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Sonic the Hedgehog CD

Developer: Sonic Team Publisher: Sega
23 September 1993
Sonic the Hedgehog CD - cover art
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812 Ratings / 3 Reviews
#1,118 All-time
#19 for 1993
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A Gem Buried in Garbage / The Worst of Classic Sonic
Sonic CD was made for the ill conceived Sega CD and was directed by Naoto Ohshima, Sonic's character designer. Unlike Sonic's 2, 3, Knuckles and X-treme, this game was developed in Japan. While originally conceived as an enhanced port of Sonic 2 from the Genesis, Ohshima and his team decided to go in a unique, new direction. Like it's two Genesis predecessors, Sonic CD saw praise upon release. Around a decade later, it was seen as the greatest in the series by a small minority. In those days, it was nicknamed the "lost Sonic game" due to it never receiving a mass produced port. Another decade later, it became widely available via a modernized rerelease on all platforms of the time. With this new widespread popularity, Sonic CD's praise has wained a bit resulting in it being considered the least of the great Classic Sonic games. Unfortunately, I fall into that latter group of Sonic fans, but unlike most of them, I don't believe this is one of those "good" Classic Sonic games.

I was around 16 years old when I first played Sonic CD and while I was mystified by the surreal visuals, sound design and music, the feeling I had till the Tidal Tempest boss was mild confusion. Up till that point, I was led to believe that this was among the best games Sonic had ever put out. Even one of the guys at that infamous IGN sit-down stated that the newly announced Sonic Mania might be the first good Sonic game since Sonic CD. Well, my take away from that specifically was that Sonic CD was such an incredible game that even people who generally didn't like Sonic couldn't help but enjoy it. This was during the "Boom era", a time so bleak that even a Sonic fan in high school would take a passive remark like that as positive praise. Over the years since, I've played Sonic CD at least half a dozen times on emulators, mobile devices and eventually the official PC remaster and personally I find it to be fairly average.

Sonic controls similar to how he did in the Genesis games. There are some differences though; most notably the spindash. In Sonic 2, when the player held duck and hit jump, the more jump was hit the more Sonic charged his spindash. It was like an engine revving up. In Sonic CD, the spindash is static. It must be held for a total of two seconds before releasing. If the player releases it any sooner, Sonic will just stop dead in his tracks. So the spindash is nerfed but Sonic 1 knew how to make control fun without that ability so I figured maybe this would have a higher focus on unique platforming with physics rather than speed and physics. Sonic does have three new abilities. The first is the Super Pealout an ability where Sonic is able to charge a sprint and launch at full speed. Hold up and jump. It has the same delay time as the spindash except it's much faster. Definitely useful for long jumps. Sonic's next new ability is, I shit you not, commiting suicide. If Sonic stands still for too long, he will automatically jump off the level and die. No wonder speed is all people expect from this little blue brat. Speed's all he expects from himself and if he doesn't get it he's out a here.

The last ability Sonic has, and the main gimmick of the game, is traveling forward and back through time. To do this, Sonic must run past one of the past of future time posts and maintain top speed for around 5 to 6 seconds (I'm not too sure how long). The goal here is to travel back to the past in the first two acts of each zone and destroy the robot generator in a hidden location. This will make a good future for that act. This implies that there is also a bad future which is where every boss takes place if Sonic fails to make a good future in both of the prior two acts. The past, present and two futures have different aesthetics, songs, and moods which in theory should make every stage distinct from each other and inspire replayability. While a novel idea, it's pulled off in a rather messy fashion which leads me to the level design.

