Sonic CD is good and people misunderstand what makes it good.

Sonic already kind of has a problem where people want an extremely specific form of gameplay out of it and mentally disengage whenever it's not scratching that itch. So it's not really surprising that people dislike CD so much with its 'playground' mentality to level design; aimless and chaotic routes that weave inorganically with each other doesn't facilitate the speedrunning flow that people want from the classic sonic model. But that's kind of the point from an aesthetic sense? I always took the ruptured level design as a complement to the game's narrative themes of untainted nature becoming abruptly industrialized, and that messy stylistic relationship gets reinforced further by both soundtracks: JP bringing out the dreamlike pop that NiGHTS would later champion, while US is more overtly ominous and uncomfortable. The game wants you to feel that environmental conflict between the harmonious chaos of Little Planet's flora while being corrupted by Robotnik's bizarre machines. Even from a gameplay standpoint, there's still a lot of fun to be had in learning how to workshop optimal routes for time trials. There's a reason the stages are so short and the game rewards you so heavily for those time attack scores.

The only major failing that I think makes CD hard to come back to is that for how open-ended its levels are, it doesn't give you a lot of incentive to explore them. The metal Sonic generators and transporters are the only objects that occupy these stages and reward you for trekking around. But I also don't really know what the design solution to this would be: Adding spontaneous collectibles could easily turn exploration into a begrudging chore and take away from the freedom of exploring levels at your own pace. On the flipside, I think the existence of special stages as an alternate means for unlocking the true ending is kind of genius: You can take the exploration route, or stick to the Sonic formula of platforming fast, and this duality supports the franchise's long-running depiction of their character's agency and motivations. Sonic is more than just being the hero; he's doing it his own style and he won't change.

I hope CD being ported again via Origins doesn't introduce another wave of jaded thinkpiecers trying to tout CD as the 'overrated letdown' of the franchise. It deserves more appreciation for the ways Sonic's framework allows for experimental design.

echo-commentary, cyberpunk platformer. really good, even if odd designed - very labyrinthine levels that may seem strange if you play this after 2 and "worse" when thinking about it on 3. turns out, though, that it is way better replaying it than playing for the first time - some levels that may seem gigantic, after recognition, you can finish them pretty quickly. the future/past mechanics are very well implemented, because it not only sustains the environmentalist message but also the levels has big linear spaces and loops for you to use or creates challenge where losing your momentum is losing the time-travel. love the bosses!! they are fast and smartly designed. the music rocks too!! really a sonic masterpiece and after replaying, thinking if it could be my new favorite . . .

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.

Quick Prelude before i begin this review, this long gap of reviews shouldn’t have taken this long, the reason why i had a big gap of reviews is due to me wanting to do Sonic Generations as my 50th review, My Generations review was shaping up to be one of my longer review but i decided to shelf my Generations review until i cover the boost games in the near distant future, apologies for not putting out content enough, Anyway onto the review.

Sonic CD is a game alright, i sorta have a bit of a soft spot for this game, i played it in my IPad back in 2012 which i still have now and installed but don’t used it because it’s an Ipad from 2010, what was the “secret classic sonic game” is now sorta a divisive game in the Sonic series, some like it, some hate it and i just think it’s okay, Sonic games have a habit of being really great, decent, okay/mediocre to one of the worst things i have ever played and all of the above and this one of the sonic games! Before this playthrough i initially thought Sonic CD was around the same rating i gave Sonic 1 but, nope it’s just okay, this won’t really be a positive review so if you want a reviews that would break down what makes Sonic CD tick for them then i can’t recommend enough Luke’s Video on the game and one of my personal friends/mutuals (ShinGenX) review on Sonic CD. But anyway, with that i’m just gonna get straight into it.

Sonic CD is confused

Everything about this game screams confusion, again this is a game i barely like and i sorta understand it’s appeal but good lord, sometimes whenever it’s just as good as the previous Sonic games i then run into it’s baffling design choices that absolutely ruin its flow and fun factor, it’s like if the crisp company wanted to adhered to it’s previous crisps but also want to do something new, It’s weird that the Japan Team who made this game once considered it to be a sequel to Sonic 2 after they binned the CD Version of Sonic 2 idea but it more so feels like an Expansion of Sonic 1 with the same levels themes and similar design choices with a few of Sonic 2s cut concepts such as Time Travel being present.

Before i begin i should say, if you are curious enough to play this game, it’s safe to say that the Remaster released on mobile/Origins (and maybe if you’re likely enough to scrooge up the original PC Version so you can mod it) is the way to go, the original CD has a gimped Spin-Dash to make the Super Peel-Out look better, Worse looking FMVs and long loading times, The Remeaster gives playable Tails (& Knuckles if you have the mods), 16:9, Ability to swap the osts, a more accurate (and therefore) better Spin-Dash and other Quality of Life Additions/changes. If you want to play CD (Which is highly recommended since you should form your own opinion instead of parroting others) then Play the remaster, with that being said let’s dive into the weird and wonderful world of Sonic CD.

