Sonic the Hedgehog CD

Sonic CD was the fifth sonic game i ever played and remains one of my favorites to this day. I was introduced to sonic through my first game Sonic Heroes which i immediately fell in love with the characters, story and gameplay.

One thing I absolutely LOVE about this game is time travelling, which as the name implies, Sonic can travel through time to the past, present, and the future! This is a definitely a super creative and clever concept. The amount of effort put into the detailing and visuals as well as the decoration to really put the prehistoric feel of the past, or the toxic wasteland of the bad future is really incredible. A fun and clever mechanic of having to destroy the robot generator to affect the future is well thought out and adds to the fun factor!

Another very well thought out and executed concept is Sonic's new move, the Super Peel Out! Which lets the player go at amazing speeds after charging it for a few seconds, with the animation being quite cool especially for a Sega CD game.

The level design in most stages is actually quite good and I love the speed sections and the cool up ramps in Palmtree Panic, the little traps and pipes as well as the layout of the somewhat unique and beautiful Tidal Tempest, or the awesome speedway feel to Stardust Speedway and the many loops and boosts!

Another neat thing I liked is that this was the first Sonic game to introduce a save feature, allowing the person playing to continue where they left off without having to restart from Act 1. My favorite Classic sonic game, and the best in my opinion, Sonic 2 lacks this and I'm glad this game has it.

The soundtrack of this game is definitely AMAZING and unforgettable for the JP/EU soundtrack and arguably the US soundtrack too. Both go for their own unique feel with the US taking a more atmospheric and rock-like style, with the Japanese one taking a really groovy funky 90's pop music feel.

The graphics are stunning and beautiful especially for Sega CD standards, and really add to the overall beauty of this game.

The plot of saving an entire planet, and freeing it from the clutches of the evil Dr. Eggman, and restoring the natural beauty while also having to save fangirl Amy Rose and face off against a robotic doppelganger, Metal Sonic is really creative and a unique plot! Probably one of the more detailed of the classic games.

And the intro and ending are just so good, the aesthetic and artstyle are simply fantastic and were produced by Toei animation, this artstyle ended up influencing stuff like the cutscenes in Sonic Mania or the fantastic OVA from 1999, which I love so much to where I bought the film on DVD.

Really the last thing I can name thats good before I go into the flaws of the game are the 2011 Christian Whitehead remaster's fixes and additions. Such as how the music loops properly in this version with the Japanese OST using the beta music loops that went unused in the initial Sega CD version which makes the soundtrack sound that much better, and you can switch the awkward spindash of the original game to the Sonic 2 one. This version also has Tons of Collision fixes.

I also love the new characters introduced here, Amy Rose and Metal Sonic.

Onto the negatives of this game, here we go

I genuinely hate this games spindash. The Spin Dash in this game is somewhat awkward to use: you have to hold down on the D-pad and hold the jump button until Sonic revs up properly and let go of the button, which can take a while as opposed to mashing the jump button and letting go of the D-pad to get Sonic to take off like in Sonic 2 and 3. Failing to do so will result in Sonic not taking off at incredible speed and just standing where he is, which is clunky and annoying.

The boss fights are simply lackluster and lack any real difficulty, especially the final boss which is pretty weak especially comparing it with the other games of this era. Most can simply be defeated in 4 hits no problem. The Metal Sonic race though is pretty challenging and iconic.

The collision detection in the original Sega CD version can be pretty wonky and make no sense at times, and can lead to glitches sometimes and deaths.

The Special Stages controls are really hard to understand at times, and they are pretty annoying... personally I dislike the backgrounds distracting colors and the fact of how hard it is to predict the UFOs movement patterns.

Some songs don't fit the stage and its future condition very well, such as the JP version of Palmtree Panics Bad Future or the US version of Metallic Madness' Good Future. They are good songs but don't fit the atmosphere.

Some of the level designs and gimmicks like the pinball fight in Collision chaos are executed poorly and are annoying, or Wacky Workbench and the bouncing. I also personally dont like the conveyor belts of Quartz Quadrant.

Overall, In conclusion I believe Sonic CD is a fun and great game that I highly recommend with a fresh mindset!