I dipped my toes into each game, but I’d be hesitant to go back even if I wanted to without hitting the mute button first. The sound is genuinely terrible, with harsh notes and a weird echo present at all times. It’s difficult to go back to any of these originals when fan remakes, such as the excellent Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit by Noah Copland, and these aren’t very good versions of those originals anyway. The Game Gear just hasn’t aged well, with a tiny screen that necessitates big sprites and a miniscule field of view. Plus adds a total of 12 Game Gear games, none of which are really what I would call “good”. Knuckles is now playable in Sonic CD as well, which really should have been the case originally, but I digress. However, I do feel like Sonic Origins Plus is what this game should have been from the beginning.Īvailable as a $10 DLC upgrade, the Plus pack adds two main things: a set of Game Gear games, and Amy “Rosy the Rascal” Rose being playable in all four Genesis games. Apparently my opinion is not the one the majority of the Sonic community holds, but I’m happy to revisit some of my favorite games recreated for the modern era. In my review, I loved additions like animated cutscenes and the extras like mission mode while still feeling like it lacked certain features such as rewind, and I lamented the removal of Michal Jackson’s compositions.

Sonic Origins may not be the best collection out there or even the optimal versions of the games it contained, but it’s still a great way to re-experience Sonic’s Genesis classics.

Sonic 1 game gear sprite