Sonic Origins Plus confirmed for June 23rd 2023

[Popo]

6 hours ago, deKay said:

Have the problems with this all been fixed now? I see the Switch version is on sale at the moment y’see.

I bought it because it’s on sale, and the infinite debris bug in Marble Garden Zone Act 1 is still present, so the answer seems to be no. 

[Not Thread Owner]

Probably not much chance of them fixing it now then. Boo.

[Popo]

I don’t know if this was widely reported when Origins came out - it came as a surprise to me - but having whined about the difficult of the S3&K special stages in the past I am completely delighted to have learned that Origins’ version of that game allows you to immediately retry the special stages on failure, limited by spending coins (which are accumulated instead of lives, here). This is a game changer! Being able to learn the layout of the blue spheres even a little bit makes doing these stages infinitely more achievable, to the point where I might actually see the true ending for the first time ever. The frame rate is dramatically improved too, so it doesn’t feel like you might go permanently cross-eyed if you stare at it too long. 
 

Also - I knew the Carnival Night and Ice Cap zone music had been replaced, but I hadn’t realised that Launch Base would be axed too. I’ve never seen the music from that stage be implicated in the Jackson rights fiasco story (and remain generally confused why any of the tracks have been removed at all, given they’re all still present in the Xbox Live Arcade version of Sonic 3, which is still available for purchase today). Very odd. 

[SMD]

The XBLA version of Sonic 3 is one of if not the last version sold that is 'intact'. Its available through BC but there hasn't been a new version either digitally or through a compilation up until now.

 

Launch Base has a lot of Michael Jackson samples and there was something else I can't remember that was associated with him and Buxer.

 

Its a shame they couldn't work out the rights, I've got no idea whether there's a genuine issue or just Sega not wanting to deal with the Jackson estate.

[Super Craig]

You can't buy Sonic 3 on the Xbox or Steam any more. They pulled them.

[SMD]

That was very recent though and tied to the release of Sonic Origins. My point was there weren't native Xbox One or Series S/X versions, it was just through BC.

[Popo]

Shimmyhill bought it as recently as May, but that was just before Origins came out. 

[SMD]

I bought the Steam versions the week they were being delisted, already have them on Xbox but wanted moddable versions.

[Super Craig]

5 hours ago, SMD said:

That was very recent though and tied to the release of Sonic Origins. My point was there weren't native Xbox One or Series S/X versions, it was just through BC.

 

Sorry, I should have quoted Popo, who said that the XBLA version is still available for purchase.

[Nick R]

On 26/09/2022 at 09:08, Popo said:

I don’t know if this was widely reported when Origins came out - it came as a surprise to me - but having whined about the difficult of the S3&K special stages in the past I am completely delighted to have learned that Origins’ version of that game allows you to immediately retry the special stages on failure, limited by spending coins (which are accumulated instead of lives, here). This is a game changer! Being able to learn the layout of the blue spheres even a little bit makes doing these stages infinitely more achievable, to the point where I might actually see the true ending for the first time ever. The frame rate is dramatically improved too, so it doesn’t feel like you might go permanently cross-eyed if you stare at it too long. 

 

It never occurred to me that an instant retry might be needed! Yes, the later S&K special stages are pretty hard, but I never fretted too much about failing them. When I was a kid I just completed the game normally, went to the save select screen and loaded Mushroom Hill, and from there it only takes about 20 seconds (including the Knuckles cutscene) to warp to Hidden Palace. That worked well enough to retry the stages quickly, pick up all the missed emeralds and unlock Hyper Sonic and Doomsday.

 

It wasn't until years later, when I started playing the game via emulator, that I learned the later S&K special stages well enough to be able to complete them all in one run through the game.

[Mogster]

Has the Sonic 3 special stage music been patched yet? I seem to remember a report about it not speeding up with the rest of the stage when Origins launched.

[Sprite Machine]

38 minutes ago, Mogster said:

Has the Sonic 3 special stage music been patched yet? I seem to remember a report about it not speeding up with the rest of the stage when Origins launched.

It has, yes.

[Popo]

I’m playing the story mode through, and got all the emeralds apart from Sonic CD, which I’m fine with, because I don’t really like that one, but to the point: I’ve had a particularly nasty bug happen on Sandopolis zone act 2, where all the checkpoint posts have already been activated, so I have to do it in one go. Not necessarily the worst thing in the world - although it probably is my least favourite zone of the lot - but it accentuates all the other ‘death by a low ceiling that the game initially lets you walk under until it realised the ceiling is lower than you are tall’ and other bug-related deaths. Really quite pernicious. 
 

The fact that this is still so big-riddled surely must add in a few extra months to Naka’s eventually jail time.

[Down by Law]

On 22/06/2022 at 11:04, Down by Law said:

 

Well no, of course not haha. However I'll always buy physical over digital where possible so I put my money where my mouth is as i'd like to continue to be able to have the option to do so for as long as possible. I appreciate physical gamers are now like dinosaurs (or for a more cool example, fighter pilots) and eventually everything will be digital only, but damn it i'm gonna fight for my right for a plastic box and disc for as long as i'm able  

 

I can wait for the Turtles game as the physical's been announced, Alex Kidd did day-and-date with the digital version last year so it can be done. Just these companies know that the target audiences for these games are mainly dudes in their 30s and they know they will try to get us to double dip if they can get away with it. 

