Did SEGA Sabotage Sonic Origins? - Dev Says Final Product is NOT What They Turned In 

The obsession with hitting anniversary dates to the detriment of the final product is a plague. I recall this being the case of a botched release for the anniversary of a different Japanese franchise as well. Execs need to get it through their thick skulls that no one gives a flying fck bout anniversaries, they just want a good end product

This is a common misconception. Headcannon did not work on this game. They worked on the individual games separately, but this game as a collection was not their project. It was an internal SEGA project. SEGA used some of their work and integrated it into this project. STEALTH has reiterated this several times on twitter. If patches come, they will most likely be from SEGA, not Headcannon.

You know what's so bizarre? Sega and their other subsidiaries are often really good with their stuff. Like all the Yakuza games and how they came to PC, and then Atlus and Persona, and so on. But geezus they fumble sonic on the regular and I just can't understand why At this point, they should've just ported Mega Collection

I fell like there should be a “developers rights act” that makes it to where when the game needs a delay then the company as to let it be delayed BUT the developers have to give a reason if the reason is that there’s a lot of bugs or game breaking bugs or just bugs that are annoying then they have a right to delay it

"their downfall lead by slating games for anniversary released date and failed the market not only that but unplayable which is sonic 06." *Did sega learn there lesson not to interrupt the dev until it is complete and until its a finish product... no they keep pulling the plug and publish it without the devs consent.*

I'm 100% on board with you. As a dev I completely see where HeadCannon is coming from and there is some micro manager at Sega patting themselves on the back, not knowing the damage they've done. This hurts because ALL software is riddled with quality issues. The music was the last straw for me. I'm not mad, I'm disappointed.

They learned NOTHING from Sonic 06 did they?

I’m pretty tired of Sega butchering the franchise I grew up loving. Release, after release.

Oh, so Sega screwed up another Sonic game? Water is wet and the sky is blue.

What's going on at SEGA is one of the misteries of the universe. It's like they want to ruin it all.

When I first heard that Origins had Denuvo DRM, I just started laughing. These games are literally 30 years old, I could probably pirate them by accident. Who is Sega trying to protect here?

"My dealings with most of the SOA staff were actually very pleasant for the most part. The people I talked to directly were very respectful, including Iizuka-san, who I am very saddened to know is so hated for things so far beyond his control. He is cool and deserves better. - Stealth" Sonic Team DOES care. It's Sega's higher ups that don't. It's beyond their power.

Sega: We're so good at messing up Sonic that we can't even get the games people like right!

This is second time Sega sabotage their own game the first time was Sonic boom rise of lyrics it's so weird that Sega keep making these weird decisions.

This is how Sega treats their fans, how they treat the team that made them Mania. It's a bit hard to hear about. It's almost like they take advantage of their fans' loyalty. I feel like they just wanted to use the Headcannon name this time.

We’ll all be dead before Sonic games are on par with Mario

Despite loving the collection, I am just so confused about why Sega and the Sonic team cannot learn from their mistakes, man, and this is the second time that a Sonic product was rushed in recent memory. Last year, they released Sonic colors ultimate, which was rushed, was not optimized for the hardware, some glitches weren't in the original release, cutscenes that looked worse than before, and Sonic's model looked way too shiny. In addition, some of the levels were darker and brighter than their original versions. How does sega release a bunch of 30-year-old games that have been released to the moon and back on many consoles and collections that were emulated well, yet they messed this one for Sonic's 31st anniversary by rushing it to coincide with his birthday? We want products we spend our hard-earned money made with love and passion, not laziness and half heart nonsense.

I had Sonic Mega Collection on PS2. That was over 15 years ago. I remember being pretty happy with that.

Give me reasons that sega shouldnnt be roasted for limiting the devs for wanting to fix the game more?

This begs the question: Have Sega hated Sonic so much that they were willing to do whatever to sabotage his momentum?

Imagine what Sonic Team goes through.. They barely get anytime to make there game.

Did Sega just miss a second easy slam dunk?

Hey that "Bug" of Tails just constantly jumping is not anything new. I can recreate it in Sonic 2 mobile and Sonic 2 on Sonic's Mega Collection Plus on the PS2. Tails just so happens to not return to the player properly in that specific zone and i think it is because of how the zone is layed out. So again, that "bug" featured in this video is NOT a Sonic Origins exclusive issue. And the problem fixes itself eventually after just playing through the level or beating it.