Considering you need to maintain top speed in order to travel through time, the level design often contradicts this mechanic. Levels are huge and sprawling and sometimes tower high in the sky but they are often cluttered with tons of obstacles or are too cramped and narrow to build up enough speed, let alone maintain it. Take for example Tidal Tempest Zone. Its designed with multiple tight corridors that give the player no room to build up any speed. This is also neglecting the fact that it is a water level and not even the Super Pealout is useful while under water. Collision Chaos Zone is filled with so many bumpers, slopes and springs that even a casual run to the end is more than a bit obnoxious. Metallic Madness Zone has these auto tunnels that take Sonic to an undisclosed area in the stage. By this point, getting to the end is an absolute chore and I think the player needs to travel back and forth through time to find different paths to the end but it's never very clear. Some levels are composed of roads that just look the same. Stardust Speedway Zone is a nightmare to traverse solely because every road looks the same. This leads me to an aspect of other Sonic games that I've only learned to appreciate recently and that it how easy they are to memorize.

Depending on one's perspective, this might not be a big deal. It can be seen as an illusion by some because the games I give the highest praise to are the ones that I surely have played the most. How is one to distinguish a well designed, easy to memorize level from one that they've simply played over and over and over again? Frankly, I haven't the faintest idea, nevertheless I do believe there is a distinction. I just don't know what it is yet. I find the levels in Sonic CD to be much more difficult to memorize than any other Sonic game simply due to their vast size and variety of gimmicks and obstacle types. They also often come off as over designed and while the extra detail makes for some great visuals I also find it a bit distracting. Speaking of the visuals, this has got to be the most 90s game in the series and the music definitely supports that distinction. While the Japanese soundtrack is distinctly more funky, the English has more atmosphere with occasional elements of grunge.

The plot of Sonic CD is set on Little Planet, a floating world or moon Dr Eggman chained to the surface. Sonic has to stop Eggman's conquering of the fabled land and free all the inhabitants from his mechanical dystopia. In this game, Sonic meets Amy Rose; a little girl who is his biggest fan. She gets kidnapped by Metal Sonic so Sonic begrudgingly rescues her. Metal Sonic is often cited as the stand out new character in the game and Sonic's very first rival. Metal Sonic was built by Eggman to be the perfect robot replica of his arch nemesis that can match his every move. His design is sharp and striking with a chromatic finish.

Going back to the time travel mechanic before I wrap this review up, I think there are ways to clean it up a bit. In the present game, there are two ways to achieve the "good ending". The player can either destroy every robot generator or they can collect 50 rings and enter the special stages to win the 7 time stones. All stones together guarantee a good ending. While the generators are only able to be destroyed in the past, the special stages are accessible at any point in time. This means that, outside the boss encounter, the player has no reason to ever visit the future. Some have come up with the idea of limiting special stage access to the future an idea that I agree with, but I'd also would like to propose another. In the present game, time travel is initiated the second Sonic touches a time post, but as I said, the levels make it really hard to gain and maintain speed. What I didn't mention is that there are small areas that are seemingly designed for easy time travel. Areas with two springs facing one another come to mind. It would be helpful for the player to hit a button to initiate the time travel process once they find one of those areas. The same could be done to cancel an accidental time travel activation.
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Joe_Kloos 2022-02-09T22:51:16Z
2022-02-09T22:51:16Z
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As dreadfully executed and embarrassingly cheesy as the Sega CD add-on was, Sega couldn’t resist developing an entry for their gilded blue mascot on the Genesis/Mega Drive’s extension. How on earth would Sonic fare on a system whose games were practically nothing but grainy FMV cutscenes with gameplay so minimal it was like watching a B-movie on a calculator? Would this game consist of a guy dressed up in a Sonic costume doing parkour in some city alleyway? Would this guy beat a maniacally cackling bald man with a porno mustache intended to represent Robotnik, and would there be shitty explosion effects? It sounds like an endearing Youtube video from 2007, with even shoddier visual and audio quality if you can believe it. However, perhaps this is a narrow summation of what the Sega CD was capable of. The extension didn’t need to be bombarded with “games” sporting video cutscenes that would age as well as milk being bathed in a desert sun, but that’s simply what Sega thought would be the future of gaming (they were wrong) with the foresight they had in the early 90s. Physical media in the digital format was still in its infancy when the Sega CD was released, far before the time when CD-based games were the norm. We obviously have decades of insight now to know that digital technology in gaming didn’t have to be devoted to offering tacky cinematics that look like straight-to-video PSAs they’d show in school and attempt to pass it off as a video game. The CD rom was an unmistakable mark of gaming progression, with capabilities that superseded the cartridges we were used to. Sega’s precocious choices with this kind of technology could give Sonic the edge to finally conquer his competition at Nintendo, who were still playing it safe with cartridges. Sonic CD was the most ambitious game during the blue hedgehog’s prime, but I’m not certain that the additional technological flair really made a stark difference.

