Why I think Sonic CD Is not a bad game and is quite good.

[ManInTheMirror]

Sonic CD A complete retrospective & why it isn't a terrible game (review and rant):

WARNING: THIS IS A LOOOOOONG READ

For some reason, a lot of hate seems to be growing on Sonic CD, despite it being highly praised initially by fans, critics, and a lot of people loved it. Magazines such as

Electronic Gaming Monthly's March 2001 issue stating it to be one of the best games in the 2D franchise, as a lot of love was given to it by fans and even received a 100% by some critics in the original version, which at the time was the HIGHEST rating for sonic games, even higher than the other ones. Honestly I'd say although this is not the BEST SONIC GAME EVER as a lot of people used to say, and a big portion of the fanbase said it was and does have it’s mega flaws..

It was still a REALLY GOOD game, among the rank of Sonic 2. It seems Kind of Like what happened to SA1 and 2 to me Of People flipflopping Opinions When big youtubers Start criticizing a Well Received Game expressing their own well written opinions and some people not giving the game a chance Which sort of Happened With Sonic Adventure in the Early 2010’s.

(NOTE: To those who actually dont like SA1 or 2, or CD Thats oki :3 I respect your opinion!) And in My Own Opinion, a game being overrated as I've seen people say with SA1 and SA2, colors, and even mania, and CD nowadays doesn't necessarily make a game bad.

<Story>

The games story is very well written and pieced together, It is perhaps one of the best storylines of the classic era games even!

The game revolves around Sonic traveling to Little Planet for a vacation when he sees it has been chained to Never Lake with a metallic shell around it. Dr Robotnik is trying to take over the planet and Sonic is followed by star-struck fan Amy Rose who gets kidnapped by Metal Sonic. Sonic must now save the planet and Amy. With the time travel mechanic, the game is able to have different layouts of each zone, with the past having a super natural somewhat pre-historic feel and look to it, and the futures can show a robotic nightmarish neglected dystopia ruled by Eggman, or a BEAUTIFUL place where technology aids nature which can be seen as a deeper message to helping the environment, with the graphics taking advantage of the Sega CD’s capabilities.

<Graphics:>

The graphics are quite beautiful for a game from the early 90’s, Sonic CD was released on the Sega CD which is a less known console but this allowed it to go above and beyond with the graphics.

The stages each have incredible detail to their backgrounds as well as objects and badnik designs. A good example of the backgrounds is in Stardust Speedway.

In the Present one can see a beautiful starry sky with the ground below covered in sparkling colors of stardust, in the good future one can see amusement parks and a city sparkling in bright colors and in the Bad Future it’s storming and a huge city that is well detailed and beautiful to look at.

<The Soundtrack:>

The soundtrack fits the levels perfectly for the most part, and sounds like something you’d expect in a sonic game. Both the US and JP/EU soundtracks have their own good tracks, a lot of them manage to fit the levels. Tidal Tempest, Palmtree Panic, Stardust Speedway, and even Wacky Workbench all sound amazing in both soundtracks and fit the levels well. This game has some of the best quality when it comes to how the songs sound and the OST in general of the classic series games, around on par I’d say with Sonic 3 & Knuckles! An Interesting Thing I Find about the Soundtrack is How The JP/EU one Is heavily inspired by the New Jack Swing genre, with the US one being more rock themed.

<The Level Design:>

in CDs defense, most of the level designs are NOT bad at all. And the reason some stages are bad could be due to the fact that it was in development at the same time as sonic 2, And the teams were split one in Japan to work on CD and one in the US to work on sonic 2

I can name multiple levels that have a good design, palmtree panic has a bunch of speed sections to where you can go fast (if you wanted to), tons to explore and interaction and honestly just because the game requires exploring to find past and future signs to time travel does NOT make it a bad game by any means, in all honesty. backtracking and exploration is required to find sign posts to get the chaos emeralds in Sonic 2, which can occasionally be frustrating too yet people say this is a poor choice for the levels in sonic CD.

