Even to this day, Sonic CD stands out from its Genesis companions, but where once that difference came from how elusive it was—only having a few scattered ports and being included in some random collections— and how few actually managed to even play it when compared to the rest, as it became more easily available during the seventh generation, now it’s because the mythos surrounding it seems to be a space more about disputes than agreements, a far cry from the rest of the original series. I’m not saying that there’s a set of absolute truths surrounding the other games, in fact I myself find hard to love Sonic 2 as much as so many, many others do, but there’s a certain consensus regarding all of those 3 games (& Knuckles) that seems to be lacking over at Sega CD Land.

There seem to be as many enjoyers of the game as there are detractors, and this division of opinions is very much visible to outsiders of the series, and that’s exactly why for the longest time I was both very interested… and weary of Sonic CD. Even so many years later, with its past that once was present behind and now facing the futures, the game is still surrounded by a mysterious aura, or at least it was to me: enveloped in uncertainty, a game so seemingly strange and unique, surrounded by positives and negatives from both sides…


… and yet, the one that ended up captivating my heart.

Despite my best wishes and attempts, I found it incredibly hard to actively enjoy both Sonic 1 and 2, I still wouldn’t call them terrible games under no circumstances, but their low points and my gripes seemed to made it game that I consistently liked, with only some net positives being completely clear… With Sonic CD, I’d end quicker by saying what I didn’t like, in fact yeah, let’s get that out of the way!:

Even tho it has some incredibly interesting ideas and the laser mechanic, Metallic Madness is easily the lowest point of the game, it’s where the game gets closer to the lowest point of some of the past games’ zones, and where much of what I liked from the rest of the experience seems to be missing a bit; it also shares the same problem with Sonic 1 on how actually 100 precenting it doesn’t grant much of an active reward aside of getting the true ending (sort of, we’ll get to that) and…. Uh… I guess some acts share similar design and I wished there was more of a difference in some temporal variations?... Yeah I don’t know I got nothing else… and I could have never seen that coming.

My Sonic Genesis experience has been filled with buts and wishes to be able to love it more, but now I arrive at Sonic CD and from start to finish the only thing I could find myself feeling was… joy, the way I could just gleefully smile while traversing Whacky Workbench, being completely fascinated at the sights and sounds in Palmtree Panic, the feeling of peace and realization at getting my first good future in Collision Chaos; from a first glance Sonic CD doesn’t seem that distinct when compared to the likes of 2 — or even 1 for that matter—, but it’s when playing that the differences shine.

Sonic games always incentivized replays and getting to know the pathing and mastery of its controls, but CD rewards knowledge even beyond that: levels feel MASSIVE, so expansive and open ended that no matter the way you go, you’re most likely going the right way, and it always feels like that. Every single zone is always so damn fun to explore, so many interesting to surprises to discover that it never feels as if you are going around circles or that you are somewhere you shouldn’t be and it’s this exploration that gets tested in the Past version of the stages since you’ll need to find Robotnik’s machine somewhere. What awes me the most it’s how, for a game with so many moving parts (both literally and figuratively), it never slows down, it’s here where I’ve reached the highest speeds more-so than in any other game, dodging and dashing, making use both of the spin dash and the super peel out in different scenarios and situations, and even when the game slows you down, it never feels as it stops you in your tracks and actively makes you wait or do precision platforming for which Sonic isn’t designed for (maybe aside of Metallic Madness), Sonic CD knows what it is and what it wants to do, and does so while looking beautiful.

All zones look incredible, they share a borderline abstract look that gets amplified in the future versions, the good going always for a softer more celebratory look while the bad futures create this overtly and violently mechanical feeling, one that can be seeing again in almost all of the Act 3s; it translates the ideas of the Robotnik’s conquest of this small planet to a tea, and seeing the much more natural, organic look of the past versions and seeing far more free animal where once robots stood it’s not only the perfect way to push players to get the good futures without saying any words, it outright looks incredible. The sprites and sights are a marvel to behold, and they really feel like actual, interesting places, places with history that have been subject to change and thanks to you can improve and hold a much brighter future… and I haven’t even talked about the music! I’ve been utterly lovestruck by the original JP/EU soundtrack, no matter what song, so matter what jingle, it never misses, a perfect dance of techno mixed with the most perfect of ideas to evoke feelings on the player, details like how the themes from the past feel a liiiiittle bit more compressed or how the power-up music ends just as the power-up finishes taking effect are so obvious yet wonderful I can’t stop loving them, easily one of my favorite OST I’ve had the pleasure to listen in a long time. Compliments to the original soundtrack used to be accompanied by a jab to the American OST, but honestly… I also like that too! Nost as much as the Japanese and European one, that’s for sure, but the American goes for a much more atmospheric feeling that it’s appropriate and works super well, the fact this game basically created to amazing soundtracks in one is the funniest yet fitting showcase of how this is a experience that goes the extra mile in every conceivable way, even when it’s not necessary…

