< Sonic the Hedgehog CD

Sonic the Hedgehog CD/YMMV


  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: This game is confirmed to be ported for several current gen systems!
  • Anticlimax Boss: The final boss is just Eggman in his normal vehicle with four panels that flip around and whatnot, and it's a case of dodging predictable attacks and waiting for a chance to hit him, or just taking the hit and then damaging him using invincibility frames. It's not overly hard or very exciting, especially compared to the final bosses of Sonic 2 or 3&K. On top of that, in the American version, the boss music is barely different to the normal one; at least the Japanese/European versions had a proper final boss theme.
  • Awesome Art: The cleaner, higher resolution look of the CD layout and expanded color palette has barely aged the game visually. The sprites are also much sharper, and then there's the OVA sequences...
  • Awesome Music:
    • Depending on the region, gamers were treated to one of two different soundtracks, each kick-ass in its own way (as expected from this series). The Japanese/European soundtrack, composed by Naofumi Hataya and Masafumi Ogata, has that familiar Sonic sound with a dash of J-pop complete with bits and pieces of sampling (notably, Xavier's "Work That Sucker To Death" is used for the boss music), while the American soundtrack, composed by Spencer Nilsen, is more atmospheric and... "mature", for lack of a better term. The past tracks in the US release were unchanged though, which can be jarring.
    • For whatever reason, the US release lacks a proper final boss theme. It does differ slightly from the standard boss tune, with a couple of the sounds (like the child crying noise) at different points in the track, but you have to REALLY listen out for them.
    • The soundtrack varies per version and region. The US has never got the Hataya soundtrack prior to the digital re-release, the Japanese release got it for the Mega CD and Gems Collection releases, and Europe only got it for the Mega CD version. The PC version has Nilsen's soundtrack in all regions. The XBLA/PSN/iOS/Android/Windows Phone 7 ports ultimately fix these woes by having both soundtracks selectable in all regions. However, the intro music for the Japanese soundtrack had the lyrics cut, presumably due to contract issues with the people who sang it. Fortunately, "Sonic Boom" is 100% unchanged. The remake even has proper looping programming for all songs so there's no awkward CD Audio fade-outs, and many of the US songs make use of some additional sections from their extended versions on the little-known "Sonic Boom" soundtrack CD.
  • Best Boss Ever: The race against Metal Sonic. Sega knows, and it's in both versions of Sonic Generations.
  • Best Level Ever: Stardust Speedway, which allows for speedy movement in contrast to the other stages, which are mazelike and slow-paced. It also contains the race against Metal Sonic.
  • Breather Level: Stardust Speedway.
  • Broken Base: Over which soundtrack is the "superior" one. Flame Wars are not uncommon.
  • Ear Worm: The boss music from the Japanese and European versions of the original as well as the Japanese soundtrack option in the 2011 version, which is available in the 2011 version in all regions. "Come on! Work that sucker to death!" This is especially in contrast to the nightmarish boss music from the American version.
  • Even Better Sequel
  • Franchise Original Sin: Sonic's first encounter with time travel, the slower paced gameplay, and overly large levels are problems that would be exaggerated in some of the later installments.
  • Game Breaker: Tails in the 2011 re-release. Not unlike his Sonic 3 and Knuckles appearance, Tails' flying ability allows him to simply fly over portions of some levels entirely. Because of this, the game prevents players from attaining Achievements/Trophies when playing as Tails.
  • Goddamned Boss:
    • Collision Chaos' boss. All you have to do to beat it is to reach the top of the pinball table, but you might take a lot of time trying to do that, as the flipper's controls are very poor (there is a minuscule delay, and the physics are off). Robotnik will also throw a lot of bombs that act like bumpers, to keep Sonic from reaching him.
    • Metal Sonic can be annoying if you have trouble avoiding obstacles and/or keeping up with him.
  • Good Bad Bugs:
    • The Debug Mode doesn't work in Time Attack mode. Though it seems to prevent the player from cheating, there is a bug that will give the player a "00:00:00" time record after the level is completed. This way, the player can easily unlock the game's extra content.
