TOOT TOOT

THIS GAME FUCKING RIPS WOOOOO

Genuinely the funniest concept for a video game. Not only is the wonky honks from a middle school trombone player really funny, but there’s a hidden narrative filled with baboons, hotdogs, and a mf named Trazom. Best game of 2022. Eat rocks Elden Ring.

Acting as both a celebration of Sony’s previous consoles, and a tech demo for the PS5, Astro’s Playroom is the antithesis of Pac-Man World Re-Pac… it’s actually fun!

First of all, this dude Astro - pretty epic. He even does Fortnite dances.

Most of the gameplay is all about pushing the PS5 controller to its limits. That HD Haptic Feedback Touch thingy (or whatever the hell it’s called) is one of the coolest things in videogames. Motion controls are here too, but thankfully they’re intuitive and never really feel frustrating. The touch pad, microphone, and triggers are all used in various ways to defeat enemies, platform, or solve puzzles. It’s all incredibly neat and makes me wish more games found more interesting ways for the player to interact.

Sure, it’s a gimmick, but mixed with its incredibly responsive controls, it makes me wish that more video game developers would implement this stuff more often.

The levels are visually fantastic. Each area is based on a hardware component in the PS5: SSD Speedway, GPU Jungle, Cooling Springs. It’s such a simple idea, but I love it.

Throughout the levels you collect artifacts, little statues of past Sony consoles. For those that grew up with some of these consoles, it’s a neat way to celebrate your relationship with them. For those that haven’t, it’s a neat visual representation of a console’s lifespan.

All that to say, it’s very cool jumping on a 3D model of a Playstation 1 and seeing the little disc top open.

If you’ve had the chance to get a PS5, definitely give this one a shot. It’s free. Eh, let’s be real, if you got a PS5, you’ve probably already played this. What else are you gonna play?? This shit only got 5 games.

I take a break from our Sonic retrospective, to bring you the sad ramblings of a Pac-Head who didn’t know what he was getting himself into.

Dear Reader,

PAC-MAN WORLD RePAC has disappointed me. This greatly saddens me. I feel as if the whole world has come crumbling down.

The Pac is back… but at what cost?

I imagine a picture of “The Last Supper”, but instead of Jesus and his disciples, it’s the OG Pac-Man game hanging out with the other games in the franchise and PAC-MAN WORLD RePAC is Judas…

The Pac is dead.

Dramatic? Perhaps.
Necessary? …

One of the first video games I ever owned was Pac-Man World 2 on the Gamecube. I never beat the game, but I played enough to know that Pac-Man in 3D is pretty epic. I’d also never played the first Pac-Man World, so when I saw the trailer for PAC-MAN WORLD RePAC, I’m ngl… I was kinda hype.

After the Crash and Spyro 3D Remakes from a few years ago, the idea of giving the same treatment to other 3D platformers is exciting. Seeing these 90s games in a new light showcases how strong the original gameplay was. When you’re less worried about dying due to a bad camera or less responsive controls, you can have a lot more fun.

Unfortunately though, PAC-MAN WORLD RePAC is not like those Crash and Spyro Remakes. When you get rid of the 90’s jank of the original Pac-Man World, you’re left with a shell of broken promises boring level design, too many collectibles that function identically, and a move set that would be far more interesting in a better game.

Look, PAC-MAN WORLD RePAC has some charm. I like the look of it. The soundtrack is a bit undercooked, but I don’t dislike it. The levels have so many things to find, that there’s technically replay value here. I say ‘technically’, because that would require the game to be fun.

A PAC-MAN WORLD RePAC level consists of various obstacles, a bunch of items, and some platforming. Collect Pac-Dots and refill your Pac-Gun. OR bounce on your butt to kill enemies. OR rev up the engine and run into enemies. OR become Metal Pac-Man (no Nintendo, we promise we didn’t steal this from Super Mario 64) and avoid all contact damage. This is a functional game with a playable formula. It works on paper. It’s unfun in execution.

Most of the enemies function about the same. Some require the butt bounce, others require shooting, but none of them present any actual challenge. All of the levels are fairly similar too. Every once in a while a platforming section would be more difficult. Usually it was more time-based or the lack of a shadow under Pac-Man made it impossible to see where you were jumping. Pac-Man does have a movement option where he floats in the air for a second to adjust as a course correction, but oftentimes I would forget to use it in time.

