Sonic CD was originally released on the ill-fated Sega CD platform, and it proved to be one of the few truly good games for that system. That's right, it was a game, not an experiment in what could be done with video. Sonic CD introduced Amy Rose and Metal Sonic, and it's worth noting that this happened before gamers began to groan at the idea of characters that aren't Sonic. The game was also released on the PC back in 1996; later, it could be found on the PlayStation 2 and GameCube in the Sonic Gems collection. It was always a game that people enjoyed, but it was never all that easy to find. Until now.
Sonic CD has been released on the Xbox Live Arcade, with a PlayStation Network version coming on December 20. The game can also be found on iOS devices tomorrow, and on the Android store starting today. We're going to stick to the Xbox 360 version, because we like buttons and the PlayStation 3 version is a week away. So how well does the game hold up?
Sonic CD added a few interesting changes to the Sonic formula, not the least of which is the ability to travel through time. At different parts of the stages you can choose to move to the past, or ahead to the future, and this changes both the aesthetics of a level and the enemies you face. It's a neat touch, and it certainly gives you reason to explore and play levels multiple times, which has always been one of the strengths of the Sonic franchise. The faux-3D special levels where you hunt UFOs don't hold up nearly as well, but what can you do? The core gameplay is just as good as you remember, and the ability to layer on a choice of three filters to make high definition versions of aging character models helps sell the game to modern eyes. It's still retro-looking no matter which option you choose, but in my opinion the "smooth" filter makes things more tolerable.
You can also choose the far superior, and slightly crazy, Japanese soundtrack to listen to, an option that was sorely lacking from the original and later releases in the United States. The American soundtrack isn't nearly as bad as I remembered it—probably because having an opinion on the Sonic CD soundtrack back in the day was used as hipster cred as often it was used to explain an actual opinion—but being able to change back and forth is wonderful. You'll also be able to play through as Tails if you finish the game, which is a nice touch.
The best part is the game's $5 price tag on both the Xbox Live and PlayStation Network versions. If you're even partially interested in the game, it's worth picking it up for such a low price, especially since it's widely considered to be one of the best games in the Sonic series. You can finally learn the difference between the two soundtracks, enjoy a game that has never been given a wide release on a popular platform, and of course you can sit there and quietly hate Tails, even before you unlock him. Enjoy!
Before we get to the "not on my system" posts, this port is coming to the PC, but there is no release date as of yet.
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