Sonic Origins Is The Ultimate Shrine To The Hog’s Glory Years
Sega announced plans today to re-release the 16-bit Sonic games. This by itself is nothing new — with the exception of Sonic 3, the games have never really been off the market, reappearing on just about every device capable of playing a game from practically the moment that device exists. Heck, there was a Sonic compilation on the Game.com.
THIS time, if they want us to pay attention, they’re gonna have to make it special. Thus we have Sonic Origins: not a mere ROM dump but a fully rejiggered, thoroughly polished remix of Sonic’s genesis (pun intended). Sonic 1, 2, 3, Knuckles and CD are all present with various options like widescreen support, animated cutscenes, and the new “Anniversary Mode” where you can play short bursts of levels with specific goals, like “squash 5 Caterkillers before reaching the exit.”
For the first time in a while, Sonic 3 will be part of the mix — it’s been withheld from other compilations recently, due to mysterious rights issues that most attribute to Michael Jackson having an uncredited role in shaping its soundtrack. It’s unknown at the moment which version of the soundtrack Sonic Origins will have, but it’ll also let you play as Knuckles in Sonic 1 and Sonic CD, something the original lock-on cart could never accomplish.
Sonic Origins will cost $39.99, a bit steep considering the cost of Sonic compilations in the past. But you might want to consider paying a bit MORE than that: the Digital Deluxe Edition at $44.99 adds on extra missions, character animations and the ability to play music from other Genesis games while Sonic is racing around. It’ll be out June 23 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.