Ultimately PAC-MAN WORLD RePAC is a fairly easy game, but due to many unfair deaths and its use of an outdated lives system, the experience was mostly forgettable.

I’ve said that PAC-MAN WORLD RePAC is “unfun” a couple of times already, and that’s because I genuinely can’t say much of this game “bad”. It’s not bad, it’s just uninteresting. The most memorable part of this game is the bosses. There’s a boss where you race against a bunch of clowns in a bumper kart. That’s cool. Tok-Man, the final boss, took me WAY too long to beat, but after I mastered its MULTIPLE phases, I kinda fucked with it.

I didn’t fuck with the formulaic levels. Each level has like 200 collectables to get. Find an apple, so that you can unlock this door that has an orange in it. Then use the orange to unlock a door that has a banana in it. Use the banana to unlock- EVERY ITEM IS BASICALLY JUST A KEY. Find the Space Invaders item and unlock a door that sends you to a classic Pac-Man level. It’s asinine really. I don’t mind collectables in a video game. In fact, as long as it’s not attached to some out of place crafting system, I usually enjoy finding a bunch of random shit in my video games, but when every non-health item is a key disguised as something important… I stopped collecting things entirely by World 3...

I stopped caring!

So here I am now, running through uninteresting levels, killing (and mostly avoiding) easy enemies, and ignoring all of the consumables. Is it my fault that I didn’t engage in the game’s mechanics for 25 hours? The 5-10 hours I played were frankly enough. At some point, my entire goal was to just beat the levels as fast as possible, so that I could get to the somewhat interesting bosses, and eventually beat the damn game. Maybe in another life, I would’ve tried to 100% it, cause, “why not? It’s a pretty easy game, might as well.”

Thankfully, I’m not that insane.

Anyways, game is fine. It works, but it’s boring. The rest of this review is a brief tangent about truly insane behavior:

A few months ago, I bought a Playstation 5. Tbh I probably shouldn’t have, but I had just gotten paid for a pretty big editing project, so I pulled the trigger. $800.

YIKES. I know. But look, my bills were paid. I tried to buy a PS5 a couple years ago, but Walmart cancelled my order. The PS5 has a 4k Blu-ray player, so I can actually watch 4k now. I have Elden Ring on the PS4, so this gets me the free PS5 upgrade. I get access to a bunch of PS+ games, a lot of PS4 games have PS5 upgrades now. It’s easy to justify such an insane purchase.

Another bit of clarification: The PS5 MSRP in the US is $500. I did not play $300 extra for just a PS5. I also got Horizon Forbidden West (a $70 game) and $170 worth of Playstation Store Credit. The rest of that $800 was tax. Soo I’m not stupid, right?

Well.

My thought process for the Playstation Store Credit, is now I have $170 to spend on whatever I want for the PS5. Fuck it, we ball mentality. My first purchase was Sonic Frontiers for $60. Do with that information what you will. My next purchase was PAC-MAN WORLD RePAC for $40.

I bought a PS5 in 2022 and the first games I beat on it were Sonic Frontiers and PAC-MAN WORLD RePAC. What the hell is wrong with me?

The 2D Sonic Cinematic Universe is a bit bonkers.

There’s Sonic 1, then Sonic CD, then Sonic 2, and THEN Sonic 3 + Knuckles. So I know what you’re wondering - where’s Sonic 4?

Well, there’s actually 3 Sonic 4’s. Hear me out.

Triple Trouble is a Game Gear game that got a fan remake in 2022 that’s technically Sonic 4. After the events of Sonic 3, Knuckles is tricked by Eggman once again and Sonic and Tails has to stop them. The fan remake was genuinely pretty good.

But also… Sonic Mania is technically Sonic 4. After the events of Sonic 3, Eggman finds the Phantom Ruby and teleports Sonic and gang to a bunch of older levels. While it relies a bit too much on nostalgia, it’s still easily the best 2D Sonic game.

And then there’s Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 and 2. Legends say that this is an official Sonic game that canonically is the true Sonic 4. Legends can go eat ass.

Sonic 4: Episode 1 doesn’t even have a STORY. Sonic fights Eggman. That’s it.

You’d think after Sonic 3 told a fairly interesting narrative (for its time) without any dialogue, that Sonic 4 (a game that came out 16 years later) would have a much more interesting narrative. YOU WOULD THINK.