Sonic CD takes place after Sonic 1, Sonic dashes to Never Lake to visit Little Planet, a Planet that comes to Earth every year on the last month on the last day. As Sonic runs through the forest and to the lake, he sees the planet chained to the lake and a mountain in Robotnik likeness, Sonic runs into action as he is forced in another battle of Nature vs Industrialization, not before a spunky pink hedgehog called Princess Sally (who proclaims to be his girlfriend). As he ventures through Little Planet, he faces a Metal copy of himself aptly named Metal Sonic who captures Sally. Sonic is thrust into a new Adventure as he travels through time to collect the Time Stones, Destroy the Robot Generators and save Sally. Sonic CD is a pretty standard Sonic Story for the time but one important thing that sets this game apart from the other games is it shows the perfect utopia Sonic should be fighting for, a Balance. A Balance between Nature and Indrutslisarion in a Good Future. A Future that Sonic & his friends should all be fighting for, that benefits nature and doesn’t destroy it, I sorta headcanon that because this game is before Sonic 2, Sonic made the Tornado in response to seeing the Good Future, inspired after seeing how a balance can benefit a good future. With the gorgeous/timeless 2D Animated cutscenes, it feels like this is the game where they nailed Sonic’s Attitude and world, his design while unchanged in moment to moment gameplay has been refined to have a bit of an edge to it while being cute at the same time, Metal Sonic in the brief appearances in these cutscenes looks threatening as all hell and the environments are full of life.

And on that note, Sonic CD is full of life, everything in this game is blooming with soul, colour, vibrance, life and pigmentation. Sonic CD is a beauty to look at, I know some people are gonna say that it looks too colourful and that’s always a weird complaint i’ve heard, Little Planet is another planet, it’s supposed to be different than South & Westside Island, the out of the box aesthetics makes Sonic CD into the game it is. The Time Travel gimmick (which i have my issues with) really shows how full of life these areas are in the Past and Good Future, And How Robotnik royally fucked it up in the Bad Future, it really shows how Robotnik isn’t a man to messed with despite his goofy nature, feeling like the first game that shows us how Personal the struggle is between them. The Sprite art however, i feel quite mixed about, i don’t like Robotnik’s Hunchback design and Sally just looks off in my opinion, It’s also jarring playing this after Sonic 2 where they changed Sonic’s design there and now it’s back to the Sonic 1 design, i also don’t think the Badnik designs aren’t as memorable as the other games though are fine i guess, it mostly shines in its Backgrounds and Aesthetics and not really the Sprite Art.

When it comes to the music, Sonic CD’s Confusion begins to reap its ugly head in, You see they had a perfectly fine Japanese Soundtrack that amplifies the previous osts, using the Compacted Disc technology that was capable with the new Console, The Japanese/European Ost is fantastic, it’s varied, funky, energetic and feels like a natural evolution of the tracks from the previous games, not to mention since there’s 3 other variants, the ost is a lot blogger and more ambitious than the other soundtracks in the series so far, it can convey a wider way of emotions, happy and fun filled with Palm Tree Panic, slightly foreboding with Tidal Tempest and the Boss theme, full of wonder making you really want to explore the stage with Collision Chaos & Quartz Quadrant and so much more, the short vocal themes of “You can do anything” and Cosmic Eternity shows Sonic’s personality and how people feel about him, how he inspires positivity in other people’s lives, I could go on and on about Sonic CD’s Japanese soundtrack but i think you get the point.

Then Amercians said fuck that and decdied to make their own soundtrack because why not?

Seriously though, there's no real reason why they decided to make their own soundtrack and inadvertently delayed the game to do this, but it’s way way worse! It’s not bad per say and there’s some tracks i like such as Collision Chaos and of course, Sonic Boom is a great and iconic track but on the whole it feels a lot weaker, It’s mainly that the soundtrack all invoke the same feeling of funky 90’s music, with the exception of the Boss/Game Over themes which are threatening pieces of music but i don’t know, i’m struggling to remember one other track apart from Collision Chaos.. Except the Past music which is the same from the European soundtrack, why? Did they not have enough time to compose those other themes or pure laziness? I feel the Soundtrack, while at the very least, fine to listen to doesn’t fit the game overall and feels tacked on, sorta like Sonic R’s Vocal Themes, good but don’t fit the game.

That being said, the game itself is fine? It’s weird to put how i feel about this game since at its core, it seems to be a fine enough “expansion” of Sonic 1, Sonic controls around the same, Rings serve the same health purpose with a risk reward system, there’s Shield, Speed Sneaker and Invincibility Power Ups, it’s standard stuff, those there’s one thing that set’s Sonic CD apart, You see, Each Classic Sonic game emphasis 3 of the tropes amd until Sonic 3 achieved a perfect balance, Sonic 1 focused on Platforming, Sonic 2 focused on Speed filled reaction time and Obstacle Courses and this game, focuses on exploration, of course all 3 elements pop up in each game before but those are the main elements of each game, I wouldn't mind if it was based on exploration

You see, Sonic CD has a few new gimmicks, each Act has a Robot Generator in the past, you go back in time to the past and find Robot Generator, then travel to the future to see the good future you have made, this sounds cool and all but in execution it's not very good. The Time Travel gimmick is so tedious in my opinion, i get it's to emphasise Sonic's speed elements but given other issues with the game i'll mention soon it just doesn't work well, if this was Sonic 1 or 2 then i wouldn't mind this but given how CD wants to use it's level, it feels so unorthodox, I think it would have benefited from having an alternative way to time travel, maybe there’s a time travel method that can get to a time period easily but it’s one that’s always set, then if you find the post and gain enough speed, then you can choose your own Time Period. Finding the Robot Generator is a bit of a pain too, there's no map or indicator anywhere in the game and it just feels so aimless looking for it, it's odd to me that CD prides itself on being a game based on exploration but wants to also be a linear experience like previous games.