Even though Sonic CD does not fall under the same garish trappings seen in most other games on the Sega CD, Sega still used the quasi-cinematic technology the peripheral provided to some extent. Sonic CD begins with an opening cutscene that details some exposition that formally introduces Sonic’s journey, as opposed to springing the player into action mere seconds after seeing the title screen. Sonic is seen sprinting through a rocky field, and the urgency of the scene is unclear because it’s not as if Sonic has the ability to walk casually at a relaxed pace on his off time. Once Sonic stops to look at the sky, the missing context is given with the looming shadow of Robotnik’s newest creation. Apparently, Robotnik has taken full advantage of the annual presence of a “little planet” that appears over Morbius’s stratosphere. The mad doctor has colonized the celestial body and turned it into a concrete jungle with him and his critter-powered robots as its new residents. Robotnik’s massive influence over Morbius’s orbit strikes Sonic as a bad omen, so he plans to deal with the source of Robotnik’s presence directly by running up the chain tethering his creation to the ground. Meanwhile, a pink girl hedgehog (Amy Rose in her earliest form) is being held captive by Metal Sonic on the industrial globe. Sonic CD’s opening cinematic is breathtaking, showcasing a blend of anime art stylings that keep up with Sonic’s turbulent speed. I’m now convinced that Sega intentionally inhibited the budget for every other game released on the Sega CD to make damn sure that their precious Sonic outshined them all. The opening of Sonic CD silences all of the Sega CD’s critics by proving the capabilities of the hardware. Concerning the graphics of the actual game, Sonic CD looks like a slightly tuned up version of the visuals from the games on the base Genesis console. The subtle difference on display here gives the visuals a fleshy tint that makes the overall aesthetic look sharper. Backgrounds and foregrounds here are so strikingly detailed that it’s borderline excessive, a testament to the fact that Sega used the Sega CD’s hardware to deliver on that bombastic Sonic presentation.

Sonic CD is still a tried and true Sonic title, regardless of the cinematic properties associated with the Sega CD add on. All of the enhancements Sonic 2 introduced like the spin dash have been solidified, translating Sonic’s evolution to a technically superior piece of hardware. As for what Sonic CD brings to expand on that evolution in terms of gameplay, the developers fully realized the Sega CD’s flashier potential and decided to revel in it. Coinciding with the more striking visuals, Sonic’s gameplay has never been so glitzy and filled with kinetic pomp. Palmtree Panic Zone, the opening zone of Sonic CD, separates itself from every previous first Sonic level that touts that tropical valley setting with a few new frills. The roller coaster ramps seen across most Sonic levels have been heightened to the scope of skyscrapers, with a visual twist of the camera focusing behind Sonic while he’s trailing up the towering foundations to highlight their length in the most three dimensional spectacle the series has seen up to this point. In the same level, Sonic is thrusted through the interior crust of the land, and his speedy ejection point is outlined like when a cartoon character bursts through a wall. Collision Chaos Zone has more springs and pinball bumpers than the casino themed Casino Night Zone from Sonic 2, and the chibi Sonic that sprouts up from the exposure to the shrink ray in Metallic Madness Zone is adorable. These unseen touches are nice, but not all of them are so benign. Wacky Workbench’s design theme involves Sonic having to keep to the bottom of the level and avoid being sprung up to the upper portion where he’ll meet nothing but dead ends. The problem is that the floating platforms near the bottom levitate from side to side, and landing on them from above takes some luck-based guess work. The machinations of Stardust Speedway are so enclosed to a certain trajectory that I got Sonic stuck. Metallic Madness is so labyrinthian in design that I got lost trying to make my way to the goal. I repeat: I got lost in a Sonic level. Overall, the added perks of Sonic CD, whether they be amusing or nauseating, amount to nothing but gimmicks.

