Megathread Sonic Origins | MT | General Discussion

[Ryannumber1gamer]

A brand new compilation of Classic titles announced during the Sonic Central Presentation - the collection will include the following:

• Sonic the Hedgehog (Taxman Edition)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Taxman Edition) 
• Sonic 3 and Knuckles (Emulated)
• Sonic CD (Taxman Edition)

There wasn't a lot shown, other than brief gameplay, mentions that there'd be new features, and more news is incoming later in the year. Beyond having the Taxman editions of Sonic 1, 2 and CD - there's nothing else, with S3&K seemingly being emulated, despite Taxman having a pitch for S3&K here:

Given there's far less games than other compilations (with even things like Spinball and Mean Bean absent), and it's being purely Classic focused for the umpteenth time, it's honestly pretty hard to get excited about this, other than the Taxman ports of Sonic 1 and 2 finally arriving on consoles, which was long overdue.

[Marcello]

Fuck, how is 3&K emulated. You had one job, SEGA D=

[Winston]

Yeah, this is a bit lame not gonna lie. I wanted the Taxman versions of Sonic 1 and 2, but I much rather would have them released individually than like this. It's nice to finally have S3&K back, but it's not like I don't have it already on other platforms and it's not different than on those platforms either, and CD is... CD. If they wanted to focus on Classic Era, at least include literally everything with things like Knuckles Chaotix, Sonic Spinball, the Game Gear games, etc. 

[TheOcelot]

Yay Sonic 3 and S&K are being included. BETTER BE THE FULL S3K LOCK-ON EXPERIENCE!!!

Not coming out until next year. That's so disappointing.

I hope there are more games being included.

[Chili Dawg]

4 games from the early 90s on a disc...

>next year

I somehow feel this doesn't need that long of a marketing cycle?

[Rusty Spy]

Taxman remasters finally being freed from mobile hell and Sonic 3 bring freed from legal hell is the best news I could've asked for. Having them all (presumably) on Switch was all I ever wanted.

[Blue Blood]

I like this idea of this collection. I'm so happy that we're finally getting official ports of the definitive versions of S1, S2 and SCD.

And yet despite clamouring for those for years, my excitement is totally overshadowed by my disappointment in seeing S3K as a cheap emulation. It's great that S3K is finally getting am official re-release after so long, but I just don't care if it's an emulation. Christian Whitehead already had a proof of concept remake of the game using his engine. I'm not prepared for another cheap emulation of the best game on the series. Totally do not care.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I feel like I'd care more about the Taxman ports finally hitting consoles if they'd actually done it ages ago instead of waiting so long that the source code was attained, and fans decided to just do the job themselves.

I admit, I'm just kind of bitter that this is just yet another compilation of Genesis titles. I really just wanted more than the Classic era to be represented, and it's just the same four games over again, even though - admittedly - they're the only versions of 1, 2 and CD I actually like, and having S3&K is good.

But even at that, why not Knuckles Chaotix? 3D Blast? R? Hell, even Spinball, Mean Bean or Chaos/Triple Trouble. They couldn't even hit all of the Classic titles that could use a re-release at this point. It's fucking ridiculous that if you want Sonic the Fighters, you have to go and buy Last Judgement to play it there. They couldn't even get Whitehead to finish off a S3&K port that he HAD in development at some stage, given he did a Proof of Concept. It's not only downright frustrating as someone who started after Adventure, but it feels lazy at that.

[PC the Hedgehog]

Eh, I'll stick with my 20-year-old Sonic Mega Collection if this is the best they're going to give us.

[Multikaris]

Hmm... Capcom are similar at downsizing collections to this; their recent Megaman collections were devoid of side games; while the 2000s versions included some like Battle & Chase. Their Street Fighter collection only included vanilla arcade versions, and even then, Hyper and Alpha 3 Upper were not included. Capcom does at least include concept art and documentaries to make up for this, along with bonus modes like the “X Challenge”, but so far the only boon is that we’re getting Taxman’s revised editions over the originals.

[PickleBrows]

The trailer mentioned "play like never before" and "original gameplay" was displayed on screen throughout so there's a chance there's more to this than we know. I'm hoping so at least because announcing this for NEXT year is otherwise ridiculous. If this is just quick ports and emulation this could be a quick and easy digital release next month for the anniversary birthday.

And even if it stayed as classic-only, there's the other mega drive, 8 bit, and 3D games from the 90s that could've been included. It's sad to see Sonic Mega Collection Plus still hasn't been topped.

[mayday2592]

Someone wanna explain why the Taxman ports are held in such high regard? They seem exactly like the same game from the 90's. Iirc they perfrom better, but Is there substantial new content I'm missing?

[StaticMania]

1 minute ago, mayday2592 said:

Someone wanna explain why the Taxman ports are held in such high regard? They look exactly like the same game from the 90's. Iirc they perfrom better, but Is there substantial new content I'm missing?

