Sonic Origins

Sonic Origins is a compilation of Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic CD, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It also includes a Story Mode, featuring new animated cutscenes that string the four games into one seamless adventure, and a Mission Mode where you can complete challenges and obtain Coins, which can be used to unlock music tracks (including the remixed tracks from Sonic Generations, Sonic Forces, Team Sonic Racing and Super Smash Bros. Brawl), concept art, and videos in the Museum.

All games have been completely remade in the Retro Engine, featuring an optional 16:9 widescreen mode, new features, and various quality-of-life updates. While Sonic 1, 2, and CD have all been previously released on other platforms, 3 & Knuckles was built specifically for this collection. Due to copyright issues, the last features some alternate music based on tracks used in a prototype build of Sonic 3 although some of the tracks heard are closer to how they were in Sonic & Knuckles Collection. Also, for better or worse, Sonic 3 & Knuckles is treated as one title and there's no way to play Sonic the Hedgehog 3 or Sonic & Knuckles separately.

An expansion, Sonic Origins Plus, adds Knuckles into Sonic CD, Amy Rose as a playable character in all four of the main games, emulated versions of Sonic's entire Game Gear library (all 12 games!), and a physical release with a reversible cover and artbook - much in the same vein as Sonic Mania Plus five years prior.

GamesUnused Content in each remake, alongside the changes.

Unused Graphics#

Artwork	Name	Description
	Black-White Amy sprite	A black-and-white version of Amy's death pose, much in the same vein as an unused graphic present in Sonic 1, 2, CD, 3 & Knuckles. Obviously, still not used, though at this point it's likely here out of unspoken obligation.
	Amy Continue sprites	Amy has sprites for the Continue screen that are only used in each game's Classic Mode. Amy can access Classic Mode through its level select code. Her animation seems to be a reference to her losing animation in Sonic the Fighters.
	Special Stage Amy 1-up	An Amy extra life icon for Special Stages in Sonic 1. This matches up with the one for Sonic in the original game, and the ones for Tails and Knuckles in the 2013 remake, but those weren't used originally, and this isn't used now. It can be placed in Debug Mode, although the object preview appears as a grey Zone 1 block until placed due to a programming oversight.

Unused Developer Cheats#

Within the game there exist a couple of unused cheats, likely used by the developers in testing the game.

One-Hit Bosses#

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Present for all games in the collection is a cheat that lets bosses be defeated in just a single hit. In Sonic 1, Sonic CD, and Sonic 2, it sets the global variable game.bossOneLife to true. In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, it sets offset 0x4C354C within the game's global variables struct to 1.

• In Sonic 1, Labyrinth Zone's boss fight requires two hits instead of one. All other bosses only require one hit to be defeated.
• In Sonic CD, only Palmtree Panic's boss is affected. The other boss fights were presumably left unchanged due to their more scripted natures.
• In Sonic 2, all bosses are affected, including the Hidden Palace boss which doesn't appear in Boss Rush.
• In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the majority of bosses are affected, including ones that do not appear in Boss Rush mode. However, a handful are left unaffected:
  • Angel Island Zone Act 1's Fire Breath
  • Hydrocity Zone Act 1's Big Shaker
  • Ice Cap Zone Act 1's Big Icedus
  • Flying Battery Zone Act 1's Gapsule
  • Flying Battery Zone Act 2's Barrier Eggman
  • Lava Reef Zone Act 1's Gakin MK. II
  • Lava Reef Zone Act 2's Heat Arms
  • Hidden Palace Zone's Knuckles boss fight
  • Death Egg Zone Act 2's Final Fingers
  • Doomsday Zone's Final Weapon
  • All other bosses not mentioned are affected, such as (but not limited to) all of Sky Sanctuary's bosses.

One-Sphere Blue Spheres#

For Sonic 3 & Knuckles in particular, there is a cheat that allows all Blue Spheres stages to be cleared with Perfect status after collecting only a single Blue Sphere. This is functional in Special Stages as well as the two dedicated Blue Spheres modes in Origins. In order to activate it, set offset 0x4C3560 within the game's global variables struct to 1.

