Sonic Origins Plus does little to justify its existence.

This game trying to repackage the Digital Deluxe content as new alongside Knuckles in Sonic CD (something that should’ve been in the base game or a free update) and Amy is a new degree of insulting for those who already paid for it. Amy herself is an alright addition I have no qualms with though. Her hitbox and jumpball is smaller, and her hammer attacks are an insta-shield that lasts longer and drop dash reskinned that applies to all three games. Lazy? Maybe, but I see this as her being an easy mode akin to Team Rose in Sonic Heroes even when there’s an argument for these games being easy enough now, Amy is good. Not worth an entire rerelease, but good.

I brought up in my base Origins review that Mission Mode was a genuine highlight and the trailer saying New Challenges while offering nothing in that section is a little irritating. In retrospect it’s likely referring to the new “Surprise” mode which is just an incredibly short achievement board that reveals a picture to incentivize the player to care about Plus’ additions.

As a softie for Sonic’s Game Gear library, I was rather excited to see these titles on modern consoles, though now I realize they must’ve been haphazardly included to justify spiking the price with “Now instead of 4 games, you get a whole 16!” I haven’t had any problems playing them so far though I’ve seen friends notice big emulator issues and I can’t get around the weird echo filter the sound now suddenly has either. You also only have one save state to use and overwrite per game, compared to Gems’ Collection allowing for several. Save slots is a complaint I’ll get to next, but unnecessary limitations is becoming a trend with this collection.

As for if anything got better in the four games Origins already comes with minus Amy and CD Knuckles, so far I’ve seen zero improvements aside from an update to how you can now change directions when charging a drop dash in 1 and 2. No lives toggle for anniversary mode and no custom save slots, it’s still only one per character. The replacement tracks for 3&K are still not as high quality as their prototypes to boot. I know a good number of people saw the announcement for Plus as an opportunity to fix their issues with Origins, so seeing nothing done with it is both expected for Sonic Team and makes the game even more contentious.

The physical copy only having the base game on disc/cartridge and the Plus content being a download code voucher was what made me cancel my preorder, even the manufacturers knew the additions were negligible.

The Plus DLC for Sonic Mania added more content and costs $5 opposed to Origins Plus’ $10, that should speak for itself. It’s also probably not a good thing one of my longer reviews on here after a long time was a rant against an expansion.

I’d like to start this review by making it clear this compilation wasn’t, isn’t, and will never be worth the $40 price tag it was released with, I ended up waiting until an eShop sale made it $22 and I suggest you do the same. The way Sega tacked on DLC for something like this is nonsensical too. That being said, this collection was exactly what I was expecting it to be and on that note I can leave it somewhat satisfied.

To get it out of the way, I believe players should be given the choice for whether lives should be limited or not a la Crash Bandicoot 4 and while Origins does this, locking it behind the 4:3 aspect ratio rubs me the wrong way though I won’t lose sleep over it. On the other hand I have issue with the stand-in, Coins. I feel the game doesn’t justify their existence enough with how useless they are once the Museum has been 100%ed and the cost of retrying a Special Stage after failing is such a poultry amount it might as well be unlimited, they’re also ridiculously easy to rack up depending on the game and when playing Mission Mode. I’d rather have taken a total Death Count for these games as a self-imposed incentive for more careful play.

Speaking of Mission Mode, I had quite a bit of fun with it! It’s very reminiscent of Challenges from New Super Mario Bros. U where you’re boxed into portions of a stage to complete a small task as best you can, and be ranked for it at the end. These range from killing enemies while submerged in oil to dodging enemies that move at double speed, it reminds me of NES Remix a bit(?) with how your knowledge of game mechanics is tested. My only complaint is that I wanted more out of it, and I hope a future Sonic collection has a similar kind of successor side mode.