Sonic the hedgehog lets you play as Knuckles & Spindash

Sonic TH2 Gives Tails flight, Knuckles, Hidden Palace Zone, new boss & Spindash

Also better versions of old games are obviously better.

[Dr Ryan]

3 minutes ago, StaticMania said:

Sonic the hedgehog lets you play as Knuckles & Spindash

Sonic TH2 Gives Tails flight, Knuckles, Hidden Palace Zone, new boss & Spindash

Also better versions of old games are obviously better.

Plus wide-screen.

[VO.SUPER]

12 minutes ago, mayday2592 said:

Someone wanna explain why the Taxman ports are held in such high regard? They seem exactly like the same game from the 90's. Iirc they perfrom better, but Is there substantial new content I'm missing?

The primary reason above all is the widescreen and cleaned up physics. The extras are nice and all, but those first two really do improve the experience of the games in ways you couldn't imagine. Playing Metropolis Zone in widescreen really does make a lot of difference.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

The new save mechanic also makes it fifty times more bareable dealing with some of the level design failings in Sonic 1 and 2. I hope that they had enough sense to at least port the save system from Sonic 1 and 2 into CD as well, but given S3&K's state in this collection, who knows?

[Harkofthewaa]

You know, if S3K's just gonna be emulation then at the least they could add 3D Blast and Spinball. Or even better, get Game Gear/Master System emulation going and add all 12 of those games, make this a modern Mega Collection Plus. If it's just these four games I won't be paying more than ten bucks for this, Taxman versions or no.

[Dr. Detective]

I have both Mega Collection and Gems Collection and I barely play those as is. I knew it was only going to be Classic titles of course because they're insanely predictable but it's still somehow a disappointment.

[Kuzu]

Just play Sonic 3 A.I.R. in other words.

[azoo]

There is 10000% no reason to buy this collection in this day and age. Not a single one.

[Chaos Incarnate]

I’m very disappointed that 3 & K is just an emulation. We’ve been waiting years for a taxman version after it was pitched to us, and to see that they’re just slapping it in the collection is lame. It shouldn’t have taken this long to port the other Taxman versions either. I’m not buying this until it goes on sale.  

[McGroose]

I really should've taken the advice frequently spoken on this forum to heart more, keep your expectations as low as possible no matter what, even if it means to expect the most lackluster reveal ever. 

Maybe it was my own fault for believing that the "leaks", and possibly common sense based on past collection sizes, would imply this collection would have way more than what was shown in them but this is so underwhelming.  I really just don't understand, why would people be content with a collection like this? This is by no measurement good enough.

I didn't think it was too unrealistic to think that this collection would have a little more. People have been asking Sega for a collection for years that included older games hardly, if ever, rereleased and they respond by providing the most barebones collection possible? Not even Spinball or 3D blast, just the original 4. S3&K isn't even enhanced whatsoever it seems. I don't care if it's just included, I can play that game on a toaster of a laptop just fine with enhancements via Sonic 3 AIR now. 

At least they're the Taxman versions... yaaaaaaaay. Way too little, way too late. 

No sale, Sega. The only benefit for people is that these is now on console, but console owners should be getting way more games on this collection regardless. 

 

[Blue Blood]

3 minutes ago, azoo said:

There is 10000% no reason to buy this collection in this day and age. Not a single one.

I want to play the definite versions of S1, S2 and SCD on Switch, but yep. I pretty much agree. These ports are 8 years overdue by now, and S3K is only a cheap, nasty emulation that sticks out like a sore thumb (possibly without the original soundtrack that most people know and love). Fans even managed to beat SEGA to the punch with the unofficial ports of S1 and S2 to PC, and especially  with S3 AIR. 

[Whatever the WhoCares]

I actually LAUGHED out loud when the ratio went to 4:3 with the S3&K footage. And the fact that they aren’t even releasing it for months and months! Sega likes to talk the talk when it comes to caring about Sonic, but shit like this shows what’s really going on. 

[Milo]

Happy that we're finally getting console/PC releases of the TaxStealth remasters (and hopefully retail versions of them too); and S3 and S&K getting any new re-releases is wonderful, since the last one was in 2011.

...but that aside, this is pretty underwhelming. Count me in with those would had liked to see a more comprehensive collection, regardless if it's purely Genesis-era Sonic games (Genesis, Master System, Game Gear, Saturn) or if it included post-Adventure titles. And maybe there's still some spooky legal voodoo regarding the music, but 3&K being bog-standard emulated while the other Genesis games are remastered is going to be quite the bummer.

I wanna be a bit optimistic and assume that since it's still in development, maybe things will change and more games/bonus content will be added. And that someone's calling to Taxman/Stealth to revive their 3&K remaster pitch for this game (if that's possible). But that's extremely wishful thinking.

I do want to have a console/physical copy of the remasters. and I wanna support more official releases of Genesis-era Sonic (since supporting the mobile remasters when they were first released was instrumental towards the developers finally getting to work on Mania). But unless this is priced, dirt cheap ($20 max); I really wouldn't consider picking this up, barring a major price cut or sale.