Sonic Origins rated in South Korea, key art leaks on PSN

A Sonic Origins announcement could be imminent! On Monday, the PC version of the game appeared on a South Korean ratings website and shortly thereafter artwork for the game appeared on PSN. Twitter user Tanooki Joe pointed out to us that the same art seen for Sonic Origins showed up a few weeks back in an official Sonic licensing advertisement. Between this fact, and the art being hosted on PlayStation’s servers, this is 100% real. The question now is, when will SEGA formally announce the game?

For those who haven’t been following Sonic Origins, it is a compilation of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic CD, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles. The compilation was originally announced at the Sonic Central anniversary event last May, this was the event that announced Sonic Frontiers. The games in the collection will have additional features and 16:9 support, but those additional features and the studio behind them is unknown. Also unknown is how SEGA plans to alter Sonic 3 & Knuckles so that they can sidestep the licensed music issues.

My opinion: The compilation will likely contain the Taxman and Stealth ports of Sonic 1, 2 and CD. SEGA may have also contracted the Sonic Mania team, now known as their studio name Evening Star, to create Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles in the Retro Engine. The licensed music has been redone, possibly by Tee Lopes, with brand new tunes or tunes influenced by the 1997 PC release. Knowing Taxman and team, while the game will omit some original music, the door will be open to fans who want to fiddle with the game on PC to add the music back in.

Also, not just my opinion but fact: SEGA is smart. They knew Sonic game sales saw a jump with the first Sonic movie release, and they held off on announcing Sonic Origins until Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hit theaters and Sonic was in the public consciousness. Sonic Origins will release between the movie’s release in theaters and the movie’s release digitally and to home video. Hardcore fans were buying this compilation regardless, but casual fans and those who simply saw the movie and remembered playing Sonic once at their friend’s house are far less likely to buy the compilation unless they have just recently seen Sonic 2 the movie and have Sonic on their mind.

I’ve seen some Sonic fans on Twitter losing their minds over a lack of news, but they have to understand that outside of the fanbase nobody really knows about Origins until SEGA is ready for them to know about Origins. SEGA will announce the game officially when the time is right, it will sell well because Sonic sells well when a new movie is released. Now relax!

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