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Defense against Sonic damage
With Sonic Superstars now out in the world, I went and bought it along with Sonic Origins Plus because it contains all of the Game Gear Sonic titles (including some I don't think were released on the 3DS eShop before it closed down earlier this year), including Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble, the game that introduced Fang the Hunter, known back then as Nack the Weasel and later Fang the Sniper.
Now, Sega has previously released and rereleased the classic Sonic games on too many platforms to count, and Origins Plus is by no means a "complete" collection, containing only the Genesis games up to Sonic 3 & Knuckles (and Sonic CD for the ill-fated Sega CD). That means no Sonic Spinball on Genesis (but the Game Gear version, which I don't think is as good, is on there), Sonic 3D Blast, or Knuckles Chaotix, even though you can listen to songs from those games in the museum. That doesn't mean that the main games on offer in Origins are completely devoid of bells and whistles, mind - in addition to Classic Mode, which lets you play the games almost as they originally appeared on their home consoles, the "Anniversary Mode" editions (it was release a year after the 30th anniversary of the franchise) let you play any of those games as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy (whose Piko Piko Hammer can be activated by pressing one of the "jump" buttons in midair and extends her attack range) and does away with the "lives" system to allow you to pick up the game from your last checkpoint lamppost, which is good for those of us without the time or drive to complete the game in a single sitting.
Aside from the somewhat paltry selection of games on offer, the complaint I think I heard the most about when the compilation was first released is that the music in the latter three stages of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Carnival Night Zone, Ice Cap Zone, and Launch Base Zone) was replaced with songs from an unreleased version of the game in Origins Plus. Comparing the songs from the beta's soundtrack to the ones in the final release, I can understand why a lot of Sonic fans are upset by the changes. The synth calliope music from Carnival Night is hard to forget (as is that damned barrel in Carnival Night Zone Act 2, which ended many a run back in the day, including a few by yours truly).
And yet...I think the replacement songs are growing on me.
Allow me to explain.
In Sonic 3 (& Knuckles), most stages consist of two Acts, and each Act will have its own theme, with the Act 2 music being a remix of the Act 1 music. The release versions of the Carnival Night, Ice Cap, and Launch Base songs do this too...sort of. In those stages, the Act 2 songs remove some layers of instrumentation from their Act 1 counterparts, which I think is the opposite of what a remix should do. The Act 2 songs should be more intense/foreboding because that's when you fight one of Dr. Eggman/Robotnik's contraptions at the end of the stage, and it loses something to hear a quieter version of an earlier stage theme en route to a boss battle (unless the game's explicitly marketed as a horror game). While I won't say whether or not the beta songs are qualitatively better than the released versions, their Act 1 and Act 2 versions sound more distinct from one another, as proper remixes should. They also sound more consistent with the songs from the first three zones (Angel Island, Hydrocity, and Marble Garden), which I also appreciate.
P.S. However, I will agree with those who believe that the boss music from Sonic Superstars is one of the weakest boss themes in the series since the original game. The sudden jump from "real" instruments to 16-bit Genesis synths is jarring, and the song itself is repetitive.
Now, Sega has previously released and rereleased the classic Sonic games on too many platforms to count, and Origins Plus is by no means a "complete" collection, containing only the Genesis games up to Sonic 3 & Knuckles (and Sonic CD for the ill-fated Sega CD). That means no Sonic Spinball on Genesis (but the Game Gear version, which I don't think is as good, is on there), Sonic 3D Blast, or Knuckles Chaotix, even though you can listen to songs from those games in the museum. That doesn't mean that the main games on offer in Origins are completely devoid of bells and whistles, mind - in addition to Classic Mode, which lets you play the games almost as they originally appeared on their home consoles, the "Anniversary Mode" editions (it was release a year after the 30th anniversary of the franchise) let you play any of those games as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy (whose Piko Piko Hammer can be activated by pressing one of the "jump" buttons in midair and extends her attack range) and does away with the "lives" system to allow you to pick up the game from your last checkpoint lamppost, which is good for those of us without the time or drive to complete the game in a single sitting.
Aside from the somewhat paltry selection of games on offer, the complaint I think I heard the most about when the compilation was first released is that the music in the latter three stages of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Carnival Night Zone, Ice Cap Zone, and Launch Base Zone) was replaced with songs from an unreleased version of the game in Origins Plus. Comparing the songs from the beta's soundtrack to the ones in the final release, I can understand why a lot of Sonic fans are upset by the changes. The synth calliope music from Carnival Night is hard to forget (as is that damned barrel in Carnival Night Zone Act 2, which ended many a run back in the day, including a few by yours truly).
And yet...I think the replacement songs are growing on me.
Allow me to explain.
In Sonic 3 (& Knuckles), most stages consist of two Acts, and each Act will have its own theme, with the Act 2 music being a remix of the Act 1 music. The release versions of the Carnival Night, Ice Cap, and Launch Base songs do this too...sort of. In those stages, the Act 2 songs remove some layers of instrumentation from their Act 1 counterparts, which I think is the opposite of what a remix should do. The Act 2 songs should be more intense/foreboding because that's when you fight one of Dr. Eggman/Robotnik's contraptions at the end of the stage, and it loses something to hear a quieter version of an earlier stage theme en route to a boss battle (unless the game's explicitly marketed as a horror game). While I won't say whether or not the beta songs are qualitatively better than the released versions, their Act 1 and Act 2 versions sound more distinct from one another, as proper remixes should. They also sound more consistent with the songs from the first three zones (Angel Island, Hydrocity, and Marble Garden), which I also appreciate.
P.S. However, I will agree with those who believe that the boss music from Sonic Superstars is one of the weakest boss themes in the series since the original game. The sudden jump from "real" instruments to 16-bit Genesis synths is jarring, and the song itself is repetitive.