A complaint that I’ve seen being predicated by some people over on discussions and even video-analysis is how you don’t really need to engage with the time travel in any capacity to beat the game or complete it to get the true ending, and that is true, but now I cannot scratch the felling that, maybe… that was the point. For how much I’ve talked about it, the past and futures of each of the two first acts of every Zone aren’t required in any way, they aren’t mandatory, and you can ignore them if you choose too, but I found it extremely hard to simply because of how compelling they are: getting to a stop sign and managing to find a way to achieve high enough speeds to time travel its fun on its own, but even beyond that, getting to see how a Zone was before Robotnik completely destroyed it, managing to impact it and actively foil its plans to achieve a better future, or to just witness the bad future or jump across space and time is such a creatively strong decision, it incentivizes speed, it incentivizes exploration, it generates wonder, and the fact that all of that it’s options isn’t a reason to complain, but instead to be marveled at the sheer amount of work at display and the open ended nature of Sonic CD, and it works, it works so incredibly well that I played it yet again after beating it just to try out different paths and time travels, something I had never done with a Sonic game so soon, but with this one I just couldn’t resists, helped in great part by the short nature of the game itself.

CD clicks in a way very few games of this series manage to do with me, a game which even its special stages manage to be a fun time worth mentioning (and far more 3D than 3D Blast honestly!); trying different, challenging ideas to a base formula doesn’t always work, but Sonic CD uses them to expand a world and create a beyond unique adventure, one that starts and ends with beautiful animations, and that across its many levels it just kept me wishing for it to keep going a little bit more, not attempt more unique albeit easy boss battles, to see more of Metal and Amy; Sonic CD is more than an experiment, it’s this world and character taken to it’s most open-ended and crazy potential, and seeing be a reality alone it’s worth admiring, but for it to be so good and inspiring while doing it is on a whole other level.

Sonic CD is easy to love for some, but also easy to dislike for others, it’s a strange game with a ton of ideas that don’t click for some, but honestly, I think it’s quite fitting, a game that attempts so many interesting concepts that gambles between a good future and a bad one, and it ended up getting a mix of some considering how people looks at it in so many different ways. And yet, it keeps on going, and I’m happy to say that at least for me, it creates a future worth fighting for.

Also, I know I’ve been complaining about Metal Madness quite a lot, but it’s all forgiven honestly, why you ask? Because it has this! Not other zone has peak character design! Look at it! LOOK AT IT! THE PUREST OF BOIS! LONG MAY LIVE MINI-SONIC!

I played the Steam version of this.

I love the animations and the music. This game has my favorite music in the classic games that I've played so far. This game is also the easiest to pick up and play casually. You can speed through levels pretty quickly and easily even on a first playthrough. Although there was one level that was the exception to that. I think the Steam version adds Tails as a playable character and he's way better than he was in Sonic 2. He actually gets to fly, so he isn't just a worse version of Sonic. It's a shame that they didn't include multiplayer though. Another neat feature is the time travel mechanic. There are basically 3 different levels of each act that adds replay value for those that like to see everything a game has to offer.

Now for the things I didn't like. The art is pretty bland. It makes a strong first impression with the vibrant colors in the first level, but as you progress through the game, the colors become a lot more muted and dull. I also don't think the theme of each zone was very diverse. In Sonic 2, each zone was distinct in aesthetics and mechanics. Sonic CD falls flat in that area. Another thing I did not enjoy was the special stages. In classic Sonic tradition, they're hard. Sonic 2's and Sonic CD's special stages in particular felt more like they were made to be technically impressive rather than being fun to play. Another thing I didn't like was that it feels like this game really encourages playing through each act in each time period to really get the full experience. With the labyrinthian level design, this feels pretty tedious. Again, I like linear levels more than open-ended ones. My last complain is a spoiler. Amy Rose and Metal Sonic appear so infrequently in this game. I think they appear twice total. Maybe I did something wrong and there are more opportunities to engage with both of them, but I was expecting the debut of two classic characters to have more of an impact.

Overall, I think Sonic CD is the easiest classic game to just jump in and play. Not sure how much of that has to do with the version of the game I played though. Next up is Sonic 3 (no Knuckles).

I have a weirdly unhealthy love for Sonic CD despite it's mechanics fighting against itself, it's personality, it's charm, it's OST, it's v i b e s man, I cannot help but love it. But the very fact you can just get to the end of the stage, jump into the ring, and get the chaos emerald and good ending by doing so, completely negating the pinball-level design which is focused around going back in time to find the generators and projectors to get said good ending? Kinda just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and then makes this the easiest Classic Sonic game to complete. and I really wish there was a need outside of punishment to go to the future in Sonic CD, bc the future has arguably the best music from the OST, but you have literally no reason to go there if at all. I loved my time with CD but I wish the end-rings that were a hold over from Sonic 1 were either earned by destroying the generators, or just weren't there at all.