All of Sonic CD’s level gimmicks take a backseat to its primary new feature: the time warp mechanic. Each level is littered with sign posts that either say past or future on them, and running at a continuously swift momentum with a blue light tailing behind will transport Sonic to the time period stated on the last signpost Sonic came in contact with. Past levels have a much more organic look to them like Green Hill Zone, while future levels look a grimier Chemical Plant Zone. If the player destroys the Robotnik robot generator found in the past, warping to the future will see a brighter, more optimistic outlook for the level. This gameplay mechanic underlines a pertinent theme that Sonic CD conveys. Seeing the beautiful topological nature of the little planet compared to the present day of Robotnik’s adulteration is a clear distinction that spells out a clear ecological message. Sonic has always been relatively eco-friendly, what with being the savior of Mobius’s fauna being kept in giant capsules. In Sonic CD, there is something more overt with the flowers that pop up after a robot is destroyed, like Sonic is expunging Robotnik’s industrial influence with one machine being destroyed at a time. As a game mechanic, warping time is a tad undercooked. The differences in each level’s time mostly correlates to aesthetic changes, as any changes in level layout are only slight. Shifting between time periods also seems to be executed by luck considering the constant obstacles in Sonic’s path guarantee that instances where he can build up enough speed to time travel are scarce.

The only instance where the gimmicks aid Sonic CD is with the Robotnik encounters. A commonality between the first and second Sonic games is that fighting Robotnik at the end of every third act was not a challenge. All of the schemes Robotnik devised to halt Sonic from ruining his diabolical plans were amusing at best, but proved to be ineffective. In Sonic CD, Robotnik’s attempts are just as ill-fated and poorly conceived, but at least I can give Robotnik an A for effort. Robotnik’s encounters are some of the most creative short boss impediments so far in the series. After chasing Robotnik through the narrow halls of the third act of Tidal Tempest, destroying Robotnik’s hover pod with one spin dash is a matter of depleting his shield, which are a series of rotating bubbles. Sonic’s only devices in surviving underwater are also Robotniks, and there is something satisfying about Sonic literally sucking away at Robotnik’s defenses. The end of Quartz Quadrant sees Robotnik in an impenetrable piston but unlike the final bout of the first game where Sonic must spin on it a dozen times, he must erode it with the friction caused by the stage’s conveyor belt. Robotnik’s fight at the end of Metallic Madness is a multi staged duel where the player has to memorize the formations his robotic mech shifts into, almost like a formiddle boss battle. Key word: almost.

Robotnik only receives points for inventiveness but luckily, Sonic CD offers a worthy contender. Just last game released only a year prior to Sonic CD, Metal Sonic was in his prototype stage as an ugly tin can that served as a slight barrier before fighting Robotnik for the final time in Sonic 2. In Sonic CD, Metal Sonic has been refurbished with a glowing blue sheen to convey a much stronger resemblance to Sonic, making him a worthy rival instead of a crude imitation. Metal Sonic showcases this equal footing to Sonic in the last act of Stardust Speedway where a race between flesh and blood Sonic and his metallic counterpart takes place as the level’s boss. The race against Metal Sonic is the most challenging single portion of a Sonic game thus far. Metal Sonic’s innate speed isn’t as fast as Sonic’s, but that energized boost he performs puts him on an equal standing. Spikes are littered all over the course to impede Sonic and failing to cross the finish line before Metal Sonic will result in Robotnik blasting Sonic with an unavoidable laser that kills Sonic regardless of how many rings he has. Metal Sonic practically takes center stage as the game’s antagonist for this tense moment.

