Sonic Origins

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.