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Graphics comparisons
Characters have a new set of ducking and "looking up" sprites for when spinning. This is most visible with the infamous barrel section in Carnival Night Zone Act 2.
Super Sonic (and by extension, Hyper Sonic) has more frames of animation than before. In the Mega Drive original, Sonic's regular sprites (with the Super Sonic palette) were used for these actions.
Hyper versions of characters have semi-transparent trails.
As with other games in the collection, the number of ring animation frames has been doubled.
Giant Rings also have more frames.
Level comparisons
Angel Island Zone
The intro sequence for Sonic now has sound effects for when Sonic jumps off the Tornado and transforms into Super Sonic. Additionally, sand is now kicked up when Super Sonic dashes across the beach.
After ambushing Super Sonic, Knuckles now puts up a fighting stance.
When playing a Sonic & Tails game, Tails walks in from the left instead of flying in from above.
Tails now has his own intro sequence where he lands the Tornado on the beach and disembarks into the jungle.
The swinging vines animate more smoothly.
Hydrocity Zone
Marble Garden Zone
The moving spiked pillars animate more smoothly.
When fighting the Drill Mobile as Knuckles, the drill now stops at the ceiling with a slight screen shake rather than burrow through it.
Carnival Night Zone
IceCap Zone
The falling snow is semi-transparent.
Launch Base Zone
Sonic and Tails fight Big Arm, which although was the case in Sonic 3, was not a boss for the pair in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.
Eggman is seen flying towards the falling Death Egg after Act 2. These sprites exist in the Mega Drive game, but are unused.
An extra cutscene, inspired by the Sonic & Knuckles title screen, shows the Death Egg landing on the Floating Island.
Mushroom Hill Zone
Characters rotate while looking at Flying Battery. In the Mega Drive original, there is just a horizontal flip.
Flying Battery Zone
Act 1 begins with Sonic and Tails jumping up to the first platform.
The Barriers protecting Eggman are semi-transparent.
Completely different Eggman sprites are used for the Hang Mobile, and he looks at the player character.
In the end of Act cutscene, the door rotates as it falls off.
Sandopolis Zone
Lava Reef Zone
In the lead up to Hot Mobile, the boulder which knocks Sonic and Tails can be seen landing.
Smoke trails in the background are semi-transparent.
Hidden Palace Zone
Enter from a Giant Ring, and characters look at the chaos emeralds as they land.
Sky Sanctuary Zone
All foreground clours are semi-transparent.
The wrecking ball for the "Green Hill Zone" Mecha Sonic fight rotates.
Death Egg Zone
The bumpers on the Death Ball rotate smoothly.
The Doomsday Zone
Knuckles has a better look at Sonic and Tails in the ending sequence.
Special Stage
As was the case with Sonic Mania, the floor has more frames of animation so movement appears smoother.
Collected Chaos Emeralds "pulse" rather than flicker.
Bonus Stages
The gumball machine switch rotates smoothly.
The exit "beam"(?) in the Glowing Spheres Bonus Stage is semi-transparent in Origins, whereas it flickered in the original game.
The Slot Machine Bonus Stage rotates smoothly, much like the Special Stage in Sonic 1.
Competition
All of the Competition levels have been redrawn, and so now play in full screen. This leads to a curious situation where in order to match the original gameplay, character speeds and jump heights are increased. Azure Lake.
Balloon Park
Chrome Gadget
Desert Palace
Endless Mine
If two players are racing, a Sonic 2-style split screen setup is used.
Audio comparisons
References