    • As shown in this video, it's possible to warp from the beginning of Collision Chaos 1 to the end if Sonic has the power sneakers.
    • In the 2011 version, at least in the Windows Steam version, sometimes Sonic will go through the ceiling. Unlike the Genesis games, though, a restart is not necessary; jumping enough times will get you on top of the level, where running right a certain amount will trigger the goal even though it can't be seen from there.
    • Again in the 2011 version, getting all the Time Stones makes all levels after obtaining them automatically have a Good Future, except for Stardust Speedway Zone 3... sort of. The game counts it as a Good Future, but it's obviously the Bad Future, with dark clouds and lightning in the background. It makes the race seem more intense, as it's a race not only for Sonic's/Tails's life, but also Amy's, and it still says "(Sonic/Tails) made a good future in Zone 3" due to the Time Stones.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • Some have noted that the lyrics of "Sonic Boom" from the US version fit Rainbow Dash better than Sonic.
    • One line of Sonic - You Can Do Anything is "Excalibar - It's not that far". In Sonic and the Black Knight, Sonic gets Excalibur.
  • Hype Backlash: Back when Sonic CD was rarer and harder to find, the game was considered one of, if not the best game in the series as a whole by those who played it. However, when re-releases and even a remake allowed it to become more accessible than it originally was, the game became more divisive, with some believing that the game didn't live up to the hype. That said, few seem to outright hate it.
  • It's Easy, So It Sucks!: Aside from the music, the biggest complaint leveled at this game is that the Eggman boss fights are too easy. None of his machines take more than four hits to destroy; most take three, Tidal Tempest technically only takes one, once you get past his defenses, and the Quartz Quadrant and Stardust Speedway battles don't have you attack him directly at all. Bosses in other classic Sonic games almost always required eight hits to beat (mini-bosses took fewer hits to kill and final bosses usually took more).
  • Just Here for Godzilla: When Sonic CD was re-released on Sonic Gems Collection, many fans bought it just for this game alone.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • The JP/EU version of the Stardust Speedway Bad Future theme will often elicit a "HURHUEHUEHUE" or variations thereof when it shows up on YouTube.
    • The JP/EU's stage clear/ending theme also gives us the rather odd shout of "TELEPORTATION YEAH!".
  • Most Annoying Sound: The jump sound. Rather than being PSG-based like the Mega Drive titles, the sound designers made it FM-based, much to the annoyance of those who are used to hearing the PSG-based sound from other titles.
  • Older Than They Think: While it's more commonly known nowadays, some fans were, and still are, unaware this game marked Amy's first appearance, making her as old, or perhaps older than Tails.
  • Polished Port: The XBLA/PSN/iOS/Windows Phone 7 ports, as they were built from the ground up from a fan-made engine, it's closely based on the original Mega/SEGA CD version (rather than being based on the PC port), has HD support, true widescreen support[1], Tails is an unlockable playable character, and it even has the option to use the traditional spin dash from Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles onwards instead of the standard one. There's also an option to switch between the Japanese and American soundtracks. The only gripe is that (due to licensing issues) the JP/EU opening and ending themes[2] will be replaced with instrumental covers.
    • A month later, the Steam version was released... But it wasn't quite as polished as it could've been (graphical problems, no control customization, external video settings), as it a port of the XBLA version.
  • Porting Disaster: While not horrendous, the Sonic Gems Collection port suffers slightly due to being ported from the early PC version. It is lacking a few graphical effects such as fade out (which were excusable in the PC port as it was meant to help it run on lower end PCs too but had no place still occurring on much more powerful hardware), the debug mode doesn't work properly due to the controls not being remapped and the music transitions are edited only according to the U.S. release (meaning Metal Sonic will play the "G" future remix if you achieve it). The port was not edited for the PAL version either, meaning they got the U.S. soundtrack rather than the Japanese one they had for the original release.
