Thanks to Xyloverse for watching me stream this and play through this game twice in one sitting. I genuinely can't believe I've known a fair amount about this game for so long yet have just now gotten to playing through it for the first time.

Sonic CD is a strange game. Not really concerned with pushing the Sonic formula forward as it is bringing its own spin on things by sidestepping straight Innovation in exchange for having some of the most experimental design in the series. Levels are twisted playgrounds of all sorts of different ideas and mechanics and feels it yearns to be more deeply explored through all the past-present-future possibilities rather than strictly sped through, with continuous speed more or less rewarding you with the ability to travel to the different times. Even outside of things mechanically being different in the same stage for the different times, I found the drastic aesthetic changes more than incentive enough to at least attempt to see every possible version of each stage. Which I wasn't able to do in two playthroughs myself so I think it speaks for itself that this game has almost endless replayability with how differently you can approach levels.

It certainly isn't without its faults as not all levels are necessarily great and some mechanics aren't as fleshed out as much as they could have been, but Sonic CD comes together as such a unique experience that I think everyone interested in video games should at least play once to at least witness its beauty in action. That and play with Japanese audio if you can, the music is way better in that version and it even has an exclusive final boss theme that was completely scrapped from the American release and replaced by the normal boss theme.

I never truly grasped the concept of OutRun up until now.
I’ve played bits of it a few times but, by never truly playing it extensively, I only thought of it as a “sit and relax” type of game, with the only objective being driving through different scenery for as long as you could.
Well, I forgot this was an AM2 game. The focus is still the raw fun, but there was, indeed, a true objective behind the gameplay.

After getting bored of playing Kirby Triple Deluxe, I took advantage of my 3DS being still turned on and decided to give 3D OutRun a try, completely unpretentiously. And I’m glad that I did it.

Whilst not a racing game, OutRun is a driving game. You hit the gas pedal and go through different roads, trying to hit checkpoints with remaining time until the finish line, all of this while trying to dodge nearby vehicles, making sharp turns and shifting the car’s gears to reach higher and slower speeds depending on the situation at hand.

The concept and controls are very simple, but what truly hooks you in is everything else that makes this a really compelling and fun arcade experience.
It looks great, sounds great, but, most of all: it plays amazingly.

The real fun of this game comes from trying to maintain your speed whilst shifting gears and not hitting on other cars and objects by the sides of the road, and the game presents enough variety to always keep you on the edge of your seat.
And, oddly enough, by still keeping a chill, relaxed vibe behind all of it.

Not only that, but every once in a while you’ll be granted the choice of going on different paths that lead you to a different roads with their own scenery and obstacles. Going through all of these will grant you six different “endings”, and it is super fun to play your best to see them all.

On top of all that, this 3DS remaster comes in as one of, if not the best version of the game. Whilst the original Arcade port (which runs at 30 FPS) can still be unlocked by getting all six endings, it runs by default at 60 FPS, making the game run extremely fluidly and enhancing the feeling of speed present in the original. You can also unlock improvements to your car that can make the gameplay easier, but combining different parts also changes the look of the car itself. With the addition of two new music tracks, there’s more than enough variety here to keep the game as engrossing as it was back in the late 80’s.

OutRun was a very, very pleasant surprise. Now I truly get why it is the classic that it is. Games like these are the exactly the ones that remind me why I love videogames so much!