The other sonic sequel, this one is another great one, not as good as sonic 2 but better than sonic one, I like the time travel gimmick, the reason is, I think time travel is cool, but anyways, I really like the level design here too, the whole vibe this game gives off is great too, the aesthetics are incredibly pleasing to the eye, and I really like the special stages too, metal sonic is still one of the best things ever, and the context clues are surprisingly dark (and by dark I don’t mean edgy) In it’s storytelling, what little it shows you gives you a near perfect idea of what’s going on when you actually pay attention to everything happening, overall, another great sonic game!

Accidentally logged the 1993 release instead of this one last time, (not that it would really make a difference) so yeah.

Ok replayed the game going for the good ending and jesus christ did it expose some of the technical problems the game has. The first half of Past generator hunting is actually pretty fun, but everything after Quartz Quadrant is probably the most unfun shit I've played in a while. Such a shame too with how creative the levels look at face value, and how fun warping through time can be when it feels like working. Problem is of course that it doesn't work 85% of the time, which will probably lead you to doing the special stages, of which are...meh. Not going in to detail since they are just as optional as the generators but they're just less fun Mania special stages, with the rewards being a good future for each zone sporting an entirely different layout and theme compared to the other time frames, plus a slightly different ending card.

So yeah Sonic 3 and Mania trivialize this game in every way sadly (but to be fair the same can be said for every Classic game to me). Soundtrack is still arguably the best in the franchise though. And while the zones themselves aren't as interesting as Sonic 1, the fluidity of Sonic's movement are a step above what that game had to offer, but that doesn't help the game much overall.

Still holds up, once you realize you don't actually need to do the needless machines and get the time stones for the good ending, the "confusing" level designs becomes 100x more tolerable since you just gotta play the game normally like a sonic game: 50 rings for special level & get all time stones

Wacky workbench is still a pretty iffy level, but even then, these are still really fun levels that you can breeze through just like any other sonic game.

Aside from all of that, this is still a really fun game through and though.

Так уж сложилось, что вышедший до второй части Sonic CD был пройден мною уже после основной номерной трилогии. И знаете что? По моему это даже к лучшему, ибо в кои-то веки хотя бы ненадолго, но положительные эмоции от Соника я всё же получил. Без каких-либо угрызений совести заявляю, что CD больше всех своих предшественников и преемников из девяностых подобрался к тому, чем сверхзвуковой ёж мог бы быть по достоинству. Это единственная часть оригинальной 2D квадрологии, где тебе реально дают прочувствовать скорость и на самом деле ПРОБЕЖАТЬ уровень за уровнем, а не прогибаться под ловушки в склепах, падать в пропасти с воздушных платформ и спотыкаться об каждого встречного робогопника. Если бы я не знал, что игра вышла между 1 и 2 частью, то принял бы её за четвёртую, так как прогресс виден во всём, и я ума не приложу, как после здешнего геймдизайна вернулись к пресловутому платформинговому дрочу со злополучными подлянками и точечным передвижением. Нет, всё что от тебя требуется для успешного раша это не забывать про спин дэш и как можно чаще двигаться в одном направлении именно в крутящейся форме, ведь по пути враги всё же неизбежны. Саундтрек бомбический, благо технические привилегии консоли позволяют. Но речь, конечно, о японской версии. Визуальная стилистика подобна шизофреническому технотрипу, но вкупе с энергичной музыкой и динамичным прохождением всё вместе это идёт только на руку и формирует уникальный шарм, лично мне доставляющий большее эстетическое удовольствие, нежели унылые, копирующие друг друга сиквелы.
И всё бы ничего, будь оно только так. Я сбрасываю нескромные 7-8/10 с барского стола, все довольны и расходятся. Но нет, просто нет. Это же Соник, здесь иначе и быть не может. Metalic madness. Вот уж действительно безумие, руку к которому приложил сам сатана. Я могу лишь предположить, но гипотеза моя такова, что ввиду молниеносного прохождения основной части игры, было принято решение сделать финальную зону настолько жопорвущей, насколько это вообще возможно. В итоге как игру не хвали, но под конец вобрала она в себя всё худшее, что было и будет в дальнейшем Сонике. Прижимания, пропасти, подлянки, подъёмы. Поехавщий платформинг в сочетании с лабиринтоподобным левел дизайном даёт пожалуй худшую зону из всех четырёх частей. На её прохождение у меня ушло столько же, сколько на прохождение всех прошлых зон вместе взятых, и это с учётом возврата к началу уровня при лишении всех жизней, но это лишь привилегия версии 2011 года. В реальности же мы все с вами прекрасно пониманием, для чего было решено сделать финал таким богомерзким, и как он проходился на момент выхода в девяностые. Несделанная домашка, грязная посуда, скулящий у порога невыгуленный пёс, уже десятый час бесчисленных попыток перепрохождения в руках красноглазого школьника, прогулявшего все уроки. Зато в глазах родителей-потребителей игра оправдает потраченные деньги, не за час же он эту игрушку пробежал и забыл! Ведь так это работает, SEGA?

