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Sonic Origins

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Sonic Origins
Sonic Origins cover
Developers
Main Game & Original (Sonic 1/CD/2/3 & Knuckles) Sonic Team
Original (Sonic CD) Sega
Original (Sonic 2/3 & Knuckles) Sega Technical Institute
Remaster (Sonic 1/CD/2) Christian Whitehead
Remaster (Sonic 1/2/3 & Knuckles Headcannon
Sonic Origins Plus Yuke's[1][2]
Publishers
Sega
Engines
Menus Hedgehog Engine 2[3]
Games Retro Engine[4]
Release dates
Windows June 23, 2022
Reception
Metacritic 73
OpenCritic 77
IGDB 75
Taxonomy
Monetization DLC, One-time game purchase
Microtransactions Time-limited
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Scrolling, Side view
Controls Direct control
Genres Platform
Art styles Cartoon, Pixel art
Series Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic Origins on HowLongToBeat
Sonic Origins on IGDB
Sonic Origins guide on StrategyWiki
Sonic Origins on MobyGames
Sonic Origins on Wikipedia
Sonic the Hedgehog fangames (series)
Sonic CD 1995
Sonic's Schoolhouse 1996
Sonic 3D Blast (series)
Sonic & Knuckles Collection 1997
Sonic R (series)
Sonic Adventure (series)
Sonic Heroes 2004
Sonic Mega Collection Plus 2006
Sonic Riders 2006
Sonic Racing (series)
Sonic the Hedgehog 2010
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine 2010
Sonic Spinball 2010
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 2011
Sonic 3 & Knuckles 2011
Sonic Generations 2011
Sonic CD (2012) 2012
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I 2012
Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode II 2012
Sonic Dash 2014
Sonic Lost World 2015
Sonic Mania 2017
Sonic Forces 2017
Sonic the Hedgehog (Mobile Decompilation) 2021
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Mobile Decompilation) 2021
Sonic Colors: Ultimate 2021
Sonic Origins 2022
Sonic Frontiers 2022
The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog 2023
Sonic Superstars 2023
Sonic Dream Team 2023
Sonic X Shadow Generations 2024

Sonic Origins is a singleplayer and multiplayer side view scrolling platform game co-developed by Christian Whitehead and Headcannon in collaboration with Sonic Team and published by Sega. It is part of the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

The title is a remastered compilation of four classic Sonic the Hedgehog titles, consists of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic CD and Sonic 3 & Knuckles. It sports some additional features, including the ability to use either Sonic, Tails or Knuckles in any game, an anniversary mode with widescreen support and easier difficulty for newcomers, a story mode which plays through the four games sequentially in anniversary mode, and the Museum mode.

The game was released on June 23, 2022.

An expanded update, titled Sonic Origins Plus, was announced on March 23, 2023. The update added twelve Game Gear games, consists of Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, Sonic Blast, Sonic Chaos, Sonic Drift, Sonic Drift 2, Sonic Labyrinth, Sonic Spinball, Sonic the Hedgehog (8-bit), Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit), Sonic Triple Trouble, Tails Adventure and Tails' Skypatrol. The update also added the ability to play as Knuckles in Sonic CD or Amy in all four mainline classic games. It was released on June 23, 2023.[5][6]

A patch for Origins Plus was released on August 24th, 2023 for all platforms. It fixed some prominent issues, like the Game Gear games' poor emulation or collision issues in Sonic 3&K, as well as added a nearest-neighbouring shader, which was previously missing. Save data corruption was fixed specifically for the PC version.[7]

General information

Official manual (multilingual)
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Epic Games Store
Epic Games Launcher
Sonic Origins Plus also available.
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Sonic Origins Plus also available.
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Sonic Origins Plus also available.
Windows
All versions require Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM.[8]

Version Differences

Sonic Origins Plus: Contains the base game as well as the Plus Expansion Pack.

