What the heck is going on with 2D Sonic?
Sonic Mania is widely considered one of the best games in the series, if not one of the best 2D mascot platformers ever made. The game was considered a fine return to form after the Sonic franchise had wallowed in a seemingly endless sea of painfully average to outright broken releases. So naturally, this would have Sega considering a sequel. Or several sequels for that matter. Yet as Mania approaches its fifth anniversary, we have to ask just what the heck is going on with Classic Sonic?
Towards the end of April, Sega put out a trailer for Sonic Origins. Effectively the series’ take on Mario All-Stars, it features remasters of all four Genesis titles in the same engine that powered Mania. Head Cannon themselves are behind the project. On the surface, it seems like the game would be an instant hit for old and new fans alike. Especially with the Sonic 2 movie smashing up box office charts. Yet Sega chose to do something rather baffling.
The game is laughably expensive for one, costing players $54 Canadian Kopeks, or $45 USD, to purchase. Which is more than what the Yakuza remasters and remakes cost when they got ported to PC a few years back. Bare in mind that only Sonic 3 & Knuckles is a wholly new remaster in this collection. Sonic CD has been available on various platforms since 2011, and Sonic 1 & 2 here are just ports of the mobile versions. Games which again have been on sale for going on a decade now.
Adding insult to injury, Sega has also designed to sell Sonic Origins in multiple confusing packages of addons and deluxe editions. The base game doesn’t even give you basic features like challenge missions, character animations in the menus, or additional audio tracks. And everyone thought Mario 3D All-Stars was a bit thin content wise. At least that released as a complete package. Though the cherry on top for me might be the inclusion of the much maligned Denuvo copyright protection scheme on the PC version. Bare in mind that ROMs for all of these games have been easily available on the internet for over two decades now. Heck, you can even buy Genesis flash carts that include all of them.
This is a pretty lame follow up to one of the best platformers of the last ten years. Sonic Mania sold very well. In fact, it probably outperformed Sonic Forces, the 3D adventure released that same year, given Sega’s reluctance to release sales figures for the game. Which I think says a lot in the fight between the 2D and 3D iterations of the franchise. Yet Sega is still forging ahead with producing yet another 3D Sonic game. While Sonic Frontiers certainly looks good judging by its teaser trailer, and introduces the series to open world mechanics for the first time, I have very low expectations given Sonic Team’s track record. These 3D games are often inconsistent and rarely well received by fans and general audiences alike, but Sega keeps pushing them. Meanwhile Taxman, Stealth, and Head Cannon have proven they can breath new life into the classics, much like Nintendo did with New Super Mario Bros. Yet we haven’t heard anything about a new 2D game other than a rather mediocre collection of the same Genesis titles that have been released a hundred times over by now. Sega… I’ve been a fan for a long time. What are you doing?