Stardust speedway is also a really good level design, obstacles here and there, some popping out of the ground with robots and speed sections, to requiring the player to not just simply hold right but to learn the layout and use cannons to get to certain parts to reach the end (like the mini maze in zone 2), Tidal tempest is also surprisingly good when it comes to level design as well as obstacles that can kill you and pose a threat whether it be spikes, the dragon totem things that shoot blue fire that pushes you down which in certain scenarios can lead to getting crushed if not timed right (like the sections with the boxes i mean) which leads to a challenge, levels are seemingly nowadays being criticized as being "too easy" but there are crushers, spikes, spike pits, a decent amount of enemies in each level, And more can be gotten out of the game if one puts the effort in to time travel.

And they also have speedy areas of which the player can go fast if they so choose similar to sonic 1 and the others. the goal posts at the end is basically telling the game "Im done with this stage", you have to time travel to create a good future requiring the player to put effort into doing so, exploring for the robot generator, to enter these you have to maintain sonics speed after hitting a sign post, this multi step process of travelling to the past, finding the robot generator, and exiting takes advantage of the games level design which forces the player to interact with elements.

The first step requires an understanding and skillful execution of the games mechanics.
Reaching the required velocity is the hard part which poses a challenge, having to scout out the level for areas that have access to fluid movement, some are easy like two springs facing each other, others requiring the player to search around the zone and do an obstacle course (sort of going against the claims levels are too easy with no effort required to beat, unless you decide to skip everything and just stay in the present,
holding right and jumping a few times) and avoiding obstacles like other sonic games.

The stages were designed cleverly to both have a little challenge if you're trying to play it like how one would play sonic 1, while having maximum use and effect with a little challenge if you play it the way its meant to be played (time travelling) as you can see through how the stage loops together. tons of spring based platforming, loops upon loops, messing with conveyor belts, and levels that take a couple minutes to reach the goal if played by putting effort in, make you learn the intricacies of the individual stage to the point you'll even learn the maps by the end of the game! if you play it just simply as you would the other classic games it isn't much a super fun way to play, youre running past genius level concepts, loop-de-loops, obstacles, and never take the time to breathe in any of the fresh new experimental concepts and interesting gameplay.

Sure the game doesn't really tell you the best way to play it, but you can get hints by finding the past and future signposts or reading the manual. Though I will say levels such as Collision Chaos, Wacky Workbench, and Metallic madness are horribly done. Metallic madness gets repetetive in each zone, and extends too long especially in the second zone. The enemies are a bit of a joke, Wacky Workbench is a good concept but is executed poorly with the bounce mechanic being very annoying and over the top.

And Collision Chaos has a hard boss fight somewhat on your first few attempts, although not in the good way it's just annoying.

<Level variations:>

The variation in levels and zones are done VERY well. Unlike a truly bad game as say, Knuckles Chaotix (which barely changes the levels variation in each act), this game changes up the layouts of the map, object locations, platforming, and badniks in each zone.

Some zones it can be easy to time travel, while others being hard to do so requiring the player to put effort into beating the game with the good ending, you are the one in charge
of the future of THE PLANET. Each zone has different variations in the Past, and Good Future, and Bad Future. How you play in the past affects the future either resulting in a toxic environment, more obstacles sometimes than i nthe past or present when you get a bad future, and the Good Future having beautiful colors, and a lot of detail and care is
put into each zone. They are very fun to play in, with tons to interact with when you put in the effort to time travel.

<The impact the game has had:>

Sonic CD's had a MASSIVE impact on the sonic franchise as a whole. Level designs like Stardust Speedway return to tons of games in the future, such as Sonic Generations for example, and Sonic Mania. The music style which was heavily influenced by New Jack Swing genre (in the JP/EU ost anyway) lead to some of the songs in Sonic 3 such as Hydrocity Zone and Marble Garden zone (These ones weren't done by Michael Jackson but the influence is kind of obvious)

Not only that, but the opening and ending animations done by Toei Studios are really well done and influenced things in the Sonic series' cartoons and games such as the Sonic OVA from 1999 which is heavily influenced by the style of Sonic CD's opening and endings, and Sonic Mania which was an amazing game was heavily inspired by Sonic CD with stardust speedway even returning. The opening to it is done by Tyson hesse, who was inspired by Sonic CD's end credits and opening sequence (the two styles look similar).

