SEGA CD

Sonic CD

It's been years since I've played this game. Haven't had a functioning Sega CD for close to a decade, but the game's still sitting on my shelf. Even though I'm about as die-hard a Sonic fan as you can get before you cross into creepy furry territory, I'd forgotten how good this game is despite how different it is from the other MD titles. It's like some bizarre offshoot of Sonic 1 where Sonic 2 never existed...which makes sense considering neither Naka nor Yasuhara were involved.

More than that, though, I've been playing the recent re-release. The Xbox 360 version, specifically. I have to say, THIS RIGHT HERE is how retro releases should be done. The whole package is put together with not just love but RESPECT for the original game. Even the menus look straight out of 1993 in the very best way. All of the game's original features, including the goofy unlockable bonuses, are included. Both soundtracks, freely selectable. Chunky pixel display options. But they've also added new features: true widescreen, and a new playable character (Tails).

I realize it's not feasible for every game to get this kind of treatment, but my god, it makes your average ROM dump shoved into a generic emulator shell look like garbage. (See: Pretty much every other Genesis game released on XBLA.) Sonic CD is kind of a special game, in some ways, but apart from the Sega Ages collections on the PS2 that M2 has put together, I don't think I've seen anything else that even comes close. Makes Nintendo's Mario collection on the Wii look like even more of a joke.

I don't mean to gush, but I'm honestly shocked beyond belief how much effort and polish was put into a re-release of an 18-year-old game. Quite literally my only complaints are:

-Vocal tracks were removed from the Japanese opening and ending songs, presumably for copyright reasons. Sounds very strange if you're used to the vocal versions.
-The title screen and a few of the menus don't keep the chunky pixel look.

Seriously, if you have any interest in Sonic or retro games at all, put down the five bucks and pick this one up. We need to show our support for this kind of release!

The reason it's so good probably stems from how it was a fan project that SEGA picked up for release. Passion is more important than having an entire team.

Speaking of M2, they're also the ones doing the Neo Geo Station games for PSN, and those are also high quality. Unfortunately they aren't handling the SNK minis, so those have some issues (rare slowdown, no 2P, no TATE option, no attempt to compensate for the rotary joystick).

I find it kind of funny how close this is coming out next to the iOS version of Megaman X. That thing is a perversion of everything good about MMX and an indicator of how little CAPCOM cares about its back catalog.

Yeah, M2 are one of the few companies that really "gets it" with retro releases. They've been responsible for a lot of the Virtual Console stuff too, but such a tiny company can't handle everything. I cry a little inside whenever I see the Digital Eclipse logo on something like this.

I really hope this project is successful enough for both Sega and Chris that they keep working together. I know it's a bit much to ask for a remastering of the mainline MD games when they're already available on modern consoles several times over, but I did see mentioned in several interviews that Sega gets a lot of requests for Chaotix. As mediocre at it is, it's one of the few Sonic games that's never gotten a re-release, so maybe that's a hint? Or maybe not.

As for MMX: Yikes! I saw the post on Kotaku but hadn't investigated more closely. Big head mode! Microtransactions! Loading screens! Microtransactions! Looks like it was retraced in Flash from screenshots! Microtransactions!

Could the Chaotix popularity have anything to do with the relatively recent Egoraptor flash video I wonder? I never played it myself back in the day... but I've avoided anything after Sonic Adventure 2 after feeling like that game was totally taking Sonic places to which I had no interest in travellingm and I never got any of the add-ons for my MegaDrive (nor a Saturn until way after it was discontinued). I'm one of those "it all went to hell after the MegaDrive/Genesis games" kind of grumps.

Are that guy's video's really that popular? I didn't even remember what it was until I checked...and then remembered that my entire reaction was "wut". I guess that's what the kids like these day, though, huh?

Thankfully, it seems like Sega has stopped trying to make Sonic "cool" and "badass" like they were from about 2000-2007... The current state of the character really isn't that far from the old western-made cartoons, minus Jaleel White. Even the chilidogs have made a comeback.

If you haven't yet, I recommend you try the demo for Sonic Generations. The level showcased (Green Hill) doesn't really convey the stage design that well -- things get noticeably more exploratory in the full game -- but it showcases the rest of the game quite well. Sonic today is very much Blue Skies and Saturday Morning Cartoons. It's a happy time to be a Sonic fan for the first time in a long time.

The funny thing is that I tried the demo and got the feeling of it being "stiffer" than the games it tried to emulate, even with all the high tech and power behind it. I've heard lots of good things about it, but I wrote it up to people having lowered their standards so much by now due to all the previous Sonic games. I might just borrow it from a coworker and see if it's worth it again. I'd like it if it was, really. Would be a shame if the last actually good Sonic game came out 20 years ago.