Monetization

Type Notes
DLC Various cosmetic features, additional missions, and remastered music are available for purchase.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Start Dash Pack Pre-order exclusive. Comes with 100 coins, an exclusive Mega Drive pillarbox background for Classic Mode, and Mirror Mode unlocked from the very start. Mirror Mode can be unlocked in the base game by beating each game or Story Mode.
Windows
Plus Expansion Pack Includes all content from the Premium Fun Pack and Classic Music Pack DLC's, twelve Game Gear titles, as well as the option to play as Knuckles in Sonic CD and Amy Rose in all four mainline games.
Included with "Sonic Origins Plus" and available as a separate purchase to owners of Sonic Origins.
Windows
Premium Fun Pack Exclusive Hard Missions, pillarbox backgrounds, character animations in menus and Music Player, and controllable camera in 3D island menus.
No longer available to purchase separately as of June 23, 2023.[6]
Windows
Classic Music Pack Bonus remastered music tracks from Genesis/Mega Drive spinoffs Sonic Spinball, Sonic 3D Blast and Knuckles' Chaotix.
No longer available to purchase separately as of June 23, 2023.[6]
Windows

Microtransactions

Type Notes
No microtransactions Sonic Origins has no microtransactions.

Essential improvements

Mod Managers

HedgeModManager

Mod manager for all Hedgehog Engine titles, including Sonic Origins. Required for all non-exe mods.
Also includes codes for limited lives in Anniversary and Mirror Modes, as well as turning off the autosave icon.

General

Sonic Origins Ultrafix

Mod to fix numerous bugs and issues with the unmodded Sonic Origins and even the original mobile releases.
Highly recommended for a truer and more stable experience.
Changes Classic Mode features to be more accurate to the original SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis releases.
Incompatible with the Epic Games Store version.
Requires OriginsPlayerPatcher.
Classic Mode changes do not affect other game modes.

Sonic Origins Classic Mode Improvement

Mod to change Classic Mode features to be more accurate to the original SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis releases.
Incompatible and made redundant by Sonic Origins Ultrafix, only install if you have the Epic Games Store version.
Classic Mode changes do not affect other game modes.

Sonic CD - Fix timing and restore SFX for Ending

Restores the original timing and slower framerate for the ending FMV in Sonic CD.
Restores the original SFX when set to the Japanese soundtrack.
Extends the US ending song "Sonic Boom" using the album version of the song.
As the video is reencoded from the vanilla Origins FMV, video quality is slightly (albeit imperceptibly) reduced from the vanilla FMV.

Graphics

Origins Blur Fix

Fixes the blur in vanilla Sonic Origins by injecting custom shaders from Sonic Mania as well as a nearest-neighboring shader.
Minimal-to-no performance impact.
Nearest-neighboring shader was added officially via a patch on August 24th, 2023, making this mod redundant outside of adding Sonic Mania's sharp interpolation or CRT shaders. To activate it, turn the anti-aliasing option off.[7]

Audio

Sonic 1 HQ OST

Replaces the default, low-quality music in Sonic 1 with a variety of different soundtracks
Includes a high quality recording from a real SEGA Genesis, the PAL SEGA Mega Drive soundtrack, the SEGA Master System soundtrack, Masato Nakamura's original demos, an early prototype soundtrack, the Dreamcast SEGA Smash Pack soundtrack, the J2ME mobile port MIDI soundtrack as played through the SC-55; SC-88; SC-88pro; SC-8820; Windows; the FatBoy MIDI soundfont; and AVS, the Game Boy Advance port soundtrack, a remastered version of said GBA soundtrack, the Sonic Classic Collection Nintendo DS soundtrack, the AtGames version soundtrack, the remastered 2013 mobile soundtrack from Christian Whitehead, the vanilla Sonic Origins soundtrack, a selection of "high quality rips" from SiIvaGunner, and a Plus Mix blending together the different soundtracks into one. The soundtrack can be chosen from one of the 21 options.
Select soundtracks in Hi-Res Audio 96 kHz.
Config version which has all soundtracks in one package cannot be automatically updated through HedgeModManager.

Sonic CD HQ OST

Replaces the default, low-quality music in Sonic CD with a variety of different soundtracks
Includes the original SEGA CD OST, the 2011 mobile OST from Christian Whitehead, the vanilla Sonic Origins soundtrack, a remastered version of the 2011 mobile OST, and a hybrid soundtrack from the Sonic CD Restored mod in either Arrange (Enhanced) and Unified (Purist) variants. The soundtrack can be chosen from one of the 6 options (with the former 4 options having Japanese and American variants selectable in-game, giving a total of 10 soundtracks).
Config version which has all soundtracks in one package cannot be automatically updated through HedgeModManager.

