Sonic Origins is now available on every major platform, serving as a way for players to experience the first four classic Sonic the Hedgehog titles remastered in one simple collection. It has incidentally made a name for itself due to how Sonic Origins features some confusing DLC packages, but it seems it had one more intriguing detail hidden within it. According to data miners, the small collection actually contains files that might come from Sonic Frontiers.
Data mining is a process in which players look at the code of a video game to try and find hidden or unknown information among its contents. This means that only those who understand programming can typically find what's buried in the code, but interesting details such as unannounced DLC information and unused items can be found as a result. Sometimes, pieces of other games that the same development teams have worked on make their way into different titles in these files.
Despite the fact that these data miners were looking at Sonic Origins' code, they found files that look as if they actually belong in Sonic Frontiers. These files include shaders for the previously leaked cyberspace levels, things involving the fishing mini-game confirmed at Summer Game Fest, and strings of programming meant to trigger NPC dialogue.
Many of these files don't seem interesting at first glance, dealing with things such as solving puzzles and collecting the Chaos Emeralds in Sonic Colors: Ultimate. However, they also mention two NPCs that have yet to be announced or confirmed to be part of Frontiers, namely Big the Cat and an "elder" named "Kodama." Big seems to deal with the fishing mini-game that has just recently been confirmed, but not yet officially shown.
Presumably, the reason why these files ended up in this unrelated game is because Origins features 3D animated menu backgrounds. These backgrounds are believed to have been made using the Hedgehog Engine 2, the engine Sonic Team is reportedly using for Sonic Frontiers. However, this is fan speculation.
Fans should try to take these files and their names with a grain of salt for the time being. Not only is there a chance that these files could be fake, but Frontiers is still in development and these could easily be removed at any point. There's a rather high chance of these files being real, however, as a majority of what it entails deals with content that have all but been officially confirmed. This leak almost seems to fill in the blanks left behind due to Sega's vague Sonic Frontiers marketing.
Sonic Origins is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Resetera