Quick Look: Sonic CD

I don't like Sonic games.

Fast Hedgehog Go!

Awesome!

Hey guys.

Sonic boom!

Ah Sonic CD the first PC game I had ever played.

Sonic CD is one of the most overrated games ever made. Its awful and convoluted level design makes it a chore to play. Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 and Knuckles are designed to flow well from beginning to end with constant speed. Sonic CD is just a mess and I don't have fun playing it.

Exhibit A

And here is a level designed by people who knew what they were doing. I present to you Chemical Plant

SWEET

One of the better Sonic games, if not the best.

Fuck Sonic Boom.

I got fooled from the demo as well!

Maaan, this Quick Looks is quick like Sonic!

God, that was horrible.

Comment about running to the right and hoping for the best: Check

Comment about Dr. Eggman / Robotnic: Check

Sonic Quick Look Complete!!!

I have great memories of this game...I got it for free when my parents bought our first PC...a Hewlett Packard back in 1995. Sonic CD and Sonic 2 are pretty much the only Sonics I care about lol I'll have to pick this up.

SONIC BOOM SONIC BOOM SONIC BOOOOOOOM!

The best Sonic game I personally ever played. Even after all this time, it still holds up.

Sonic CD is the best Sonic game

Really good Quick Look. Best Sonic.

Sonic's kinda dumb

This is my favorite Sonic game. Loved the US soundtrack for exactly the reasons Jeff talked about here.

I fogot how awesome this game was. I think I'm going to have to bust out my Sega CD.

Sonic 2 is still the best!

This "good" Sonic game you speak of looks exactly like all the other Sonic games.

@KingCrimson4life:

yep, it was trash. i think people are getting the cool opening theme and actual game confused between which was good.

@Ventilaator said:

This "good" Sonic game you speak of looks exactly like all the other Sonic games.

The whole past/future thing and music is really what makes it different. Unfortunately they didn't get to show the former in the QL.

The Japanese soundtrack was composed by Naofumi Hataya!

I have a lot of respect for the U.S. soundtrack and its pretty damn good, but my heart will always belong to the Japanese Soundtrack.

@KingCrimson4life: I agree with the level design, CD is the weakest of the early 2d games in terms of that Sonic Adrenaline Rush.

Im more surprise by the fact people owned a Sega CD

How can you not love it?

Only $5? buying this immediatly.

I never really cared for this game.

It puts such a strong emphasis on the time traveling elements, but you need speed to do so. And the level design is so heavily geared towards platforming that there are no natural ways to get to top speed. Instead they do things like put two springs facing each other in a pit or springs that make you run backwards.

Note how Jeff can never successfully time travel in the Quick Look. It's understandable because the game is actively discouraging you from doing so despite it being the main gimmick of the game.

For $5 I'm going to have to pick this up.

@KingCrimson4life said:

Sonic CD is one of the most overrated games ever made. Its awful and convoluted level design makes it a chore to play. Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 and Knuckles are designed to flow well from beginning to end with constant speed. Sonic CD is just a mess and I don't have fun playing it.

Exhibit A

And here is a level designed by people who knew what they were doing. I present to you Chemical Plant

I'm with you - I hate this game. It's so badly designed! People talk about it like it's some forgotten treasure, but it was forgotten for a reason -- it doesn't work. The time travel mechanic destroys the flow of the platforming/running action that defines Sonic games. I hate this game, I hate this game! It's the worst 2D Sonic game, and it's unbelievable that it's so overrated.

The music is pretty good though, although I prefer the Japanese soundtrack. Both are good. But fuck the actual gameplay here. Sonic's awesome, but I'll stick to the Genesis classics, the GBA sidescrollers, and the newer Sonic Colors/Generations titles -- you know, Sonic's GOOD games. This game is so overrated; the internet just completely ruins certain things. And in this case, it's a classic case of the internet going "This is rare, so it must be AMAZING" and then endlessly regurgitating the myth. Just like the last couple years of the internet saying all Sonic games sucked, and morons endlessly repeating it despite having no fucking opinions of their own. GOD DAMN IT.

This whole situation just makes me hate the internet.

Did they just go through the whole quick look without ever making it to a past or future transition?

Besides the suuuuuuuper cheesy Sonic Boom track, I totally prefer the Japanese soundtrack.

What is the point of Sonic? Get the rings, go fast, I get that; but if you really wanted to get into it, what are the subtle nuances that you need to know? A big reason why I never liked the Sonic games is because I couldn't wrap my head around the actual goal of the game. Can someone enlighten me please?

slow down, nice music

I like the combination of stoic Jeff and confused Brad in the morning. As for sonic I dunno in this one it just seems like they go out of their way to stop you all the time. Why would they keep putting stoppers and bounce pads against the current?

Sonic 2,3,Knuckles and CD are the best sonic games in that order.