Sonic 2 HQ OST

Replaces the default, low-quality music in Sonic 2 with a variety of different soundtracks
Includes a high quality recording from a real SEGA Genesis, said SEGA Genesis soundtrack with an alternate song for Hidden Palace Zone, the SEGA Master System soundtrack, the SEGA Game Gear soundtrack, Masato Nakamura's original demos, a recreated version of the original Masato Nakamura demos in the game-speed, a speed corrected version of the original Masato Nakamura demos, an early prototype soundtrack discovered by Simon Wai, the J2ME mobile port MIDI soundtrack as played through the SC-55; SC-88; SC-88pro; SC-8820; Windows; the FatBoy MIDI soundfont; and AVS, the Sonic Classic Collection Nintendo DS soundtrack, the AtGames version soundtrack, the remastered 2013 mobile soundtrack from Christian Whitehead, said remastered mobile soundtrack with an alternate song for Hidden Palace Zone, the vanilla Sonic Origins soundtrack, a selection of "high quality rips" from SiIvaGunner, and a Plus Mix blending together the different soundtracks into one. The soundtrack can be chosen from one of the 22 options.
Select soundtracks in Hi-Res Audio 96 kHz.
Config version which has all soundtracks in one package cannot be automatically updated through HedgeModManager.

Sonic 3&K HQ OST

Replaces the default, low-quality music in Sonic 3&K with a variety of different soundtracks
Includes a high quality recording from a real SEGA Genesis, said SEGA Genesis soundtrack with an alternate song for Super Sonic, an early prototype soundtrack, the General MIDI soundtrack of the Sonic & Knuckles Collection PC port as played back through General MIDI; the FatBoy MIDI soundfont; AVS; the SC-88pro; the SC-88VL; and the Sound Blaster AWE32, the FM Synthesizer soundtrack of Sonic & Knuckles Collection PC port as played back through FM Synthesizer; the FatBoy MIDI soundfont; AVS; Nuked OPL3; and OPL3, the Sonic Classic Collection Nintendo DS soundtrack, the AtGames version soundtrack, the vanilla Sonic Origins soundtrack, Bouncy Glow's prototype remaster, Mastered Realm's prototype remaster, Mastered Realm's Origins remaster, a selection of "high quality rips" from SiIvaGunner, S3 Alternate, S&K Alternate, S3&K Alternate (a combination of the two aforementioned Alternate soundtracks, the Sonic 3 A.I.R. remastered soundtrack, said Sonic 3 A.I.R. remastered soundtrack with an alternate song for Super Sonic, Sonic 3 Complete Mindfuck, and a Plus Mix blending together the different soundtracks into one. Some but not all of the soundtracks have Sonic 3 and Sonic 3&K variants, while the regular Sonic 3 A.I.R. soundtracks also have prototype variants of Sonic 3 and Sonic 3&K. The soundtrack can be chosen from one of the 49 options.
Select soundtracks in Hi-Res Audio 96 kHz.
Optionally restores the original Michael Jackson songs from the SEGA Genesis release.
Config version which has all soundtracks in one package cannot be automatically updated through HedgeModManager.

Classic Music Pack HQ OST

Replaces the default, low-quality music in the Classic Music Pack DLC with a variety of different soundtracks
Includes high quality recording of the Sonic Spinball and Sonic 3D Blast soundtracks from a real SEGA Genesis and a high quality recording of the Knuckles' Chaotix soundtrack from a real SEGA 32X; alongside the alternate SEGA Saturn soundtrack of Sonic 3D Blast and the vanilla Sonic Origins soundtracks for all three games. The Sonic 3D Blast soundtrack can be chosen from one of the 2 options (as well as an alternate vanilla Sonic Origins option for all three games), giving a total of 7 soundtracks.
All non-vanilla soundtracks in Hi-Res Audio 96 kHz.
Cannot be updated automatically through HedgeModManager like the other standalone versions.
Requires owning a legitimate copy of the Classic Music Pack DLC.

