In my previous article on the history of this series, I mentioned that Sonic the Hedgehog was a game at war with itself. I also said that it would receive two sequels in the future. Following their new mascot’s success, Sega was fully prepared to give him a bigger, better game to really establish the character as a mainstay; there was just one problem. In addition to the Genesis, Sega was experimenting with a CD based game system, years before the PlayStation would make this practice common place. If the hedgehog was to be their mascot, he would not only need to continue succeeding on the Genesis, but would also have to grace the Sega CD with an appearance. And so, the dev team behind Sonic the Hedgehog was split into two separate teams, and each half worked on the “second Sonic game,” each doing their own work on a different system. The difficulties of working with the experimental disc based hardware would result in nearly a year’s delay for one of these titles, before they released as Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in November of 1992, and Sonic CD in September of 1993.

These games have an interesting legacy as counterparts to each other, somehow representing both the successes and failures of Sega’s marketing strategies. The Sega CD would eventually be discontinued as a result of how difficult it was to develop for, leaving the company’s other consoles; Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast much more well remembered. Sonic CD, as a result, became a rare game that, for years, YouTubers and other internet reviewers would often tout as the best in the series. It’s strange reputation as the lost (unless you bought the Gems Collection) golden child of the franchise led to the Whitehead phone port in 2011, which, to its credit, is probably the best console-to-phone port ever done, and is in some ways, the definitive version of the game. It also led to more people playing the game and learning that while it may be a good game, it wasn’t quite the holy grail of platforming the internet had hyped it up to be, even if it is the face of a failed console. Sonic 2, meanwhile, is one of the most important games in the industry.

It sounds incredibly strange to say now, but video games today have something in common that was incredibly uncommon in the early 90s: a release date. Unless a game happened to be a launch title, games in these days were unceremoniously released, and supply slowly trickled into retailers over time, meaning that it could take anywhere from 1-3 months for a newly released game to become available, depending on where you lived. Sonic 2 would tackle this problem with the most aggressive advertising campaign a video game had ever received up to that point, with Sega pushing for a simultaneous, worldwide release date of November 24^th, 1992 (Or Sonic 2sday, as they dubbed it). In spite of the logistical challenges surrounding such a tactic, they succeeded, and Sonic 2 became one of the fastest selling games ever released (for its day), with the launch being treated the way a summer blockbuster or band album would be. This radically altered the way the industry marketed games and set many of the standards that we know today, making Sonic a permanent fixture in the gaming lexicon. But aside from the differing receptions the two sequels received, they also act as foils in gameplay, as well as in marketing. If the development team had been split on how to design between speed/mastery versus methodic movement/puzzles, it seems they were perfectly split between these two games.

                Sonic 2 would fully invest into the idea of Sonic’s speed as its primary mechanic. There were still some hiccups, namely in specific scenarios where Sonic would still outrun the screen, but the control afforded to the player was now much more consistent and reliable than it had been in the first game. Furthermore, the level design would lean much more into allowing Sonic free flowing movement, with the challenge coming largely from more predictable hazards (or those accursed Slicer badniks), with speed killers from the first game largely being replaced with little spring traps that allowed a player to maintain their speed so long as they weren’t too disoriented by being turned around. The first level, Emerald Hill, leans fully into this concept by emulating Green Hill’s same design philosophies, and future levels completely devote themselves to the idea of alternate paths through levels. There were absolutely sections that would force Sonic into slower platforming challenges, such as the underwater sections of Aquatic Ruin or the infamous climbing segment of Chemical Plant Zone, but these sections were entirely avoidable in this game. They now existed as punishments for not understanding the game, consistently being tied to the lower paths while higher routes through levels allowed players to run at mach speed, thus allowing players to see that there are alternate paths the first time they play (when they are most likely to see these slower sections) and strive to master the game by maintaining the high road on future playthroughs. This fundamental goal of delivering on the promises of Sonic’s speed would carry over into basic world design, with the individual zones being shortened from three acts to two, making players immediately feel their progress by allowing them to reach new locations more “quickly.” I use quotations here, because the new levels are longer than those in the first game, so it likely balances out in terms of time, but the game still feels like it moves faster because you spend less time on the Act Title screens, and are mentally noting the lower level count per zone.

