Year released: 1993 (SEGA CD [Genesis peripheral])

Number of Players: 1

Sonic sets out to save the time-travelling Little Planet from Dr. Robotnik's clutches.

Graphics: Yay! The graphics are great. Sonic is still animated wonderfully, enemy robots continue to shine and take new shapes, and you still want to visit each and every wonderous place. It seems as if you could.

Play control: Move left and right with left and right on the D-pad, jump with any button. Press up and jump to go into a super peel out and dash at incredible speeds. Press down when you're moving on the ground to roll. Press down to rev up into a spin dash and zoom out as a ball of spikes. Any time you're rolling (jumping, spin dash, or just moving and press down), you can hurt an enemy (as long as you're not spinning right into a blade or something). The longer you walk, the faster you do so. The longer you spin on the ground, the slower you do so. If you've ever played a 2D platformer before, you know what to expect as far as jumping height. If not, then just go with it. :P

Oh, yeah, in special stages, Sonic can move in full 3D!! Collect 50 rings and get to the end of the stage (called "zone" in Sonic CD) with them (only in zone 1 and 2 of a level [level being three zones], not zone 3), then jump into this big ring at the end. You'll be in full 3D. Press side to side on the D-Pad to move accordingly. Sonic has to jump up at blimps and break them open. Once all the blimps in the general area are broken (you'll tell by the blimp counter at the top), Sonic gets a time gem. If he doesn't do it within the alotted time, he's booted out of the stage.

Sound: Great quality! This is where the SEGA CD really struts its stuff. However, the composition is not too moving, and the sound effects are still the same. It's not something you want to download, but it's definetely something to soak in as you play.

Challenge: Completing the game's stages is a breeze, as is usual for a Sonic game. This game, however, is sorely lacking in the little challenge that other games had. Just something to toss around, really.

However, as in almost every Sonic game, there are precious stones to collect (time gems this time). Sonic has to collect all of the time gems before he can really save the day. Considering that this game saves after you beat each level, and not until that point, getting time gems can be kinda hard (ugh, and you don't get stage select when you beat it, either). Instead of finding time gems, you can travel into the past (hit a sign labelled "past" and find and destroy Metal Sonic's hologram in each zone 1 and 2 of a level. In order to go into the past, though, you need to go super fast for several seconds after hitting the sign. Due to the level design, this is kinda hard...

Gameplay: Other than what's above, here's the gameplay... Sonic has to collect rings in order to shield himself from attack. If he gets attacked, he loses all of his rings.
As Sonic moves on to later stages, difficulty is provided way more in the layout of the stage and springs (things that Sonic bounces off of) than in enemies. Some challenges seem sinister, but they take two seconds worth of frustration to beat (for some platform fans, such as myself, such moments can be priceless). Oh, yeah, stage design completely betrays Sonic's style--movement is thought-filled and does not encourage momentum.

Bottom line: If you like platformers, you should try Sonic CD. The level design, though utterly uncharacteristic of Sonic, pits you in an arena to test how far you can shove Sonic's abilities.

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