It's so odd to me, it's like they had all these levels that were clearly meant to be explored but at the last minute, copped out and had a goal post just for fans who didn't want to explore the zones, it's commendable i guess for having such a versatile way to play but it feels half baked when playing it in both ways.

Trying to play Sonic CD like Sonic 1 or Sonic 2 doesn't hold a candle to the experience you’d have with the previous games, But it’s fun I guess. But you i feel like the game is probably best played when possible searching for the Robot Generators, I’d say the levels are more suited for exploration but again, it’s not nearly as fun as it should be, sometimes Robot Generators are hidden in the most obtuse places, not to mention that the already pre existing issues in terms of time travelling, i feel it’s not as fun as it should be, because of this confusion, Sonic CD never really hits it’s true potential, a thing that will be common for this series.

That isn’t to say Sonic CD is a bad game per say, far from it! I really dig some the levels here, Palmtree Panic is a great bright, vibrant first stage that gives Green Hill a run for its money in terms of gameplay and environments, Collision Chaos has an neat little stage with a good theme of being a Chaotic Casino and Forest, Tidal Tempest feels like the only stage that benefits from this weird hybrid of level design philosophy’s, Quartz Quadrant is busy but in a good way, it feels so full of ideas and Stardust Speedway is iconic and easily one of the best stages in not just this game, but Sonic in general. And with the Time Travel gimmick we get some really unique takes on the same stage, it may be more prehistoric or untouched in the Past or a mechanical cynical hellscape in the future (so Twitter) in the Bad Future and a perfect utopia like balance between both ideas in the Good Future

You’ll notice that some stages i’ve emitted, and that’s because they are the bane of my existence, Wacky Workbench is just annoying, in all incarnations of the stages, The Gimmicks in Sonic CD are mostly hit and miss, but the whole bouncy floor gimmick because it doesn’t suit the stage at all, Metallic Madness is just Scrap Brain but even more annoying, the badniks as just as bad as Act 3 Metropolis Zone too, it’s also just confusing to navigate through, even more than the other stages. It also has Chibi Sonic, An incredibly underdeveloped gimmick but, like honestly, do you really care because it’s Chibi Sonic, but unfortunately, Chibi Sonic aside, it’s such a shame Sonic CD ends on a whimper instead of a bang.

This is partly due to the Bosses, Sonic CD’s Bosses are weird. Instead of being a battle of attrition, a lot of Sonic CD’s Bosses are puzzles or short form challenges. On one hand, these lead to some of the best encounters in the game and even the series this far, Egg Tilter, Egg Conveyor, Egg Razer and of course, Metal Sonic are great and experimental bosses. On the other hand they are laughably easy when they do go for the old boss format, it’s laughably easy, this unfortunately includes the final boss, which were a highlight of previous games but here it’s so forgettable.

There’s also Special Stages and look, I can appreciate their ambition of being semi 3D and explorable. Essentially it follows Sonic trying to destroy a certain amount of UFOs on a time limit, and if you go on the water, your time runs out. These Special stages are the best ones i played so far and they still suck, the obvious answer which Sonic Mania even does is that the Ring count should have been the time limit, otherwise the Ring count is useless, there’s no Badniks and the things that do deplete Ring counts are easily avoidable. But the main issue is that Sonic controls so weirdly in the stages, he feels too stiff to turn and oddly enough, speed feels inconsistent,, there’s also a lot of depth perspective issues when trying to destroy the UFOs or get on another piece of ground. That being said, if you don’t want to go for the Robot Generators and still want to get the good ending, then I wouldn't say it’s a bad choice.

Looking back at this review, i feel the elements of a great game are right there and sometimes i can see that vision sometimes in it’s presentation and even the level design, but like, nah man i can’t completely vibe with this game, it’s not bad, far from it and i recommend a play with the Japanese ost on the remaster but on the whole, Sonic Compacted Disc is confused

Sonic CD has a reputation. Considered the pinnacle of 'classic' Sonic as often as it's derided for being the series black sheep. To say it's a controversial entry in the Sonic library is an understatement. Being a spineless, fence-sitting Sonic centrist, I neither think it deserves the blind praise or unfiltered vitriol it continues to earn to this day.

For quite some time Sonic CD remained one of the least accessible Sonic games, and the mystique surrounding it no doubt contributed to an inflated sense of value for the game. Thankfully, the excellent remaster by Taxman has changed this, but being able to more easily play this on a number of platforms and with significant quality of life improvements has only helped lift the rose-tinted goggles I viewed the original release through, allowing me to develop what I feel is a more fair assessment of Sonic CD.

