REVIEW: Sonic Origins is a nostalgically bittersweet experience 335t2b

After all, Sonic Mania was a unique case, as it was a fan-led project that managed to attract the attention of the Sega to the point that, instead of ing the cease and desist common in this type of situation, in order to “protect” the IP itself, decide to finance the production as a whole. In this case, there was an interesting breather because the company does not seem to want to invest itself in the production of games at the same time. retro style, but still wants to continue profiting from the nostalgic feeling of fans who can't stand the hedgehog's increasingly failed incursions into three-dimensional environments.

Sonic Origins, then, appears there in this vacuum, because these remasters of the original Mega Drive Sonic titles needed a better deal than the port pure and simple re-released ostensibly across several platforms in recent years — and their suitability for the Retro Engine is proposed as an interesting differential for the collection. Is this, then, the definitive revival of the hedgehog's origins?

More than an emulation, less than a remake 6p3523

The basic mode of all titles in the collection is the anniversary mode. In it, the player has the opportunity to experience the four games in resolution widescreen, remastered sprites and some additional ones related to the gameplay itself. One of them is the absence of limited lives for Sonic.

This may infuriate the most purists and advocates of a more complicated gameplay, but here it fit a glove for a more modernized vision of these games. The practical difficulty remains the same, the difference lies in the pace of the course itself. He simply takes the frustration out of having to start over and reallocates that feeling in the successive deaths that will occur.

Sonic is a game that prioritizes agility, so it seemed much more natural and fair to lessen the fear of death and convert it into a stimulus to try endlessly until achieving full victory. Furthermore, this idea of ​​having to start over from the beginning is considerably outdated by modern standards, and thirty years ago, when these platformers were originally released, the design involved trying to artificially increase their duration.

This injection of adrenaline along with the lack of fear only makes the stages better explored and, consequently, enjoyed, since Sonic has two main virtues. The first of these is the excellent level design, especially in Sonic 2. The second has to do with the sensation of speed, the one that makes us advance through the stages without knowing exactly where we are going. Together, these two values ​​have always provided unique experiences in which each route ends up being differentiated, since there are countless possible paths through each phase.

Another interesting addition to Anniversary Mode is the possibility to play with other charactersas the Tails e Knuckles in titles where they don't originally appear, as well as collecting some coins — well, well, who knew — and using it within the game itself to give retry in certain special stages or even unlock other content, such as videos, art or music in the collection's gallery. These videos even do an interesting job of trying to connect the narrative of the four games in the collection through nice animations.

In addition, there are other types of extra content, such as Boss mode and specific missions to complete, but nothing really surprising, mainly because the title lacks certain mechanics known for collections of this style, such as a save state native, the possibility to go back a few seconds in the action (the rewind) or screen filters to simulate a more retro aesthetic. As much as the games are not being emulated, but sort of recreated in a engine own, these options could be present.

Also, the native keyboard controls (in the PC version) haven't gone through the best of adaptations, with weird button decisions that, luckily, can be remapped or simply ignored with the use of a controller — which is the option indicated for who is not going to venture directly through the console. 

The origins of the hedgehog on the Mega Drive 3e4c22

For the more purists, however, the Classic mode is also present, where it is possible to replicate the most punitive experience of the originals, which follow in 4:3 resolution. It is also in this modality that the game design problems of the four games in the collection stand out, especially since the aforementioned “facilitations” of the Anniversary Mode make them more evident.

For those who don't know, Sonic was created at the heart of its marketing concept as Sega's new mascot in order to try to stop the force that Nintendo had with Mario. This after a few failed attempts, such as the Grandpa-Grandpa e Alex Kidd. When Yuji Naka led the creative process (which involved a series of designs carefully thought out in order to create a kind of Mickey Mouse for Sega), his goal was to bring a simpler ideal than that of the Super Mario.

Thus, Sonic would use only one button to move, unlike Mario, who at that time already used 2. Just as Mario collected coins, the idea of ​​making the hedgehog collect rings came up. The attitude considered most radical and coarse also came from a marketing ploy, creating an idea that games starring the mascot would be more agile and less friendly than those of the mustachioed.

well, the first Sonic The Hedgehog tries to put this ideal into practice, but he was still very much attached to the doctrine of the genre Platformer which was consolidated at that time. The moments of pure rush didn't last long, as it was not uncommon to be interrupted by sequences, well, platform, in which it was necessary to stop a little and follow the rhythm of the stage itself, something that did not suit the proposal of a sprinter character well. .

Sonic the Hedgehog 2, however, already hits the whole formula of this new proposal in question. Not only is the game itself more agile and dynamic, but the brilliant level design helps provide that ultimate sense of speed. Nevertheless, this philosophy is extolled by theniversary Mode, which encourages the player to forget about life, or rather, limited lives, and throws him into the midst of the chaotic action, challenging him to find the way out. Sonic 2's unforgivable final stretch also seemed a lot fairer without the fear of game over.

The problem with Sonic's two-dimensional games starts to complicate from Sonic CD. seeing that the level design mess played in favor of the quality of the previous game, the developers apparently lost their grip and decided to amplify this by bringing in multiple sections of time travel (that is, each level effectively has other phases within it, such as past, present and future) and goals that determine the player's success or failure. It's like they threw that idea of ​​"do the simple”, inherent to the infamous concept of the hedgehog, in the garbage.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles, in turn, although it is considered the best of the hedgehog's two-dimensional titles, was slightly harmed on of all the imbroglio involving its soundtrack, which supposedly had involvement of the star Michael Jackson in the composition. It was even said that it was precisely one of the reasons that prevented the title from being relaunched, normally ed over in relation to the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 original (without the “& Knuckles”).

A skeletal collection that is not without its problems h3c51

The biggest point of controversy regarding Sonic Origins is precisely in relation to the fact that additional content is basic too much and does not justify the price charged for the collection, especially after they released a bizarre table differentiating the contents and trying to explain (unsuccessfully) their game modes and DLC.

This able content, it should be noted, is very superficial and only adds even more layers to the dispute regarding the final price of the title. While most of this material is composed of aesthetic treats, such as animations and soundtrack, the other fraction concerns extra missions of greater difficulty and the possibility of playing the levels in a mirrored way, bonuses that were even given for free to those who pre-ordered, but are still charged by those who acquire Sonic Origins after the period.

Ah, in the case of the PC version, it seems to be extremely problematic to use the system Denuvo , the anti-piracy measure. After all, it's very important that this skeletal collection made up of games widely available on different platforms and already played to exhaustion be protected at all costs, isn't it?

I mean, the problem is not even trying to avoid piracy — after all, the company has to protect itself in some way —, but the way Denuvo is an invasive and unnecessarily heavy system, making it difficult to fully run relatively light games because it requires consumption excessive processing, as well as bringing with it the possibility of causing the wear of the SSD memory's useful life by constantly rewriting the game files, something harmful for this type of storage unit.

Is Sonic Origins worth it? 1v3z71

sonic origins it is certainly an interesting journey because, in general, it causes the player to have a contradictory mix of sensations. The positive sentiment comes from playing very consistent titles in the Mega Drive era. The negative, on the other hand, makes us look back at the franchise's recent history and makes us wonder where things started to go wrong.

In of product, the collection works well for the consistency of the games that compose it, especially after being adapted to the Retro Engine and even without basic additionals such as rewind ou save state. Its proposal, which is to revitalize the four titles present in it, is satisfactorily fulfilled. The problem is precisely in the sour external factors that make the whole experience very bittersweet.

sonic origins is available for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series.

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If you're after uncompromising nostalgia in a modern guise, check out our review of TMNT: Shredder's Revenge.