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About once a year for the past eight years we've needed a screenshot of Sonic CD, usually to illustrate some poorly-thought-out panel to do with that year's new Sonic game. But we can never find any. Even the advent of Google's image search didn't help, with nothing of use coming up at all under Sonic CD.

RAAA! See Mecha Sonic SMASH spikes out of the way!


UNTIL NOW!
We've just taken loads! The next time we need a screenshot of Sonic CD -- probably after E3 when we'll be writing a poorly-thought-out panel on the history of Sonic games because all those new ones have been announced -- all we'll have to do is visit our very own web site and do a right-click-save-as.

If you ever need a screenshot of Sonic CD (you will!), here is where you should come too. Indeed, if you have just come here after looking specifically for a screenshot of Sonic CD, our work has been done. This is reminding us of how the internet used to be full of nice people that were nice to each other in 1996.

FREE DISTRIBUTION!
Anyone can use these, even GamesTM or Edge -- we're all friends when Sonic's involved! We are the Games Press of Sonic CD!

Don't use the rubbish ones Sega issued at E3, use these! (click for bigger):

Beautiful title screen with 3D clouds!

Sonic CD really is as great as you've heard people say on the internet.


Oh no! Robotnik's got the Chaos Emeralds!!!

The people you've heard saying it sucks on the internet are really wrong, and have probably never played it.


This is our favourite of all the screens we took. It's a .gif so you can blow it up HUGE as a desktop if you really love Sonic CD

And if they have played it, chances are they played it on a rubbish emulator which doesn't let the music work AND they would've played it using a PC keyboard. We're not ones to put words into Sonic Team's mouth, but we SEVERELY DOUBT it meant Sonic CD to be played with no sound and on a keyboard and on a monitor that makes it look jerky.


And another song uses the 'whirr' sound out of 'Charly' by the Prodigy

The music is the best music any Sonic game has ever had, even better than Sonic R (sorry Richard Jacques, but this is the truth). The 'Metallic Madness' theme has a vocoder voice of Dr Robotnik saying "Sonic, dead or alive, is M-M-M-MINE!" -- and THAT'S why everyone says the PAL and Japanese versions of Sonic CD have the best music.


Lovely and never-bettered spring-bounce animation!

Sometime soon, like maybe next week, we'll put up a Bittorrent file of the soundtrack MP3s. It's about time we learned how to seed torrents.

Oh, and see those rings? The ones in the scenery? That's not a glitch, it means you have to travel back or forwards in time to a differently designed version of that level to collect them.


Look out, The Past -- here comes Sonic!

Each level has lamp posts marked 'future' and 'past'. Each zone has a past, present and future version of it, all looking different and with a different layout. Seeing them all is a big challenge (for a Sonic game).


Smash evil Robotonik's machine!

You travel to the past and destroy this machine that's hidden somewhere, creating a happy future where the level is all colourful and full of little bunnies hopping around. The Good Future music is remixed with children going "Yay!" in the background too. It is so lovely and nice.


Every future is a good future with Sonic!

This time-travelling thing adds longevity and replay value that no other Sonic game has had.


Lovely

This and Final Fight CD made us glad we spent 250 pounds on a Mega CD, which was half a month's wages for us in 1993. And see those red and white bumpers? They make a fantastic early-1990s 'house' chord sound when you hit them.


The pinball bit is good for a change

The past levels look different and have bongo-driven music, the present levels all look like nice Sonic levels, and the future ones are either grey with techno music (bad future) or green with cheery music (good future).


Wish we lived there :(

THIS is how beautiful the Good Future levels are! The first time we saw one of them a wave of some sort of emotion swept over us. It was a strange mixture of happiness and longing that's hard to explain, because we're not used to feeling emotion thanks to being raised by computers in an abandoned branch of Dixons.


Hello Bertie!

Some of the enemies do look like it was developed in the US by THQ or Dimps, but trust us -- it doesn't play like that.


Jamster presents... 3D Hedgehog Saucer Attack for Nokia 6600

The bonus round was done in "Mode 7"-style 3D, which was impressive at the time. Now it's not very good and does feel like it could've been developed somewhere in the West by a third-party developer, such as THQ or Dimps.


Please play it. We're not wasting our time here, are we?

But the rest of the game is super. It's colourful and lovely, with music that matches the mood brilliantly. And look! It's a big one of those things from Sonic 1! Be careful, Sonic!!


As ever, the underwater sections are pretty boring

Oh yeah, in the five years we didn't play it we convinced ourselves it was better than Sonic 2, but it isn't. It's about as good as Sonic 1, which makes it the joint-second-best Sonic game ever.


The legendary theme song and intro movie

Just narrowly ahead of Sonic Heroes.


This is a revolving door that lets you walk 'behind' the scenery

That last one was a joke.


This has taken way too long to do. We've gone off it a bit now

Oh, sorry -- 56k WARNING! Should've put that somewhere nearer the start, really. Anyway, we're rambling and won't be able to sleep tonight for thinking about Sonic AGAIN. Time to stop.

Sonic CD -- we {{{hugs}}} you and you ROCKS, blood!

Blogger Fireweaver said...
I've played it on the Sega Action chair (just like the guy from the ad playing Sonic 1 back in 1991!) and then it is the hardest game EVER!
-www.only777.com
Blogger DejaVuBoy said...
Sonic CD changed my life. Beautiful art, with the simple/complex control essence of Virtua Fighter. It's the reason I fell in love with Electronica, and sparked my later raver phase (actually the whole sega cd music revolution was severely undervalued). If only the series had followed in that music style mold instead of the 80's rock crap...
Blogger The Real Raven said...
you guys did this post on sonic cd ages ago i know and i found it back then but didt have time to post, long time reader first time poster i guess but im so with you on sonic cd. i too got that weird emotion thing when runing thru those good future levels, jus thinking about the roxxors pal soundtrack of collision chaos good future makes my eyes start to leak!
Blogger P.P.A. said...
Best Sonic game ever. Period. Beautiful graphics, awesome style, fantastic music in both versions (although the original soundtrack is superior) and perfect level design. And I really miss the peel-out move...
Blogger Red said...
"The first time we saw one of them a wave of some sort of emotion swept over us. It was a strange mixture of happiness and longing that's hard to explain"

I felt the same thing. Sonic CD changed my life. I grew up on this stuff. Gheez, the game is almost as old as me, for crying out loud.
Blogger mihr said...
sonic cd is awesome, sniff
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Did any of you guys find challenge in the Time Attack mode? Sure you can always try to best yourself, but were the unlockables too easy to achieve?
Sonic CD changed the way i feel about about music in general...Quartz Qarantine...Has an amazing refreshing emotional feel...it pumpms you up!!! And Stardust Speedway in past mode has awsome electro jazzy feel..
Anonymous DwarfyP said...
Why is it that Sonic CD is the only one that avoids getting a re-release. Mega Drive Sonic is all good and well but come on SEGA, expand the audience of people that have played Sonic CD to double figures.
Anonymous Lee Soady said...
Sonic CD should be re-released, and not on a rare compilation such as Sonic Gems (if there will be a second time round). i had it on Mega CD and the updated Sega PC version, RE- RE- RELEASE SONIC CD! COME ON SEGA!
Anonymous JaQ said...
this game changed my life. im totally with DejaVuBoy on this. i feel this is wat was shud have always been. the Ravey pychodelicness is so heart capturing. sonic was Raver back in the day!!

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