At the time of its development, Sonic CD only had the first game as a roadmap for where to go next. Much of that game's design ethos translate quite well into CD, including the more methodical pace of platforming and winding level structure. Indeed, many of CD's levels have analogs with Sonic the Hedgehog. Palmtree Panic is Green Hill of course, Tidal Tempest is Labyrinth, Collision Chaos is Spring Yard, Stardust Speedway is Starlight... There was a point in time where CD was envisioned to be an enhanced remake of the original game before veering off to become the more vertically oriented, exploration focused entry it is today. This seems to be what divides people the most. Some really enjoy taking their time, knocking out all the robot generators, and finding the ideal places to time travel. Others think this is crap from a butt, and when you consider the larger impression (and earlier release) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 had, it's no wonder they prefer its more linear speed-driven gameplay over CD's slower pace.

For a while I fell into the former camp. Sonic CD was so unattainable yet ever-present for me. I occasionally got a chance to play it on my friend's computer, and those brief tastes left me with a lasting impression that morphed into a very assured sense that it was my favorite Sonic game. Years after I bought my own PC copy off Ebay, I still believed this. It was only thanks to the Taxman port and its many quality of life improvements that the blinders were able to come off, and I was allowed to develop a better sense of Sonic CD's weaknesses.

The mantra of CD's defenders is that exploration is fun, but where I feel this fun starts to fall apart is when you're exploring for the robot generators. Taking these out is an all-or-nothing equation if you want the good ending, miss one and you're done. You can fall back on the time stones, which I'll get to, but the generators themselves provide little room for error. The first few times you go hunting for them are quite enjoyable, but once you know where they're at and the most effective means of time traveling to reach them, you'll likely develop a rigid route through the level on subsequent playthroughs. It all becomes very rote and my least favorite way to play through the game. Compare this to Sonic 3, another game that I think is very exploration heavy. In that game, the massive size of the levels breeds curiosity, and when you fall from one path onto another your mistake is rewarded rather than locking you out of an ending. It helps too that Sonic 3's levels are always pushing you towards the same goal, even if you're treading off of the beaten path.

The aforementioned time stones provide you another option for a good ending, but running through the special stages to collect all seven is just awful. This is largely due to a really bad framerate that makes the pseudo-3D environment of the stages hard to navigate. The choppy presentation makes it too difficult to properly assess your jumps, and it's not uncommon to over or undershoot UFOs by misjudging their distance from Sonic. Run out of time and you've wasted one shot at a stone, of which you only have limited attempts. While a time increasing UFO does appear right before you're about to be booted out of a special stage, providing some semblance of a safety net, a lot of the later stages for me tend to play out the same: repeatedly increase the time and continue to flail around trying to pin down one last squirrely UFO while the game's performance actively works to sabotage me.

This is largely mitigated in the Taxman release, which makes the special stages run at a buttery 60fps. Everything is so smooth, scales so naturally, that getting the time stones becomes no less or more challenging than any of the other classic games. But I'm not reviewing the Taxman version, and in the base game they're just terrible. Easily the worst.

When you strip out the conditions for a good ending, I think CD becomes a total blast to play. The level designs are just incredible, richly detailed and gorgeous to look at. The fact that each one has three additional variations really makes me appreciate the sheer amount of work the sprite artists had to put in to get CD out the door. I do genuinely like traveling through time just to get a taste of each level's past and divergent futures, and in that sense I do agree on the point of CD being so strong as an "exploration heavy" twist on Sonic. It is at its most fun when I'm just running through the levels, just playing it like a Sonic game.

Both soundtracks lend so much atmosphere to the game, I really don't think I can decide on which one I prefer. They're very different flavors but both suit the game so well. I also think the way they programmed in the past themes to give them a sort of muffled, aged quality works perfectly for selling the player on being in a bygone version of a zone. The "cutscenes" also feel like a good halfway point between Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic 3. The player can still move around as the scene plays out, and there's only a few of them with no real level transitions to speak of. But the brief moments you get with Amy chasing you, being picked up by Metal, and freeing her in Stardust Speedway add some charm and provides some amount of narrative without being a distraction.

I also love the boss battles. Each one is its own little puzzle to solve. Sonic 1's bosses are nothing to write home about, and Sonic 2's are so easy that most can be completed before they even get more than one attack in. By comparison, CD's are much more engaging.

CD has some of the most fun and aesthetically brilliant levels in the series, and the time travel mechanic gives it a lot of replayability. However, the steep conditions for the best ending are a bit of a detriment to the flow of the game. A lot of this was smoothed out in the Taxman port, but having played that one to death it only highlights the areas where the original Sonic CD are at its weakest. I definitely don't think it's the best in the classic series, nor do I think it's total crap like some people do. It's pretty good! Just, you know, play that remaster instead.

This is, by far and away, one of the strangest Sonic games out there. It's certainly the strangest Classic Sonic game, beyond a shadow of a doubt.

The levels are sprawling and labyrinthine but also surprisingly easy to blaze through if you don't bother with exploring. Sonic CD has two different OSTs depending on what region you played the game in, but both OSTs slap so fucking hard that it just makes the game's overall soundtrack quality that much stronger. The Special Stages are actually really cool and provide a unique challenge this time around, but the process of collecting the Chaos Emeralds is a confusing and often mind-numbing experience that's just begging the use of a guide to figure things out. And while the game's style and presentation value is out of this world (the anime OP still holds up to this day, as do the saturated, poppy, neon-drenched colors and wacky architecture), the levels are also fucking cluttered with random shit that serves no purpose other than to just... exist. The boss battles are also pretty bad, but it's also got the best Classic Sonic boss battle ever in the form of a race between you and Metal Sonic.

