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Sonic CD Game Review

Sonic CD is a 1993 platform video game developed and published by Sega for the Sega CD. It is a short and easy, but delightfully unique entry in this venerable series.

This game is usually cited to be among the greatest Sonic platformers and I can easily see why it would be regarded with so much admiration. While I personally don’t hold it in that high esteem, I still appreciate it for its originality. It is a rare Sonic game to have been released on the Sega CD console, and as such it felt different to the original trilogy that was being released concurrently, though it has most similarities with the original game.

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The plot is actually better than expected for an early platformer. It is your standard comics-inspired plot, but it worked and the game introduced some important characters for this franchise, in particular Amy Rose and Metal Sonic. Robotnik himself was just as memorable as he always is. The emphasis on time fitted the gameplay very well.

And that brings me to the time travel element, which makes this game very unique. Unlike any other previous or later Sonic adventure, here the levels are interspersed with these signs that look like checkpoints, but are in actuality time portals. If you go through the one labeled past, you go to the past. The future works differently as there is a good or a bad future dependent on what you did in the previous two levels and whether or not you destroyed these transporters that you had to destroy. Thus, two levels are set in the past or present while the final level is set in some version of the future.

This was a fabulous idea that made the game highly original and inventive, but my smaller gripe with it is that it was a bit unintuitive and confusing as they did not explain it properly to the player what they need to do and how this mechanic works. Thus, I got through the majority of the game not fully utilizing this mechanic, which was disappointing as the game was clearly made to be played with time meddling in mind.

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Apart from those elements, everything else works the same as you would expect in an early Sonic game. Rings are important for giving you basically an extra life and collecting fifty of them takes you to these bonus levels, which are solid, but far from the greatness of the other entries released in this era. There is also the structure of zones consisting of three acts with the last one containing a boss.

It’s a shame that Sonic CD was ridiculously short at just seven zones and with most levels being way too easy to finish off. I sped through the majority of game probably in an hour or so, which was way too fleeting in my opinion. The difficulty then significantly ramped up in that final level with the final Robotnik boss being quite difficult and that final act being ridiculously hard and confusing. But other than that, most levels were enjoyable and I actually appreciated the bosses for not being too difficult, but still being reasonably demanding.

Palmtree Panic Zone is your standard opening level. It is very reminiscent to your regular Green Hill Zone, but with the added time travel mechanics of this particular game. It is well executed, but rather forgettable at the end of the day and ridiculously easy as well. Collision Chaos Zone is more memorable and just gorgeous in its colorful palette, but it could get frustrating in those pinball-inspired sections. Tidal Tempest Zone is one of those half-aquatic Sonic levels similar to others in the first trilogy, but it’s better this time around because it is much easier and thus more enjoyable. It is also beautiful in its visuals and quite well designed throughout.

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Quartz Quadrant Zone is absolutely gorgeous in the minerals-inspired aesthetic. It is also very cool to play and it features excellent level design. It is among the better zones in this game. Wacky Workbench is reminiscent to a couple of zones from the first Sonic game in that it needs you to play it at a significantly slower speed, which goes at odds with the mechanics of this franchise. It can get quite frustrating in the moving platforms sections. Stardust Speedway Zone is obviously incredibly cool in its astronomic setting and it’s among the fastest and most enjoyable zones here.

Metallic Madness Zone was at first great. It is slower, but also longer, so it had a lot of replay value. It is well designed and superbly crafted in the obstacles in particular. My only issue here was that the final act was just incredibly difficult. It took me almost as much time getting through the last act and boss than it took me to go through the entirety of the rest of the game, which felt extremely unbalanced in difficulty and pacing.

Sonic CD looks and sounds incredible. In terms of technical aspects, this is a masterful platformer that I’ve had a blast listening to and looking at throughout. The character designs are great and the overall level design is quite inventive at times, but the colorful palette, strong world building and interestingly themed zones made my playthrough such a delight. Most levels were pleasingly colorful and charming. The sound was great as well while the score was absolutely fantastic with the end theme after each beaten level being incredibly entertaining and infectious in its nineties feel. This is one of the coolest soundtracks in Sonic’s history for sure. I also loved those animated cutscenes as they were so much fun, but they clearly took away too much size from this game, which probably resulted in that shortened length.

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