I’d hate the trial and error difficulty that factors into the race against Metal Sonic, but Sonic CD is strangely accommodating. Considering the consistent grievance I had with the previous two Sonic games, one would think that Sonic CD was my clear favorite thus far. Why do I say this? Because the radical technology of the Sega CD has gifted a Sonic title with the ability to continue after dying. Yes, after all of the ribbing I’ve done regarding Sega’s pension for lacking merciful penalties in their games on the Genesis, the system’s “advanced” peripheral finally gives the player some reasonable leeway in regards to failure. I’m fairly relieved at this, but I’m not jumping for joy because the reason for offering continues is not due to Sega going soft on players. The previous Sonic games played with the idea of unlocking a “true” ending, achieved if the player completes all of the special stages and unlocks Super Sonic by grabbing each special stage’s Chaos Emerald. Sonic CD also has special stages where Chaos Emeralds are the reward, and spin jumping on six UFOs is much easier than collecting rings speeding through a halfpipe or being subjected to the rotations of an ephemeral device. Unlike the two previous games, completing the special stages in Sonic CD does not contribute to unlocking the game’s “true ending.” Hell, Super Sonic isn’t even available in Sonic CD. Instead, the player must destroy all of Robotnik’s generators found across all the past sections of each level. Doing this will unlock the true ending because it will ultimately prevent Robotnik’s industrialization of this floating, organic land mass before it ever happens. If the player doesn’t destroy every single generator, the “bad ending” is still sufficient in my book. Sonic saves Amy and Robotnik’s ties with his new project are severed as it becomes too unstable, and Sonic blows his pod to smithereens as he attempts to fly away. The ending screen still shows the planet shackled to the earth, with the text “try again” at the bottom implying that the player failed. I say let the planet sit in the sky as a perpetual eyesore because the qualifications for restoring it to its biotic self are excruciating. Nothing compliments a game revolved around speed like a meticulous scavenger hunt, right? Searching every nook and cranny of the stage is completely counterintuitive to Sonic’s gameplay. The developers implemented continues so the player wouldn’t feel the stress of constraints on their shoulders while finding these, but they never asked themselves if the idea was sound in the first place. Is this really what it takes for Sega to stop treating their games like arcade machines?

The “revolutionary” Sega CD was intended to give Sonic the extra boost missing in his titles on the regular ol’ Genesis console. The only aspect Sonic CD added that proved to be refreshing was implementing continues, an aspect sorely needed in a Sonic title. Other than that, all the kooky additions tacked on to Sonic CD amount to nothing but snazzy window dressing. They do not add or necessarily detract from the classic Sonic experience, but adding all of these gimmicks when the Sonic series was still developing its stride was not the correct direction for the series. I can’t be all too enthralled about the continue feature as is because its utility is intended for something tedious and laughably inappropriate for Sonic. I should've known this was Sega’s idea of evolution because the company has a history of administering superficial changes to games and calling it progress. Sonic CD is a competent title that at least feels unique, and it is best played by ignoring all of the fetch quest bullshit Sega wants you to adhere to. The most unfortunate matter is that with the advances the game had over all the other Sonic games, its full potential was ultimately squandered.
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Erockthestrange 2017-07-21T20:32:03Z
2017-07-21T20:32:03Z
7.0
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This game feels incredibly frustrating to me but not for the reasons I expected. It would be one thing if I just outright disliked the game and wrote it off as a bit of a failed experiment in a lot of regards, but that's not really accurate in the grand scheme of things, neither to what the game is, nor my own personal thoughts towards it. It's pretty interesting the way that after the first Sonic game, the two following ones seemed to wholly embody one of the core pillars that the games in the series would embrace past that point, with Sonic 2 being all about tight, linear platforming heavily centred around momentum, while Sonic CD was all about the exploration and secrets. This was conveyed pretty effectively through the very unconventional level design approach, often being huge and sprawling with a seemingly endless amount of diverging paths at any given point, playing into a sense of verticality in an incredibly prominent way especially.