 

Sonic Origins 'Plus' is a dead cert, will probably have 8 bit games included to pad it out. Maybe even Chaotix or some shit. It'll happen though.

 

Gematsu - Sonic Origins Plus rated in Korea 

 

 

 

[Paulando]

Knuckles Chaotix is one of those games that looked amazing as a 10 year old, but felt so far out of reach, as obviously nobody I knew had a 32X, and there was no chance I would ever have one. Even now, the box art, sprites, and environments look amazing, and promise so much.

 

Anyway, I finally got to play it on an emulator years later, and it’s absolute shite.

[Down by Law]

Yeah outside of the music it's a terrible game, but it would be nice to have it added for completion's sake.

[Haribokart]

56 minutes ago, Down by Law said:

Gematsu - Sonic Origins Plus rated in Korea 

You can now play as Wingo, Bongoid and Floofy!

[MW_Jimmy]

If Plus means fixing the soundtrack then I'll go for it.

 

Also add the 8-bit Master System versions and not the Game Gear ones again! I would low key love to a new physical version of my first videogame.

[Down by Law]

6 minutes ago, MW_Jimmy said:

If Plus means fixing the soundtrack then I'll go for it.

 

Also add the 8-bit Master System versions and not the Game Gear ones again! I would low key love to a new physical version of my first videogame.

 

Yeah man, even outside of the reduced screen real estate, that GG Sonic 1 sprite is cursed ! 🤮

 

 

 

 

 

[MW_Jimmy]

No nose!

[Popo]

5 minutes ago, MW_Jimmy said:

No nose!

 

How does he smell?

[Paulando]

43 minutes ago, Down by Law said:

Yeah outside of the music it's a terrible game, but it would be nice to have it added for completion's sake.

If they just removed that silly rubber band mechanic and made a gorgeous 32-bit 2D Sonic-style game with the same environments and music, it would have been fabulous.

 

I don’t think it’s ever been re-released actually, has it?

[Down by Law]

10 minutes ago, Paulando said:

If they just removed that silly rubber band mechanic and made a gorgeous 32-bit 2D Sonic-style game with the same environments and music, it would have been fabulous.

 

I don’t think it’s ever been re-released actually, has it?

 

Nope, never been re-released and original complete in box copies go for £300-400. 

 

Naturally, I also played it on an emulator.

[Oh Danny Boy]

I guess being poor, on a hardware that Sega of Japan didn’t want and made by SOA probably means that it’s seen by Sega to be as much of part of Sonic canon as Hotel Mario is to Nintendo.
 

Still the engine could and should have been repurposed to make a quick and easy official Sonic game for the Saturn launch. But something something Sega…  

[MW_Jimmy]

31 minutes ago, Oh Danny Boy said:

Still the engine could and should have been repurposed to make a quick and easy official Sonic game for the Saturn launch. But something something Sega…  

 

I think it's easy to highlight what Sega should have done, but they were an absolute mess of structures at that time. Separate teams all trying to support multiple hardware (Mega Drive, Saturn, Game Gear, Arcade). That's why you had situations like Time Warner commissioned to port Virtua Racing without any source code and no decent Saturn dev tools, and premier titles like Virtua Cop ported by rookie teams with little experience.

 

The lack of a real Sonic game on the Saturn is quite astonishing, but completely explainable.

[MW_Jimmy]

Quote

Here's the reported list of everything in the package:

Main Game

12 Game Gear Games Emulated and Playable in the Museum

Classic Amy as a Playable Character in Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, 3, and Sonic CD

Knuckles as a Playable Character in Sonic CD

All Previously Released Sonic Origins DLC

20-Page Artbook (Physical exclusive)

Reversible Coversheet with New, Never-Before-Seen Art (Physical exclusive)

 

FFS Sega.

[Paulando]

Jesus. Some of those Game Gear games are truly awful too - Sonic Blast looks like one of those knock off Sonic games from Brazil.

[Mogster]

Is there a reason we keep getting the GG games and not the MS versions? There must be a good reason, surely?

[Sprite Machine]

54 minutes ago, Mogster said:

Is there a reason we keep getting the GG games and not the MS versions? There must be a good reason, surely?

I mean, Sonic 1 GG is arguably the better version anyway. Triple Trouble and Blast never got MS releases and I think Sonic Chaos was Brazil-only on the MS.

 

And maybe GG emulation is just easier, or they're already multi-language or the licensing is simpler, or any number of possible reasons.

[Mogster]

10 minutes ago, Sprite Machine said:

I mean, Sonic 1 GG is arguably the better version anyway. Triple Trouble and Blast never got MS releases and I think Sonic Chaos was Brazil-only on the MS.

 

And maybe GG emulation is just easier, or they're already multi-language or the licensing is simpler, or any number of possible reasons.

I'm sure there is a reason, I was just wondering what it was.

 

They could always include GG versions of GG exclusives, and MS versions of the rest assuming there isn't a licensing issue. I'd be surprised if there was though.

 

As for difficulty of emulation, I may be misremembering but I'm sure there was a MS cart adapter for the Game Gear. If the GG can play the MS games, I'm sure a PS5 could handle it.