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To update [Wed 13th Jul, 2022 09:30 BST]: Modder Xanman has made up his mind Twitter He said his original comments – specifically “It’s become a lot clearer that this game is absolute sh***” – were “a huge exaggeration on my part”.
Regarding VGC’s coverage of his comments, he continues, “Origins is fine I think. It does what it’s supposed to do, has some issues but nothing that really affects the game.”
Original story [Tue 12th Jul, 2022 10:45 BST]: While Sonic Origins offers a convenient way to play the most famous 16-bit hedgehog excursions on modern consoles, many experienced fans were not satisfied with the quality of the versions included in the collection. The game features various improvements like widescreen support and new game modes, but it also introduces bugs, inconsistencies, inaccuracies, and behaviors that some die-hard Sonic fans aren’t happy about.
The latest dissatisfied voice from the Sonic fanbase is that of Xanman, creator of BetterOrigins, a mod for the PC version of the game aimed at fixing various bugs and improving overall quality (thanks, TheGamer).
However, after reviewing the game’s files, Xanman has decided to stop working on the mod entirely. “Hey, so we’ve decided to stop development on this project,” Xanman wrote on the mod’s GameBanana page:
“After really digging into the files for this game, it’s become much clearer that this game is absolute sh***. We’ve fixed enough where the game is a little more usable, but really, especially without scripts, there’s not much we can ‘fix’ without just redoing sprites.”
“Maybe I’ll come back to that in the future when editing scripts becomes a thing. But for now, fuck this game.”
Not only the fan community expressed their dissatisfaction with the end product. Headcannon’s Simon Thornley, who worked on the Sonic 3 & Knuckles Part of the collection, recently took to Twitter to express his frustration and also partially explain how these issues arose.
For a better idea of the types of issues the BetterOrigins mod fixed, here is a list of the Update 1.5 patch notes according to the mod’s GameBanana updates page:
Customization – Fixed issues with the Sonic 1 palette
Improvement – CD title screen has been cleaned up and uses the full res beta assets as a base
Bugfix – Sonic 2 bosses actually blink properly
Adjustment – Sonic 2 – life symbols are correct
Tweak – Sonic 2 – Elemental Shields use correct sprites
Bugfix – Sonic 2 – Fixes a color error in some Tails sprites with wrong transparent pixels
Bugfix – Sonic 2 – Fixes a color error in some of Knuckles’ sprites that turns the black into a dark green
Adjustment – Sonic 2 – Sprites from S3 use S1 black
Improvement – Sonic 2 – Fixed Eggman’s sprites
Bugfix – Sonic 2 – Monitors no longer have 2 gray pixels on their screen
Improvement – Casino Night Flippers have been fixed
Improvement – Casino Night Star Blocks have been fixed
Improvement – Fixed Casino Night visuals (it was very broken)
Bugfix – Metropolis has a correct palette cycle
Improvement – Wing Fortress has the correct transparency
Bugfix – All wing fort tiles use their correct palette
Improvement – The Wing Fortress thread mill uses its original palette
Improvement – Oil Ocean’s palette cycle is correct
Customization – Sonic 2 – Life text & HUD have been reworked
Improvement – Sonic 2 – Rotating signpost frames now all use full color gamut
Tweak – Sonic 2 – Rotating signpost frames correctly use S2 signposts as a base
Adjustment – Sonic 2 – Monitor base is the same on both sides
Adjustment – Casino Night’s colored bumpers no longer blink
Addendum – Oil Ocean now uses purple instead of green
Improvement – Oil Ocean oil is properly affected by gravity (it no longer rises smh)
Improvement – Metropolis has a more logical palette on some tiles
Improvement – Death Egg Robot looks a little more like the original
Addition – The ending now has a limited palette
Bugfix – Fixed the green pixels of the Carnival Night barrel
We called the game “a fine collection for new fans, less so for the hardcore Sonic crowd” in our 7/10 review of the Switch version. While it works well enough for casual fans who just dip their toe in Sonic’s original 16-bit catalogue, it’s clear that many feel these vintage platformers deserve more care and attention – especially since these are the nominal “ultimate” Versions of the games are to Sonic team boss Takashi Iizuka.
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