What do you think of Sonic CD?

Hello once again..

I've been wondering again, what do people think of Sonic CD and it's soundtrack?

When I was just a small boy, young and naive, I was a huge Sonic fan. And I mean stupidly huge. I had all the Mega Drive games (played them religiously), I bought the comics, and I eargerly awaited the next game.. I basically crapped my pants over Sonic 3D and screenshots of the early Sonic Adventure, well, I don't know how I stayed dry.

All my damn gaming life I have wanted to play Sonic CD. Sonic. ON CD. After reading all these opinions on how its the best Sonic ever, seeing the videos on Sonic jam.. yet my parents wouldn't buy me a Mega CD (hell, I don't blame them and I'm glad they didn't waste their money).

But thanks to the POWER OF THE INTERNETS I recently acquired it and played it. I don't think I have ever been more disappointed.. There was no flow in the stages, you seemed to hit an enemy or an object just as you managed to acquire some speed.. the graphic were just too.. muddled, most of the time I felt like 'What I am LOOKING at?'. The bosses were meagre.. Sonic's spin dash was pathetic.. the jumping noise is annoying... eugh, and I got to that stage with the bouncy floor. I nearly threw my laptop at the wall in frustration.

But the music is simply sublime. I love both the American and Japanese soundtracks equally, both fit the game with slightly different tones and moods. Arguably the JP has more memorable tunes.. MM- BF, CC - Pr, SS - VF are my faves. As for the US. I love the Tidal Tempest and Stardust Speedway present tracks. I think the female voice is so cool and it feels so 90s. They both remind me of my naive, 16-bit youth!

Anyrate, I'm spent. What are your thoughts on the game and it's soundtrack? =)

 

One of the best for me. I've played it in my first Pentium (Pentium Processor Edition on the case =P).

About the things you said, I kindly disagree. I've played the Master System and Mega Drive games and they are so different, the difference in the Sonic CD wasn't something to disapoint.

It was strange the first time I played Sonic Spinball on the Master System. That's weird! Maybe something to someone blame. Not Sonic CD.
But I like Sonic Spinball as well.

 

Having recently watched people play the Megadrive Sonic games without knowing them well, I think those criticisms can be applied to most of them. The enjoyment comes from mastery.

In many ways Sonic CD is like an expanded Sonic 1, and by comparison to Sonic 2 I don't think it holds together so well. It's got a lot more depth, though, and either way you want to be playing it on original hardware, not your laptop, before you make any kind of judgement.

Not hugely fussed on either soundtrack.

 

Yeah, Sonic CD plays like Sonic 1. The jumping noise is damn annoying. I have great memories of it on the PC since I had no Sega CD when I was a kid. The "smooth" mode was awesome. I just remember having to restart the computer after half an hour because it only had 8mb of RAM forever. (1995-1996 or something). After half an hour or so the game would get choppy or freeze. My theory was that if I let the PC cool down it worked better....lol. My Genesis was fucked up and any game that had complex graphics like EWJ, Batman and Robin etc would freeze...unless the console was warm. Makes no sense to me but it worked.

 

I love all the Master System Sonics, and I also love all the Mega Drive Sonics in their own way, and I can reply each and still enjoy them thoroughly.

Something about Sonic CD just felt off. I'm still open to trying it on the original hardware because, yes, I think thats part of the magic and the 'feel'. I'd rather have an NTSC version, and it seems a pain to import just for this one game. Hence why I was so chuffed to get it running and save myself some expense and effort..

..I tried so hard to give it a chance and love it though :'(

 

Sonic CD is the best Sonic game ever, in my view, and is another interpretation of how a Sonic sequel should be made following the original. It's a different flavour of Sonic compared to 2 and 3/Knuckles, but it's clear from the level design to the gameplay's depth that this game was very ambitious - sometimes too much at points!

 

I too tried Sonic CD for the first time in 2002.. It felt awkward and the collision detection was iffy. I understand its design was to accommodate time attack-style gameplay but the stages didn't feel as fluid as the other 2D games. And the whole time travel aspect was off-putting as well. And this coming from someone who enjoyed the two Sonic Rush games despite their inferiority to the original 2D games. Didn't enjoy Sonic Rivals though.

 

Sonic CD was released on Sega/Mega CD and PC CD-ROM, so i think that his laptop counts as "original hardware", unless of course, hes using a sega CD emulator.

 

It's only OK. It's great if you played it before Sonic 2 and Sonic 3/Sonic and Knuckles, but I was the same when I finally got to play Sonic CD. It was a big disappointment.

And Sonic Jam did not have Sonic CD on it, just FYI.

 

The PC version would be just as bad as the emulated version. It's not the right hardware for the game.

