Stardust Speedway 027 - Post Mortum Report (Sonic The Hedgehog CD)

Platform: Playstation 2 (As part of Sonic Gems Collection)
Completion Time: 2 Hours 38 Minutes
Total Score from Playthrough: 340,620
Time Stones Gained: Three

Initial Thoughts Of Sonic The Hedgehog CD

This was one title that has always alluded me because to get hold of a working Mega CD Unit which was the right model for your Mega Drive console and also a working copy of the Game which at the current time are going for over £50 for a good model. So I had to find the next best thing (without downloading anything illegal like ROM files) which was buying the Sonic Gems Collection of which Sonic CD is part off, although its the PC Port of the European version which in the Sonic Community is not the best version of the game.

But I knew nothing about the title when originally playing it, I didn't know what sort of Sonic game to expect, but as it was voted the best Sonic game ever made by Screwattack.com, it must be good.

Interesting Points Discovered

1. Sonic The Hedgehog Remixed - There are six levels within this game which doesn't sound a lot compared to Sonic 2 which has nine all together but as there are four different versions of each level, the final total of levels within this single game is 24 which makes it the largest game within the Sonic Series.

The unique mechanic with this title is that Sonic has travelled to Little Planet deep within the forests of Mobius and goes into the planet to Stop Robotnik steeling the planets most precious resource; The time stones which have the power to change the course of history and ultimately stretch Robotnik's power to where Sonic cannot reach; the Future.

So Sonic has to guide himself through this unknown world, which when looked at a little bit closer are each combinations of two levels from both Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 to create this new level. This is rather a unique way to create the new levels for this game and is almost like a tribute to these two games as it was released before Sonic The Hedgehog 3.

One example of this finding can be found with the Tidal Tempest level which when looked closely with other levels in the first 2 Sonic games, it can be seen that its a combination of the LABYRINTH Zone and MARBLE Zone from Sonic 1 or HILL TOP and AQUATIC RUIN Zone from Sonic 2.

2. Family Ties - This is the first game that will feature two characters that will stick around with Sonic deep into the series and beyond into new titles, these characters are Metal Sonic and Amy Rose. Now this game does not feature Tails so might suggest that it is set before Sonic 2, so Amy Rose can be considered to be Sonic's first companion within the series. He finds her at the beginning of the second level in the game; Collision Chaos and love hearts are hovering above her head to say that she fancies him and follows him around this section of level much like Tails does within Sonic 2.

But before the level can continue, she is taken by Robotnik's latest creation Metal Sonic who is identical to Sonic in every way, but a mechanical version of him which also provides his greatest challenge yet and one that he cannot afford to give up on. But also within the Sonic The Hedgehog Film (Please See Blog For Details) He has a mental bond with Sonic and he is considered his twin brother by Robotnik as he is like him in every way.

So even though he has brought himself up and doesn't have any parents; he starts to build up his family of similar characters which will be carried over to other titles in the series; so this is a crucial point within the Sonic Universe.

3. No Rings....No Service - This was a very strange thing to find within a Sonic game and could be considered to be an Easter Egg within the game itself, but a very interesting one indeed. At any part of the game, even during the final boss battle which is very interesting indeed as you think Sonic would keep on playing during that part. But if the player keeps Sonic perfectly still for approximately 3 Minutes during the gameplay, Sonic will tell the player "I'm out of here" and then he jumps off the screen into the abyss, taking all his lives with him and the Game Over screen appears out of nowhere and takes the game back into the Start Screen.

Now this element of the game is very strange as Sonic is always been portrayed as the White Knight of Mobius compared to Robotnik as the Dark Knight, always being there to stop his plans and protect his friends and new found family from danger. But this is the first time that he cannot be bothered with his work, even though he knows that this is Robotnik's most dangerous scheme yet, so if the player does not continue to help Sonic get to the end of the level racking up points and collecting rings along the way; he will just go away and do something else. So has this always been his mindset during the course of the games, is he just in it for the money???

4. 88 Miles Per Hour- As discussed before, the main mechanic of this game is that Sonic can time travel back in that particular levels time frame and Sonic can change back what Robotnik has left in the past e.g Badniks Portal and Metal Sonic Projector. The only way that he can go back in time is hit these lampposts which say Past and Future and run at Sonic's trademark speed* to hit the time warp and jumping back into that time zone.

(*Maybe that is the reason why Robotnik created Metal Sonic, a product that can recreate Sonic's level of Speed and jump back and forth in time)

This is a great mechanic to have in a Sonic game and does effect the player and urges them to get the good ending of the title, for one reason. If the player goes into the past of the level, they can see what it once was usually very green and natural. While if the future if unchanged by Sonic, the world has turned into a dark and damp world that is overrun with Badniks and all sources of Currency have been taken for Robotnik's personal gain. Also the music goes from its normal jingle type rhythm to a dark and sinister theme, to symbolise the evil that has spread over the land.

This could urge the player to get the good ending of the game once again as even if he defeats Robotnik at the end of the game; it will not go back to normal; the timelines will not return to normal and Robotnik's evil will still remain making it one hell of a challenge compared to previous Sonic Games.

Concluding Thoughts

I rearly enjoyed this title, you can tell that a lot of time and care has been put into this game by Sonic Team to make this game the most challenging yet, but it is also the most revealing as it details a lot of Sonic's personality and sets a large chunk of his future story lines in the form of Metal Sonic and Amy Rose.

There might not be a lot here in the themes of Capitalism (rings collection, Time Stone Collection) but it is an important title when looking at the character of Sonic and what is true intentions are within his world.