Honestly, I think the entire gaming industry needs a total cleaning of leadership, or at least the AAA part of the industry. Time and time again, companies that have had decent or even great reputations with the products they make keep getting exposed for decisions made by the higher-ups, the CEOs and whatnot, of these companies. Seriously, can we get some sort of gaming unionization or even a standard for how gaming companies should be run across the entire industry? Because this is getting ridiculous. Gaming is probably bigger than it's ever been, yet it could become somewhat niche again (like it was for America during the early 80s following the 1983 crash). I won't say it's going to crash so hard that it becomes taboo, but there is a potential that the industry could start suffering massive problems because of how these morons keep running these AAA gaming studios.

The escort mission for Sonic 2 was really easy considering tails was trapped off screen

Sonic forces: Sonic Running like a maniac Sonic Origins : Tails Jumping like a maniac

The past Sonic games like Generations was never released on Sonic's birthday, but Origins doesn't get a pass? Wut?

Sega sabotaged Lyric this is nothing new, but there will continue to be Sonic fans that will worship the company only because they allow fangames, but we know why they really allow fangames, and it's not out of generosity.

Yeah, can’t wait for the patches to roll out. There’s no way Sega is going to bar the HC team from coming in and fixing the game after the lead of the team just exposed Sega for their shitty time management and forced a major time-crunch on a product that wasn’t even fully completed. Still very disappointed with Sega on this one, and props to everyone on the HeadCanon team for working so hard with such little time.

Sad to see segas management is this incompetent

Every time I think about getting this collection, I see more stuff like this. No plans for post-release fixes?? I'm just going to play Mania again until this gets sorted out.

They sabotaged it when they decided to not put the effort to get the rights to the music back. Don't tell me it couldn't be done when we just got Shredder's Revenge and the Cowabunga Collection coming (a $25 game and a $40 collection respectively). Sure they didn't get the exact same opening music; but they found a good work around and put more effort with that department than Sega.

At this point I genuinely want to see Sega go under, so their IPs are sold to some rando who has a higher chance of actually caring about making great games, making art.

How is that Capcom can get sprite based collections right but SEGA can’t?!

No Physical release is what angers me the most

I'll just go get me the mega collection. Far better deal at an extremely cheap price

I... don't even know how to feel about Sega anymore

To bring up the elephant in the room I usually don't hear people bring up or want to say, 90% of the problems with Sonic often come from Sega of Japan who act like they are the only reason Sonic was ever successful when most of the work was due to Sega of America's marketing campaign being most of the reason the hedgehog ever got popular to begin with...and SoJ being unable to ever accept the realization Japan rarely cared even a tenth as much about Sonic as people outside Japan do. Due to this weird pride and unable to accept the idea of foreigners doing better than their own Japanese devs/ect. because Japan be that way, it's often turned into this weird disdain for whenever non-Japanese devs make something Sonic-related officially that outshines whatever their own Japanese team does, and often actual sabotage or meddling happens because this strange need to put them down because the suits up top can't handle their pride being hurt over this, that they can't handle the idea that others besides them who do great work are the reason Sonic has somehow survived this long. And I wouldn't be shocked if Sega of Japan has badly wanted to meddle with the movies as well as they got more popular because of course. Honestly, if you truly want Sonic to get big again and finally end this endless cycle of meddling and destroying Sonic's every chance to return fully as a beloved name, you need to get the suits up top at SoJ to finally stop being so prideful and hurt the moment others outside their home country do better than their in-country team.

Sega's assholery will never change, especially when it comes to Sonic. They will keep on rushing Sonic games for profit. Like in 1991, like in 2006, like in 2014. This will never change unless, we show Sega this is unacceptable, by *not buying* their products.

This is a higher up issue, not Sega. Headcannon even stated that Izuka shouldn’t be blamed, because the higher ups told Sonic Team to make changes. I read the whole thread on twitter.

Knowing all of this I probably wouldn’t have bought this, as I still have the DS collection. Sega really just doesn’t learn. Why they could not have just bought the music rights, delayed the game half a year or something, and then released the full game at $40 is beyond me. Actually it’s not. They want more money.

I've only played sonic 1 so far in Origins and I'm noticing strange things like delayed taking damage animations.

Hell, remember those pre-order bonuses? I didn't pre-order the game, so now if I wanted to buy it, I know that I'm gonna be gated out of some of the game's content. What happens next? I get bummed out and don't buy it, bravo SEGA, excellent marketing move.