Sonic 4: Episode 1 looks like a flash game. When Sonic jumps and spins into a ball, it looks like I keyframed a png in Adobe Premiere. For a franchise that hosts some of the best music in ALL of videogames, it’s baffling that Sonic 4’s music is the most generic ass tunes you’ve ever heard. Sonic is insanely slow at first. Sonic’s physics feel indescribably wrong.

This is a game that has the homing attack, an attack that was introduced in Sonic Adventure so that you could easily jump on enemies in a 3D space. Sonic 4 uses the homing attack as a level design feature. Instead of crafting interesting levels, they plop a row of enemies in the air and say “go wild”. The homing attack minimizes enemy risk and makes bosses substantially easier - so much easier in fact, that Eggman gets invincibility frames, in order to make the fight longer.

Speaking of bosses, WHY ARE THEY ALL REUSED FIGHTS? Every single boss in this game you’ve already beaten in a past Sonic game. They’re all insanely easy too. And then, Sonic 4 has the audacity to make its final boss a boss rush. A boss rush that’s followed up by the Death Egg fight from Sonic 2, except oh hold on - this fight is actually tough. It also takes about 30 hits. I almost killed mys-.

Sonic 4’s levels are as follows:
Green Hill Zone clone
Casino Night Zone clone
Labyrinth Zone clone
Metropolis Zone clone

Who did this?

Labyrinth and Metropolis are definitively the two worst 2D Sonic stages, so the idea of them reusing these stages is insane. The weird thing is that none of these Sonic 4 stages are difficult. There’s some stupid canons that don’t operate well and a weird ass torch puzzle that makes very little sense, but everything else is fairly braindead simple.

‘Uninspired’ is the word that comes to mind. In every sense of the word, this game oozes unoriginality. So far, through my Sonic experience, even when a game has frustrating moments or bad ideas, I always walk away from a Sonic game with a bit of respect. Sonic 1 may have its problems, but that game is not lacking originality. Sonic 06 may be clowned on to death, but at least it took risks. Sonic 4: Episode 1 was originally a mobile game and boy does it show.

Sonic Mania is pretty good! As far as 2D Sonic games go, this is easily the best (though shout out to the 2022 Triple Trouble fan remake for being a close second).

Mania has one big flaw - an overreliance on previous stages. Are these stages good? Absolutely. Is their existence explained well within the story? Yessir. Would it still have been nice to have more new stages? I think so.

Out of its 12 main zones, only 4 of them are brand new. I love Chemical Plant and Stardust Speedway as much as the next guy, and seeing them reimagined in new ways is really cool, but just imagine if we got more stages like Press Garden or Studiopolis. These two new stages are easily top 5 2D Sonic levels imo.

Press Garden has this weird hybrid aesthetic containing newspapers and japanese sakura trees. It’s probably my favorite looking Sonic level. Plus the music is an alltime bop. Studiopolis is all Lights! Cameras! Action! The hollywood vibe with the microphone enemies makes for a very fun time.

The other two new Zones are solid enough. Mirage Saloon has some neat cameos (I can’t believe playing Triple Trouble before this paid off… Nack the Weasel returns!), but I can’t say that I loved it. Titanic Monarch is highkey confusing and disorienting. I wasn’t a big fan of the gravity orbs and the end of the stage takes way too long.

As far as bosses go, it’s nice to see this take cues from Sonic 3. They’re much more involved than the previous games without being too difficult. I’d say that the final boss is a bit too long, but at least it’s actually good. I have no idea if this is a hot take or not, but most 2D Sonic final bosses are outright bad, so this was a nice change of pace.

Sonic Mania is the pinnacle of 2D Sonic. It’s everything you love about the blue blur and only has a dash of annoyance in it. (I’m still not a fan of Flying Battery. It’s definitely an approvement over the original, but I could’ve done without it.) It’s been a fascinating experience playing through all of these Sonic games and I couldn’t think of a better way to end the 2D era, than by playing Mania. Struggling through Labyrinth Zone and Metropolis Zone may have actually been worth it in the end… now it’s time to jump into the 3D games!

What? I have to play Sonic 4? 😭

I think this is my favorite of the 2D Sonic games.

I think.

It's so frustrating, cause this is 100% a more polished game than Sonic 1 and 2. By a mile even. I love how every stage flawlessly goes into the next. I love the new shield powerups. I love that there are multiple mini-bosses. I love that Knuckles exists. Knuckles is so fucking cool.

