As game development tasks go, it doesn’t feel unreasonable to say that one of the simplest tasks a major publisher could undertake is to remaster and re-release classic 2D games from the 16-bit era. And yet, somehow, with Sonic Origins, Sega swung and… well, it’s not quite a miss. But it ain’t the home run it should be, either.
In golf, I’d generally rather miss the ball entirely, lose a stroke, and move on from my current position than glance the ball and send it careering off into the woods and undergrowth. But Sonic Origins is the latter; Sega swings, connects with an anniversary celebration that’s brilliant on paper… but the shot has careered off in an ugly, unsavory direction. It’s not down to luck, either – it’s down to execution.
Should I be surprised? I don’t know. It’s weird. Sega’s attempts with Sonic over the last decade or so have oscillated between brilliant and dire with an almost pendulum-like predictability – but this is just a re-release. It’s repackaging a bunch of old games. Furthermore, these are ancient games – ones you could probably emulate on your car’s infotainment screen, if you wanted (indeed, a pretty iffy version of Sonic 1 is available on the screens of Tesla vehicles). The point is: this should be a simple enough task.
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