Not surprised. This is why I have 0 expectations for Frontiers.

Its got to the point where Sega needs to outsource and allow 3rd party licensing of Sonic at this point. They have absolutely RUINED the Icon for way to many years. RIP Sonic

Why does SEGA seem to neglect this franchise? Does some secret higher-up hate it or something? I don't understand how this is happening to their most iconic character. 😔 I'm not even a huge Sonic fan, though I see the older games and what the community has made... and that makes me so desperately want to be apart of the series. It's honestly disheartening watching this on the sidelines.

I brought the Digital Deluxe Version as it had music tracks for Knuckles' Chaotix and 3D Blast. As soon as I listen to Midnight Greenhouse from Knuckles' Chaotix, it played the wrong song (The song was Seascape). The same thing happened with 3D Blast. I played The Credits theme and instead it played the Invincibility theme. Sega really needs to fix this mess of a game-

Yet again, Sega fumble the ball, and it's even worse here because this should NOT be such a difficult situation. Especially when these are games that are up to 31 years old!

Sega making stupid choices again. You'd think they'd have learned after Sonic 2006 but no. Another thing I don't get is they've put Sonic 3 on compilation game in the past (Sonic Jam, Mega Collection and Mega Drive compilations) and left the music intact, why is it an issue now?

Remember when Iizuka was so butthurt that Mania did better than Forces that he immediately cut ties with Headcannon until now and shot down any hopes for a sequel? And now we get this and it begins to hurt Headcannon's reputation? Funny that. :v

I kinda figured they wouldn't let these guys work on a sonic game again after mania cause even then there was tension between the company and them, and now this happens its like Sega just wants to use them for their work and for them to shut up and follow management regardless of how flawed their system is. It's a shame but now for certain, they're not gonna be allowed to make another game, and it's all cause Sega management is incompetent and have their heads up their own ass.

I still see sonic fans claim sega loves sonic and I don't get their logic

I haven’t bought a sonic game in years because everything they put out has had issues for so long now I just expect it

We just cannot have good things from Sega :/

Was expecting Sega to do shit on Origins, but never expected some real bad shit at fucking ALL.

Btw in Sonic 2 if Tails gets stuck look up and jump he’ll start flying and after a bit that usually brings him back

All the tweaks they made to the classic games could’ve been done in 1 week. If headcannon and stealth fully developed this game it would’ve been much better. The graphics would’ve been similar to sonic mania and they would’ve remixed the soundtrack.

Sega higher ups need to apologise to everyone even to Sonic Team,Christian Whithead and Sonic himself. I hope Sonic Origins gets second chance Hopefully Better wait for Sonic Origins Plus(Fixe issuies,Restore MJ music and add Knuckles Chaotix,add Game gear games)

Sonic Origins is now known as "Sonic Rushed Adventure". Lol

Now, it has been literal decades since I last played Sonic 2 for the Genesis, but I'm pretty sure this glitch COULD happen in that game as well (I always figured that they coded some trigger in that would respawn Tails if the AI got off screen, but maybe they tied that into repeated jump commands? I don't know.) **Could** does not mean that is happened often though. This sounds very close to unplayable, if you're constantly going to hear the obnoxious jump sound over and over on the default mode.

I didn't even preorder the game because of Sega's very patchy track record with Sonic, never mind their own decision making which severely lack logic or common sense. Plus, the fact this bundle costs £33 for the standard edition and £37 for the deluxe edition, both of which are digital, are very big turn offs that swayed my decision to not get the game at all in the end. And I've bought a lot of first party Switch games which all cost the same or less than Sonic Origins. Like Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes which released today and even The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild from over five years ago cost less, both of which were also preordered.

