Sonic Origins Plus XSX Review 8/10 "12 Game Gear Titles Join this Awesome Sonic Collection!" 💨 @sonic_hedgehog

The Sonic Origins collection was originally released in June 2022 on what was the blue Blurs’ 31st anniversary. Already a solid collection that featured HD remasters of:

• Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992)
• Sonic CD (1993)
• Sonic the Hedgehog & Knuckles (1994)

This newly released ‘Plus’ pack, however, also includes twelve Game Gear titles:

• Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit)
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)
• Sonic and Tails
• Sonic and Tails 2
• Sonic Drift 
• Sonic Drift 2
• Sonic Spinball (8-bit)
• Sonic Blast
• Sonic Labyrinth
• Dr, Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
• Tails’ Sky Patrol
• Tails Adventure

There are a lot of pretty tasty features included, such as the ‘classic mode’, which presents the games in their original 4:3 format, whilst the ‘anniversary mode’ replaces lives with collectable coins and presents the games in a modernised widescreen display.

There’s also a museum as well as an incredible amount of unlockable music, images and videos – but the main draw for me was the story mode, which links the main four games together through new animation sequences and plays out as a single fluid narrative. This was where the bulk of my time was spent, as these games are always a pleasure to revisit – with the second game being my personal favourite – and this fluid narrative sequencing them all as one unit is a really satisfying way to play through what is arguably Sonic’s finest hours.

The ‘Plus’ in the title refers to the twelve new Game Gear games, and whilst these are admittedly a tasty inclusion and are incredibly varied in the genres that they span – there are clear limitations in terms of the original hardware for which they were designed, so be prepared for slowdown and the issue of having what was originally a 3.2-inch screen blown up to the size of your TV – I found the speedy platformers in the collection to be extra challenging simply due to the fact that there’s not as much visibility as to what is about to lurch into Sonic’s path, so I found myself inching forward a lot of the time – removing that sense of speed.

It was due to this that I gravitated towards the more puzzle-based, strategic titles in the Plus collection that felt like they suited the limitations of the Game Gear more comfortably. That said, I have absolutely no nostalgia for the Game Gear or any games on the console, so if you do – this will probably resonate with you a lot more than it does me. I instead found them interesting inclusions from a historical perspective, as these are so different from the mainline 16-bit Sonic titles, although my interest did not translate into replayability.

SUMMARY

In summary, this is a great collection of Sonic games and a fantastic way to enjoy Sonic on modern consoles - with the extras, menu design, unlockables and especially the story mode being highlights.

The ‘Plus’ of this collection will probably only really get any serious use from lovers of the Game Gear titles from their personal nostalgia, or Sonic fans who want to uncover as much of the blue fella as possible.