In the other games, the cheat attempts to set the global variable with the name game.ssFastClearFlag to true. However, said global variable does not actually exist in any of the games, so it has no effect.

Unused Boss Hints#

Located within the "Translation_only" text files are unused boss hints for the majority of bosses within each game's Boss Rush. It's unknown what the context for these hints would be, though they presumably would have appeared after losing to a boss.

Sonic 1#

Sonic CD#

Sonic 2#

Given that the list only includes bosses that appear in Boss Rush mode, Hidden Palace Zone's boss does not appear here.

Sonic 3 & Knuckles#

Once again, only bosses that appear in Boss Rush are listed here, so no minibosses are present. It's worth noting that Mecha Sonic Mk. II is also not included either, despite being part of Knuckles's Boss Rush. However, Mecha Sonic Mk. II's presence in Knuckles's Boss Rush route may have been a late addition, as all the data for the Boss Rush version of the fight appears at the end of their respective lists, instead of being grouped with the other Sonic 3 & Knuckles Boss Rush fights' data. As such, it's possible that when these hints were written, no hints for Mecha Sonic Mk. II were created as it was simply not present in the Boss Rush at the time.

Unused Museum Content#

Within the text files for the museum, many unused entries can be found. Although the actual corresponding media for these entries have been removed, the leftover names and descriptions are still present.

Unused Illustration Entries#

Between the English and Japanese text files, the names and descriptions assigned to every unused art entry is wildly different. Apart from one exception, the strings are blank in every other language.

English#

The majority of the unused listings describe badnik artwork, with directly translated names from Japanese.

Japanese#

Many of these entries appear to predate the introduction of the page system into the game, given that they're numbered sequels of things already featured in-game, as well as their internal order indicating such.

Unused Sound Entries#

With the exception of two entries, all of the following strings are translated in all languages.

Leftover Game Data#

The Origins executable contains leftover strings from the then-unreleased Sonic Frontiers. This actually revealed some Frontiers features that hadn't been announced at the time, such as the presence of a fishing minigame.

GameCleared
EventPlayed
TreasureMemoryGot
MonumentCleared
SculptureCleared
FirstLightPillar
FirstPortalIn
FirstPortalCleared
FirstPortalFailed
FirstChaosEmeraldStrageOpen
FirstChaosEmeraldStrageGet
SecondTutoIslandSage
ChaosEmeraldGot
BossAppearEvent
AncientBridgeCleared
GiantStatueCleared
GiantBridgeCleared
WaterfallBreakCleared
KodamaElderFirstTalked
KodamaHermitFirstTalked
FishCaught
NewFishFirstLooked
FishingBigFirstTalked
VoiceDiaryCaught
UIParryTutorialWatched
UIKodamaTutorialWatched
UIFishingTutorialWatched
UILightPillarTutorialWatched
UIMapMenuTutorialWatched
FishingSpotId
GrowFlowerStartDay
StageCaption
PortalEventExit
ScrapeBallErased
LightPoleCleared
DataRelicEnabled
BreakableColumnCrumbled
TotemPoleCleared
LimitedTimeGateCleared
GuideLightCleared
ExtendPillarCleared
ResonatorCleared
LineFlowerCleared
ObjItemDropped
KodamaTaked
KodamaElderTalked
KodamaHermitTalked
KodamaHermitSlept
SageSlept
TimerSwitchCleared
LaserReceiverCleared
TimerPanelCleared
OneWayPanelCleared
OneWayPanelManagerCleared
GateOpen
MiniBossKilled
MiniBossSpawned
FishingPortalEventExit
EventConditionCleared
MapOpened
PortalBitShow
PortalBitGot
PuzzleBarrierOpacityCleared
JinglePlayed
ActiveLightPillarNum
SealedObjectStatus
LightPillarStatus
LightPillarGroupStatus
FloorSwitchStatus
ImpactSwitchStatus
SlashCommonCleared
RotatableMirrorStatus
MovableMirrorStatus
RotatableStatueStatus
PuzzleBarrierStatus
PortalStatus
PortalBitNum
FishCoinStatus
FishingPortalStatus
TreasureChestStatus
EscapeLightStatus
GrowFlowerStatus
LaserRelicStatus
MusicBoxStatus
PowerupSeedStatus
WarpMonitorStatus
GimmickInfoStatus
KodamaFollowersNum
KodamaStockNum
TailsStatus
AmyStatus
EnemyDeadNum
MiniBossHealth
BossArea
GrowFlowerStartHour
GrowFlowerStartMin
TimerRingFlag
KodamaHermitUseDay
KodamaHermitUseHour
SageUseDay
SageUseHour
SageUseMinute
PlaySequenceId
TutoWallTime