Marathonned the whole Sonic series in a year for the 30th anniversary.
This game is so radically different from Sonic 1 and 2 that I notice a lot of people in my circle tend to give it shit for having design philosophies that directly contradict what Sonic "should" be. I would heavily disagree. Personally, I believe it's more of a direct sequel to Sonic 1 than 2 is; where Sonic 2 took the base of Sonic 1 and went "how can we make it better?", Sonic CD takes Sonic 1 as a base and reinvents all the same ideas while not actually changing much at the same time.

Time Travel exists as an extension of Sonic 1's philosophy of using speed to make your playthroughs of that game easier by finding shortcuts, staying on the top path, etc. In this game, you build up speed at signposts throughout the level to go to the Past or Future, with each era drastically changing parts of the level design depending on where and when you end up. The Time Travel mechanic is fun to master and adds to replayability because you eventually start to think "I wonder what this level is like in the Bad Future, or in the Past, or the Good Future", encouraging repeat playthroughs to experience that. Thanks to better collision detection in this remake than the CD version, Time Travel ends up feeling like a much more fun gameplay feature.

A first playthrough is generally exploration-based, which means playing Sonic CD slower like a traditional platformer to find where the Robot Generators (and, optionally, the Metal Sonic Projectors) are to make a Good Future. This is an extension of how first playthroughs of Sonic 1 are littered with mistakes because you ran facefirst into an enemy or mistimed a jump and ended up in a bed of spikes. Same as in Sonic 1, don't expect to be good at this game your first time playing, and don't try to play it as if you think you're good the first time. Be willing to make mistakes and apply what you've learned to repeat playthroughs.

For those that don't feel like engaging with the Time Travel mechanic, the Time Stones exist to serve the same function as Sonic 1's Chaos Emeralds. The Special Stages are extremely fun and, similar to the improvements made by Sonic 2's mobile remake, they are fully rendered in proper 3D with better sprite scaling to determine depth better than the CD version did. Both the Stones and Time Travel are equally viable options to achieve the good ending of the game, which is good because it allows for two different types of people to achieve the same result depending on their playstyle. If you want to focus solely on going fast and keeping Rings for higher scores and bringing them to the end to get to the Special Stage, you can ignore the exploratory aspect, and vice versa.

I don't think this game is AS spectacular as 1 and 2, but it does so much right that I respect it a lot and I have a lot of fun booting it up to do a few playthroughs each year.

Sonic CD builds on Sonic 1's foundation, but is an overall more comfortable adventure I feel. You're able to tailor it more to the kinda Sonic experience you want out of it. You can do the more classic approach of doing the special stages and getting all the Time Stomes or you can make the effort to travel through time, explore all the levels and destroy the machines in the past. It's up to you! Granted, the level design is made moreso for the ladder playstyle, with big vertical levels that you speed through fairly quickly if you're just heading for the goal. Plus when you do go for the machines in the past they can sometimes be in pretty bullshit positions. Either way I don't think this game is quite as amazing and well-structured and designed as 2 and 3, but still a lot more enjoyable than the original. Plus the japanese soundtrack rules.

The first time I played this was the fanmade Vita port, which has abysmal loading times whenever you time travel. I just didn't engage with that mechanic at all and judging by a second playthrough, I was right to do so because time-travelling kinda sucks! It's an interesting idea for sure but not on these stages with this level design. And if you don't use it, most of the levels are too short and overall unmemorable. Bosses suck too, but the callback to Labyrinth Zone's boss in this game's water world was cute at least. This is someone's favorite Sonic, just not mine.

Replayed it like a year later. Honestly, with the Origins collection's ability to retry special stages, it moves the ranking up by a lot. It also helps to adjust your expectations a fair bit from other Sonics. It's very much exploration heavy, and entirely built around the time travel mechanic. So you move much more methodically, looking for Past signposts, the robot generator, and an area to move fast enough, long enough to trigger the time travel. Future signposts and anything that would take away your Past charge act as severe obstacles. Though, once you're confident in your ability to beat all special stages, exploration becomes sort of moot, since that's an "easier" way to get the good ending.