Light theme

Sonic CD review
by kotyyan69

Sonic Mania > Sonic CD > 1, 2, 3&Knuckles
«OST on repeat»

Other reviews15

Completed as of writing this review: 100%.

This game is just.. cool. I don't know how else to describe it. It's definitely one of those games that have a love-hate relationship in the fanbase. Some people like it, others hate it. And you can really see why. If we're talking a Good Ending route, it's really unique game for Sonic's gameplay style. However it's not about the speed, it's more about exploration, which destroys Sonic's momentum. Visually this game is gorgeous with very colorful stages and the best music in the series (I'm talking JP of course). Don't know if I'd suggest it though. I would say try the 2011 remake as it's better than the SEGA CD version.
«Just one more turn»
«Can’t stop playing»
It started as a Sonic game, but as soon as I started to notice the music was a little iffy, things started to feel quite different.

I was looking forward to play Sonic CD, since is one of those games that have legendary status but the truth is, it was disappointing in several ways, not that I had a bad time, on the contrary I was having fun, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that a lot of stuff could be more polished. Starting with the stages layout, this time around the stages have some variability and openness that the past entries didn't have, they at times feel labyrinthic, which is a double edged sword since it spice things up but it also show how clumsy navigation can be, as always you have a lot of obstacles and unfair enemies that can hit you by just some frames after they appear on screen, and since the stages are designed with a lot of stuff and backgrounds, it was hard to tell apart which things were solid or not, again my issue with the past Sonic games was that they keep you from running and punish you hard for doing so, while a more passive and slow navigation is rewarded, but at least to me it feels wrong.

One thing that this game excels are the boss fights, they're simple but more creative and fun than the past games, a pretty neat feature and one of the highlights of this game, I loved the penultimate fight the most, although the last fight lacks the epicness of the other games, is still challenging and enjoyable.

Another key feature of this game is the "Time" mechanic, every stage has at least 4 versions of itself, present, past, good future and bad future, a neat feature in theory but in practice is messy and frankly confusing, I didn't understand till late in the game what was that about. This mechanic also alters the music from the stage and it also have 4 different versions, which takes us to one of my biggest issues, Sonic games always have had outstanding music, and it hit me hard when I wasn't digging any of the tunes of this game, they weren't bad but they didn't match neither the stage atmosphere or the Sonic musical style, to my surprise when I beat the game and did a little of research, it appears that SEGA US make an entire new soundtrack to "appeal" more its audience, it took me just 3 comparisons to feel like I was robbed from a great soundtrack, so if you can choose between the Japanese/European or US versions of this game, choose the JP/EU since it has the original superior soundtrack, although there's one track that I loved, and that one may be the boss fight theme, it's super dark and ominous, it feels also out of place but at least to one boss fight in particular fits perfectly.

I played the Gem's Collection for the Nintendo Gamecube version of this game, it seems that it has a continue feature that I ignore if the original had, I think is a good addition since you can pick up your game whenever you want, although, this game is rather easy compared to 1 and 2. As usual, you can have a "good ending" if you meet certain requirements, is harder to obtain it and to me it's not that worthy but if you like this kind of stuff from the past game, you'll feel right at home and because is fairly short (1:15 hours more or less) you can master the stages to try to get the good ending fast enough. I didn't hate this game but certainly didn't love it either, I can see how for someone that played it as its starting Sonic can overlook a lot of my issues, but being this the 3rd installment of this series a lot of tuning and refinement would benefit it a lot.
Read more...
Translated by
Microsoft from Deutsch
It's a real Classic on the Sega CD if it can now take it anywhere unfortunately there are advertising
Translated by
Microsoft from Danish
If advertisements are such a big problem then set it on airplane mode while playing, then you'll get rid of all the advertisements.
Translated by
Microsoft from Dutch
Its a fun game but i completed act one act and i got kicked from the game and those ads are SO anoying Please remove the ads
Translated by
Microsoft from Dutch
The game is pretty good, it doesn,t work all time but that is not a problem for me, most of the time, anyways good work on it
Translated by
Microsoft from Swedish
When I Passed zone 3 so when you would break the metal thing so when I did it fasnade I at the place where you went down
Translated by
Microsoft from Italian
You have created a new entry in the main menu that allows you to play it, instead of being played back to each new game
Translated by
Microsoft from Swedish
Been Looking forward to this release since I saw the first time 2009! The Game is sooo good and it is a cruelly good port of the original! Now I want to see the previous Sonicspelen be ported in the same way!
Translated by
Microsoft from Swedish
The Control on the iPad is absolutely okay and clearly functioning. On The iPhone, however, it will be, at least for me, far too pluttigt which gives constant error printing and makes the game more or less ospelbart.
Translated by
Microsoft from Danish
Impossible to play with all the advertisements! The Game itself is brilliant and brings much nostalgia, but crumbs the toes of the advertising bombardment you get thrown in sight constantly! Uninstall after 2 lanes...