Much like Sonic 2, it builds on the previous Sonic games in ways that just make sense. With the blue sphere stages being hidden within the levels (and the earlier mentioned new shields), exploration becomes more important. There's even a true final boss, making it actually interesting to become Super Sonic.

Sonic 3 has a bit of a "gimmick" problem, but I only partially mind this, because some of the gimmicks are really fun! The platforms in Ice Cap Zone, the top in Marble Garden Zone, the mountain climbing parts of Sandopolis - all pretty fun. Meanwhile, the light speed ring shooter in Death Egg Zone should just be avoided and that damn barrel in Carnival Night Zone is probably the stupidest thing in video games.

I’m also conflicted on the length of these stages. Every stage went the same:
- “Woah, this place looks neat”
- “Oh shit, what do I do here? Oh it’s a puzzle. Weird. Okay this kinda cool though”
- a bit of time passes
- “Wait, why is the stage still going?”
- “BRO WHEN WILL THIS STAGE ENDS”
- “I ALREADY DID THIS SECTION… wait no I didn’t. WHY IS IT STILL-”

Each of these stages are cool at first, but quickly run out of steam. It’s annoying, cause Sonic CD has the opposite problem. Those stages can be too short. It’s a hard balance to find with these games, because Sonic’s core gameplay is ‘going fast’, but I don’t think extending the stages this much is the answer.

Speaking of length, there are 14 Zones in this game. SHEESH. The good news is - I don’t hate any of them. There are elements of Carnival Night and Flying Battery that frustrate me, but never to the point of Sonic 1. Sandopolis 2 is probably the closest to the Sonic 1, with its rising sand and lights, but they’re interesting enough mechanics, that I can’t quite hate it.

The other side of that is that I don’t quite LOVE any of these stages either. IceCap and Sky Sanctuary are probably my favorites, but they don’t quite hit as hard as something like Chemical Plant. Most of the stages are just fine. Again, I think they go on way too long and that definitely hurts the momentum (lol) of the game.

Some people say this is one of the best platformers of all time. I can’t quite agree with that, BUT I have grown a new appreciation of 2D Sonic. At the end of the day, Sonic 3 + Knuckles is more 2D Sonic - fun at its best, annoying at its worst.

With the advent of Sonic Origins, I have finally conquered my personal white whale in gaming - beating Sonic the Hedgehog.

I feel like everybody has some kind of personal connection to Sonic. He was such an iconic part of the 90's and early 2000's, that I couldn't help but love this little dude. I get nostalgic thinking about Sonic X, a bunch of flash fan games, and even playing Green Hill Zone in the dentist's office. Sonic will always be in the upper echelon of iconic fictional characters.

So when I got Sonic Adventure 2 in 8th grade and was excited to play exhilarating 3d Sonic action - I immediately was thrown for a loop when the Knuckles stage involved treasure hunting... Don't get me wrong, City Escape was a blast, and I played a handful of other Sonic stages on VS mode, but that Knuckles stage changed my perspective of Sonic forever...

I became baffled at the idea of 'Sonic being good'. This became even more true when I learned that everybody's favorite Sonic game was Sonic Adventure 2. How? I still don't get it to this day. But I wanted to understand this blue hedgehog a bit more. So in 2017, I popped in the Sonic Mega Collection in my GameCube to finally play the very first Sonic game...

AND I COULDN'T GET PAST DUMBASS MARBLE ZONE. Attempt after attempt, for upwards of 4 hours, I tried to get past Marble Zone. I couldn't. I was defeated. Sonic is supposed to be a game about going fast, right? Green Hill Zone got that right. That was fun! But Marble Zone... It was nothing but a bunch of slow, tedious platforming stages with hazards that you can barely react to and a system that gives you a game over if you lose too many lives. One man can only play the first 5 stages of a video game over and over again before he begins to lose his mind.

So I gave up. Years went by. My tolerance for Sonic continued to dwindle. My disdain for this franchise increased with each passing mention of his name. The Sonic movie came out and I avoided it like the plague. Sonic Forces came out and after getting it for free on PS+, I can certainly say that "it's a game that I have played". In my eyes, Sonic was nothing but a dead horse that Sega continued to beat into the ground...

I mean, what else was there even to say at this point?