Preposterously ambitious for a game that was going to be the flagship title for what was, essentially, an obscure peripheral for the SEGA Genesis. Sonic CD is full of highs and lows, from the level design (fun to glide through but meaningless to explore through) to the presentation (crazy-good colors and appealing backgrounds rendered meaningless by cluttered, noisy level design) to even things as specific as the brand-new power (the Super Peel-Out is cool-looking but ultimately not that useful) to the time gimmick (they made Past and Future versions for EVERY stage, but there's practically fuck-all to do in these versions of the levels).

Sonic CD is fucking crazy. I love it. But objectively, it's a 3/5 - good more often than not, but weighed down by too much random bullshit.

After drudging through Sonic’s latest adventure through mediocrity, I felt thoroughly deflated. In all honesty, I was starting to think I was just completely tapped out for this series and it would never give me the same highs it used to. As it turns out, all I needed was a brief refresher with a personal favorite of mine. It’s been a while since this series provided me any pleasure, but boy lemme tell ya, when Sonic hits it really hits.

For many, the predictable choice here would be Mania or 3&K, but despite their obviously quality, it wasn’t the skew of Sonic I was looking for today. Not even Sonic 2, a game I’ve loved for longer than I’ve had cogent memories, would scratch the particular itch I was looking for. Instead I reached for Sonic CD, a game that continues to stand tall as a singular pillar of excellence in this ridiculously far reaching series of games.

If you’ve known me online for the past few years, you should already know how hard I’ve fought on the Sonic CD frontlines in the past, and as such I won’t reiterate everything I’ve previously said of the game in this log - instead I just wanted to gush incessantly for a little bit about one of my favorite games of all time.

In retrospect, bringing in the character designer of Sonic to direct the sequel to the first game was an inspired choice, and this is felt as early as the very first level. Visually and sonically this thing is unparalleled in it’s swag (but you didn’t need me to confirm that), levels and their layouts are as chaotic as the series would ever see in this format, and the pace at which you can breeze through each zone is comical even by Sonic standards. Later titles like 2 or 3&K arguably worked better as 2D platformers for normal people rather than absolute freaks, but no other Sonic game understands the appeal of the character quite as well as this, and it’s obvious in all areas of its design.

Even the time travel, something that continually gets mocked by detractors of the game, is so effortlessly cool and natural for the character that it’s kinda weird playing the other games without the mechanic now. The main sticking points for most have to do with the execution of time travel itself, and its actual mechanical use in the story. If you personally land in this critical group of goblins, I hear you, but I just don’t care. You’re so concerned with traveling through time just for it’s “intended” function as a vehicle for the true ending of the game, when honestly, the best way to enjoy it may be to focus on the purely shallow benefits to it. On my most recent playthrough I disregarded the robot generators entirely, breezed through all seven special stages, and continued to utilize the time travel nearly 40 times in the run just to change the scenery and layouts while leisurely bouncing through all 7 of the game’s magnificent zones. Sometimes it’s the simple things in life that bring the most pleasure.

While on the note of the time travel, this most recent playthrough was done on the Sonic CD Restored version of the game along with it’s massive time travel overhaul, and while I’ll always be able to hang with even the nastiest ports of the game, this cleans up the experience to an honestly absurd degree. In fact, it was such a smooth experience I can’t help but wonder if people’s hatred of the game comes more from shitty ports than anything. While some of the changes here could be argued to be somewhat superfluous (from what I understand, time travel in the original CD version of the game is around 35% faster than the 2011 port, with CDR’s time travel being around 16% faster than even that), it’s clearly the closest representation of how the game not only was on release, but how it was always meant to be. Sure the time travel is absurdly fast here to the point where it’s maybe a bit too easy to pull off, but the core of the game shines so clearly with this port that I think it doesn’t take away from the experience at all.



In the bad timeline we landed in where this series is just inconceivably fucked up with no way to turn back, it’s nice to still have a title that shines bright in a sea of never-ending shadow. This game tickles my brain in a way not easily found elsewhere. The joy of flinging this blue bastard through pinball mazes from hell. The joy of effortlessly seeing all eras of time just for the sake of it. The joy of beating a level in 30 seconds or 5 minutes dictated only by how you feel like playing the game rather than by some slapdash gauntlet level design. The joy of true and uncompromising play.

Sonic cd is not a very good game. For one the game is extremely short, each stage is only 3 or 4 minutes long at most and overall I was NOT A fan of the exploration type levels in this game. They just made the game feel empty and pointless.

I liked the time travel mechanic and thought it made for an interesting difference between this and sonic 1-3. The music was super good like always, they played the same music every boss though which I wasn't a big fan of.

I also wish that metal sonic appeared more in this game, he shows up occasionally throughout the game and then you race him and he fucking explodes. It's just really underwhelming, especially with a character who had so much potential. All in all, Sonic cd is not great but has some redeeming qualities if you look hard enough.

This game is an enigma. By all accounts of "good game design" this game is complete fucking dogshit and yet it seems like tons of people who play it end up falling in love with it, myself included.

