Platforms: SEGA CD, PC
Genre: Platforming
Developer: Sonic Team
Release: November 19, 1993
Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, Sonic booooom~
SEGA CD has been deemed a complete failure by internet bandwagonners, complaining about all of the terrible FMV games, but they have obviously never played Sonic CD. This is one of the handful of exceptional games produced on the system, among Silpheed, the Lunar series, Eternal Champions and Shining Force CD.
Unfortunately for these people, they are blindly condemning the system that houses the single greatest Sonic game to date. A bold claim, yes, but it does live up to it.
The gameplay is pure fun. Sonic must travel through time to destroy Robotnik’s generator machines and in order to do that, he has to run at top speed for a long time. This can get difficult, since there aren’t many straightforward paths and he could run into an obstacle, thus slowing him down. Sonic CD was developed by seperate division from that of Sonic 2, this means that since there was very little communication between the two divisions, the games have similar qualities but executed differently. The most notable differences are that Sonic’s Spindash (Down+A) doesn’t require you to tap the A button repeatedly to charge, there is no original animation for a spindash (there is no smoke and he just has a rolling animation) and the Super Peel-Out (Up+A) and Sonic’s top speed running animation have his legs in a figure-8 blur shape. There are 7 Zones, 3 acts for each zone, and past, present and future versions of the first two acts of every Zone. Add that all up and you get a fairly long game.
The game itself looks beautiful, everything looks just like it should in an early Sonic game. Not a tree or badnik out of place. Even though I feel that they should’ve made their own sprites for Sonic instead of using the ones from Sonic 1, his sprites do fit perfectly. One major thing I like about the level graphics – they’re trippy. Every single one of the Special Stages look like a serious acid trip, you destroy UFOs in an unknown area with a fading rainbow background. This game also has the single greatest intro to a Sonic game yet, as shown below (although, my opinion may change since I’ve seen Sonic Unleashed’s intro).
The music is simply amazing. There are two different soundtracks for the game, depending on your region. If you live in the United States or Canada, you have a different one than Europe and Asia. Both are equally as good. Palmtree Panic, Wacky Workbench, Collision Chaos and Tidal Tempest are some of the most memorable songs in the game.
The U.S. Intro Music
The Japanese and European Intro.
Gameplay- Rating: 
Fast paced, exploration based, and just about as classic as Sonic can get.
Graphics- Rating: 
Mode-7 Special Stages, original levels and badniks. The only unoriginal art in the game was all of Sonic’s movements except the Super Peel-Out.
Sound- Rating:
Both The US and JP/EU soundtracks are simply amazing and take full advantage of the SEGA CD’s then unsurpassed sound quality.
Glitches- Rating:
An extreme few bugs, but there is a little bit of slowdown when Sonic loses rings. The framerate drop was actually a software error that was fixed in later 2-D Sonic games, but has been present in Sonic 1 and 2.
Overall Rating:
Verdict: Simply the greatest Sonic game ever made. Definitely deserving of this 10.
P.S. I’m making a Sonic CD tie-in comic, look for it in about a month.
