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.
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.