The reputation of Sonic the Hedgehog is on an upward trend right now, thanks to the movies. Sonic's last two mainline games, Sonic Lost World and Sonic Forces, both came out to lukewarm reception though. Neither game was bad, but they failed to execute their promising ideas. Sonic Mania and Sonic Mania Plus held down the fort on the 2D front, but years went by after Plus with no major game announcements. The ongoing IDW Sonic the Hedgehog comic and the two Hollywood Sonic movies have been holding down the fort ever since then.
However, Sonic has big things in his immediate future. The Sonic Prime Netflix show is expected to be revealed near the beginning of June, and the 2022-bound Sonic Frontiers is expected to be detailed during upcoming gaming events. Those looking forward to something sooner will get the chance to experience Sonic's classic titles in what may be their best form yet at the end of June. Built on top of some Retro Engine work done by Christian “Taxman” Whitehead and Headcannon, Sonic Origins will be a collection of Sonic the Hedgehog 1, 2, 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD with a number of new features and improvements. There's a lot to look forward to with this release, and hopefully, it will be worth the wait.
Sonic Origins' Pricing Model Explained
One thing that may be holding fans back from giving Sonic Origins their undivided attention is its confusing pricing model. The day the game was fully revealed, Sega released a DLC chart that quickly became a joke among fans. It was meant to explain the differences between the regular and Deluxe versions of the game, priced at $35.99 and $44.99 respectively, and the pre-ordered versions of each. What could have been explained as a simple diagram with three sections was instead seemingly made more complicated. It also accidentally highlighted the bizarre things that had been either locked or removed from the game to be DLC.
All the bonus content will be made into DLC packs after launch. Pre-ordering Sonic Origins nets players the Start Dash Pack, which contains 100 Bonus Coins, Mirror Mode, and the Letterbox Background. The Coins and Mirror Mode can be obtained in-game, though it’s unknown how Mirror Mode is unlocked. The Deluxe Edition comes with the Premium Fun Pack and Classic Music Pack bundled in. The Fun Pack contains hard missions, the Letterbox Background again, and several cosmetic features in the main menu and Music Islands. The Music Pack sports 73 additional tracks from various Mega Drive and Genesis titles, none of which are attached to the games already in Sonic Origins. Aside from the hard missions and some extra music, fans won't lose much if they don't want to invest more money at launch.
What Sonic Origins Has to Offer
Fans still have the definitive versions of 2D Sonic's best games to look forward to, in all of this. The enhanced remasters of Sonic 1, 2, and CD released on mobile devices will be packaged with a new Sonic 3 & Knuckles remaster handled by Stealth and some other developers from Headcannon. The collection itself and its other additions were assembled by internal Sega teams, and there are many new features to experience. Classic Mode and Anniversary Mode are the two main parts of Origins, the first providing the original experience while the latter offers infinite lives and a 16:9 aspect ratio, as well as optional missions and leaderboards.
The Mission Mode allows players to collect Bonus Coins for use in the game's Museum Mode. A Boss Rush and the aforementioned Mirror Mode will also be included in the game, in addition to a Story Mode. This mode has its own completion percentage and sees players controlling Sonic as he progresses through every title in the collection. Supposedly, each game has received a new animated opening and ending in the style of Sonic Mania to give fans a fresh experience. This sounds like the ideal way to experience these classic Sonic games, and hopefully, Sonic Origins will be the beginning of Sonic's latest return to glory.
Sonic Origins comes out on June 23 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.