Sonic CD Review

With Sonic the Hedgehog 2 being the top-selling game on the Sega Genesis (#2 being Sonic the Hedgehog) Sega wanted to follow up with another success. Sonic 2 was being developed in the USA because Yuji Naka was tired of SEGA constantly watching him. Naoto Oshima and the rest of the staff who stayed behind worked on their version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.While Sega of Japan was developing a different Sonic game. That game was Sonic CD. Sonic CD has become something of a cult classic because of the gameplay. Is it worthy of this title? Lets find out!!!!!!!!!!!!



Story Synopsis The story is that Dr. Eggman is once again trying to take over the world. He soon hears of this planet that holds the Time Stones. It is said that whoever holds the Time Stones can move freely through time, changing it to whatever they desire. After Dr. Eggman (Oops, I mean Dr. Robotnik.) hears about this, he rolls on over to Little Planet, the place where the Time Stones are located. As Sonic The Hedgehog, your job is to stop the evil Dr. Eggman (Goddamnit, I did it again, I MEANT TO SAY DR. ROBOTNIK!!) by setting the future straight. Sonic has to speed through seven different zones, saving the future by preserving the past. This game is the first appearance of Amy Rose and Metal Sonic.

GAMEPLAY/ GAME MECHANICS: The control scheme for Sonic remains largely unchanged, the same momentum-based gameplay preserved under the hood. Pressing one of the buttons on the controller once again allows Sonic to curl up into his spin attack, attacking an enemy from any angle as long as spikes or some other dangerous projectile is not in the way. Pressing down on the controller while running also allows Sonic to curl up in his spin attack, the roll lasting as long as momentum will allow. In addition, Sonic possesses his spin dash move from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, albeit in an altered state. In Sonic 2 and nearly every game that features the spin dash, all the player must do is press down and tap once to gain a slight burst of speed, additional button presses equaling a greater initial speed once Sonic zooms off. However, in Sonic CD, the action button can be pushed only once, the control pad being held down for a certain amount of time before Sonic can dash ahead. If you let go of the button too soon, Sonic will remain stationary. To balance this out, a new move was added to the game, called the Super Peel-Out. Holding up as opposed to down, Sonic charges up his speed, and when let go will zoom forward faster than he can normally achieve, his legs resembling a figure-eight as opposed to the standard circular loop. Though waiting will rev up his speed, immediately letting go on the up of the control pad will still cause Sonic to run ahead, just not at his maximum. One of the things that give Sonic CD its unique gameplay is the use of the time travel mechanic. In the first two zones of each level, there can be a total of four time periods that can be visited: the past, the present, good future, and bad future. Sonic always start in the present time. Sonic can travel between the past and the future by running past the “Time Warp Plates” (they look like signposts, so I’m going to be referring to them as signposts.) When Sonic goes into the past, there is a machine that Eggman uses in order to build his robot empire. Sonic has to locate this machine and destroy it. If Sonic goes into the future with the machine destroyed, then the future will be preserved, all bright, cheery, and pristine, without a single badnik to be fought.

If useless robot hunting isn’t your style, then you could collect the Time Stones (my preferred method.) all you have to do is collect 50 rings and jump into the big ring at the end of the stage (same as Sonic 1, I know.) When you do that, you enter the special stage. Sonic CD's special Stage is where Sonic runs around in a 3Dish stage where you try to destroy UFOs within a time limit. If you complete the stage, you get one of the Time Stones. Sonic needs to collect 7 of them in order to save the future this way. Just know that every future will stay bad until you get all 7 Time Stones or destroy all of the Eggman machines.

CONCLUSION: Sonic CD, as a whole, in my opinion, is a good 2D Sonic game. However, the Level design is very different  every level. The music, in my opinion, is a mismatch of good tracks from the US and Japanese version and each version doesn’t just have the best soundtrack. The levels themselves have a varying level of appeal and interest. For example, I enjoy playing Sonic CD expect for certain parts of Metallic Madness and Wacky Workbench. Sonic CD is probably one of my favorite Classic Sonic games out there, only topped by Sonic 2 and Sonic 3&K. As most reviewers would give this game a review, i have decided to drop my personal rating system. I think that Sonic CD as a whole is very sporatic. The level design is very cluttered and extreme rather than comforting and enjoyable. Sonic CD is a Sonic game that should be approached by the fans rather than newcomers