Maybe its specifically for that kind of nonsense design it loves to indulge itself in, maybe its just the visual and audio atmosphere paired with the relative lack of challenge creating a really pleasant vibe, or maybe its just that Sonic's pinball physics make him fun to move around in such strange environments. Either way, Sonic CD is a must-play piece of art in my opinion if only just for how strange it is.

Sonic already had a great running start when it came to the success of his original game, which brought him into the spotlight as Sega’s newest heavy hitter and potential mascot, but then when Sonic 2 was released, it solidified that role for him. Not only was Sonic 2 better than the original game in almost every single way, but it introduced many mainstays of the franchise, such as with Tails and Super Sonic, making it not just one of the best Sonic games out there, but also one of the best titles to have on the Sega Genesis. So, of course, like with Alex Kidd, Sega was going to make sure to keep Sonic games coming, with the next of these titles initially starting out as a port of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Sega CD. However, this then quickly changed into a completely different game, which would be developed alongside Sonic 2, and would take place in between that game and the original. Eventually, the game would be released alongside two other brand new Sonic games (which we will get to at a later date), and it would simply be known as Sonic the Hedgehog CD, or just Sonic CD for short.

Whenever it comes to what many consider to be the best Sega CD game, people will often point to this title, while also calling it one of the best Sonic games ever made, and while I personally wouldn’t completely agree with that sentiment, I will say it is still a really great entry in the series. Like with the previous mainline Sonic game, it manages to take what was established in the previous games and add onto it, introducing completely new mechanics and gimmicks that would rarely get used ever again, making this one of the more unique and entertaining titles in the series. Of course, it does have its share of problems, as any Sonic game does (as any fan should be used to by now), but for what we got here, it still holds up pretty well to this day, and a must-play for anyone who owns a Sega CD.

The story is similar to the other Sonic games, except this time you are now saving a damsel in distress, and stopping Robotnik from taking over the extraterrestrial body known as Little Planet, and most of this is even shown to us through these very well animated cutscenes made by Toei Animation………… which look absolutely crusty on the original hardware, but hey, they are some of the better cutscenes seen on the system, the graphics are of a similar quality to the previous Genesis Sonic titles, but they still look great here, not only being just as colorful and detailed as before, but also having plenty of different new animations for characters for that extra level of detail, the music is…. complicated, with there being two different soundtracks that were made, one for the US and one for everywhere else, and while there are definitely plenty of great tracks to be heard in the US soundtrack, the Japanese soundtrack knocks it out of the park in every single way, it is so damn good, the control is typical of what you would expect from a Sonic game, so not much to talk about there, and the gameplay is familiar with those who have played the previous Sonic titles, but introduces plenty of new mechanics to keep things interesting.

The game is a 2D platformer, where you take control of Sonic once again, go through a set of seven zones, each with three acts a piece, run through them at the speed of sound while defeating many different badniks in your path to free all of the little animals trapped within them, gather plenty of rings, shields, and invincibility boxes along the way to give you an edge over the many robotic enemies you will face, and take on the evil Robotnik’s many different contraptions, ranging from the creative and challenging, to the completely pathetic and pointless. It has all the markings of your typical 2D Sonic title, but to its credit, it still manages to be pretty fun, and the level of speed is properly maintained throughout this title for the most part, making it still pretty fun to play.

In terms of new additions, like with Sonic 2, there are quite a few. For starters, Sonic still retains his Spin Dash from the previous game, but now, he also has a brand new move called the Super Peel Out, where he can rev up his feet into a figure-8 pattern and take off towards whatever lies ahead of him. When you think about it, it is essentially just a fancier version of the Spin Dash, but honestly, I love using this move, and the speed and distance you get with it is really satisfying. It’s a shame that it is barely ever brought back after this, aside from one or two exceptions here or there. Alongside this, we also have two brand new characters who, like Tails, would go onto being mainstays of the entire Sonic franchise. The first of these new characters would be Amy Rose, Sonic’s on-again-off-again love interest, who for this game is just relegated to the damsel in distress role, because I guess Sega really was trying really hard to push Sonic as their own personal Mario. While I myself don’t personally like her as much as other characters seen throughout the franchise, I would still say that Amy is a pretty great character, one that is usually fun to see whenever she shows up in future games (especially ones where she talks), and whenever you get the chance to play as her in certain installments, she is also usually fun to play as. Not to mention, her classic design is fucking adorable, and you cannot convince me otherwise.

The second character that was introduced, on the other hand, was not only another great inclusion for this series, but has been my favorite character in the entire franchise ever since I first saw him: Metal Sonic. He may not be that creative of a character, with him just being an evil, robotic version of Sonic, but he makes up for it not only with his cool as FUCK design, but also with his many different appearances across the franchise. Usually, he is one of the highlights of anything he appears in, and most of his boss fights are some of the best in the entire series. In terms of what he does in this game though, not only does he show up to actually kidnap Amy right in front of you, but you also race against him to avoid Robotnik’s rainbow laser of death, and while it can be a bit annoying if you don’t time your jumps right, it is one of the best boss fights in the game in my opinion.