2022 - the year of Sonic

I don't know why. I don't know how. It's probably because the bestie Jay loves Sonic, but in the year of our lord 2022, I watched the Sonic movie.

It was okay.

But THEN, I watched Sonic 2 in theaters and for the first time since my childhood, I was once again enamored with this world.

So I gave Sonic Adventure 2 another shot. I beat it! It's still not good, but the Sonic levels are pretty fun.

Then I checked out Sonic Adventure 1. I played the Sonic levels. They're fun! I didn't want to play the rest of the game though.

And just this past week Sonic Frontiers released and for the first time EVER, I finally understand Sonic. He's a blue hedgehog that goes really fast and going really fast is cool as hell. Sonic is at its best all about spectacle. Fun atmospheres with killer music where a tiny animal takes down gods, machines, and monsters. Sonic has the cool factor pouring through his veins.

Sonic Frontiers is not a perfect game. Far from it. But I loved my time with it. I had a lot of fun. I even 100%ed the game! So now, I'm left with a new found curiosity: is it too late for me to love the Sonic franchise?

It's no shock to call this series polarizing. It has many ups and downs. But I want to know if its highs outweigh its lows...

Earlier this year, the Sonic Origins collection released. This collection includes updated versions of Sonic 1, 2, 3, and CD, with its greatest inclusion being the removal of game overs. For the first time ever, if you die in Marble Zone Act 3, you no longer have to play through the same 5 stages over and over again. This might very well be the biggest miracle in gaming history.

With this new found tech, and my new interest in Sonic, I finally sat down and beat the entirety of Sonic 1. I am not joking when I say that I am genuinely ecstatic to say that "I have beaten Sonic 1". It's my gaming white whale. As a retro video game fan, this is a rite of passage that I have finally overcome. For that, I am grateful...

So how is Sonic the Hedgehog?

This game fucking SUCKS. Look, I'm sorry to make you read an entire college essay about my history with Sonic, only for the actual review to be almost entirely negative, but damn is this game frustrating.

The positives are fairly straightforward. This game looks good. The art direction is fantastic, the character designs are endearing. The music slaps. The presentation of Sonic 1 (and all of the 2D Sonic games) is a masterclass in 16-bit era graphics.

Meanwhile, the level design in Sonic 1 is a masterclass in how NOT to design a level.

Green Hill Zone is great. This game STARTS great. Winding hills, loop de loops, multiple paths, fun power ups. As far as first stages go, this one's a banger.

It all goes downhill after that.

Marble Zone still sucks. That slow, tedious platforming filled with boring 'move the block' puzzles. At times, when you fall, you end up on the bottom of the stage again, requiring you to do all of that annoying platforming over again. It's not fun.

Spring Yard Zone tries to get back into the fast action gameplay, but it's not nearly as fun as Green Hill. In fact, you're better off not going super fast through these stages. Enemies will constantly come out of nowhere, causing you to take unnecessary hits and lose all momentum. I didn't hate Spring Yard, but I can't say that I enjoyed it.

That doesn't matter though, cause nothing is worse than the dreaded Labyrinth Zone.

I spent upwards of 30 minutes playing just the final section of Labyrinth Zone. Here was an escape sequence, full of tight platforms, all with spikes, while water constantly rises. Oh and you have to do all of this without getting hit. There is nothing fun about Labyrinth Zone. The water slows you down to 2MPH, the air bubbles are insanely inconsistent, there are even MORE enemies that seemingly come out of nowhere. If you get this far in the game and still think "Sonic the Hedgehog is a game about going fast", you probably need some mental assistance.

The last 3 zones are mostly more of the same, though nothing gets as bad as Labyrinth Zone. I like Star Light Zone. Scrap 'Blow my Brains out' Zone has a couple of infuriating segments. And the Final boss fight is mostly annoying because I didn't have any rings.

Most of the boss fights are extremely easy. Robotnik comes flying in on his space ship, you avoid a couple of obstacles, and hit him at the appropriate times. Other than the final fight, I had zero trouble with these.

I could talk about the Special stages, but I only got the first one and it's pretty dumb. The entire screen moves around so much that it's hard to keep track of what's going on, let alone try to get one of the chaos emeralds. As far as Sonic Origins goes, it's best to just avoid these.

I can't recommend Sonic the Hedgehog. My friend Aden said it best "it's a great proof of concept". For a franchise with so many ups and downs, it's kind of insane that it also has a rough start. Even so, my curiosity in this series is still fairly strong right now. Sonic CD is up next.

