of option to choose from nowdays. The newly added intro cutscenes for each game are very welcome additions as back in the day these stories were for the most part hidden in the instruction manual. With this new change, Sonic CD now has two cutscenes, one from Amy’s perspective and the classic 1993 intro from Sonic’s perspective. Then there is Sonic 3 & Knuckles which was finally set free after decades of legal uncertainty...you know the legend, right? Micheal Jackson and parts of his team did help to compose some songs in Sonic 3, or rather change them to one of their own very late into development. His involvement while limited, shaped one of gaming most infamous urban legends. The 1997 PC release of Sonic 3 & Knuckles erased all traces of Jackson’s material, replacing several songs with earlier compositions, but that only added fuel to the fire as later releases would make use of Jackson’s tracks again. As such, Origins uses these earlier composition, and believe me this is not all. There’s another myth or misconception thrown around social media that claims Jun Senue made adjustments to some song in Sonic 3, namely the ones Micheal Jackson helped to compose, but this isn’t exactly the case. If you listen closely to Super Sonic’s theme you’ll be able to hear some resembleances to the Sonic 4 Episode 2 soundfont, in which Jun is credited as the main composer. But Origins actually uses much, much earlier compositions which have nothing to do with the leaked 1993 prototype nor the 1997 PC release...uh sorry, I went off on a tangent there. Back to the main subject. My experience with Origins was fairly standard all things considered. I didn’t find any game breaking bugs, glitches or unpleseant surprises. I’ve already beaten these four games more times than I would like to admit, so I know it would be hard for me to not notice any changes made in Origins as it is. Maybe the character selection menu could’ve used some work? Time travel in Sonic CD is incredibly easy, Classic Mode doesn’t use the Genesis ROMs, mission mode is fun but doesn’t last that long and the gallery is a straightforward as you’d expect. Honestly, there’s not much to complain about without sounding picky. Origins is....fine, however the asking price isn’t much I’d say. Everyone’s going to have their own perspective on how much companies should charge for a single game, but Sega already had set the bar with previous releases — dirt cheap! Not in a dissmisive way of course, but rather in terms of accesibility these games were, well, cheap enough for people to not worry about its price. During Origins launch a lot of people were split whether the asking price was justified or not: 10$ per game with no DLCs attached. That’s up to you to decide, but I spent 40$ without much hesitation when I had the chance and here is the result of this purchase: This very review! 40$ that by extension also included Origins Plus. Plus arrived a year later after Origin's launch, similarly how Sega handled Mania and Mania Plus launch. This expanded version was focused around adding extra content and bundling all prior DLC into one simple package. But what does Plus include exactly? To keep it short it's Amy as a playable character on all games, Knuckles in Sonic CD and a handful compilation of Game Gear games. Amy’s inclusion in Plus was a welcome addition as she has never been playable in any of those games before, not even CD which was her debut title. And...that’s all there is to it. A few requested fixes, a new playable character and extras catered towards hardcore fans. Origins just doesn’t do enough, but it’s still a good compilation. There are better options out there, ones that are not trying to sell you on anything but that are focused on making the original experience as enjoyable, replayable and customizable as possible. Maybe this wasn’t the focus of this collection, mods would eventually carve their way in and add more needed substance into this release, I don’t know. I would definitely recommend Origins for people that are new to the series, but there’s nothing exciting to see for people that have been rolling around slopes for three decades already. Origins is.....convenient.......pleasant, makes you numb to every problem surrounding it. These four games are special, they are like comfortable blankets that I can never let go off no matter how mistreated or barebones a release gets. Feels good.