Moving on from characters though, the third biggest inclusion of this game, as well as the main gimmick of the whole thing, is with time travel. Throughout most of the levels, you will see plenty of signs that say Past or Future, and when you pass by them and then get enough speed, you will then be sent back or forward in time, to where the levels now look and sound different and have a different amount of enemies depending on the time period you’re in. While it doesn’t really change the gameplay that much, it can be pretty neat to swap between these time periods, as well as seeing all the differences between them for each of the levels, if you are that curious. But, if you do want to go for the best ending in the game, the time travel mechanic does become pretty important, as for every single Past version of a level, there will be a hidden transporter that will be producing enemies that you can destroy. When you destroy all of those, you then immediately create a good future for the zone, and unlock the best ending. Honestly though…. I’m not really too big of a fan of this method of completing the game. There is nothing necessarily wrong with it, but I just don’t like searching the levels to find these specific spots where these transporters are, as it completely breaks the pacing that Sonic levels typically have, and that is something I value heavily in these games.

Thankfully though, there is a more traditional alternative for people like me. Like in Sonic 1, if you collect 50 rings, a giant ring will appear at the end of the main stages, and when you jump in said ring, you will be transported to a Special Stage where you will get the chance to get a Time Stone………… yes, a Time Stone, not a Chaos Emerald. Usually, when it comes to special stages in Sonic games, I typically kinda dread getting to them, as they can either be really fun or annoying as hell, with no inbetween a lot of the time. With this game, though, we get to go through the really fun batch of Special Stages, where you are running in a 3D environment trying to destroy these UFOs, and when you destroy them all, you get the Time Stone. Sure, these stages can get kinda annoying at times, given how fast both you and the UFOs can get at times, but honestly, I greatly prefer this over plenty of other special stages in Sonic games, as I feel like I have a lot more control over what I do, and when I fuck up, I do feel like it is my fault rather then the game fucking me over.

So yeah, it may seem like I absolutely adore this game, but trust me, I do have my fair share of complaints about this title. For starters, the Spin Dash, at least in the original version of the game, FUCKING SUCKS. Not only does it look off from what it usually is, but it works differently to where you have to wait for it to charge up before you release the wind up button, making it pretty unreliable when compared to the Super Peel Out. Thankfully, this was fixed in the modern ports of the game made by Christian Whitehead, but if you are playing the original version of the game, or the port on the Sega Gems Collection, that Spin Dash is pretty much completely useless.

And secondly, while I wouldn’t say this applies to every level in the game, I will say that for a majority of the stages in this game, the level design is pretty horrible. Not to say that it doesn’t work well enough, but it feels like in this game specifically that a lot of the time, you can’t properly maneuver around a lot of parts without some jank getting in the way, such as with certain pathways and enemy placements. Not to mention, there are also plenty of moments where you can get stuck in the levels, needing to fight against the gimmicks to hope to make some progress, and there are plenty of examples you can find where you will see rings just clipped through the walls, unable to get. I don’t know how the hell they let that slide, but I guess Sonic Team was always known for half-assing their games at points, even from the beginning.

Overall, despite some shitty level design in places and a completely useless Spin Dash, I would consider Sonic CD to be one of the best 2D Sonic games out there, and it is without a doubt the best game on the Sega CD that I have ever played. I would definitely recommend it to those who are big fans of Sonic games, as well as those love 2D platformers in general, because this title will give you plenty to blaze through and enjoy, every step of the way. Although, if you are gonna play this, here is a quick word of advice: be ready for what you may see in the Sound Test. Some of it is pretty funny, and it can be cute as well, but then some of it is just… shudder....

Game #420

So…whilst they were making sonic 2 over in America with yuji naka, the rest of the original sonic team were left in japan to work on a different sonic game for sega’s next business venture…the sega cd…of night trap fame of course.

In my view, out of the first 3 sonic games so far, cd seems the most consistent in level design…now hear me out on that, I’m a big sonic cd defender and I’m here to put my point of view on it. Sonic cd is more focussed on exploration, which might seem stupid? A sonic game doing exploration…sonic is meant to go fast! And that’s where I find this game to truly shine, the exploration is there for those that want to do it. Like the other sonic games you don’t have to do it. But that doesn’t mean it’s not more encouraged, if anything it’s more encouraged then anything and that’s what I like about it, it gives the level design a chance to shine and not just be zoomed through, but you can zoom through it if you absolutely want to.

The metal sonic boss fight is also the best part of this game, like geez that is a cool boss…

Consistent level design, still great music, eggman’s laugh is too funny.

I just find it amusing that the classic Sonic game with the time travel gimmick is so chronologically confusing. Due to being developed at the same time, Sonic CD was released after Sonic 2 but takes place before it, and seems a lot closer in graphical style to the original game!

Anyway, this makes a really interesting foil to Sonic 2 because it tries a lot of different ideas both for better and worse, the most obvious one being the time-travel mechanic. Being able to travel backwards and forwards in time means lots of additional content (four different variations of each stage!), and the optional goal of destroying machines in the past that will change the future for the better adds some replay value to what is actually a pretty easy base game. Through this format, Sonic CD casts itself as a time/score attack game, where each individual stage is short and relatively easy but you're encouraged to try them again and again, and rewarded with different content and a slightly different ending once you get good enough.

However, the execution is slightly off here: playing simply to get through the game is a pretty bland and frictionless experience, while trying to get the good ending requires tedious combing through levels trying to find the right machine to destroy, and there is very little middle ground between these two experiences of the game. By contrast, Sonic 2 lacks any such overarching gimmick but has much tighter level design, more interesting zones, and offers an experience with just the right amount of difficulty (except for Metropolis Zone, screw that).

