Sonic Origins brings 4 Sonic the Hedgehog games to console & PC in June

Sega’s Sonic Origins collection will bring Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, and Sonic CD to current gaming platforms on June 23, the publisher announced Wednesday. (That’s Sonic the Hedgehog’s canonical birthday, if you want to get him a gift card. )

Sonic Origins will be released digitally for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, and will cost $39.99. A “Digital Deluxe” version with extra perks, including more challenging missions, special character animations, and music tracks from other Genesis titles, will cost $44.99.

Inside the four Sega Genesis-era Sega Genesis games, Sonic Origins will have a variety of special features like an Anniversary Mode that displays widescreen images and allows players to earn medallions for completing challenging missions. Sega released a screenshot Wednesday :

showing some of the mission types that were used in the original Sonic the Hedgehog .

Image: Sega

Medallions can be spent on content from an in-game vault, to try out special stages, and other items. A digital pre-order bonus offer includes 100 medallions, as well as Mirror Mode and a Mega Drive-style letter box.

Sega announced Sonic Origins last May, during Sega’s Sonic Central livestream. The new collection is notable for its inclusion of or NeSonic 3 & Knuckles, a Genesis game that has recently been excluded as part of classic Sonic the Hedgehog rereleases. Sonic 3 was not included as part of the Sega Genesis Mini library (though Sonic Spinball was), nor was it given the Sega Ages treatment for Nintendo Switch, the way Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 were.

Sonic fans have speculated, without confirmation from Sega, that Sonic 3 & Knuckles‘ rerelease is complicated by thorny music rights. Sega did not approve of Sega’s use of some of Jackson’s songs in the Genesis game’s music. Some rereleases of Sonic 3 (like the 1997 Windows PC port) have featured different music tracks, said to have been swapped in from an earlier version of the game.