Game Review XVIII: "Sonic CD"

In light of its return to the gaming scene, Sonic CD was a chronologically questioned title. Aside from being the only good game on the not-so-innovative Sega CD adapter for the Sega Genesis, this game introduced the characters Amy Rose and Metal Sonic. Outside of emulators, the Sega CD, or the Sonic Gems Collection on Nintendo Gamecube (and Sony PlayStation 2 in other areas), not many would know, let alone play it, so those who missed out, making its return as a downloadable game for consoles and mobile phones is a big deal for Sonic fans.

Things would be so much calmer if not for the exploits of Dr. Ivo Robotnik/Eggman. Once again, Sonic sets out to stop him. This time, he sees the fabled Little Planet, alongside a pink hedgehog named Amy Rose. But they see the planet chained down and covered in metal, and this has Robotnik's name all over it. Furthermore, Amy gets kidnapped by the metallic blue doppelganger bent on destroying him. Now Sonic must traverse through new zones and collect all 7 Time Stones, jewels capable of bending time itself. He'll need these to rescue Amy, crush Metal Sonic, and stop his nemesis' plans once more.


Sonic CD goes back to the solo gameplay of Sonic the Hedgehog, though you have at your disposal as well the Spin Dash and the Super Peel Out, a Sonic action new at the time, and that would later return in the Sega Game Gear title Sonic Chaos. The additional gimmicks this time around were signs that could allow you to travel to the past or future. Once you flip a sign, if you can build up enough speed nonstop, you could travel through time. In addition, there was a special ramp seen at the beginning of the level, in addition to various switches found in specific stages. The original shield of Sonic 1 returns, alongside the very common (but now seldom used) Speed Up and Invincibility power-ups. By collecting Time Stones, you can have a good or bad future for whatever Zone you're in. As with Sonic The Hedgehog, your means of getting these stones is by completing Special Stages, and to access them, you must have 50 rings minimum, and jump in the giant ring at the end of the zone's act. Each Zone consist of 3 acts, with the 3rd one being the boss stage, and its appearance will vary on if you made Good futures or not, as well as if you possess the Time Stones. The historic battle would take place on the 6th Zone, with Metal Sonic making more appearances afterwards, even as an enemy in the title Knuckles' Chaotix, which was a game on the brother adapter for Sega Genesis, the Sega 32X.

It was also the first Sonic title to ever utilize internal memory, stored via built-in RAM. Its re-release to consoles gives it a place in the Sonic timeline: following the ending teaser from Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, Metal Sonic was hinted as the returning bad guy for the next installment. With this fact in mind, Sonic CD will serve most likely as a prequel to Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2. The trailer, released by them not long ago, clearly shows that Sonic CD will most likely follow Sonic 4: Episode 1 storywise. The re-release will have the same visuals as the original game, but built around a new engine, with tweaked Spin Dash animation from Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The changes comes as a surprise, since they're transitioning from the 2.5D graphics of Sonic 4, to back to the 16-bit era of Sonic 1. In addition, because they went back to the solely 16-bit game, the Homing Attack, which was in Sonic 4, may not be featured in it. In fact, I'm almost certain that will be absent, since it wasn't there to begin with.


Sonic CD was hailed as the only good game in terms of the Sega CD addon, and given what I have seen based around that, the statement is REALLY saying something, given that the graphics, compared to the other games on that, looked somewhat primitive visually. Another heads up is that re-release will feature the original soundtrack from its Japanese port. Whether or not the American soundtrack will be there is questionable, but since they said "featured", I'm gonna leave that as a possibility.

Sonic CD's relaunch is another way they kick off  years of Sonic the Hedgehog, even though there's still the release of Sonic Generations happening next month, which happens to be the main celebration. Back then, I would perfect grade this title, but the fact that it was the only good game on that specific platform, that would be overdoing it. For now, I say an 8.4 of 10 For Sonic CD, but I'll see just what they do with the relaunch.

Game Review XVII: Mega Man: The Power Battle / Power Fighters

By sheer chance, what was to happen if the classic Mega Man franchise turned to the arcade outlet? Well, back then Keiji Inafune and Capcom tried this with Mega Man: The Power Battle. In a rough sense, this was essentially a boss rush-type game dealing with Mega Man 1-7, the graphics taken mostly after Mega Man 7, though enhanced somewhat.

Protoman vs. Iceman

The first game had a system where you could battle according to these formats: One mode could let you face bosses from the first 2 games, the second dealt with Mega Man 3-6, and the third gave you bosses from Mega Man 7. The player could choose from either Mega Man, Protoman, or Bass, all of which fights virtually similar. To add, two different heroes can co-op against the boss. But, it's problem is that even though it was boss rush-like, it was relatively easy, which is a huge statement considering it's side scrollers are usually challenging at best. In any case, the music for each boss was remixed, though some of those didn't have their appropriate themes. This is one aspect that I, as a gamer, couldn't criticize so much on, mainly that, especially for the first 2 games, not every single track from them was remixed. The bosses were selected via roulette, so you couldn't have a say in who you wanted to fight next. Because of this, it was by sheer luck you get to face a boss that was weak to the weapon you just obtained. As with all games in the franchise, every boss had their weaknesses, which you could adapt upon beating the one beforehand. The move sets consisted of the basic buster arm and Charge Shot, and they could dash, which differs by character. Depending on what mode you selected, you face a certain mini boss, and finally Wily. Each character also had an epilogue at the end of their playthrough, even if Wily manages to escape after defeating him.

Even with its supposed flaws, it saw a sequel called Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. For the most part, it was essentially the same game, but with a few changes and additions. For starters, Mega Man 8 was incorporated with the addition of Duo, a NPC (non-playable character) protagonist from that game. This would perhaps be the only time in the US he was actually a playable character. Next the "stories" were rearranged, so you weren't limited to the game-specific bosses of the first game. Instead, because of the new story format, some bosses were mixed in with others from different games, but still had a weakness to compensate for it. Plus, you can actually choose who to fight this time. Like before, you can play with a friend, but this time, it's a matter of who can beat the boss first. While both players got the weapon at the end in the first game, now it goes to whoever manages to get the weapon capsule first after the boss is defeated. The music score this time was remixed as well, but taken from the Rockman Complete Works tracks, which were standalone re-releases of the games for PlayStation. But again, not all characters had their appropriate music scores. Another addition, but perhaps a forseen one, is that each character had an extra move they could use on top of their initial abilities: when they obtain a certain powerup midway through the game. Two of these moves, the Mega Upper (Mega Man) and Cresent Kick (Bass), were incorporated from the Street Fighter franchise, as they are essentially the Shoryuken (Ryu) and Flash Kick (Guile). Certain powerups were also obtainable by battle, namely Rush for Mega Man, Beat for Proto Man and Duo, while Bass had Treble. The Wily Castle battles are similar to its predecessor, but the mini bosses were different. The epilogues were more closer to the games themselves, with the co-op epilogue varying by characters selected. It was thanks to this that we saw an insight on Bass' conception and the link to Mega Man X's character Zero, a matter that was never truly bridged chronologically.

Duo and Bass vs Diveman

Both games would see US limelight as bundled in Mega Man Anniversary Collection alongside the first 8 classic series games, commemorating 10 years of Mega Man at the time. In history, these would be the only Mega Man arcade titles of its time, but in terms of the franchise itself, it stands as perhaps one of, if not THE weakest link. I won't say it isn't enjoyable, but unless you're a die-hard fanatic, fanfare for these two can come and go pretty easily, there fore scoring a 6 of 10 overall.