If there’s anything I’m at all disappointed by if anything, it’s likely the Museum but only because of how elaborate they were in previous compilations, Mega Collection especially. More IDW covers to browse through would be nice, but I get it, this collection’s only about Classic Sonic. Still, with how Origins has tidbits of new developer art for games to show off, I would’ve liked watching the commercials for the included games like Sonic Jam did at least, maybe even the Man of the Year short animation from that game? The controls for the Museum itself is a bit finicky too. Unlike Mega and Gems, when reading the instruction manuals you can’t turn pages while in full screen mode. It may be a nitpick but it trips me up having to press B to be able to advance with the right bumper, then press A to zoom and keep reading again. I’m also kind of miffed that there’s no unique gallery theme like Jam/Mega/Gems, you have to arrange your own playlist of existing tracks from the games to play in the background.

Last thing to note is I really love the presentation of this collection, the menus represent the aesthetic of this era rather well and the new animated cutscenes are awesome. The islands for each game acting as a backdrop to the selected title is a welcome visual too, bonus points for Angel Island floating upon completing S3&K. Oh and SONIC CD’S OPENING AND ENDING GOT THEIR VOCALS RESTORED AND NO LONGER IN CROPPED WIDESCREEN. If a sale’s going on and you want the best official version of Sonic CD, this is the one for you.

I think the best way I can describe this collection in a single sentence is, it gets the job done and then some but it could’ve been so much more. I’m glad to have this on my Switch alongside Mania, but a little more put into it could’ve gone a long way. Anything to actually justify $40, and to me Sonic 2 alone is not even worth $10 no matter what you sprinkle on it. If only strict deadlines weren’t a factor…

Maybe expect standalone reviews of each game included here later down the line? They’re more fresh in my mind now thanks to this so I’ll consider it.

Either you cheese the game or the game cheeses you.
I think I’ve lost count on how many times the AI got a perfect win against me from a ridiculous combo. I’m also legit appreciating Tekken 2 more after this, that game came out barely a year later and I’ll agree it really does make 1 feel like a beta. I also hope this’ll be the last time I deal with moon gravity and knockdowns that take a decade to recover from.

Can’t really say much about the presentation this time around even with how much I had a soft spot for 2’s, I guess it was really impressive back then for this being one of the first fighters with fully textured models, things just look a bit jagged in this first installment. Also it’s a nice touch that the UI tells you the location name in the bottom corner, not many other games that and it kinda helps embrace the around-the-world aspect of the tournament. Speaking of which, stages oddly aren’t dedicated to certain characters this time. You’d expect Monument Valley to always be Michelle’s since she’s from Arizona or Paul’s stage to be Chicago but you can fight anyone anywhere, it’s random.

The music is pretty alright, though having played 2 beforehand I noticed all tracks here got recycled to give themes to the hidden boss characters minus the Player Select theme and Venezia (despite the latter being on Tekken 2’s soundtrack release). On the subject of music, instant kudos for even the first game having a toggle between the original arcade OST and the new remixes. The fact rereleases of games TODAY still might not do that baffles me.

All franchises have humble beginnings and this is no exception, so Tekken 1 still has some novelty to playing it today, there’s just little to be invested in compared to its sequels, which is again expected. Pick it up if you want to the embrace the jank.

Kazuya’s smile makes everything worth it kinda :)

Dropped after completing Castle Eggman Zone as both Sonic and Tails. I’d like to start off by saying the art style and presentation kick ass and are very faithful to the source material. However I don’t feel the same can be said about the overall control and later level design. Say I have a skill issue all you want but I don’t feel the Speed Thok is a comfortable method of closing gaps/attacking enemies at all in the way the air dash or homing attack in the official 3D games are, combined with how slippery Sonic himself feels to control as is. I’m sorry but these physics do not feel meant for precision platforming period.

Boss fights are also incredibly awkward to get through with the aforementioned control issues along with the uncooperative camera while using the Thok as your only reliable means of attack, and bosses seem even worse trying to attack without it using someone like Tails, who can either only rely on a normal jump or hitting an enemy’s underside with his namesakes.