Sonic CD does have one aspect that it excels in though, and that's the bosses. They're far more creative than anything in previous Sonic games, and almost none of them fall into the category of "figure out attack pattern, hit boss X number of times, profit". The two highlights for me are a pinball-themed boss (Sonic Spinball without the fluff and with better physics!), and a thematically-appropriate straight-up footrace against Metal Sonic which you simply win by getting to the end of the stage first!

I'd personally rank this slightly below Sonic 2 but it's still firmly in the "very good" category. However, the fact that Sonic CD was by far the best-received and best-selling game on the Sega CD was perhaps a warning sign that foreshadowed Sega losing more and more ground in the console wars with each successive generation. Oh, to find the right machine to break in the past to save this franchise from the bad future...

I first played this game when I was 13 but didn't finish it until a few months later when I was 14. What can I say? I'm easily distracted. I'm now 23, and Sonic Frontiers just released. It got me in the mood to go back and revisit some of the Blue Blur's classics, a lot of which I haven't played. Now, I had a soft spot for Sonic as a kid -- I mean, I can't even tell you how many hours I spent on Sonic Heroes. That said, over the years, a lot of the other games in the franchise I have tried have left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, but I've been coming around recently! However, Sonic CD is a game that I always thought back fondly on. I liked it enough back then to go for all the Steam achievements, even, which usually I can't be bothered with for platformers. As time passed, I wondered if maybe younger me was just overhyping it...

So here I am 10 years later, having decided to re-evaluate it. I was planning on only trying it for a few minutes before bed, but I ended up completing a whole playthrough in one sitting. I mean, not that it's a long game, but I was very sleep deprived, and I knew better than to postpone some much-needed rest before an early morning shift. But I couldn't help myself! It seems younger me was definitely not overhyping it. The replay value on this one is insane. Every level is a joy to navigate (minus that stupid pinball one), and their abstract design + the techno-infused soundtrack makes for an extremely memorable game. It's too bad it was relegated to obscurity in its time due to being on stupid hardware that no one owned.

P.S. Did you know that CD stands for Chili Dog?

Probably the most straightforward execution of a "speedrunner game." It's not quite focused on actually going fast like the more popular Sonic games so much as it's focused on creating flexible, high-skill ceiling levels which take much time to master. Sonic CD has a genius grasp of how to give the player both interesting levels to cross through and interesting levels to figure out the kinks of so that when the time comes, they'll be able to blast through the game like nothing else. Extremely dense design with convoluted branching paths that fold and weave into each other are usually decorated with a level gimmick/obstacle that tends to, at first sight, impair movement, but actually can be used to increase your speed with the correct knowledge, timing and placement. All of it relies on both stage knowledge and actual understanding of Sonic's movement, a high bar that the games don't usually reach besides demanding fast reflexes every now and again. Quartz Quadrant and Wacky Workbench are the best examples, with seemingly haphazard placement of the stage gimmick gradually making complete sense and feeling perfect as you gracefully flow through the stage every time you play. The real kicker here is that by focusing on this type of branching and gimmick-driven level design, you tap into plain fun platforming and exploration too; gone is the sensation of merely speeding through levels and not thinking (though some may have preferred that), instead you get a great exploratory platformer that offers Infinitely Fun reward if you climb the ladder.

Replayed as part of Sonic Origins Plus.

I am more no longer letting internet weirdo personalities gaslight me into thinking Sonic CD is some kind of poorly-designed Sonic title that hates the player. If anything, this is Sonic 1's philosophy fully realized, more than Sonic 2 and 3&K ever did, even despite my eternal preference to the latter.

Consisted of perfectly-sized gigantuan neonite playgrounds of dreams that beg you to explore every nook and cranny, CD's multilayered treasure hunting approach invites players to really experiment with movement. FUTURE and PAST signs plastered at every avenue give you plenty of chances and opportunities to play with your speed to warp through time, some obvious and some cleverly hidden.

The CD-ROM represented Sonic's potential when unchained from its predecessor's hardware limitations. Its recovery from obscurity opened the floodgates for the uninspired, tepid opinions of influential casuals to classify CD as largely inferior to Sonic 2, reason largely being its "insistance" on hindering Sonic's speed. This is where the hardest pill to swallow comes into play: that Sonic's original core philosophy was always in his physics, not his speed. Sonic was designed as a characteristic pinball. It's why he rolls down slopes. It's why his rounded design and quills can be hunched down into a BALL shape. In reality, as Sonic 2 was developed in America by a largely new team and focused on the occasionally staleing spectacle of going right really fast (with a more modern, uninspired art style I might add,) the passion in Sonic 1's development team effortlessly bled over to CD, evergreen, ever shining. Sonic's speed may be his Americanized ideal, but it was originally an end to a means, a reward for good play that Yuji Naka envisioned. After one more development team split for the development of Sonic 3, Sonic CD was the last and only game to really branch out Sonic 1's pinball-platforming core before transitioning into a high speed platformer, for better or worse, and in a way, no other Sonic game has carried that core philosophy since.

However, if a Grand Judge sentenced me to playing Sonic CD's special stages for 10 minutes as a punishment over a minor misdemeanor, I would ask for the electric chair as a preferable alternative.