The HQ OST Compilation

An all-in-one compilation of the five HQ OST mods above in one package.
21 soundtrack options in Sonic 1, 6 soundtrack options in Sonic CD (with 4 soundtracks having different Japanese and American variants selectable in-game), 22 soundtrack options in Sonic 2, 49 soundtrack options in Sonic 3&K and 3 options in the Classic Music Pack.
109 separate soundtracks in one mod package.
Select soundtracks in Hi-Res Audio 96 kHz.
Cannot be updated automatically through HedgeModManager like the standalone versions.
The complete package is 11 GB in size, even larger than the vanilla Sonic Origins game.
Listening to the upgraded Classic Music Pack soundtrack requires owning a legitimate copy of the Classic Music Pack DLC.

Original Remaster SFX Pack

Restores all the sound effects from the 2013/2011 mobile versions of Sonic 1, 2, and CD.
Holds an option to change only noticeably different SFX in Sonic CD.
Does not restore the vocal lines from Sonic and Amy in Sonic CD.

Sonic CD Voicelines Restored

Restores all of Sonic and Amy's vocal lines from Sonic CD.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Epic Games Launcher
Steam %APPDATA%\Sega\SonicOrigins\steam\x64\screen_setting.xml
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1794960/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Epic Games Launcher %APPDATA%\Sega\SonicOrigins\epic\<user-id>\game\data.dat
Steam %APPDATA%\Sega\SonicOrigins\steam\<user-id>\game\data.dat
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1794960/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Epic Games Launcher
Steam Cloud

Video

Graphics settings
Graphics settings
Letterbox settings
Letterbox settings

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Each game's "Classic Mode" is pillarboxed to a 4:3 aspect ratio, with an optional border.
Multi-monitor
[9]
Ultra-widescreen
Aspect ratios wider than 16:9 are pillarboxed to a 16:9 aspect ratio.[10]
Works on the mobile versions of Sonic 1, 2 and CD. There should be a workaround.
4K Ultra HD
[11][12]
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Likely bilinear filtering. To activate nearest-neighbour filter, turn anti-aliasing off.[13]
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS
Main menu, Sonic 1 and 2 run at ~59 fps due to an imprecise frame rate limiter; Sonic CD and 3 & Knuckles are capped at ~63 FPS. See Issues fixed.[14]
Gameplay is locked to the frame rate and refresh rate. See Frame rate (FPS).
120+ FPS
Capped at 60 FPS.
High dynamic range display (HDR)
HDR native only for console versions. Use Auto HDR for PC.
Ray tracing (RT)

Frame rate (FPS)

The frame rate is partially locked to the refresh rate of the monitor, regardless of V-Sync. A refresh rate of 40 or below will cap the frame rate at 40 FPS, while a refresh rate of 60 or above will cap the frame rate at 60 FPS. A refresh rate between 40 and 60 will cap the frame rate to that refresh rate (so 50 Hz locks the game to 50 FPS).
The gameplay is synced to the frame rate, and targets 60 FPS to deliver a full speed (100%) experience. This means that 40 FPS (40 Hz or below) will run the game at 66.67% speed (a 1/3 slowdown) and 50 FPS (50 Hz) at 83% speed (a 1/6 slowdown).
Configure the monitor to run at 60 Hz or higher to play the game at full speed

Resolution scaling

Similar to other games using Retro Engine, a slight smoothing effect is applied to all games when they are upscaled to a resolution that is not an exact multiplier of the base resolution, irrespective of the anti-aliasing option. This is an intentional decision to prevent pixel "shimmering" or "wobbling" compared to a nearest-neighbor scaled image while providing a sharper pixel image quality than regular linear filtering methods.
Use custom shader injection
Includes options to disable filtering, CRT filters, and filters ported directly from Sonic Mania.

Input

Keyboard and mouse bindings
Keyboard and mouse bindings
Gamepad settings (Xbox One layout)
Gamepad settings (Xbox One layout)

Keyboard and mouse State Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Partial support.
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion
Controller types
XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration
PlayStation controllers
PlayStation button prompts
Light bar support
Adaptive trigger support
DualSense haptic feedback support
Connection modes Wireless (Bluetooth),

Generic/other controllers
Additional information
Button prompts
The "Button Icon" setting allows manually selecting between Xbox Wireless, Xbox 360, DualShock 4, DualSense, or Nintendo Switch controller prompts. It'll also detect what controller is connected and use those button icons by default upon boot-up.[15][16]
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M
Keyboard and button prompts change from one another when inputting from separate controllers in menus.[17]

Audio

Sound settings
Sound settings

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Separate sliders for Sound Effects and Music.
Surround sound
Stereo only.[18]
Subtitles
There is no voice acting in any of the games.
Sonic CD's vocal songs in the NA and EU/JP versions are not subtitled.
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Text language settings
Text language settings
Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
The theme songs for Sonic CD in the NA and EU/JP versions are sung in English. [2]
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
2 Co-op, Versus
Not available in Sonic CD. Sonic 1 is Co-op only and is only accessible through the level select code.
LAN play
Online play
Leaderboards only.