All in all, Sonic Robo Blast 2 makes me wish I was playing Sonic Adventure instead. Maybe there’s just something I’m not seeing considering how massive the community for this game is and the fact it got an awesome kart racer.

I went into this one fully expecting it to be another title I would try for a few hours only to drop and never touch again, especially the nonlinear type like this where I put it down shortly after not knowing where to go next. Boy was I wrong.

There's something about Symphony of the Night that manages to draw you in to the point where even someone like me who has a hard time being motivated to beat games was able to finish this blind in less than a week. It's a plethora of contributing factors that I can fail to properly explain, whether it be the incredibly fitting soundtrack, the fluidly detailed sprites with their animations, or the design of the castle properly catering to Alucard's abilities (the normal castle at least) and the fact he controls beautifully in contrast to the past Belmonts. The game doesn't take very long to finish, but with how packed the castle is with locales and pathways of all kinds, it makes Symphony of the Night very difficult to just put down and it makes one motivated to complete the entire map despite how tedious the task sounds on paper, it's just that fun to play.

Now no game is without its caveats, some in the funny way and others in the disappointing way. While the RPG elements award you for exploration by making you stronger through finding better weapons, armor and relics, you can also become more powerful through experience points earned by simply killing enemies. This combined with a few ridiculously overpowered items can eventually make Alucard an unstoppable beast with not much effort needed. Therefore, this means the game can suffer from balance issues in your favor at a certain point with bosses dropping like flies due to your wide arsenal. Personally I have no issue with this as I got several Game Overs in the normal castle and found the stat boosts to be a remedy (I'm reckless as hell), though I can see later Castlevania games fixing this.

Something I would have more issues with on the other hand is the final section of the game, the inverted castle. Enemies are a lot stronger which is to be expected though their frequent appearances and placements got on my nerves. Exploring the upside down castle for the first time was admittedly surreal and I'd almost compare it to how master quests flip the map with harder enemies, though on repeat playthroughs I understand those who'd rather cut to the chase and kill the bosses needed to reach Shaft. That reminds me, clearing the inverted castle as Richter was an absolute nightmare for me and it's clear including him as a completion bonus was a complete afterthought despite his acrobatics as the castle was clearly built for Alucard.

All that aside, Symphony of the Night is an absolutely joyous blast to play and I recommend anyone to at least give it a shot even if they were never a Castlevania fan or Metroidvania player to begin with, this game convinced me that much. Huge thanks to Reddish and JoshTheFourth for helping me out on this one!

My friends are gonna kill me for saying this but I had an easier time jumping into this game than I did with Puyo Puyo.

A pretty basic falling block puzzle game with an adorable art style, where your goal is to stack and morph together as many of the same color gems as possible before shattering them with the matching color energy sphere. The more you destroy, especially in chains, the more your opponent’s board is filled. See? Easy. Not sure how often I’d go back to this though.

Chibi Morrigan

Expected this to be another Dig Dug judging by the title and the fact Namco made it and boy was I wrong. The only thing Mr. Driller and Dig Dug have in common is the burrowing into the ground gimmick and falling hazards, no enemies in sight.

This is another arcade game that I completely suck at yet I’m all the more addicted to, figuring out which block patterns to dig into that won’t get you crushed all the while keeping your air meter in check, it’s pretty hectic stuff. The main game had me hooked to the point where I even forgot there’s a Versus Mode and Time Attack included, not that I had a second player to try the latter with.

I’ve uncovered yet another Namco hit that is worth at least taking a glance towards, and I wish I discovered it sooner.

A Namco arcade game that is a prime example of that good ol' cryptic 80s bullshit design, yet I somehow can't hate it despite that? I was first introduced to The Tower of Druaga through Namco Museum Vol. 3 for the PlayStation, and there was something I found appealing about all of it: setting, art style, music and finding out that completing it always involved secret items. Dragging myself to keep climbing the tower over and over again, I've vowed that I would kill Druaga and get to Floor 60 someday, though I still tend to give up twenty floors in.

Hopefully I'll cross this one off my bucket list soon.