Without Sonic CD, we wouldn't even have Christian Whitehead's works such as the Sonic 2 and 1 remakes for IOS and android, or Sonic Mania! Christian Whitehead's first project for Sega was actually the 2011 Sonic CD remake, which fixed a TON of collision issues, glitches and more.

Sonic CD was the one game Sega felt needed a remaster, before Christian Whitehead the game was almost entirely inaccessable, the black sheep of Sonic games if you will, except through emulators for the most part or Sonic Gems Collection. Christian is the one who brought the game to the forefront! Many people didn't get the chance to play until then, mainly due to the failure of the Sega CD. A fun fact about Sonic CD, Whitehead himself said that this was his favorite game in the series. (Not a point but thought itd be a cool fact to hear, i heard it in a video done by another reviewer)

<Criticisms:>

<Boss Battles:>

The boss fights in Sonic CD in all honesty however are a huge issue. The first zones boss (Palmtree Panic) is so easy to the point it's a joke for the most part.

All you need to do is jump into Robotnik when he holds still after barely stepping towards you, and doing no attacks. Collision Chaos' provides a tiny bit of a challenge but is very annoying and poorly executed.

Wacky Workbenches and even the FINAL BOSS don't require much effort to beat either, with almost no danger. In fact, the danger in the final boss mainly comes to Metallic Madness zone 3 having the only bottomless pit in the game.

The only truly challenging boss fight in my opinion is the Metal Sonic race in Stardust Speedway. Metal Sonic's moveset rivals sonics and he can blast into you, making you fall behind and sometimes hit Robotnik's laser beam and having an instant death, he can electrocute you if you're behind him, and his speed can rival Sonic's easily.

This boss fight takes a few attempts usually, and the spikes can stop you dead in your tracks leaving you vulnerable.

<Special Stages:>

Okay, I dare say Sonic CD's special stages are worse than Sonic 2's even. It takes forever to turn, and Sonic's controls being wonky and hard to understand.

The water takes away too much time from your timer, and the UFO's paths are too hard to predict most of the time leading to you screwing yourself over. The distracting background doesn't help matters and the flashing colors can really distract you.

This game is very unforgiving when it comes to the special stages, when you lose enough time a UFO with extra time appears but even that one is hard to hit and feels like a tease at times. They move slower but are easy to miss in certain special stage layouts like the 5th special stage, or the 7th.

<The Futures:>

The Future in Sonic CD when in the present feels pretty pointless to go to other than seeing the message the game tried to convey about how technology can be used to aid nature, or destroy it. you don't really interact with much in them and they dont provide you anything like the past and present do,

you can't even destroy a robot generator in the future, and the only "point" it has in zones 1 and 2 is to see what the good future and bad futures are like. The future is also the

default zone during the boss fights, so I guess that's one purpose..?

<Conclusion:>

Overall, Sonic CD definitely isn't a bad game in all honesty, and is rather quite amazing and a great installment in the franchise if you try it out and play the game as it is meant to be played with a fresh mindset and giving it a chance! And although it isn't the best classic era game, I'd say it definitely deserves a place equal to Sonic 2 and it is one of the most fun to play and well made , and a lot of complaints or criticisms I see sometimes don’t make much sense to me such as the exploration focus and backtracking I don't see people

say anything about in Sonic The Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles where you have to go back and search for giant rings, or Sonic The Hedgehog 2 where you have to

search for sign posts that can be hard to find in some levels.

Other points:

-Sonic CD introduced one of the best rivals to sonic who eventually had some of the best fights (though nowadays since generations it seems to be just a repeat of the sonic CD race

and he's kinda a joke in the newer games) Metal Sonic! Who became one of the most memorable Sonic characters with cool abilities, and a good story to him (especially in sonic heroes, dang i LOVE him in that game)

-Sonic CD also introduced Rosy The Rascal/Amy Rose, who also was one of the most memorable characters and one of the most iconic female ones from the cast to this day.

