Sonic CD

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JaySevenZero
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Sonic CD

Post by JaySevenZero »

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Sonic CD for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.
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Jobobonobo
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Re: 584: Sonic CD

Post by Jobobonobo »

Sonic CD was the Sonic game from the Mega Drive era that I was certain I would never play. I knew no one with a Mega CD and I was not going to be allowed to get a Mega Drive let alone any fancy add on. So I just accepted that it will be a game I will forever be ignorant of. Imagine my surprise many years later, when Sonic Gems collection came out and I got myself a copy for the PS2. Now I could finally play this lost classic and see what I was missing.

I was left a bit perplexed. I played it like a regular Sonic game and flew through the levels in no time. As the levels were large and vertical with less obvious routes full of obstacles to overcome, I found the game really easy and short. I would travel through time but was not sure why I was doing such a thing. The level design was a bit of a mess for me honestly, especially when you wanted to time travel. I would built enough speed and inevitably they would either be something to stop me dead in my tracks or there would be nowhere suitable to even build up speed. Also, the Robotnik fights were easier than most in the series and the final boss was pretty underwhelming all things considered. Ditto for the anti-climatic showdown against Metal Sonic. Since I was playing the Gems collection version I was also exposed to the US soundtrack, which just sounded strange and alien to me, especially that unnerving theme that plays when you fight Robotnik. It just does not fit the aesthetic of the series to me.

Sonic CD was a big disappointment to me especially after wanting to try it for so many years. Even after learning that it is aimed primarily around exploration and destroying the enemy transporters, I just did not like the base game enough to bother playing it properly. They are things to like about it such as the charming opening animation, Metal Sonic being an iconic antagonist and the absolutely stellar Japanese soundtrack. It is honestly some of the strongest musical offerings the Sonic series has to offer. If it were tied to a better game, Sonic CD would have been my most cherished game of the franchise. As it stands now, CD is an interesting experiment but one that needed a lot more polishing before being released. Easily the weakest of the classic Sonic titles.

TWR: Superior Japanese soundtrack
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MattL
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Re: 584: Sonic CD

Post by MattL »

Three Word Review: Worst Classic Sonic

I hate Sonic CD. I hate it, possibly more than I hate most every 3D Sonic. I hate that Sonic CD levels made an appearance in Sonic Mania and that it also clearly influenced several of the original Sonic Mania levels, meaning I can never play Sonic Mania again.

The primary reason for my disgust with Sonic CD is it's level designs. You know how many people criticize 2D Sonic games for encouraging speed, but not allowing you to see where you're running? I normally disagree with that criticism as regarding Sonic 1, 2, 3, K, and Chaotix, but that critique describes this game perfectly. The endless bumpers, bouncepads, loops, and speed requirements to enter the special stages encourage quick traversal, but enemies, spikes, bottomless pits, and other assorted hazards are placed in your face at every turn, creating a totally conflicting design.

Sega of Japan did not understand what made Sonic 1 good. Sega of America, who developed Sonic 2, did.
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sheeldz
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Re: 584: Sonic CD

Post by sheeldz »

Easily the worst Sonic game from the classic era. I can't quite put my finder on exactly why there is something no quite right with it, but to me it felt like a strange game to finally getting to play. It feels, at it's worst, a bad ROM hack.

That being said, of course, it was the holy grail of the Mega Drive era - a missing Sonic game I always wanted to play, and obviously never had a MegaCD because I wasn't able to convince my parents to buy something that had almost no reason to exist, even then as a kid. They didn't buy me a PlayStation, so how could I manage to get them to buy the MegaCD?!

I played it first emulated in the early 2000s and found it really hard to get into. The art style was garish, the gameplay was Sonic but worse, and the time travelling gimmick wasn't something I cared about. Later, I played the port to iOS and found it... again, to be not great at all. The need to speed past the gates felt like a strange concept and never gelled with the levels.

There are a few good ideas - the levels at least have a few good moments, but it's just not quite there when compared to the prior games. I feel like it's status as a classic might just be because of the scarcity at the time, because I think it just doesn't hold up at all, and it is the start of the fall I think - the first Sonic game where the speed and gimmick gets in the way of the momentum based platforming that Sonic 1, 2 and 3 perfected.

It returning in Sonic Mania was fine, in small doses - the mini-Sonic gimmick, for example, pushed into the background is brilliant, but put in the same game as classics like Flying Battery Zone really shows it up.

Three word review: Sonic Complete Disappointment
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ashman86
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Re: 584: Sonic CD

Post by ashman86 »

I was lucky enough to have a Sega CD as a kid, and Sonic CD was among my favorite games for the weird console add-on. I played it well after Sonic 2 and also Sonic 3, so Sonic CD felt like a strange regression in some ways even though it was only a year older. I can remember thinking that the game looked and felt more like Sonic 1 than its sequels. It's colors were a little more subdued than Sonic 3, in particular, which was probably the most vibrant thing I'd played on my Genesis to that point. As a result, the game's atmosphere is almost rustic in a way that fits its theme of time travel, although I doubt that was an intent behind the art direction.