  • Scrappy Mechanic: Time travel posts can be used up without activating them if you build up speed for long enough to generate sparks and then lose your speed, or if you cross another time travel post. Since you're running at full speed in an attempt to activate the time travel, you'll need to memorize or stake out the path you're going to take, or put up with the risk of walls, enemies, and other posts getting in the way and ruining the attempt. Very frustrating if you're trying to find Past posts so you can get Good Futures.
  • Signature Scene: It's very hard to talk about the game without mentioning the Metal Sonic race.
  • That One Achievement: The Savior of Time. Getting the Time Stones makes getting the achievement/trophy impossible unless you get the last Time Stone in Mellatic Madness Zone 2. Also qualifies as a Guide Dang It for most people.
    • Luckily, your progress is saved upon entering a Special Stage, so if you exit the game before failing to get the Time Stone and boot up your save file, you can restart at the beginning of the Special Stage and attempt to nab the Time Stone once more.
  • That One Boss: Metal Sonic for some. There's a lot of obstacles in the way, not to mention awkward jump timing, and if you miss any of these, the quirky physics of the game will slow you right down, meaning you need to have near-perfect platforming if you want to keep up with him.
  • That One Level:
    • Wacky Workbench, thanks to the bouncy bottom floor. When it comes to getting a good future in Zone 1, it's even harder because of how complicated the path to it is, though at least it's easier to do in Zone 2. It also contains That One Boss, thanks to the Platform Hell. It is given an unwanted Shout-Out in Sonic Advance Trilogy. The electrical coils in the upper areas of the level are also problematic (as, combined with the bouncy floor, you can be thrown into the top of the stage right in time to end up in front of an active electric coil; plus, they look like they're part of the background, which can be disorienting).
    • The Special Stages. Especially the 7th one.
    • For players trying to finish Time Attack mode in under 25 minutes, Metallic Madness Zones 2 and 3 are easily more irritating than the other levels. Zone 2 takes much practice to complete in under three minutes, as opposed to the previous non-boss levels, which can be beaten in under one minute (and in exceptional cases, 30-45 seconds). Zone 3 has a Platform Hell section at the start, and three extremely tricky enemies to defeat before reaching the boss. You'll be lucky to finish it within two minutes, like the other boss levels.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks: The American soundtrack got a lot of unnecessary flak just for replacing the Japanese one. This mentality even extended to game critics [such as GameFan Magazine, which rated the American version 30 points less than the Japanese version (which got 100%) just for this].
    • SEGA themselves tried to avert this, in the game media. Review copies were beta 920, which is identical to the US release save for having the original music in an attempt to hide the change. It didn't work. Upon hearing that the music was changed behind their backs, a good number of magazines retracted their perfect scores. Despite your view on the music, most would agree that lying to the press to get a better score isn't exactly excusable.
    • The common accepted theory/excuse for Sega changing the music because they had just built a new music studio for their American branch to use, and the flagship game was used to justify its existence. They probably also didn't want to pay the singers of the Japanese version's vocal tracks, nor for the Sampling used in the boss track. Since the beta had the Japanese soundtrack, it's a possibility that Sega's main American division wanted to show off an American studio's compositions, but as pointed out on this game's trivia page, when the 2011 remake was being developed it turned out that the soundtrack with rights issues was the American one. Fortunately, those were worked out, but had they not been, all regions would have had the Japanese soundtrack (which is the default option in the final version).
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: The 2011 remake's Special Stages have had their frame rate considerably improved, giving them a very fluid panning effect as you rotate the camera behind Sonic. It also helped improve the playability of these stages (as depth and perspective were sometimes difficult to judge due to the lack of smooth motion).
  • WTH Costuming Department: As this is one of her few pre-Sonic Adventure appearances, Amy sports her more tomboyish, spikier look that just seems weird.
  1. ↑ As in, it's not lazily stretched or cropped, but truly extended picture for Widescreen TV screens.
  2. ↑ "Sonic - You Can Do Anything" and "Cosmic Eternity - Believe In Yourself".
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