168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Sonic Origins has arrived, so of course I've been playing the original Sonic games from start to finish for the 1000th time. Not like this, though. Having them stitched together via new cutscenes has added depth to 30-year-old games I've already played countless times before on just about every console I've ever owned. Like I'm playing one big game rather than a bunch of shorter ones back-to-back. It feels different, I like it, and it has resulted in me comparing elements of the games that I've never really considered before.
I'm talking about bonus levels. Sega could have very easily copied and pasted the original 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Sonic the Hedgehog's bonus levels into the handful of games that came after it. Yes, the visual quality of the series improved with each entry, but not so much that the rotating maze couldn't have been tweaked slightly and used as a means to hide the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic in his first four or five games. It's a testament to Sega that it didn't do this. That the teams behind those first few games came up with various different concepts. It only makes sense that Dr. Robotnik would feel the need to mix things up after Sonic successfully discovered all the emeralds first time around.
The thing is, I kind of wish those bonus levels had lasted. When I originally played the very first Sonic games, I was wowed by everything a new installment had to offer. New zones, new characters, and yes, new bonus levels. When I cracked open Sonic 2 for the first time and hit that half pipe, the first game's spinning mazes couldn't have been further from my mind. The same goes for Sonic 3 as I ran faster and faster around a small sphere, desperately trying to find all the blue orbs.
It wasn't until playing these games and their bonus levels again recently, three decades after visiting them for the first time, that I realized I have a favorite. A clear favorite, actually, and it's the original. Sonic getting dropped into a spinning maze, tasked with avoiding the goals and finding each level's Chaos Emerald. Always surrounded by gems you need to chip away at. Weird polygonal birds and fish as the backdrop. Haunting music playing as you go which I'm humming right now, and I bet you are too if you've played the levels yourself.
I realize a written description of those levels for someone who has no idea what I'm talking about makes them sound pretty stressful. That couldn't be further from the truth. They're actually incredibly relaxing, at least for me. The music, the colors, the concept. They're very un-Sonic, but I think that's a good thing. There's no rush, you don't gotta go fast, it's actually better if you take it slow. Look for the switches that will change the direction the maze is rotating. Dashing in and bouncing off those and the Casino Night bumpers will likely see you fall into a goal pretty fast. Take your time, look for the route, and get the emerald.
For those who haven't played Origins, its Anniversary Mode has a new coin system. You have infinite lives (yay!) which means when you collect 100 rings or find an item box in which there would normally be an extra life, you'll get a coin instead. Also, before you get your knickers in a twist about playing the games "properly", there's also a Classic Mode in which lives still matter. Back to the coins, and they can be used to buy additional attempts at bonus stages. If I do fall into a goal, I have no qualms spending a coin and having another go. I almost welcome it. In Sonic 2, however, having to spend a hard-earned coin and play through the bonus stage all over again fills me with rage.
Sonic 2's bonus stages are about as different from the first game's as they possibly could be, and despite the argument I'm trying to make, for good reason. At least at the time the game launched. My mind was blown by the visuals of the new bonus levels as a kid. I had never seen anything like it in a video game. Everything prior to that for me had been 2D sidescrollers. Using Sonic in third person and the game appearing as if it was in 3D was incredible. That obviously doesn't wow me as much anymore, and when I do fail to collect enough rings to make it to a level's Chaos Emerald, I begrudge handing over a coin so I could have another go.
The same applies to Sonic 3. That faux 3D aesthetic remained, but in the Blue Blur's third chapter, you were tasked with turning blue orbs red rather than collecting rings. There seems to be a lot of love for these levels from older Sonic fans, but honestly, I don't get it. If I were to rank all four bonus stages in Sonic Origins, the ones in 3 & Knuckles would come dead last, maybe because I'm notoriously bad at them. Special shout out to the UFO-chasing levels in Sonic CD while I'm thinking about it. CD had somehow evaded me my entire life until Origins, and I'm a big fan of its bonus levels.
The way I play these games now compared to the way I played them in the early '90s probably has a lot to do with why those original bonus levels will forever be my favorite, and why I didn't realize I even had a preference until now. When I played the games the first time around, I had time to cool off between bonus level attempts. I didn't have a pile of coins and couldn't throw one the game's way every time I wanted another try. I needed to wait until I found another giant ring, or activated a checkpoint.
Now I play them over and over until I get those emeralds or coins, failing to finish them the first time of asking gets real old, real fast. The rotating maze is the only one where I'm fine with that, and on top of everything else I've already mentioned, not needing 20 attempts and using up all my coins to complete them probably has a big part to play in that. It's a shame there isn't a mode in Origins where you can play them all back-to-back. Something for Sega to think about when the games are inevitably repackaged and released on whatever generation of consoles comes next.