This is nothing new, as far back as Sonic 1, Sega has always been infamous for rushing Sonic games and mistreating its devs, it is why Yuji Naka almost left before getting rehired by STI, it is why Sonic 2 couldnt have all their levels implemented like Genocides City or Hidden Palace, it is why Sonic 3 had to be split into two parts, it is why the early 3d entries show signs of lack of polish like glitches or mechanics which havent been completley thought through, it is why 06 ended up as buggy and as unpolished as it is, even Unleashed, Gens, and Colors which I would consider the most polished Sonic games have many unpolished elements, Unleashed with the Sun and Moon medals and Warehog, Colors with its extra acts, and Gen's short length so.e extra missions being bad can be attributed to a possibly rushed development. Not to mention the recent 3d Sonic games with Boom, Lost World and Forces not having the quality check it needed, and Mania during its launch had many bugs, and thats only talking about the rushed development, and now we go to Frontiers which ngl has rushed elements like pop in a game that has been in development for half a decade and it still has all this rushed garbage, thats not mentioning other things such as Sega being all like hey there is this new trend in gaming and I just want you guys to shove it into Sonic without knowing weather or not it will actually work for him. This isnt just a Sonic problems with their misuse of their old IPs such as JSR, Carzy Taxi, Samba de Amigo, Monkey Ball and more. Not to mention games like PSO 2 which isnt doing to well. Sega should really start treating their developers well. They shouldnt just give them more time but also try to trust their devs more, they should trust their devs to do the right job and give them the oppurtunities they need, not only will this ensure better qualities of games but they will also trust you more and continue to just work with you, I mean their is a reason why a lot of Sega's old devs left.

Sega really just pisses me off sometimes. This rushing games to hit an anniversary IS LITERALLY WHAT CAUSED THE INFAMOUS SONIC 06!

As soon as it was announced, I asked myself “Okay, so why should I buy this when I already own Sonic CD and the other Sonic titles in the Genesis collection on Steam?” This just screamed corporate cash grab from day one that was thought up a year ago by corporate execs looking to pounce on the opportunity in selling something “on Sonic’s birthday.” They just wanted it made quick, cheap, and out on “Sonic’s birthday” to make as much money off of the nostalgia factor and brand loyalty fans have for the Sonic franchise. Shame how the coders want to focus on quality, the corporate execs and marketing teams say “too bad” because they’re too obsessed with money and stats, then the coders get blamed since at face value they appear to be incompetent, lazy, and indifferent to the quality of the final product. I would’ve figured Sega was better than some of these other companies that release broken titles day one, but I guess they too fell into the trap of “Release it now, fix it later.”

I can assure all of you that there is a good game coming out. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s called Sonic Studio. It’s like Mario Maker but really well made and it needs more attention and support because not many people know about it. It has a great OST and the devs listen to the people. AND IT ISN’T EVEN MADE BY SEGA! So go support it. It’s going to be free when it releases too.

It's not like sonics birthday is a national holiday. I didn't know there was such thing. The only ones that would know are the dedicated base that would get the game regardless.

Am I the only one that's majorly upset that there are no multiple saves with Sonics 1, 2, and CD in origins? I was really hoping I could do a Super Sonic run in Sonic 2 but I have to erase my save and collect the emeralds every single time to do so. Why would they remove multiple saves if the mobile port had them!?

At this point I’m really convinced that SEGA does not care about Sonic or his fans at all anymore. You know I had more hope for Origins than Frontiers, I figured you couldn’t mess it up but it’s really making me concerned for Frontiers even more-so now.

I’m pretty sure Stealth didn’t want this blowing up like this. The more people talk about it and jump to conclusions the less likely we’ll have a future game from the devs at headcannon.

"Must be a day that ends in Y" Best thing I've heard in a long time 🤣😂💀

Sega has hated Sonic since day 1, it's a miracle it has been so successful and alive for so long!

I got the PS4 version, and haven't noticed any issues thus far - every game has played smoothly. Just wondering if anyone has encountered bugs on that port? I'm honestly surprised to hear about this, because that's legit if it's coming from Stealth - but I've been happy with the release.

The OG Sonic Games are Sega’s Kanto region. Idk how many times people can buy the same games over and over again.

The collection is garbage. Neutered soundtrack, minimal enhancements, high asking price, poor development communication, and meddling by Sonic Team. You're a buffoon if you paid for this.

Unionization in gaming industry an absolute must. From microtransactions to easy mistakes, surely devs been clawing the wall for the very same nitpicks-criticisms commentators point out - it's clear as day to them as it is to us. Unions and you have developer freedom to perfect their visions period.

I work in TV and have seen the exact fairy dust ass logic that lead to that decision -.- Entertainment producers who make budgets and do the broader decisions but don't touch the product directly have all kinds of dumb woowoo and raindances like "it's the main character's birthday!" and all this shit because it's something THEY can say they made a call on later. They can't actually affect the product but still have to be "needed" so they can pay themselves and have superfluous shit to brag about for future job prospects. It's obvious to anyone looking, but this is even more RAMPANT than one might think among execs and such all over entertainment.