All other sonic games aren't worth playing IMO. I can't remember if the GBA ones were any decent, but from what I've played those are the best.

Played Sonic CD quite some time after I had played 1,2,3,and knuckles. I just had the OG genesis.

@KingCrimson4life said:

Sonic CD is one of the most overrated games ever made. Its awful and convoluted level design makes it a chore to play. Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 and Knuckles are designed to flow well from beginning to end with constant speed. Sonic CD is just a mess and I don't have fun playing it.

Exhibit A

And here is a level designed by people who knew what they were doing. I present to you Chemical Plant

I'm with you - I hate this game. It's so badly designed! People talk about it like it's some forgotten treasure, but it was forgotten for a reason -- it doesn't work. The time travel mechanic destroys the flow of the platforming/running action that defines Sonic games. I hate this game, I hate this game! It's the worst 2D Sonic game, and it's unbelievable that it's so overrated.

The music is pretty good though, although I prefer the Japanese soundtrack. Both are good. But fuck the actual gameplay here. Sonic's awesome, but I'll stick to the Genesis classics, the GBA sidescrollers, and the newer Sonic Colors/Generations titles -- you know, Sonic's GOOD games. This game is so overrated; the internet just completely ruins certain things. And in this case, it's a classic case of the internet going "This is rare, so it must be AMAZING" and then endlessly regurgitating the myth. Just like the last couple years of the internet saying all Sonic games sucked, and morons endlessly repeating it despite having no fucking opinions of their own. GOD DAMN IT.

This whole situation just makes me hate the internet.

Wow, I fully expected this to fetch a $15 price tag afforded to cult classics like Radiant Silvergun. I don't think I've been this surprised at a price since... I honestly don't know. Beyond Good & Evil or Rez coming out at $10?

At $5 that's a freaking steal if only for the soundtrack. Drama queens in this thread can say what they will about how much they hate this game, but they have to admit it's still leagues beyond the most recent turds like Sonic Unleashed.

@Humanity said:

As for sonic I dunno in this one it just seems like they go out of their way to stop you all the time. Why would they keep putting stoppers and bounce pads against the current?

I like to think its not annoying or bad level design, and is really because this game is a puzzle game underneath. You need to go fast to time travel, but you need to find a spot that's open enough to do so. Then once you actually do get to the past, the seemingly messy and overcomplex platforming levels become the second puzzle of hunting through them to find the machines. Not really all that 'traditional' of a Sonic game, which is possibly why people seem to have such heavily pro/anti opinions of it.

Would really have liked to see the time travel in the Quicklook. Might have helped show what the game is really about, plus the alternate music and seeing how parts of the level are different in the timezones.

God I love this game. Played it back on the PC and fell in love with Sonic.

People complaining about the level design in this game not being built for speeding through the stage, that's because this game isn't meant to be sped through, you're supposed to be exploring instead. This game wasn't developed in succession within 1, 2, and 3, but at the same time as 2, by the Japanese Sonic Team while Yuji Naka worked on the main series with the American Sonic Team.

For the record, the reason the widescreen looks good in this game is because it's true widescreen, not stretched. This is actually less of a port and more of a full recreation using an engine hand coded by a member of the rather obsessive Sonic community (Christian Whitehead, otherwise known as The Taxman). Ostensibly, the same treatment could be given to Sonic 1-3k should Sega give the OK. That's also the reason the other spindash is in it, and the soundtrack options.

Edit: Okay, they cover this about halfway through, BUT HEY, HERE'S THE FACTS.

I grew out of Sonic 15 years ago

It is a series of not good games but since people played it as a kid they have lied and said it has been since then. Sonic is a fraud

@KingCrimson4life said:

Sonic CD is one of the most overrated games ever made. Its awful and convoluted level design makes it a chore to play. Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 and Knuckles are designed to flow well from beginning to end with constant speed. Sonic CD is just a mess and I don't have fun playing it.

Someone once told me that Sonic CD's level design looks like a programmer just went nuts with a debug code, and that's the most accurate description of the game that you could make. That doesn't make the game bad; just weird.

Anyway, high five for some US Sonic CD OST love! I don't know why it gets so much hate.

Oh man! That level select background and menu screen are SO early 90's. I mean real pre-O.J.

Huh, pretty surprised about the hate the game is getting, but I can understand where they're coming from. It looks like a standard 2D Sonic game, but it's not.

I guess the difference for me is where some people see poor level design, I see level exploration. You have the option to find that robot generator somewhere in the past and destroy it in addition to finishing the level. I loved that mechanic, but it definitely makes the level design much different. I was never a huge Sonic fan back in the day, so this departure felt great for me.

As long as Sonic soundtracks continue to be awesome, Sonic games will never die.

... I don't understand Sonic. I've never had, probably never will.

They should have used the original level complete tune

Can't beat that.