The issue with this is the fact that while it's true that the levels are as dense as they are to allow for this sense of exploration, it all feels very haphazard, often almost feeling as if the worst elements of the previous games were taken and then amplified tenfold. There are constant obstacles set in your path seemingly at random that you can't really intuitively predict being far more common, especially problematic when the obstacle happens to be an enemy. On its own this is bad enough, but the way that the stages themselves feel like formless masses of thrown around obstacles makes it that much harder to actually properly get your bearings and survive more easily for your next run unless you painstakingly attempt to memorise everything you just went through and rigidly follow that same path, which ultimately defeats the purpose of the levels being structured the way they are.

The time travel mechanic makes a lot of this worse as well with the way the level design often feels directly at odds with the more reckless nature you're expected to play around with in order to actually travel to the past or future. Maintaining huge bouts of speed in this game is often a nightmare outside of a few sections specifically designed to keep you moving at a constant pace without much disruption, but these are few and far between, often making the mere concept of interacting with this system something frustrating. Locking the true ending behind a set of requirements related to this is all the more frustrating as it's almost as if the game wants you to either memorise it fully or to just play directly counter to the more satisfying experience of taking a bit more time so you're not just being thrown headfirst into a wall or enemy every few seconds. Really it's just fortunate that despite all of this, the game is pretty easy for the most part and it's more a case of being really tedious or annoying than something you'll be banging your head against for hours. It's still not ideal by any means and the approach to level design ultimately makes even the most interesting ideas feel entirely hollow, but I'd much rather take a somewhat more ambient experience that you can really fall into here compared to something that just likes to see you dead.

Funnily enough though, despite the fact that the levels are genuinely awful to me for the most part, often feeling even less engaging than the lowest points of Sonic 1, I love every other element of this game to the point that I can't even say that I dislike the game. I really love the more atmospheric approach that this game takes in basically every regard, most notably with the music. The soundtrack is very rarely outright "fun" in the way it usually is, instead consistently aiming for something that feels more jagged, moody and dark, with special mention towards the boss theme being so bizarrely sinister, especially with the laugh in the background. This is also where the time travel mechanic shows its worth with the way it's able to further reinforce the threat of Eggman on the world, both by showing you the future in ruins, and by showing you how much prettier these zones were before he started his conquest. It ultimately elevates him beyond simply feeling like just some guy you need to defeat into a truly powerful, dangerous force that you must defeat at all cost if you don't want to fail the people of the future. The soundtrack changing depending on the time period you travel to is also awesome with how it further plays into this, with the dreary, hopeless atmosphere of the bad future tracks being especially striking.

Despite not really enjoying the levels, the bosses are a different story, as while they're definitely very, very easy, they take the whole idea of them being more akin to little quirky mechanical explorations even further than normal. Every fight has its own unique flavour to it that really push the mechanics to their logical endpoints without really being difficult in the process, more just wildly creative. My favourite is the one in Quartz Quadrant that involves you running across a conveyor belt to sand down the platform Eggman is standing on, being a bit of an inversion on the typical trend of the boss fight using the environment against you while also being a really clever way of incorporating the conveyors into the battle without it merely being a platform to hinder your own precise movements. They're not all perfect for sure, special mention to the janky, frustrating mess that was the pinball machine, but even these still have so many cool elements to them that I still can't really dislike them either, and they once again add to my beliefs that the bosses in this series as a whole deserve way more praise than they usually get even though most of them are so easy.

