I bought the base version of this game before eventually upgrading to Plus, both at default price. Was it worth it? Weirdly enough, yes, at least for me personally. Your mileage is definitely gonna vary with this collection. It has lots of great features but also some problems that might weigh it down for some people.
Pros:
There's four main games to play through with several ways to do so. Anniversary mode allows the player to pick from Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy on all of the games, and it trades the lives system for coins, which can be used in a few ways. I definitely appreciate the lack of a lives system, especially on Sonic 1 and CD. Anniversary mode also gives Sonic his drop dash move from Mania, which is without a doubt my favorite addition. If you do wanna play with lives though, Classic mode has got you covered. There is also Mirror mode which just flips the stages. It's not exciting, but it's a harmless addition that simply adds a new way to play. There's also a boss rush mode that is exactly what it sounds like.
As for the coins, you can use them to retry special stages in Anniversary mode. This use is absolutely more amazing than I thought it would be, because I would NOT in a million years have ever figured out how to beat some of the special stages without it. Look, Blue Sphere levels are stupid easy once you know what you're doing, but your first time around? Basically Dark Souls. Anyway, you can also spend coins to unlock new music tracks and images in the gallery.
Speaking of the gallery, there's a big catalogue with all the music from the games and then some, as well as a huge collection of concept art, promotional material, and even some videos, including full episodes of Sonic Mania Adventures. It's actually really cool!
There's some other neat miscellaneous features. There's time trails for all the games with associated leaderboards. There's cool little 3D backgrounds on the main menu. There's new animated beginning and ending cutscenes for all of the games. There's mini challenges for each of the games too, which are kind of eh, but they're still nice bits of extra content and a fast way to earn coins (maybe too fast, in all honesty). There is also a collection of Sonic Game Gear games to check out. They're uh... not great. They range from okay to quite literally unplayable. I am glad they added them though, as I probably would have never played them otherwise, and it's fun to at least say I did it. They also have save states for them which definitely help ease the pain. Lastly, in the main games, save points are created at each checkpoint, meaning you can leave a game and come back later and not have to restart the level. It's another feature I absolutely adore, especially with how mentally draining certain levels can be.
Cons:
I'm no Sonic expert so I'm sure there's more than the ones I'll list, but here's the problems I noticed. Classic mode on Sonic 1 fails to take out the spindash. Sonic 3&K has a bit of jank in the port. It's barely noticeable and I never had it effect gameplay, but it does show an unfortunate lack of polish for a game that desperately needed a good modern port. Though having a brand new playable character in the form of Amy is awesome in concept, the execution leaves a lot to be desired, and she's without a doubt the least interesting character to play as. There's also sadly not a way to costumize which Anniversary mode features you do and don't want, so if you want to play a game with the drop dash while also having lives, you're out of luck.
Possibly the biggest sin, though, is the changed music in Sonic 3&K. Look, I get why it had to be done, and if it's the price that had to be paid in order for me to play Sonic 3&K then I will accept it... but come ON couldn't they have composed better songs? Ice Cap's replacement is at least pretty decent, but Launch Base's is kind of whatever, and Carnival Night's is hilariously bad. I was never a fan of the original Carnival Night song, but I'd take it any day over the weak instruments and the generic stock clapping sound effects that they thought would be an okay replacement. Being funny is the only thing it does right. As I mentioned, Sonic 3&K was desperate for a good modern port, and to have this happen to it is just so sad.
Games:
Thought I'd also include mini reviews for the games themselves, since those are the main attractions of this collection.
Sonic 1 hardly delivers on the promise of a fast paced game, but I think it's still decent enough as a platformer. It's got its moments, but it's also got a lot of frustrating sections that turn the game into a slog. Not to mention it contains possibly the most infamous bad level in all of gaming. The anniversary mode changes do WONDERS to mitigate these issues though, especially with the lack of lives. 2.5/5 stars
Sonic CD is one of the most polarizing games in the series, and I lean on the side that doesn't like it. The game is really short and bland if you play it straight through, yet the level design feels like it fights you at every turn if you want to go for the true objective. It's got good concepts, but the execution sucks. At least the soundtracks are total bangers. 2/5 stars
Sonic 2 is a large step up from its predecessor and where the gameplay really finds its identity. It's got fast-paced and fun levels that are always a joy to replay. It's not perfect though, and it does have some moments that feel like complete duds, but overall, it's a solid game. 3.5/5 stars
Sonic 3 & Knuckles isn't considered one of the best games in the series for nothing. The levels are fantastic and more varied than ever before. There's great replay value thanks to a number of factors, and the little bits of story sprinkled throughout make it feel like a very complete experience. The side objective in the form of collecting the chaos emeralds is also actually fun to pursue this time. It does have its meh moments, but it's thankfully great most of the time. 4.5/5 stars
Conclusion:
I personally love this collection and have put over 80 hours into it over the past 2 or so years. Though I had Sonic 1 and 2, I didn't have a reliable way to play them, and I've certainly never owned CD or 3&K. I loved having ways to play all 4 games with all the fancy features Origins offers. I especially loved having them on my Switch to play on the go. If you're like me, then this collection could definitely be worth picking up. I would generally recommend getting it on sale though.
