Sonic Origins

Sonic Origins, despite its turbulent release and Sega's commercial manoeuvring, is a remarkable compilation exercise that serves as an example in terms of celebrating a legacy. Its updated versions, the preservation of classic titles, the incorporation of new approaches and the inclusion of its museum are what should be the standard for compilations.

Overpriced DLC and the odd omission aside, the fact is that the five games in this collection are stone-cold classics, and they’ve never played better. Those without nostalgia may understandably wait for a sale and a further bit of polish. But Sonic Origins will be a great trip down memory lane if you were a Genesis supporter back in the day of the 16-bit schoolyard debates. They are infinitely replayable.

Sonic Origins has done an amazing job to modernize these classic games, and it will be the definitive way we’ll play them in the future, but we think that some old school fans of Sonic might doubt if it’s worth it.

Sonic Origins on Nintendo Switch should've been an easy collection to recommend to anyone looking to play classic Sonic games in the best possible way, but it is held back by some optimization issues on Nintendo Switch and a lack of polish in some areas. It has a lot of care put into the overall package with some lovely extras, but it definitely needed a bit more time. Hopefully it gets a few patches to bring it to the state it deserves to be in for a potential physical release.

Overall, Sonic Origins is an excellent collection of games to introduce newer players to what made Sonic the Hedgehog so interesting and unique. However, after Sonic Mania it does feel a bit of a step down with the reduced difficulty.

Sonic Origins collects four great Sonic games and adds some quality of life improvements, but extra content does feel a little sparse.

While Sonic Origins certainly could have been a more thorough and polished celebration of the early days of the Most Famous Hedgehog, I think it’s still worth recommending. If I earnestly ask myself if I would pay ten dollars a pop for standalone Retro Engine Sonic games on my Switch, the answer is yes. The minor differences don’t bother me much at all, but I can see them getting on the nerves of others. The music replacement is disappointing but understandable. But with four exceptionally enjoyable platformers included and a wealth of extra goodies to sift through, Sonic Origins makes for a compelling package.

Sonic Origins undoubtedly stands as the best collection of the SEGA series, thanks to a solid and careful remastering work, which enhances the original charm of the various episodes and the wonderful level design of some scenarios in particular, bringing us back to those summer days with the Mega Drive, a long time ago.

Quotation forthcoming.

Sonic Origins is simply more of the same, which is both its greatest strength and weakness. On one hand, it’s a near-definitive way to experience four stone-cold classics that represent some of the highest peaks of Sonic's career. On the other, most of these games are already readily available and there aren’t many new features or additions to justify buying them yet again. If you don’t already have a reliable or convenient way of playing these games now, or this is genuinely your first time playing through them, then we’d say that Sonic Origins is the go-to way to experience Sonic’s 2D heyday. Otherwise, we’d encourage you to either wait for this to go on sale or just pass on it.

Sonic Origins is a compilation that allows us to recall the origins of the blue hedgehog with interesting new content. However, nostalgia may not be enough to convince some players. Even so, it is still a highly recommended title.

A mix of all we love of Sonic but not so inspired. It takes the classic style of the hedgehog and bring some upgrades to the gameplay. Fans will love Sonic Origins, but maybe they would want more content.

The games in Sonic Origins are among the best Sonic the Hedgehog titles in existence and this package is a great way to experience these games, especially for new fans who were introduced to the franchise by the Sonic the Hedgehog movies.

There’s little denying the quality of the four adventures found in Sonic Origins – arguably the best the hedgehog has ever seen in some cases – and there’s clearly a lot of effort that’s gone into this package, however, it’s also one peppered with weird omissions and a general lack of content that prevent it from reaching true excellence. It’s great there’s now another way to play these classics on modern consoles but as a Sonic fan myself I just wished for more and better in a collection celebrating the blue blur.

Messy as it is, Sonic Origins is still a collection of the best 2D entries the franchise has to offer. It may not be as dense in content in comparison to prior compilations like Sonic Mega Collection or Sonic Gems Collection, but it does just enough to not get in the way of what made these games system sellers in their heyday. While I was hoping for an easy touchdown, this ended up being a fumble recovery instead. Hefty price tag be damned, new players deserve to see why people like me keep going back to what many consider the reason people loved Sonic in the first place.

Sonic Origins brings the classic gameplay that we have been used to for decades. Just now with some minor bugs and a really high price tag.

Fans new to the series will get the most from Sonic Origins, but even diehards will find plenty to love if they can get past the shortcomings. Here’s hoping SEGA eventually returns to Sonic Origins and makes it the proper celebration of the Blue Blur that it should have been.

Although it is a nice homage to the first adventures of the hedgehog, Sonic Origins could have deserved a better finish. Overall, this compilation is correct, but the options offered are not enough to make up for certain shortcomings. Despite a really successful dressing with its cartoons and colorful interface, SEGA's game constantly oscillates between good and bad. We're having a good time, but for Sonic's 30th anniversary, we were right to expect more games and surprises. Especially at a price of forty euros.

Sega packed 4 classic titles from their golden era into a collection, but they decided to mess everything up and charge a ridiculously high price for a half-baked product that leaves a lot to be desired in regard to content and new features.

The upgrades to Sonic Origins, such as restored content and infinite lives, are few, and most have been covered by previous releases of these games or even fanmade options that could’ve been enjoyed with those ROMs from the Steam release. The only thing that I think this collection truly accomplishes is making some great games available on modern consoles, and that is the absolute bare minimum I can ask. These games—with the possible exception of Sonic 1—are great, and this is a perfectly playable version of them. Sadly, we’ve seen the potential of what a Classic Sonic collection could be, and Sonic Origins absolutely does not live up to that potential.

Sonic Origins is easily the best way to play these games on modern consoles, but the collection still feels somewhat lackluster.