Gamers Month ver. 2 - Sonic CD

In the early 1990s, video game consoles using the new Compact Disc format were beginning to emerge. With deals being made and certain companies wanting to jump onto this bandwagon, all of the CD-based consoles before Playstation had one thing in common…they all failed. That’s not to say that the games on these systems weren’t all failures as well. Three iconic mascots would make their jump to the CD-based systems in this era. Only one would succeed…

Nope.





Nuh-uh.





YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!





Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Platforms: Sega CD, PC, GameCube
Release Date (US): 11/19/93

Sonic CD is without a doubt one of the best games in the series…which is sad, because it’s on a system that didn’t do very well. Thankfully, the game was ported to PC and then eventually released on Sonic Gems Collection for the Gamecube. There are several reasons why this could very well be debated as the best Sonic game of all time.

Let’s start at the title screen. When you leave a game on the title screen without pressing start, sometimes a demo of the gameplay will be shown. This is true in the case of Sonic CD when you do it the second, third, and fourth time. The first time, however, you get to see this:

YouTube Video

That…is badass. A cartoon within a game? My first time playing the game, I didn’t play it for the first 30 minutes. Instead, I kept letting the cartoon play, then let the gameplay happen wondering when the cartoon would play again, rinse and repeat. Now of course in the later releases of Sonic CD they had the ability to play the footage at full speed and in an uncut format, but it just couldn’t match with the charm of seeing that video for the first time on the Sega CD console.

When you first start the game, you’ll notice the colorful level designs and Sonic’s animations. You’ll notice the controls are fairly similar to Sonic 2’s with one exception, holding up and then pressing a button will have Sonic’s feet racing in place making his leg movements look like a figure eight. Letting it go will have Sonic racing at a faster speed. The only drawback to using this over the spindash is that Sonic can’t destroy any enemies. However, it’s still cool to have this addition.

Every level has three zones, two that start out in the present and then the third zone always takes place in the future where you have a boss battle with Dr. Robotnik. Also within every level are enemies that if Sonic destroys, release a sparkle that hits the ground and grows a flower. Within the levels are the usual lampposts that record your present score and time when you touch it. What’s odd about them is these are the same ones from Sonic 1 on the Genesis.

Also within the levels are posts that say Past and Future on them. If you hit one of these, the word of the associated post will appear on the bottom of the screen, marking the first step towards making Sonic travel through time in the Zone. If you make Sonic run fast enough, bright stars will trail behind him. When the word on the bottom begins to fade, then you’ve almost completed the warp. If at anytime you slow down or stop after this point, the word fades and you’ll have to find another post. However, if you keep up the speed then the Time Warp will take effect.




Traveling to the Past or Future affects the look and possibly even the layout of the zone you’re in. When you first go to the future, you’ll notice that it’s pretty bleak. Even the enemies in the future appear to be worn down, as if time has taken its effect on them. This is referred to as the Bad Future.

Apparently in each of the first two zones of every stage, Robotnik has placed a robot generating machine in the Past. If you travel back to the past in the zone you’re in, destroy the robot-generating machine, and then travel back to the present, then travel to the future, you’ll notice a big difference. While the hazards of spikes and pits remain, there are no enemies in the future. Instead, there are flowers and possibly forest critters. This is referred to as the Good Future. If you destroy both robot making machines in the past of the first two zones, then the third zone where you fight Robotnik will also turn into a Good Future.

It sounds a little more complex than the previous Sonic titles, right? Don’t worry, once you play the game it’s easy enough to figure out. At the end of every zone is a sign post that you run through to indicate that you’ve reached the goal. If you have 50 rings, a large warp ring will spin in the air after the sign post. If you jump into it, you’ll be taken to the Special Stage.

The rules for the Special Stage are quite different from that of Sonic 2, but also follow the format of the first few being easy and the rest being difficult the more you get to. In an enclosed square area, there are 6 UFOs that you have to destroy in order to complete the special stage. You have a time limit of 100 seconds to get it done. If you hit any water in the stage, the time limit decreases much more quickly. When 20 seconds are left, an extra UFO will appear that if you destroy will give you another 30 seconds to complete the stage. This appears indefinitely, so you have plenty of chances to complete the stage.



If you beat a special stage, you get a Time Stone. No Chaos Emeralds this time, meaning no Super Sonic. The upside to collecting all the time stones is it destroys all of the robot making machines in the past, meaning you get a Good Future on every zone and it also means you’ll get the good ending. Yes you can get a good ending or a bad ending in the game.

So taking into account all of the possible variations of each zone, 4 for the first two and 2 for the third zone, each level has a possible 10 zones and since there are 7 levels, that’s a total of 70 playable zones in the game along with the 7 special stages. That makes it the largest Sonic game in existence.



A couple of new characters are introduced in this game. Although the manual refers to her as Princess Sally in an attempt to tie the game in with the Saturday morning cartoon, the pink hedgehog is actually named Amy Rose in Japan. They actually used her real name in the Sonic CD adaptation of the Sonic comic, and was correctly renamed by the next Sonic game she appeared in. Also making its debut is Mecha Sonic, but is known as Metal Sonic in the US. Mecha Sonic was built by Dr. Robotnik in an attempt to be superior to Sonic in every way. During the game you’ll see him twice, once for a brief moment, and one more time in order to settle the score.



Now going to the music, there are two different soundtracks for the game: one for the US version and one for the JP/EU version. The US version’s opening is called Sonic Boom, but the other opening in the other countries is called You Can Do Anything which is pretty damn good as well.

Both songs are in English, which probably started the trend of lyric songs in Sonic games being in English no matter what country the game was released in. Now while there are two different soundtracks, the game’s Past music for both versions remains unchanged.

The Past music for the Japanese version shares similarities to the Present versions of the music, but has nothing to do with the Future music of that version. However in the US version, the Past music sounds nothing like the Present music, and doesn’t share much similarity to the Future version for the most part.

YouTube Video

Complicated, right? Overall, the soundtracks of both versions kick some serious ass. I myself prefer the US soundtrack since it’s what I grew up on, but I do have some favorites from the JP soundtrack.

Once you beat the game, you get a cutscene of either the Bad or Good ending depending on if you collected all of the Time Stones. The credits begin rolling and show a mini cartoon of Sonic going through various levels of the game. There is some replay value to the game with the Time Attack. If you get the overall time to certain levels, you begin to unlock stuff like D.A. Garden (which shows you the entire Little Planet and lets you play music tracks). The game also has codes in which you can do a stage select or unlock the sound test. In the sound test, you can enter in certain numbers in order to view hidden artwork or even go to a hidden special stage.

Combining all of these into one game, it’s no wonder why Sonic CD kicks so much ass. If you’re a fan of the platform genre, this is definitely a game to play. It is very challenging at times which can lead to some frustration, but it is very fun and there’s never a dull moment. If there is one Sonic game in your entire lifetime that you should play, it’s either this or Sonic 3 & Knuckles. Want to try it out? There’s a free demo online over at CNET: Sonic CD - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com.

Who knows, you may put in as many hours as I did on this gem.

Jam it back in, in the dark.