SEGA aren’t exactly strangers to wheeling out the Classic Sonic games now. It’s a running joke amongst the fanbase that every Sonic fan owns at least 30 different copies of the original game across just about every gaming platform known to man. Hell – I had Sonic the Hedgehog on my chunky old iPod Classic! But after the rather staggering way SEGA stuffed up Sonic Colours Ultimate last year, I don’t think it’s unreasonable that some people were even more wary of Sonic Origins than they’d usually be. The good news is that this isn’t the mess that Sonic’s Wii outing got turned into. The bad news is that Sonic Origins is still a very flawed package, full of glaring errors and mistakes that are made more aggravating knowing they could’ve been very easily fixed.
Fresh off the back of the recent artwork leak and ratings from South Korea, SEGA have officially dropped the first trailer for Sonic Origins and revealed a whole host of information for the upcoming retro Sonic compilation.
Sonic Origins will feature the Taxman versions of Sonic 1, CD and 2 alongside a brand new port of Sonic 3 & Knuckles developed by Headcannon who previously assisted with the Taxman ports as well as Sonic Mania. The games can be played in their remastered anniversary editions in full widescreen, or in their classic 4:3 aspect ratio versions. The game will also feature a mission mode which tasks players with completing new custom stages that earn them tokens to be spent on in-game unlockables in the game’s virtual museum.
The games will also be available to play as one big title that combines all four titles. The games will also feature new animated opening and ending sequences from SEGA in collaboration with Powerhouse Animation.
Sadly the game is currently a digital only release. What’s more confusing is the 5 different editions the game is being sold in; each with their own exclusive content like a mirror mode, hard missions, additional character animations and additional music tracks. You can see the breakdown of each edition in the graphic below. Thankfully there is only a £4 difference between the base game and the ‘digital deluxe edition’, with the base game priced at £32.99 and the digital deluxe edition priced at £36.98.
Sonic Origins will release on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Switch on June 23rd 2022.
Another classic Sonic stage is making its way to Sonic Mania in the form of a remixed Chemical Plant Zone.
The new version of Chemical Plant Zone brings a whole host of new gimmicks with it. We’ve got mega-mack that can change colour which gives it different qualities like making it more springy, we’ve got sticky surfaces that you can launch yourself from and we’ve also got a new DNA-style transporter for launching Sonic/Tails/Knuckles onto higher paths.
Check out the trailer below to see the new stage in action:
We’ve also got a new image of a Green Hill Zone act 2 boss which you can view by clicking here (WARNING: SPOILERS). This image comes courtesy of tech site Venture Beat and they may have leaked this image early as the caption doesn’t match up with what it’s showing.
Sonic Mania launches on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch on the 15th of August 2015.
The official Sonic the Hedgehog YouTube channel has uploaded some new footage of Sonic Mania which showcases Knuckles doing his thing in the new version of Flying Battery Zone.
There’s lots of nods to the original stage layout from Sonic & Knuckles as well as entirely new areas to explore. Check out the new footage via the embed below:
Sonic Mania launches on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch later this year.
The latest retro Sonic stage to be confirmed for an appearance in Sonic Mania is now the Flying Battery Zone from Sonic & Knuckles. The stage appears in a remixed form that has a different layout to the original, but has plenty of nods and gimmicks that call back to the original stage. Check it out below:
It’s also worth mentioning that we recently got an insight into how the 2nd act of Sonic Mania’s take on the Green Hill Zone is playing out. The following video shows how the progression from act 1 to act 2 occurs and how different the 2nd act is in comparison. There’s some interesting new gimmicks and some lovely nods to early Sonic the Hedgehog screenshots that showed mountains in the background. Take a look:
Sonic Mania will launch this summer on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and PC.
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