 

In what ways, Barc0de?

Taucias, I was referring to the FMV clips in Sonic Jam's 'Sonic World' Museum that whetted my appetite

Alchy, (is that short for alcohol or is that just my devious mind? ) I was actually using the ROM in all honesty. I have played a demo of the PC version, I don't see much difference.. I could just hook my laptop up to an old 14" portable if I wanted the true 'experience', with a USB gamepad.. whilst it is always preferable to experience a game on it's original hardware, for nostalgia sake, I think emulation is perfectly okay at least to just formulate an educated opinion- I have learnt it's not worth me bothering buying the necessary hardware to 'experience' it properly as I was so underwhelmed!

 

Back when I first got the Sega CD version, I completed Sonic CD (or so I thought) only to be confronted with a nasty closing animation that said 'Try Again' in big white letters. It was only last year that I played the version on the Gamecube Sonic collection and knew what I was actually doing. The mode 7 3D special stages are really challenging to me, because I already suck at 3D games and I couldn't quite tell what was happening or where I was going. I agree with the statement that it's all about the mastery of the game. Sonic CD is my second-favorite game in the series, just behind Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast

 

No, it's short for Alchemist, which was my chosen name on the ezboards a decade or so ago. It got shortened to Alchy there, and stuck. Frankly I'd change it if I could, way too many misconceptions about my alcohol intake here, I feel... not that I'm averse to a heavy drinking session, incidentally.

No, you wouldn't be getting the true experience, because emulators are shitty, and TV out on laptops tends to be even shittier.

Maybe so. I'd argue that hardware is not just for "nostalgia's sake", though - it's literally the optimal environment to experience games for both the audio and video, and emulators do not replicate this in any satisfactory manner.

 

I've often said the same thing, to which people usually resond with incredulity. I was starting to think I was the only person on the planet who didn't think it was an amazing game.

The intro was great -- both the Japanese/European and USian versions (slight preference for the former) -- but the game-play didn't seem fun to me. It reminded me a lot of Sonic Chaos on the Master System; the level design seemed quite different to the Sonic games I knew and loved - but not in a good way. It felt like it was farmed out to another development team...

I'm not saying that it's a bad game, just that I much prefer the Mega Drive and Master System versions over it. Having said that, I've not played it in a good five years or so (I do still have an original copy around here somewhere), so my memory could be lying to me. Again.

 

You are wrong. The PC version is perfect. It even needs the display in 256 colors to run.

It's the second time I've saw someone talking about hardware issues. Only in the Gamespot ridiculous review and here. You guys should read the minimum requeriments to play... And play with a joystick, it's a Sonic game! Gameport joysticks works perfect. =P

And about the level design. It's obvious, for the, let's say, third or fourth time player, that the level designs are affected by the time travel.

* Shame on SEGA for putting the japanese movies in Sonic JAM. The US score is way better imo. ^^'

 

Um, no. The game was designed for a 15Khz/240p signal on an analogue set. Unless your monitor supports that (here's a hint: it doesn't) then the PC version isn't "perfect". Especially not if it runs in 256 colours, since the Megadrive has a potential palette of 512.

Try not to throw statements like "you are wrong" around unless you're really sure.

 

Shit, I thought Alchy was Alchoholic, like in a funny way. Damn.

And yeah Alchy, the PC version actually is better then the Sega CD version, because of the "smooth" mode (which is 60fps or something) and some faster loading. I like the Sega CD version more NOW because it's a pain in the ass to get it working, but it really was a little better.

Well, it's a port so I dunno. On my old ass PC that was 800x600 it looked way better then on my Sega CD on composite.

Same goes for Pitfall the Mayan Adventure.

What about the Gamecube version? It was ported from the PC version I read, but had some fuck ups graphics wise.

 

True, but im sure that playing the PC version would be more "accurate" than emulating it, if those are the only 2 ways you have to play it.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love my booze. I'm a student, it's practically mandated that I drink to excess.

Better than composite, arguably. Better than RGB on a proper Megadrive/Mega-CD combo? No way.

Emulated, hi-res, shit.

Not necessarily, especially if the previous poster was correct about it running in 256 colour mode. Either way, if those are the two ways you have to play it - don't bother playing it. Wait until you can play it properly, on the actual hardware.

 

lol, the alcoholic alchemist.:icon_bigg

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
sorry, this made me chuckle. I cant really say too much, i bust out my SNES everytime i want to play Super Metroid, because its just not right on an emu. However, to someone that has never played it and just wants to see how it was ill tell them to emulate it. Better than to at least have played it, although not 100% perfect, than to never experience it at all. I truly respect how much of a purist you are when it comes to video games however, you are pretty hardcore about only using original hardware .