If you read the entirety of this, I'd like to know how YOU feel about Sonic CD! ^-^ Did this review change your perspective on the game? Do you like this game still? Do you hate this

game still? And why? I Hope you enjoyed my First ever review and I’d love some pointers on how to write them for the future ^.^

[Ikagura]

You should've put that in the review section.

But I do agree that people spitting on CD and Colors out of nowhere is uncalled for.

It's crazy when you think more about it, people are now trying to defend (and even praise) games such as 2006 or Unleashed despite them having more flaws than the other.

Even if CD's time travel mechanic is kinda janky and the level design isn't the best from the classics (outside of Knuckles' Chaotix) at least it doesn't force you to play as another character with different objectives just to see the ending.

[NBOX21]

I mean, Sonic CD has some things I don't really like about it and certainly has flaws - for one thing, I thought the level design was kind of hit and miss, the physics could get a bit janky at times, the time travel mechanics weren't very well thought out at all and don't compliment its level design and the save system doesn't let you replay your favourite zones upon finishing the game like 3&K does.

I still think it's really good, though. Probably my least favourite of the 16 bit classics, but I still enjoy my time with it for the most part. Certainly a lot better than Knuckles' Chaotix on the 32X and most of the 8-bit Sonic games.

[ManInTheMirror]

Oprindeligt skrevet af NBOX21:

I mean, Sonic CD has some things I don't really like about it and certainly has flaws - for one thing, I thought the level design was kind of hit and miss, the physics could get a bit janky at times, the time travel mechanics weren't very well thought out at all and don't compliment its level design and the save system doesn't let you replay your favourite zones upon finishing the game like 3&K does.

I still think it's really good, though. Probably my least favourite of the 16 bit classics, but I still enjoy my time with it for the most part. Certainly a lot better than Knuckles' Chaotix on the 32X and most of the 8-bit Sonic games.

I Respect Your opinion! Also I like Sonic 3&K best too lol

[ManInTheMirror]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Ikagura:

You should've put that in the review section.

But I do agree that people spitting on CD and Colors out of nowhere is uncalled for.

It's crazy when you think more about it, people are now trying to defend (and even praise) games such as 2006 or Unleashed despite them having more flaws than the other.

Even if CD's time travel mechanic is kinda janky and the level design isn't the best from the classics (outside of Knuckles' Chaotix) at least it doesn't force you to play as another character with different objectives just to see the ending.

Agreed completely. You like this game as well ?

[Ikagura]

Oprindeligt skrevet af ManInTheMirror:

Oprindeligt skrevet af NBOX21:

I mean, Sonic CD has some things I don't really like about it and certainly has flaws - for one thing, I thought the level design was kind of hit and miss, the physics could get a bit janky at times, the time travel mechanics weren't very well thought out at all and don't compliment its level design and the save system doesn't let you replay your favourite zones upon finishing the game like 3&K does.

I still think it's really good, though. Probably my least favourite of the 16 bit classics, but I still enjoy my time with it for the most part. Certainly a lot better than Knuckles' Chaotix on the 32X and most of the 8-bit Sonic games.

I Respect Your opinion! Also I like Sonic 3&K best too lol

Sonic 3&K basically perfected both Sonic 2 and CD's strongest points.

Oprindeligt skrevet af ManInTheMirror:

Oprindeligt skrevet af Ikagura:

You should've put that in the review section.

But I do agree that people spitting on CD and Colors out of nowhere is uncalled for.

It's crazy when you think more about it, people are now trying to defend (and even praise) games such as 2006 or Unleashed despite them having more flaws than the other.

Even if CD's time travel mechanic is kinda janky and the level design isn't the best from the classics (outside of Knuckles' Chaotix) at least it doesn't force you to play as another character with different objectives just to see the ending.

Agreed completely. You like this game as well ?

Yes

[Nightswim]

its pretty bad game design-wise

[Ikagura]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Nightswim:

its pretty bad game design-wise

What do you mean by "design wise"?

[Bluedini]

Love this game! Best special stages out of the classic series imo and it is a very fun time to speedrun.