On the whole this is a weird game for me that might honestly grow on repeat playthroughs, but as it stands, I can't really outright hate this when it gets so much right and feels like such a unique and bold take on Sonic in so many ways. It's really just a shame that the place that it falls flat for me is something so integral to the overall experience that I also can't bring myself to love it either. So many contradictory decisions on top of so many moments that are just downright annoying ultimately make for a game that I really admire while also not especially actually playing a lot of it, it's weird, but my feelings for now are very slightly leaning positive and I'll take it for the time being and get back to this again later to hopefully find more to appreciate.
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Kempokid 2022-12-02T14:12:10Z
2022-12-02T14:12:10Z
3.0
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One of the best audiovisual Sonic experiences with sub-par level-design
I've never been so tempted to move something up to 4 stars just for the Japanese version of the soundtrack before... Stylistically this is the most incredible 16 bit Sonic to me by far when you factor in the hand drawn cutscenes as well.

I just gave my most serious try of getting the good future ending, however, and it was a decently fun experience UNTIL I got to Wacky Workbench. It's been said before how annoying that level is, but I never had an issue with it when I was just trying to get to the end. Trying to EXPLORE is a maddening, baffling experience that really emphasizes how silly the time travel gimmick is. You can't really go fast because you want to explore and then exploring is infuriating when you have to take so many leaps of faith.

Still a fun game if you're just trying to beat a quick little platformer! Use the time travel not for the good ending but just to experience the different tilesets and song mixes.
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Gavel 2022-07-09T06:26:45Z
2022-07-09T06:26:45Z
3.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
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A Bizarre Entry In The Series
Sonic The Hedgehog CD is one of the weirdest entries in the Sonic The Hedgehog series. It was made for the Mega CD Add-On for the Sega Genesis back in 1992 and was basically a powered-up Sega Genesis since it ran its own games, and was able to produce better sound. Most of which were these interactive movies such as the controversial game, Night Trap which brought a lot legal attention to Sega. But the most sold game for the Mega CD was Sonic CD.

For the longest time, Sonic CD was seen as the hidden gem in the Genesis Sonic games due to the fact that it was so elusive. It was really hard to get your hands on the game because after a while, it was lost to time as it was stuck on the Mega CD and later PC.

It wasn't until the game practically released everywhere with the help of people like Christian Whitehead. Now that Sonic CD is so widely accessible now, does the game hold up to how people described it... Kinda

For starters, the animated cutscenes look beautiful and capture the personality of Sonic so well. And the music blows me away. They really utilized the audio power of the Mega CD. It's one of the best Sonic soundtracks I've listened to.

This game also introduces Amy Rose as a character, Sonic's obsessive, self-proclaimed girlfriend. It also introduces Sonic's first rival. Metal Sonic. A robotic Sonic that is nearly identical to Sonic in terms of attributes.

Now with gameplay, It's ok... The level design is all over the place and the game is way too overexposed with color. It's too hard to even know where enemies are because they blend to the backgrounds too well. Too much color. The bosses (With the exception of the insanely cool fight with Metal Sonic) are also way too easy.

Sonic is (I know this is ironic) but too fast. He's a little slippery in this game and it can be frustrating. Tails is playable in the Christian Whitehead Remaster and he's basically easy mode. Still fun to play as

The cool thing about this game though is that you can time travel. By hitting a PAST or FUTURE sign and going fast for a certain amount of time without interruption, (Which can be done with a Spin-Dash or the new move, The Super Peel Out (Basically a Spin-Dash but you can get hurt which makes it nearly useless). You will be transported to the "Bad Future" which is a redesigned version of the Zone and Act. Or the Past (Which is the same) but you can destroy these generations and Metal Sonic Machines to create a "Good Future". Doing this in all acts (Or collecting all 7 Time Stones) will unlock to good ending to the game)