Post-release fixes not happening? That's a bummer, it's not a broken game by any means but lots of noticeable errors and bugs take away from these games' legacies.

This is pathetic. If origins has bugs you already know frontiers will too…

The thing is, this wasn't even Sonic's 30th anniversary. That was last year. It's his 31th anniversary.

They pushed for the 23rd of June because it was sonics birthday they wanted it to coincide with that which is why they didn't delay. But this situation reminds me of sonic 06 honestly

Well I'm not surprised this is the first time they did this with the Mania team of course Sonic Mania was rushed and now Sega with their money practices and want to get more money messed up this a little bit.

Usually I find it very hard to be interested in commentary channels, but you have a voice that's laid back and great for me!

Major problems I had with this game so far, at least Sonic 3 and Knuckles, the tops in Marble Garden doesn't work, the hang swing in Mushroom Hill doesn't work, I died flying with Sonic and Tails on the first carnival night zone boss as it was being destroyed got crushed as I reached floor level while flying had to do the boss over again, Sonic Hyper homing attack will still give you seizure, speed cap is broken noticable in carnival night zone, and finally you collect coins in a Sonic game. That's just Sonic 3 by the way, I'm holding off on Sonic Frontiers for sure

Sonic 2 has released 4 different times on Switch now: Sega Ages Sega Genesis Classics NSO Expansion Pack Sonic Origins.... Sega has a problem.

What on Earth are Sega doing? This could have been great.

I see your making the video! glad yo see you on here and twitter!

Sega really is their worst enemy

They will deadass never learn

I’m upset about the original 3 & K MJ music not being in the game, the prototype versions aren’t as good and don’t fit as well Plus the prototype music they used iI’m upset about the original 3 & K MJ music not being in the game, the prototype versions while fine on their own aren’t as good and don’t fit as well Plus the prototype music they used is worse than the original prototype music Why can’t they get this issue sorted out so they can use the release versions, these versions don’t fit as well and the tone and feeling isn’t the same at all. IK there are still versions with the original music and origins will have mods on pc (and the music is online) but still it’s not ideal I am at least glad CD still lets you select the soundtrack versions Also I wish they had included other games as well as have other options like playing 3 or sonic and knuckles on their own and maybe a few more modes or something (perhaps even a few more characters even as just skins) This is all on top of issue of the games having issues of them not all playing exactly the same

*I’m so glad I still have my Sonic Gems Plus on PS2*

They sabotaged Sonic origins when they sold us the same game..... again.....I hope they have mania 2 in the cut....I've been playing s3Ak since is was 7...... I mean I am happy at the end of the day but you get it

Remember that colors and origins were made by another studio or developers, meaning SEGA is rushing these studios on purpose, Since Frontiers is going to be a mainline sonic game SEGA studio is giving all that focus to frontiers and give us something to be "distracted " with these recent releases while they finish and polish frontiers. Let's remember the frontiers footage is from an early build But still SEGA should give these devs and studios they're time I don't like the fact that they are being to harsh on them

I’ve played 1 and cd so far and the problem i have is the drop dash for some reason it feels really stiff and it’s only fixed in one position

How many times does Sega need to make the **exact same mistake, every single time they release anything?**

Sega is constantly rushing out Sonic games. Sonic 2 and CD had levels cut due to dead lines. Sonic 3 was silt in half due to dead lines. Sonic Heros wasn't given enough time to be polished due to dead lines. Shadow the Hedgehog and 06 was shat out the door. Sonic Boom was forced onto a platform that couldn't hadn't it's engine then was rushed out. Sonic Colors U was Shat out the door.

Glad i discovered Sonic 3 Air recently. Sonic Team isn't getting a cent from me. Not from Origins or Frontiers. Sega/Sonic Team is absolutely pathetic.

I'm so done with Sega, not even gonna buy this anymore

Seems all too common these days that games are released before they are completely finished and as time goes on hopefully things get fixed

This feels like what Halo MCC back 8 years earlier and was left in Silence were it's so buggy and unpolished until years later in 2018 to 2019 were they did fix those issues and get new updates and they still do updates from time to time, I feel like this is going to happen but it's Sonic Origins instead or Some modders can fix it for them, it's going to happen but i may be feel it's true.

As long as major issues are fixed by a physical release if there is one, then I think that's fine. I think this has game has been pretty enjoyable playing through sonic 1 and cd so far