Game Gear differences#

Game Gear titles with strobing effects have been adjusted to slow those down. These alterations differ from those made in the 3DS Virtual Console rereleases that either dim the strobing or replace it with solid color in the case of Sonic Labyrinth.

• Sonic 1: Sky Base Act 1's lightning.
• Sonic 2: Crystal Egg Zone Act 3's lightning.
• Sonic Labyrinth: Power-up get's background effect.

Revisional Differences#

v1.4.0#

Released on August 6, 2022, with the following changes:

• Added several more functioning cheat codes to the Level Select in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which had been discovered in the files long prior.
• Tails' AI has been fixed across the games, removing a bug where he would continuously jump off-screen, refusing to respawn to your location.
• Several songs in the Museum have been renamed to match what they're supposed to be called.
• Removed Coin Monitors from Debug Mode, so as to prevent players from artificially increasing their Coin count this way.
• Fixed a bug in Sonic 2 that caused the sound effect for collecting rings to be interrupted when collecting them in quick succession.
• Fixed a bug in Sonic 3 & Knuckles where the stages in Competition Mode required two controllers to be paired, regardless of the selected game mode. (Switch only)
• Various bug fixes.

v2.0.0#

Released on June 22, 2023 to coincide with the release of the game's Plus DLC, with the following changes:

• A new Sonic Team intro was added.
• Added banner under the Museum section promoting the DLC. Selecting it takes the player to the dedicated shop of whatever system they're playing on. Removed when the player already owns the DLC, obviously.
• The web manual can be viewed offline via the title screen.
• Added button mapping to the Options menu for consoles. This was previously only available on the Windows version.
• All four main games have the usage of three action buttons restored, as opposed to the two action buttons it was prior (outside of Blue Sphere, where it was still three different buttons to jump with).
• Removed roll lock physics from Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 (the other two games didn't have it from the start). As a result, the Drop Dash now controls exactly as intended across all games (though the actual implementation still slightly varies). Strangely, this also affects Classic Mode.
• Several springs have had their physics altered to better match how they were in the original games, such as one spring that was infamously gimped in Mushroom Hill Zone Act 2, and one in Metropolis Zone Act 3 that would launch the player straight into a set of spikes on the ceiling as opposed to the character not quite reaching them.
• New routes have been added to the levels in Sonic CD's Anniversary Mode for characters like Knuckles.
• Selecting Knuckles in Sonic 2 now changes the color palette of the Zone title cards from blue to green, as they were in the original version of Knuckles in Sonic 2.
• Knuckles can now Spin Dash out of a Glide's drop like in Sonic 3 & Knuckles across all four main games.
• Fixed the Launch Base Zone ending cutscene in Sonic 3 & Knuckles so that Eggman is now layered correctly behind the platform.
• Fixed the Hyper Ring monitor in Sonic 3's Debug Mode containing a corrupted HUD color palette.
• The signpost sprite is now recolored when playing as Amy to fit her pink color scheme.

• Various bug fixes.