However, it's the gameplay and sloppy level design that kills it for me

Sonic The Hedgehog CD has great animation, music, new characters, and a cool premise. But the game suffers from sloppy level design and graphics that make the game more of a chore to play. Didn't live up to the hype, but still a decent game
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OvalsOk 2021-06-25T04:25:19Z
2021-06-25T04:25:19Z
3.0
1
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Another step down for the series but still good. Its levels all blend together but the focus on making maze-like levels that let you go fast and furious through them seems to embrace the spirit of Sonic better than the first two games did. I appreciate them trying to make boss battles that are unorthodox, puzzle-like but they are forgettable. The time warp/multiple stage versions gimmick is just that, a gimmick. The improved audio is wasted on a mostly horrendous soundtrack. The US version is unoffensive and the Japanese version has a couple neat tracks, but most of them gave me a real bad headache. I'd actually avoid going through the time warps to avoid some songs.
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SUPER_Lonely_Panda 2016-04-07T19:37:00Z
2016-04-07T19:37:00Z
3.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Note: Do not play the recent 2011 remaster that runs on its own engine. I played through the game on the Steam version and was frustrated since Sonic goes twice as fast as the original game, making some parts easy and some parts frustrating but all of it not executed in the way the original developer intended. Playing after on the Fusion emulator made me change my rating from a 2.5 to a 3.5.
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Catalog

tonitaste Sonic CD 2024-03-22T06:55:08Z
Windows
2024-03-22T06:55:08Z
4.5
2
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
JPEGNICO Sonic the Hedgehog CD 2024-03-20T22:10:56Z
2024-03-20T22:10:56Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Someone2 Sonic the Hedgehog CD 2024-03-20T04:27:12Z
2024-03-20T04:27:12Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
diegoiv4an464 Sonic the Hedgehog CD 2024-03-15T23:54:34Z
2024-03-15T23:54:34Z
4.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
fryuts11 Sonic the Hedgehog CD 2024-03-14T13:03:38Z
2024-03-14T13:03:38Z
3.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
eliottstaten Sonic the Hedgehog CD 2024-03-11T04:52:44Z
2024-03-11T04:52:44Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Acolytus Sonic the Hedgehog CD 2024-03-10T03:50:30Z
2024-03-10T03:50:30Z
4.5
1
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
bobos808 Sonic CD 2024-03-06T20:31:27Z
Windows
2024-03-06T20:31:27Z
2.0
2
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Gibbous Sonic the Hedgehog CD 2024-03-05T23:25:46Z
2024-03-05T23:25:46Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
GodAlbino Sonic the Hedgehog CD 2024-03-05T10:08:52Z
2024-03-05T10:08:52Z
3.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Nomorechie Sonic the Hedgehog CD 2024-03-04T07:17:06Z
2024-03-04T07:17:06Z
4.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
tendollars Sonic the Hedgehog CD 2024-02-29T15:34:52Z
2024-02-29T15:34:52Z
3.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Also known as
  • Sonic CD
  • ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグCD
  • View all [2] Hide

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  • Previous comments (27) Loading...
  • omo_ree 2023-06-11 11:43:15.354244+00
    so many fucking springs
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  • MondayAtTheBeach 2023-06-24 17:27:24.5852+00
    best 2D sonic game for now
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  • vivus 2023-07-08 08:18:56.534524+00
    just incredible that this absolutely phenomenal album came with a free game. and the game is not bad too!
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  • trevorphoenix777 2023-09-01 05:23:25.856765+00
    goated soundtrack
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  • Sharked98 2023-09-23 17:18:48.810623+00
    Happy 30th!
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  • Joe_Kloos 2024-02-02 01:28:25.423044+00
    Least favorite of the officially recognized classics. Found the levels overly cluttered.
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  • tonitaste 2024-03-24 05:54:15.549456+00
    Every level is a piece of art and the soundtrack is phenomenal. Like the more open level design compared to the other 2D sonics. Challenging, but good boss fights.
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