Pros:
There's four main games to play through with several ways to do so. Anniversary mode allows the player to pick from Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy on all of the games, and it trades the lives system for coins, which can be used in a few ways. I definitely appreciate the lack of a lives system, especially on Sonic 1 and CD. Anniversary mode also gives Sonic his drop dash move from Mania, which is without a doubt my favorite addition. If you do wanna play with lives though, Classic mode has got you covered. There is also Mirror mode which just flips the stages. It's not exciting, but it's a harmless addition that simply adds a new way to play. There's also a boss rush mode that is exactly what it sounds like.
As for the coins, you can use them to retry special stages in Anniversary mode. This use is absolutely more amazing than I thought it would be, because I would NOT in a million years have ever figured out how to beat some of the special stages without it. Look, Blue Sphere levels are stupid easy once you know what you're doing, but your first time around? Basically Dark Souls. Anyway, you can also spend coins to unlock new music tracks and images in the gallery.
Speaking of the gallery, there's a big catalogue with all the music from the games and then some, as well as a huge collection of concept art, promotional material, and even some videos, including full episodes of Sonic Mania Adventures. It's actually really cool!
There's some other neat miscellaneous features. There's time trails for all the games with associated leaderboards. There's cool little 3D backgrounds on the main menu. There's new animated beginning and ending cutscenes for all of the games. There's mini challenges for each of the games too, which are kind of eh, but they're still nice bits of extra content and a fast way to earn coins (maybe too fast, in all honesty). There is also a collection of Sonic Game Gear games to check out. They're uh... not great. They range from okay to quite literally unplayable. I am glad they added them though, as I probably would have never played them otherwise, and it's fun to at least say I did it. They also have save states for them which definitely help ease the pain. Lastly, in the main games, save points are created at each checkpoint, meaning you can leave a game and come back later and not have to restart the level. It's another feature I absolutely adore, especially with how mentally draining certain levels can be.
Cons:
I'm no Sonic expert so I'm sure there's more than the ones I'll list, but here's the problems I noticed. Classic mode on Sonic 1 fails to take out the spindash. Sonic 3&K has a bit of jank in the port. It's barely noticeable and I never had it effect gameplay, but it does show an unfortunate lack of polish for a game that desperately needed a good modern port. Though having a brand new playable character in the form of Amy is awesome in concept, the execution leaves a lot to be desired, and she's without a doubt the least interesting character to play as. There's also sadly not a way to costumize which Anniversary mode features you do and don't want, so if you want to play a game with the drop dash while also having lives, you're out of luck.
Possibly the biggest sin, though, is the changed music in Sonic 3&K. Look, I get why it had to be done, and if it's the price that had to be paid in order for me to play Sonic 3&K then I will accept it... but come ON couldn't they have composed better songs? Ice Cap's replacement is at least pretty decent, but Launch Base's is kind of whatever, and Carnival Night's is hilariously bad. I was never a fan of the original Carnival Night song, but I'd take it any day over the weak instruments and the generic stock clapping sound effects that they thought would be an okay replacement. Being funny is the only thing it does right. As I mentioned, Sonic 3&K was desperate for a good modern port, and to have this happen to it is just so sad.
Games:
Thought I'd also include mini reviews for the games themselves, since those are the main attractions of this collection.
Sonic 1 hardly delivers on the promise of a fast paced game, but I think it's still decent enough as a platformer. It's got its moments, but it's also got a lot of frustrating sections that turn the game into a slog. Not to mention it contains possibly the most infamous bad level in all of gaming. The anniversary mode changes do WONDERS to mitigate these issues though, especially with the lack of lives. 2.5/5 stars
Sonic CD is one of the most polarizing games in the series, and I lean on the side that doesn't like it. The game is really short and bland if you play it straight through, yet the level design feels like it fights you at every turn if you want to go for the true objective. It's got good concepts, but the execution sucks. At least the soundtracks are total bangers. 2/5 stars
Sonic 2 is a large step up from its predecessor and where the gameplay really finds its identity. It's got fast-paced and fun levels that are always a joy to replay. It's not perfect though, and it does have some moments that feel like complete duds, but overall, it's a solid game. 3.5/5 stars
Sonic 3 & Knuckles isn't considered one of the best games in the series for nothing. The levels are fantastic and more varied than ever before. There's great replay value thanks to a number of factors, and the little bits of story sprinkled throughout make it feel like a very complete experience. The side objective in the form of collecting the chaos emeralds is also actually fun to pursue this time. It does have its meh moments, but it's thankfully great most of the time. 4.5/5 stars
Conclusion:
I personally love this collection and have put over 80 hours into it over the past 2 or so years. Though I had Sonic 1 and 2, I didn't have a reliable way to play them, and I've certainly never owned CD or 3&K. I loved having ways to play all 4 games with all the fancy features Origins offers. I especially loved having them on my Switch to play on the go. If you're like me, then this collection could definitely be worth picking up. I would generally recommend getting it on sale though.