Issues fixed

Refresh rate/frame rate mismatch

Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2 run at frame rates somewhat beneath 60 FPS; this mismatch induces severe, consistent stuttering in both games when played without adaptive sync. Sonic CD and 3 & Knuckles are capped at ~63 FPS.
Use Special K's "Sleepless Render Thread" option and cap frame rate to 60 FPS[19]
Provides better frame pacing compared to game and fixes potential frame rate problems.

Game won't launch if you have a non-ASCII character in your Windows profile

Enable Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support.[20]
  1. Go to Control Panel.
  2. Click on "Change date, time, or number formats".
  3. Switch to the "Administrative" tab.
  4. Click on "Change system locale...".
  5. Check "Beta: Use Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support".
  6. Press OK and allow Windows to restart your system.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 11
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Criware [21]
Cutscenes Criware [22]

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 10
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i5-2400 3.1 GHz
AMD FX-8350 4.2 GHz
System memory (RAM) 6 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GTX 760
AMD Radeon HD 7870
2 GB of VRAM
A 64-bit operating system is required.


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1794960/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1794960) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. Verified by User:Fds29 on 2023-11-22
    Seen in the updated credits for the Plus release. A particular section for Yuke's in the development staff was added which wasn't there previously.
  2. Game RELEASES | YUKE'S Co., Ltd. - last accessed on 2023-11-22
  3. Sajid on Twitter - last accessed on 2022-06-22
    "Since Sonic Origins is out in certain parts of the world, there have been some fun discoveries.It appears the game uses a mixture of Hedgehog Engine and Retro Engine. The menus are in HE2 and the collection is using Retro Engine."
  4. Christian Whitehead on Twitter - last accessed on 2023-05-19
    "Alright, looks like I can finally come clean and say that RSDK(v5U) is putting in work on Origins"
  5. Sonic Origins Plus launches June 23, 2023 - last accessed on 2023-06-24
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Sonic Origins Plus is available now! - last accessed on 2023-06-24
  7. 7.0 7.1 Sonic Origins Plus – Patch Notes - last accessed on 2023-08-25
  8. Sonic Origins on Steam - last accessed on 2022-04-20
    "Incorporates 3rd-party DRM: Denuvo Anti-tamper"
  9. Verified by User:MasterBlaster on 2022-06-29
    Tested on a multi-monitor setup.
  10. Verified by User:MasterBlaster on 2022-06-29
    Tested by playing the game at 2560x1080 resolution.
  11. Sonic Origins - Official Trailer, "4k and 60FPS on PC, Xbox and PlayStation only."
  12. Verified by User:MasterBlaster on 2022-06-29
    Tested by playing the game at 3840x2160 resolution.
  13. [1] - last accessed on 2023-08-25
  14. Verified by User:Cn9740 on 2022-06-25
  15. Verified by User:Cn9740 on 2022-06-23
  16. Verified by User:MasterBlaster on 2022-06-29
  17. Verified by User:MasterBlaster on 2022-06-29
    Tested by inputting a direction on my keyboard and pressing the jump button on my DualShock 4 controller at the same time.
  18. Verified by User:MasterBlaster on 2022-06-29
    Tested in 7.1 using Orban Loudness Meter in conjunction with Razer Surround.
  19. Verified by User:Cn9740 on 2022-06-25
    Tested with Special K disabled and Special K enabled and observing frame rates with both. Frame times were better when these settings were applied with SK.
  20. ĐeäTh on Twitter: “(This also fixes the issue present in #SonicOrigins found the original tweet as a quote tweet.)” - last accessed on 2022-10-24
  21. Add HCA key for Sonic Origins by blueskythlikesclouds · Pull Request #1152 · vgmstream/vgmstream - last accessed on 2022-06-22
  22. Verified by User:Cn9740 on 2022-06-23