2022 has surprisingly become "THE YEAR OF SONIC" for me. For my background with this little blue fuck, go check out my Sonic 1 review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/ZachSnyderProd/review/565506/

Anyways, now it's time for Sonic CD. This is a game that I know absolutely NOTHING about. Sure, I've heard of it before, but I thought it was just a spinoff. It’s not? Apparently it’s an actual sequel that introduces Amy, Metal Sonic, and the Spin Dash. But why is it called "Sonic CD"? (enter CDeez nuts joke) Ohh it was for the Sega Genesis CD Add-On.

Fortunately, continuing my journey through the 2d Sonic games has been made exceptionally easier with the Sonic Origins Collection. Through it's "Mission Mode", you can play Sonic 1, CD, 2, and 3 back-to-back - all with brand new cutscenes combining the games into a seamless experience. This, combined with infinite continues, makes this collection a worthwhile investment if you’ve never played these games before. (Though its $40 price tag is still too steep, so you should probably wait for a sale)

After my frustrated plunge through Sonic 1, it felt really good to jump into Sonic CD. This is an entirely different game. Seriously, the level design is night and day compared to Sonic 1. While Sonic 1 has multiple levels designed around slow and precise platforming, Sonic CD bathes in the glory of GOING FAST. Imagine a 2D Sonic game where your prime objective is to GO FAST. It almost sounds too good to be true.

Sonic CD is fun. That’s really all I need out of these games. Give me a fun 2-4 hour excursion through wacky and lively worlds, with kickass music, and a bit of spectacle. “Sonic CD gets Sonic.” That’s my one-sentence-IGN review for this game.

Palmtree Panic Zone is a great first stage. It’s giving Green Hill Zone, but with a more interesting aesthetic. Collision Chaos Zone has a few confusing moments, where you’re not quite sure where to go, but I love that it’s just one big Pinball game. Tidal Tempest has water sections that actually work! What a concept. Quartz Quadrant and Stardust Speedway are both solid Sonic zones. It’s hard for me to have specific things to say about them, because they were just inherently fun and I never got frustrated. There’s moments in Wacky Workbench and Metallic Madness were I did get frustrated, but it was never on the same level as Sonic 1. Even when I didn’t know where to go, at least I could have fun playing around with the large bounce pads. OH YEAH and Sonic gets tiny in Metallic Madness... Love that!

When it comes to boss fights, I’m a bit split. On one hand, they’re way more engaging than Sonic 1’s stupid simple “bosses”. In Sonic CD, spectacle plays a large part in these moments. Race Metal Sonic to the end of a large obstacle course, play pinball to reach Eggman at the very top, avoid bombs on a treadmill so that the blast reaches Eggman’s machine. Almost all of these fights are fun, engaging, and conceptually interesting… except for the final boss…

The final boss starts with the most difficult platforming section in the game. Move across bottomless pits on disappearing MegaMan 1 style platforms, while pinball bounce pads can launch you into oblivion. Follow that up with these lightning bug enemies that shoot lasers at you every 3 seconds, whose hitboxes are so sporadic, that I constantly ended up at the Eggman fight with 0 rings. Now here’s Eggman with a propeller that goes 75 MPH, where you need to attack him at just the right direction to beat him. It’d be one thing if I lost at the Eggman fight and had to redo it a few times… it’s a whole other battle to do this entire runup to him, only to have 0 rings and die, because I didn’t launch Sonic in a 45 degree angle at just the right time. It’s a final boss, so I expect it to be difficult, but the rest of the game felt so balanced in its difficulty curve, that I did NOT expect to spend 30 minutes on this section alone.

Final boss aside, I did really enjoy my time with Sonic CD. While I never wanna touch Sonic 1 again, there’s an entire mechanic in CD that I didn’t really interface with, so I’m actually interested enough in replaying it in the future. There’s these signposts that take Sonic into the Past and the Future, and by running into them, it launches Sonic into different variations of the stages. I ran into a lot of these, but I don’t quite understand which ones I entered and how they changed the stage. The cool thing is - I don’t feel like I missed out on anything. If I want to, I never have to play Sonic CD again, but if I feel the itch to play a 2D Sonic game again, I can absolutely see myself replaying it and exploring each of the levels a bit more. To me, that’s where video games are at its best.