Although it could never topple Sonic 3 (and Knuckles) as my favorite of the classic Sonic games, Sonic CD is a contender for my next favorite. I loved seeing the three different variations of each stage, and I'd make a point of replaying levels from start to finish to try to see them all. I was also a sucker for collecting unlockables in the UFO special stages. One in particular really unnerved a friend and me: a humanoid Sonic who looked almost like Batman with the game's creepy Game Over music playing over the top of it.

Sonic CD also introduced us to Metal Sonic, the one robotic incarnation of Sonic who's had any staying power at all, probably because he's blue. That race with him was a highlight of the game for me.

But, if I'm being totally honest, the thing I remember most about Sonic CD is that killer intro cinematic, and I could swear my copy of the game had a different song that played alongside it than the one I see on all modern versions, although I may be conflating that memory with a Japanese version of the intro that I saw on Sonic Jam for my Saturn.
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Billy
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Re: 584: Sonic CD

Post by Billy »

I had started and given up on Sonic CD multiple times over the past 20 years, finding it's level design confusing and tedious. It was only this year that I finally saw it through to the end due to its inclusion in Sonic Origins.

Incidentally, I then handed the controller to my 3 year old son who cleared Palm Tree Panic on his first attempt before wandering off so what do I know?
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Wuqinglong
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Re: Our next podcast recording (27.8.23) - 584: Sonic CD

Post by Wuqinglong »

Sonic CD is my favorite 2D sonic. I'm sure a lot of this has to do with how it was the first game I owned for my even at the time old windows 98 PC. After years of exclusively handheld consoles I finally had something that could play full blown Sonic "console" titles and booting up into Palmtree Panic for the first time was exhilarating. I had played Sonic 2 at friends' houses and I later got the Sega Smash Pack that contained the superior Sonic 3 & Knuckles but something about Sonic CD always stuck with me and made it stand out more in my memories. The US OST is almost as good as the JP one in its own unique way and I think it really created a vibe for the game that just clicked with me. No bottomless death pits? Fine by me. Interesting and sometimes overwhelming color palettes? Yes please. Cool robot sonic? Awesome. This game along with Sonic Advance and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle is the reason I even still maintain a vested interest in the Sonic franchise at large to this day.

In terms of gameplay I will not contest there are better 2D Sonic titles out there but for the reasons above and many more I find hard to put into words Sonic CD is arguably the most important Sonic title to me. It wasn't the first Sonic game I ever played but it was the first that was mine. Call it nostalgia or whatever you like but its enough for me.

P.S. I even like the UFO stages.

3 word review: Toot-toot Sonic Warrior
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Seph
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Re: Our next podcast recording (27.8.23) - 584: Sonic CD

Post by Seph »

I think I played a different game to everyone else, as the Sonic CD game I popped into my Mega CD was a fun and frantic platformer with the best soundtrack of the entire series (no including Mania, because that's cheating).

The nuts and bolts gameplay is classic Sonic. It's basically the original game with go faster stripes and a time travel gimmick that, while flawed, was a bold step for a game that was basically invented to shift consoles. For me, Sonic has always been about verticality and exploring levels to find the best route to the end, so by adding a concept that actually encourages you to not only dig deeper into the levels, but in a completely different time zone, worked well...to a point.

I will address the issues with the level design, as the later stages were frustrating to find areas that would allow you to hit Delorean speed and travel to the past. I think in some levels there was only one realistic place where you could actually get up to speed. Unless you get the emer... TIME STONES, which is a lot more fun as a challenge owing to the fact that the special stages were the best ones the series had put out until this point. The original game's ones were headache inducing and had terrible music, while 2's halfpipe was fine but almost impossible with a ring dropping sidekick. The UFO special stages here were something I actually liked doing and they didn't feel like a tedious chore.

Anyway, let's get onto the main reason this game is one of my favourites of the series and that's the killer soundtrack. With the added storage space and expanded capability of CD hardware, the composers were able to make something that, to this day, is instantly listenable and addictive. The fact that every level has multiple tracks depending on the time zone and that each of these change depending on the world tendency is still mind blowing today, and something I wish modern games would do more of. While it is tempting to just rush to the bad future for some hardcore techno, you're missing out on the game's real gems by not putting in the effort to make the worlds all happy. The good future version of Palmtree Panic is one of the happiest, most uplifting things I've ever heard with it's wacky piano riff and push the air "yays". The new agey good future version Metallic Madness is incredibly uplifting and almost overwhelming with emotion; it's a fitting reward for actually finishing this game properly and getting the best possible ending. That's for the Japanese soundtrack anyway. For the US one just replace the above with the word "sucks".

The game also had the debuts of Amy Rose and Metal Sonic, two characters that would live on even after most people had forgotten this game even existed.

I'm a huge fan of the Sonic series and I would place this game firmly in the top part of any ranking list. It's better than a vast majority of mascot platformers and beats the crap out of any of Sonic's 3D outings. Once you finally manage to secure the good ending it loses a lot of replay value, but for the soundtrack alone this deserves an award for outstanding achievement in the field of excellence.
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raisinbman
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Re: Sonic CD

Post by raisinbman »

So you're telling me we could've had CD Sonic - Crossdresser Sonic? I think they dodged a bullet there
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