1/1/2021
As I have become older I have come to appreciate games that offer unique experiences and tones over games that are more refined and smooth playing. Dozens of slick, smooth, refined examples of games come out every year, but the truly special games are the ones that convey a mood or a feeling unlike anything else.
My foremost example of this is Pikmin 1, which is objectively the weakest and least-refined Pikmin game, in terms of pure gameplay, but it has a unique atmosphere and tone unlike anything before or since. Pikmin 1 juxtaposes the silliness and corporate emptiness of modernity with the incredible beauty and danger of nature, and creates more of a desperate tone with its hard timer. It’s a spectacular and incredible tone that I still remember and value, even after playing the rest of the series.
This brings me to my main point: I have come to love Sonic CD for similar reasons. In a series full of standout games, Sonic CD stands out in particular with its incredible and unique atmosphere.
One almost has to feel bad for Sega. The Sonic series is such a huge mess that means an incredible number of different things to different people, that have very little overlap other than a few elements of iconography, such as the characters’ silhouettes and the presence of objects such as rings. The Sonic series is more of a collection of almost entirely different properties, with completely different priorities and styles. Classic Sonic is all about momentum based platforming and using the level design to fling yourself at incredible speeds across wide, expansive levels, and has a simple but effective story expressed through environment design and character animation. Adventure style games focus on gameplay variety and more linear, focused stages, with less of an emphasis on player-skill-driven momentum and more on level memorization and spectacle, with more intense stories and vastly larger casts of characters. Modern style games focus almost entirely on the spectacle of speed, and try to maintain a comedic, fourth-wall-breaking tone. Even beyond just the games, there are a myriad of region-specific spinoffs, like the Archie comics, the UK comics, and the various TV shows and OVAs.
Sega hasn’t really made this easier for themselves in recent times, either, with a focus on drawing a hard distinction between Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic, which only serves to bother fans of both. Sega’s position is not exactly enviable here, as any style they try to focus on will bother fans of other styles, who feel that they are being underserved.
Even Sonic CD is not exempt from this. When Sonic CD was released in the United States, it was given an entirely new soundtrack composed by Sega of America that completely changes the tone and mood of the game to be more in line with the more serious interpretation of the character in the US market. Even within just one game, the experience is fractured between two totally different versions. I will only be discussing the JP/PAL OST, as that is the one that I prefer, that gives this particular experience its unique atmosphere.
And what an atmosphere. Sonic CD looks and sounds like no other game in the series, before or since. As almost a parallel sequel to Sonic 1, Sonic CD refines that game’s aesthetic in a completely different direction. Where Sonic 2 focused the aesthetic down and made it feel more grounded, brightening up the color palette and making the details feel more organic, Sonic CD takes the strange, inorganic flourishes of Sonic 1 and turns them up to the max. The colors of the environments pop with saturated and vibrant shades, but lean more towards pinks and bright teals and other inorganic, neon shades. Even beyond the checkerboard patterns that the series is famous for, areas are full of strange, fascinating details, like the neon boards in Collision Chaos and the strange runes and carvings in Tidal Tempest, that really contribute to an otherworldly, yet consistent and coherent look. All the areas of Little Planet feel distinct, yet coherent, part of a greater whole.
Of course, one can’t talk about the aesthetic of Sonic CD without discussing its incredible music. The music of Sonic CD has a totally unique sound, inspired by club and house music from the 90s, complete with extensive use of samples and very strong beats that give the whole game the vibe of a party. More than anything, though, the music helps establish the stakes of the story and the world, which contributes the most to Sonic CD’s unique atmosphere.
The use of time travel in Sonic CD and the juxtaposition of each time period’s tone is what gives Sonic CD such a powerful atmosphere. In Sonic CD, the main goal of each level is not so much to just reach the end, but to locate and destroy the robot generator in each stage, which is accomplished by traveling to the past, since the robot generator is run down and has already done its course in the present and future versions of each level. Additionally, you can travel to the future in each level, which will show either a good future, if the robot generator was destroyed, or a bad future, if it was not.
In addition to each area having its own distinct atmosphere, the different time periods have very distinct atmospheres themselves. The present, when the game begins, feels the most like other Sonic games, with the familiar atmosphere and exciting tone of other games in the series. The past features more muted, earthy, organic colors, and the familiar elements such as loops and ramps are more subdued, as they have not been constructed yet. The music contributes to this by using the Sega CD’s onboard sound card to create a melody similar to the one used in the present version, but more subdued and unrefined, showing the world in an almost primordial state that will not last.
Finally, the futures are the key to all of this. The conflict between nature and technology has always been part of the Sonic series’ identity, but Sonic CD brings it to the forefront with how the future is represented. Despite the game flow not requiring that you go to the future in each level, the third level in each area always takes place in the future, which forces you to see what kind of future you have created in each area.
The bad futures represent technology and industrialization going completely out of control, with organic areas polluted and destroyed, and more mechanical areas grown to completely consume their environments. The music in the bad futures distorts the original melody with a bassy, empty sound that convey the devastation that has been wrought on the land. The good futures, meanwhile, show the technology introduced by the robot generator fully integrated into the natural landscape. The scars of industrialization and development are there, but they have been reclaimed and fully integrated into the world itself. The music conveys this too, with an almost romantic tone that really communicates the gravity of what has been accomplished. Total collapse has been avoided, and a part of the world has been saved.
But you’re not allowed to linger. The world of Little Planet is distinct and fascinating and beautiful, but you’re never allowed to remain there. You must move on and keep pushing forward. No matter how positive and happy the good futures may be, you never have an opportunity to remain in any good futures to revel in your success. The world keeps moving, and you keep moving through it. The ambivalent feeling of creating a good future and having to move on, never really able to fully experience the change you have caused... that is the core of the atmosphere that makes Sonic CD so unique. You feel that you have done something right and created something beautiful, but you don’t have an opportunity to keep that. The future is transient.
That being said, Sonic CD is not without its flaws. The level design is very basic, yet still kind of disruptive. The game almost feels focused on flinging you backwards and out of control and disorienting you, but can still be completed in a minute or two if you just choose to speed through and ignore the time travel completely. Even though this game is so unique, the other genesis-era 2D Sonic games still hold up better as video games.
Those issues only make the potential of a sequel even more compelling, as the atmospheric elements that make the game feel so cool could be kept while the gameplay is refined and expanded to be more palatable. Alas, such an opportunity never came, as Sonic CD was denied the chance to have a major influence on the series by its limited release on the Sega CD, an expensive add-on with a limited install base. In the current state of the Sonic series, as it tries to figure out its identity, it would be incredible to see the team take more influence from Sonic CD and try to create something with more of a moody atmosphere and incredibly cool tone.