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how was sonic CD received back in the day?

rod

Banned
well, i picked up sonic gems collection on GCN. and i had never played sonic cd before..its very..um..wierd. not a bad game, not the best, but definetly different. not just the time travel thing, the level design, animations, and MUSIC!! its so different to all the other sonics. was it made by other devs? and does anyone remember if back then, was it pronounced "suck" or "good"?
 
It was pretty much beloved. Gamefan gave it 100, 100, 100, if I remember correctly (though that might have been the JP version only...).
 
Unison said:
It was pretty much beloved. Gamefan gave it 100, 100, 100, if I remember correctly (though that might have been the JP version only...).

Haha... didn't they re-review the game when it came out in the US, and scored it lower because of the new music?
 
segatavis said:
Haha... didn't they re-review the game when it came out in the US, and scored it lower because of the new music?

Yeah... I think so... I think the revised scores were something like 74s. :lol
 
rod said:
was it made by other devs?
Not long after Sonic 1 was released, Sonic Team was effectively cut in two, with half of the development team (including Yuji Naka) joining Sega Technical Institute in the United States to develop Sonic 2 and the other half remaining in Japan to develop Sonic CD.

Sonic 2 was rushed through production--if you have an early-production cartridge, it probably will crash on you late in the game--forcing the developers to make a game that played pretty much the same as the original but bigger.

Sonic CD was directed by Naoto Oshima, the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog. The game was designed with exploration (rather than speed) in mind, and you can see it in the level design. Allegedly, Sonic CD is what Oshima wanted the original Sonic the Hedgehog to play like.

As for Sonic CD's music, I suspect the North American version's was changed because Sega of America was obsessed with QSound, a simulated surround-sound technique, at the time. (Although the "past" music is the same as the original.)
 
I didn't like it back then - I thought it was very somber, serious and difficult compared with the Genesis games. It took time for me to warm to it, and I'm glad I kept it.
 
rod said:
personally, i think sonic 2>sonic CD

CD is so...wierd :s

Sonic 2 and 3 are classics, among the best platform games ever made... but CD is deeper, more open-ended, and ultimately richer. There's something Metroid-like about it, though it's not that complex.
 
is there "super sonic" special stages in cd? i havent seen any apart from that mode-7 style bonus stage..and is the travelling between past and future relevant? or is it just a cosmetic change
 
rod said:
is there "super sonic" special stages in cd? i havent seen any apart from that mode-7 style bonus stage..and is the travelling between past and future relevant? or is it just a cosmetic change

Travelling between the past and the future is definitely relevant. If you have a manual, read it. It's a central concept to the game, and if you don't understand it, then of course you wouldn't see what the fuss is about.

The Mode 7 stages are the only special stages.
 
I've kept all my gaming mags over the last 15 years so this is an easy one to answer -

Good but not Sonic 2 good.

I remember when I first played the game, I nearly shat my pants at the bonus stages.
 
Dunno about critical reception, but it was my favorite game in the series for awhile (Sonic 2 retook that distinction after a few more recent replays of both).
 
Didn't get a good review at gamespot....


but to be fair I think it was done it 1993 or somewhere around that time period. I liked SOnic 2 and 3 better. Sonic CD had some really crappy level design.
 
Once again proving that GAF-ers just complain about review scores without reading the reviews to find out why the games got those scores.

GameSpot gave Sonic Gems Collection a 6.3 because it felt Sonic CD was the only game in it worth playing.
Ryan Davis said:
Sonic CD, on the other hand, is a far more playable game. Released originally for the Sega CD and the PC, Sonic CD takes its cues from the original side-scrolling Sonic the Hedgehog games, though Sonic CD's unique time-traveling mechanic definitely helps set it apart. Since it came on a compact disc--a rarity for video games at the time--one of the most standout aspects of Sonic CD when it was originally released was the fidelity of the soundtrack. Though some exceptionally obsessive Sonic fans may turn all red in the face because the game uses the US soundtrack rather than the original Japanese soundtrack, the hot guitar licks of "Sonic Boom," the game's opening theme, still sound as crisp and ridiculously over the top as they originally did in 1993. Nostalgia or no, Sonic CD is easily the best game in this package.
 
Sonic CD is probably the most charming game in the series but the level design isnt very good at all... the levels just dont have that flow to them the other 2D Sonic's do.

Oh and 100, 100, 100 in a Gamefan doesnt mean much if it's a platformer.
 
It's my favorite game in the series. The music and the visuals create a totally different atmosphere than the other "happy" sonics which I love.
 
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