However, it introduced a new bug:

• Sonic 1, Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles's Boss Rush modes now warp the player into the full games' levels if loaded from a previous save.
  • Doing the same as above in Sonic CD's Boss Rush now redirects the player to the 2011 remaster's main menu.

v2.0.1#

Released on August 24, 2023, with the following changes:

• The infamous bilinear pixel filter has been removed, making the game much sharper with anti-aliasing disabled.
• Players can toggle the Game Gear sound to Mono in the Options Menu, addressing the "double audio" issue.
• Game Gear games will now fit into the provided screen space properly.
• Hyper Amy (Amy with the power of the 7 Super Emeralds) will have after-images while running. However, if you watch the entirety of Amy’s intro scene arriving on Angel Island, then Hyper Amy will have no after images for all of Angel Island Act 1 (unless she goes to a Bonus Stage or dies).
• Several previously-missing frames have been added to Amy's animation in the Sonic 2 Special Stages.
• Metallic Madness Zone 2 item boxes location and contents are properly placed.
• In Quartz Quadrant Zone 2, Amy will no longer disappear as the camera moves away in certain conditions.
• Players can now pause the game while in Doomsday Zone.
• In Boss Rush mode against Egg Tilter, Knuckles will have proper rolling animations from springs.
• In Flying Battery Zone, spin-dashing into the magnetic presses will no longer result in instant collision death.
• The correct description for "Jump" is now present in the Chinese localization of the Sonic 3 & Knuckles digital manual.
• In Competition Mode, Knuckles' change direction movement has been adjusted.
• Additional physics adjustments have been made in Sandopolis Zone
• Menu text will no longer shrink after entering the Museum and returning to the Main Menu.
• Amy will now be able to complete stage loops while using her Rush Attack.
• The game will no longer crash after collecting the 6th Chaos Emerald as Sonic and Tails in Sonic 1.
• In Sonic CD, Extras that have been unlocked will permanently remain unlocked.
• In Sonic CD, Amy will appear in the proper coordinates after time traveling in certain levels.
• Save Data corruption will no longer occur in rare instances on PC.
• Various bug fixes.

However, it introduced new bugs:

• In the console versions, Tails can no longer be played all the way through Sonic 1, as the game crashes when he goes underwater in Labyrinth Zone or Scrap Brain Zone Act 3.
• Tails' physics are messed up in Sonic 1 and Sonic 2, causing him to occasionally jump much higher than he’s supposed to in certain areas.

v2.0.2#

Released on October 25, 2023, with the following changes:

• Fixed the bugs introduced in the previous patch.
• Sonic 3 and Knuckles’ Competition Mode results screen “WIN!!” and “LOSE” graphics (respectively, for the player who wins a race and for the player who loses) now appear. Before this patch, the results screen would inexplicably have both players listed as “TIE” regardless of the actual outcome of their race.

Platform Differences#

To do: Verify if the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions are locked to 30fps on the menus.

The games in the collection play identically on all platforms. The menu interface, however, has some differences.

• The PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions run the menus at 60fps, while the PS4, Xbox One and Switch run at 30fps.
• The Switch version uses lower polygonal counts and texture resolution. Post-processing has also been simplified, with no bloom and screen-space ambient occlusion.
  • Notably, the clouds are a much simpler scrolling texture plane. Other versions use a dynamic sky atmosphere, similar to Sonic Frontiers.
  • Due to the reduced polygon count, the top of the Hill Top Zone Loop on the Sonic 2 island is misaligned, though this isn't too noticeable due to the camera angle and resolution.¹
• FMV are rendered at 1080p on PS4, Xbox One and Switch. The PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC versions include additional 4K versions of the FMVs if the game is set to a resolution higher than 1080p.
• The Switch version has some touch screen support in handheld mode, acting similar to the mouse controls on PC.
• The PC version uses Denuvo DRM, similar to Sonic games on the platform since 2017.

Internal Project Name#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Is there concrete evidence of this? Hite also means someone being on a hill, which is common thing to see throughout the Classic Sonic titles.

Various files in the game, such as some sound archives and textures, refer to the game as "Hite". The name comes from Hite Brewery Company Limited.

References#