RipTen Review: Sonic CD (XBLA)

At the top of the article, you might have noticed the mention of Tails, Sonic’s two-tailed fox sidekick…

Following the hype for his appearance in Sonic 2, Tails was conspicuous by his absence when he failed to appear in the series’ next big game, released only some months after. As it turns out, he was in the game, but only in the form of the unlockable picture seen above, which seemingly alluded to the forthcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Either way, it left fans of the kitsune wanting.

But now, at long last, Tails has arrived!

Indeed, Tails is now a fully-playable character in Sonic CD, but it isn’t without some hitches. For one thing, you cannot play as him until you have cleared the game at least once. This is unfortunate, as Tails is so delightfully, deliciously broken. And yes, we do mean in a good way.

In truth, he could have easily served as a sort of Easy Mode for newcomers to the game. He plays just like he did in Sonic 3 (though you can opt for the Sonic CD-style controls for him, too), which means he can fly with his tails or swim beneath the waves. As a result, you are vastly, vastly able to explore nearly every inch of each zone and act with an ease simply not afforded to Sonic. And it is awesome.

One of our favorite moments is arriving at the shielded first boss, flying right over him, and attacking him from behind. Sure, Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik may be the villain, but pulling that on him just feels so delightfully evil in itself.

Oh, and in case you were wondering: Tails doesn’t have a Figure-8 Super Peel-Out move like Sonic’s. You’ll just have to settle for being able to go wherever you want, whenever you want. Also, you cannot have Tails follow Sonic, as in other games.

The biggest downside to Tails, however, is that he falls into what we like to call “Bonus Character Syndrome.” That is basically where you have another character to play as, but because they aren’t the lead, much of the experience has been omitted for them.

As we said, Tails is broken in such a manner that fills us with a fiendish glee, and so we can (begrudgingly) understand the inability to earn Achievements with young Mr. Prower, though maybe some Tails-specific Achievements might have been nice. The game features Time Trials like the original, now made better with their link to Leaderboards, and so we can sort of understand why Tails isn’t allowed in there, either– though, if they could make Super Sonic brackets for Sonic 4, we don’t see why there couldn’t be a Tails bracket for Sonic CD.

In addition, Tails doesn’t really have much going on for story. And we admit, we weren’t really expecting SEGA to commission Toei Animation to make complementing anime cutscenes for our two-tailed friend, but not only does he not have an introduction, but he also lacks an ending, as well as any interaction with Amy Rose or Metal Sonic (projectors aside) until the big race near the end of the game.

Granted, we know that Amy pining for Tails wouldn’t really work, but the fact of the matter is that there is absolutely no reward for playing as Tails except that you got to play as Tails, and that just really falls flat in the end. Other companies and games have done this, and it’s always disappointing to have the character feel somewhat detached from the goings-on in the game. Plus, the fact that SEGA has some really good artists and even does some great CGI in the Sonic series itself makes us think of how nice it would be to have anything besides the ending credits crawl.

It isn’t enough to make us regret Tails’ inclusion, of course, which actually includes quite a bit of new pixel artwork for many of the situations unique to this game. In fact, story-based stuff aside, it feels like they really did put a nice bit of work into making Tails a part of this classic game, and that much is certainly appreciated.

As great as this version of the game is– and it really, truly is– we do have a couple of small grievances beyond the Tails stuff above.

One is that we really feel more could have been done with the Time Attack mode. The first two acts of each Zone each have four versions: Past, Present, Bad Future, and Good Future, but only the Present seems to be included in the Time Attack mode. Similarly, though the difference seems to be largely aesthetic, every third act– the boss battle– has a Bad Future and Good Future version, which depends on whether or not you destroyed Robotnik’s time machines in the previous zones. For these, only the former are accounted for in this mode.

As it pertains to the first two acts, there are a number of differences between the Past, Present, and Future versions of the Zones, and it would have been nice to be able to challenge for the best time against one’s friends– and the world– in each of them. It would have been nice if Achievements counted in the Time Attack versions of stages as well, but alas, that isn’t the case.

Similarly, it would have been nice to be able to go back to levels you’ve already completed to attempt to explore them more thoroughly. Despite the sheer number of stages (if you take multiple versions into account), Sonic CD is one of the larger Sonic titles, at least for its day. And even now, there is a lot to do for a singular playthrough with no backtracking.

Simply put, it’s a bit of a bother to have to replay the entire game up to a respective point just to have another crack at a certain stage. Sure, that’s how it was in the old days, but things have changed, and unlike other Sonic titles of the day, there is just a lot more going on here. Six bonus stages with Time Stones to acquire only makes seeing everything the game has to offer (and getting the true, “good” ending) even more difficult.

Our memory may be playing tricks on us, but we were pretty sure you could select from stages you had reached in the main game in the original version. If that was indeed the case, it would make a disappointing omission, and with the tweaks the game has undergone anyway, it is disappointing just the same that the game was not adjusted to a standard similar to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles and so many others.

And while we’re at it, it would have been nice if the Mode-7, slightly Super Mario Kart-esque Special Stages were selectable as part of the Time Attack mode, too.

[Update] According to some folks in the comments, it actually is possible to not only play the Special Stages in the Time Attack, but also activate a Stage Select as well through beating those in a certain amount of time. Unfortunately, those same Special Stage Time Attacks are reserved for beating the Time Attack levels within a certain total time, but at least there is some sort of option, even if it is all tucked away in there. We regret the error, and thank Groudon100 and Daisetsu for bringing this to our attention.

Simply put, Sonic the Hedgehog CD is a classic game, and one of Sonic’s best. And going beyond that, despite the few flaws it has, this is undoubtedly the definitive version of the game. Whether or not you’ve played the original, this is one you want for your collection. And for the price– 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360– it’s not exactly going to break the bank.

If you are a Sonic fan, especially a Classic Sonic fan, there is no reason for you not to own this game, unless you just really didn’t like the original for some reason.

Here’s the rundown:

+ Back to the Future reference in the Achievements = Automatic plus

+ Looks great, sounds great, plays great

+ Both soundtracks! Now our long war can be at an end!

+ Tails!

+ And Tails is broken like a boss; broken so good…

+ Lots of replay value

+ Just five bucks– even less on iPhone

+ The definitive version of a rare, classic game

- Not enough Time Attack options

- Stage Select and Special Stage Time Attacks are kept behind the wall of unlockables

- No “Toot Toot” for this Sonic Warrior

- Wish a little more were done with Tails

- No on-the-fly music changing

9 and 9.5 represent the pinnacle of the genre, a game that defines what that genre should be about. These scores are for games that you not only feel would be worth your purchase, but you would actually try to convince your friends to buy them as well.

Sonic the Hedgehog CD was originally developed by Sonic Team, with this remake having been developed by Blit Software and Christian Whitehead, and both published by SEGA. It was released on December 14th, 2011 for 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360, $5 on PlayStation 3, and $1.99 on iPhone. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for the purposes of review. David has played through the game in various ways, with both Sonic and Tails, with both types of music, etc., though he has yet to acquire all of the Time Stones and/or achieve the dream of a Good Future across the entirety of Little Planet. Getting closer, though… maybe next time…