Day 19 Sonic Origins Review

July 21, 2026

Took another couple days break. Now the day number won't match the date. Sunday was fine, experimented more with my roommate's LoreDrive VTT, and then Monday completed some more OSRS content and played Mecca Chameleon.

In and amongst all that I got the chance to finish my playthrough of the Sonic Origins collection, and man, what a set of games. Sonic 1 is the first game I ever owned, after my parents got it for me Christmas of either '99 or '00 as part of a collection they bought from a charity shop. Sonic 2 was the first game I ever completed. I have vivid memories of my mother writing down Silver Sonic's moveset on the back of a paper bag and then beating the Death Egg Robot and finishing my first ever video game. I remember years later watching Cybershell's legendary let's play of the Sonic series and being upset he "made up a game" with Sonic 3, as that wasn't in my collection. Only Sonic and Knuckles was, a game I never recall beating the second zone of, and I was scared to put a cartridge into the top of it because I didn't want to break it. I still have those original cartridges somewhere, but the Megadrive is long gone. The sound chip broke, and Sonic without its banger OST is unplayable.

I haven't played through the classic series in over a decade and was long overdue for a replay, so how did they fare? If you're reading this you surely already know the answer to that. The games have been discussed to death online and opinions have mostly settled into: Sonic 1 is a wonderful foundation with a number of designs that weirdly contradict the game's central concept of speed in favour of traditional platforming; 2 is a perfect refinement that built upon 1 in a number of ways to create the best set of levels in the series; CD is the weird black sheep that people either love or hate; Sonic 3 and Knuckles is a single game across 2 carts that improves on Sonic 2, and while it's bloated in spots, its highs far surpass the other games.

What I'm interested in whenever I watch coverage of these games is how the authors' opinions differ from this consensus, because most do in at least subtle ways, so that's what I will share here alongside some moaning about the port.

Sonic 1 has the best OST of the classics, fuck you, fight me! Every level has an iconic theme that matches the mood. While other games have individual tracks I like more than any in 1, the overall package is just perfect. Sonic 1 also has the most diversity of gameplay out of the series, with levels focusing on either speed, platforming, or exploration. This variety leads to the game feeling very well paced. Scrap Brain Zone is also my personal favourite final zone, as it makes Robotnik all the more menacing, and I miss how much harder it is than any other final level. But the game is still very much a first draft. The amount of borderline auto scrolling sections is frustrating, there are a large number of instant kill traps, the special stages suck, and the game is far slower than the rest. Origins tries to remedy this by backporting the spin dash and drop dash, and this helps, but it massively unbalances the game. Scrap Brain and the final zone are neutered by this. While I feel that I like 1 more than most, it is undeniably the weakest of the classic games.

Sonic CD is the game I played the least. Like most, I have never touched a Mega CD and only knew Metal Sonic from the OVA and Heroes. Before this playthrough I placed the game below 1 in terms of quality, as I found it a confusing and overly easy adventure with an awesome OST. This time, however, I decided to try and go for all generators rather than the time stones. I had heard that this was the best way to play, and man, they were right. The exploration focus makes the game come to life and makes the strange vertical levels far more fun to navigate. Having to find ways to the past while avoiding the future was a novel challenge, and the game had so much unusual stuff to find, such as the weird large breasted angel in Wacky Workbench past that gives infinite rings. I look forward to never learning what that was about. While this was enough to push the game past Sonic 1, it's still got problems. Wacky Workbench is the worst classic Sonic level, and trying to find the generator made it even worse, as this one is hidden behind a crusher, as in you have to let yourself be crushed to get there. Awful. The bosses are all jokes with the exception of Metal Sonic. And finally, the time stones. While the bonus stages are the best ones in the classic series, their inclusion trivialises getting the true ending and makes the exploration focus a total non-starter, to the point where I would call going for all generators a self-imposed challenge mode despite it clearly being the intention.

Sonic 2 is my favourite. I love the levels, the difficulty scaling is perfect, the ball busting special stages are balanced by how easy they are to get to, and the ending makes me cry every time because of how beautiful the music is. The spin dash solves so many problems from 1, it's stupid. The game looks incredible. It's the first game I ever completed. No notes. Actually, there is one note: the mobile port already neutered the special stages by making them run at a real frame rate, but Sonic Origins' token system for redoing special stages makes getting Super Sonic by the end of Emerald Hill functionally unavoidable. Shame, since Super Sonic's theme overwrites the level music, and the bad ending is better than the true ending.

Sonic 3 and Knuckles. It's good, very good, but it's got more problems than 2, so it doesn't take the crown like it does for most others. First the positives: Knuckles is great. He was the character I cosplayed as for World Book Day in primary school (manuals count), and he was so fun to play as thanks to his glide. The insta-shield is the most underrated move in the franchise. It's basically a parry, and I love me some parry slop. The music is spectacular... on the Megadrive, as due to legal issues the tracks for Carnival Night, Ice Cap, and Launch Base are replaced with the beta OST. All of these are downgrades, especially Ice Cap. This leads me on to the negatives. I hate Sonic's sprite in 3. He looks like a chibi version of himself, and the 2 sprite was better. Levels in 3 can go on for absolutely ages for no reason. Who decided to make Marble Garden and Carnival Night as long as they were and place them back to back? Sandopolis is the worst classic Sonic stage, and Lava Reef is a zone I forget exists. The bosses are better, and the Doomsday Zone is cool, but the minibosses are all lame and don't add much other than making the game go on even longer. Honestly, I think you could cut Sonic 3 down by 30% and it would be better for it. That's why I don't like it as much as the tighter levels of 2.

I have yet to touch the bonus content, and I'm not sure I will. I have a large backlog of games, and I would rather get around to those. The classic games are awesome, and despite some minor issues with Origins, this was a fun revisit!