The real driving force in this game is the story and how all the themes connect with each other through every ending. There's a constant idea of taking care of another person in your life and finding purpose through each other and the desire to sacrifice for the ones you love. I felt having to redo the 2nd half of the game again to get the other endings was a bit mindless (at least after ending b) but the new scenarios added made it feel worth it for me at least. Combat was fun and simple enough to stay engaging throughout the entire game and I thought the Visual novel segments were pretty neat. The game isn't perfect but it's still something I'd consider very special.

I've played these games dozens of times on the several sega/sonic compilations released throughout years. Through official means and for people new to the Classic Sonic these are absolutely the best way to play these games. I think the new animations are great, story mode is an awesome addition and finally having an official sonic 3 port is boss. However, as someone who has played the sonic 1/2/CD decomps and Sonic 3 A.I.R/Complete the collection is definitely lacking in the polish that the other fan projects provide and even the prior 16:9 ports of sonic 1/2/CD. There is nothing majorly wrong with any of the ports either but it's a lot of small things that add up if you've played these games a ton.

I never expected Origins to compare to the likes of Sonic 3 A.I.R or the decomp projects that fans can indefinitely support to make them the best versions of these games. I expected Origins to at least provide a polished way to play these games I've grown up to love and you get that with some caveats. If your a seasoned sonic fan you'll notice a ton of little issues such as in sonic 2 with Tails getting stuck and jumping forever offscreen, random screen locking causing weird deaths, Blue sphere music not speeding up, Replaced MJ tracks etc. The mission mode is also just alright, boss rush and mirror mode are novel for a bit, dlc/deluxe edition is kind of negligible and the museum could've been a bit more robust. It's unfortunate that Headcannon didn't get the chance to fully polish the ports presented here in this collection and I hope they get a chance to patch the game to make these ports the best it can be.

With all that said I think what's presented here is great for those looking to pick this game up on console. If you don't mind buying it on steam, pc mods also fix some of the issues presented such making sonic 3 have it's og soundtrack again, fixing the drop dash control lock in sonic 1/2/CD and making the game include sonic mania's filters to make the game less blurry. I didn't have an issue spending 40 for this since I adore these games but for those new to classic sonic you can get away with waiting for this collection to go on sale. I'll probably be returning to this collection for mods along side the fan ports.