                At the same time that Sonic 2 was expediting the gameplay, Sonic CD was doing the opposite. It stuck to the first game’s 3 acts per zone (The third having short platforming segments before a fight with Robotnik), resulting in a slower game feel overall. But more importantly, it doubled down on the idea of alternate paths in a different way, producing a series of maze-like levels players would have to slow down and explore. Barring Stardust Speedway, the only instance where CD truly wants you to go fast is in activating the time travel posts that are placed throughout each level, which require Sonic to run by them at a certain speed in order to trigger. This mechanic is, ultimately, also in service of slowing the game down. For one thing, the player is only given one chance at triggering each post per level, meaning they must stop what they are doing and plan out how they will reach the necessary speed in one burst using the level’s geometry. More important than this is the purpose of the posts. CD’s best ending is achieved by finding and destroying a pair of objects (The Metal Sonic Hologram and the Roboticizer) which are hidden in each level. These items are hidden in the past versions of the level, meaning that to properly play through a given level of the game, one must locate the time travel post in the maze, figure out how to move fast enough to trigger it, and then backtrack through the maze in search of their two targets, while going slowly so as to avoid accidentally returning to the present early if they pass another time post. While many players remember the all-out race against Metal Sonic as the game’s highlight, it is not indicative of the style the rest of the game is played in.

Case in point, compare the two level maps above. The first image is taken from Sonic 2’s Chemical Plant, and while it may look intimidating at first sight, you can place a finger on the image and follow the path of your choosing. There is always a logical next direction to proceed in that is guaranteed to take you to the end. The second image is CD’s Wacky Workbench, and you will note the maze-like structure, the side rooms that can only exist to hide the destructible items within, time-based traps that have to be waited out (the pink lines), and the distinctive lack of slopes upon which to build speed. These two games cleanly demonstrate the dueling design philosophies of the original, and it’s easy to tell which levels from the first would fit into Sonic 2 (Green Hill Zone, Starlight Zone) and which would fit into CD (Marble Zone, Labyrinth Zone).

This is what I find fascinating about the progression of this series over time; most franchises would pick one dimension of gameplay to innovate, and make that the focus while largely discarding the other, but the circumstances of the time led to Sonic making a completely separate game about each of the dueling design philosophies. In future years, Sonic would struggle to come to grips with which gameplay ideal was the goal: speed or exploration, and for the most part, the series never really decides. We will see this same issue come up again and again in future titles. Sometimes the series places one firmly over the other, or splits the ideas between different playable characters, but never is the Sonic series able to truly decide what it is about. Amusingly, this need to merge ideas is mirrored in what each game adds to the series. Both introduce long-running characters to the series, with Tails debuting in 2 while CD gave us Metal Sonic and Amy Rose, but it goes beyond that. Individual elements from each will forever carry forward. Sonic 2’s half-pipe special stages would reappear in many future titles, and it added Tails’ plane, the Tornado, as well as the seventh chaos emerald. Similarly, CD would be the first in the series to feature lyrical music, and the time travel concept introduced here would be a recurring plot element in the 3D games, being touched on to varying degrees in Adventure, 06, Generations, and Frontiers. Then there is the game’s characterization of its villain. Eggman will, in future appearances, walk a fine line between a goofy villain and a truly menacing threat. 2 keeps him the same goofy scientist we saw in the first game, trying to kill Sonic with everything from the Star Wars parody that is the Death Egg to his stupid little drill tank, whereas CD casts him in a much more malevolent light, as a character fully capable of depopulating a planet if left to his own devices. Sonic 3 will attempt to merge the gameplay styles of 2 and CD, just as the franchise as a whole will forever have to merge these two characterizations.

Sonic 2 is largely what made the hedgehog into a worthy mascot for Sega, setting sales records, refining the gameplay experience, and redefining the way that games are marketed and released. Sonic CD, while fondly remembered, is the black sheep of the Genesis era, one which came early enough to permanently influence the series, but which also grandfathers in some aspects that would likely have been phased out of the franchise had it not been in the right place at the right time. Both of these are good platformers, regardless of what differences they may contain, and I can say that much more definitively for the both of them than I can call the first Sonic good. While they took wholly different directions, both 2 and CD grew the series in their own ways, proving that Sonic could contend with the friendly faces Nintendo had previously dominated the market with. For my own money, I enjoy Sonic 2 more, as it is easier to just run through and quickly enjoy, but I can’t help but feel CD is the better made title. Of course, if you’re that curious about them, they usually come packaged together nowadays. Just like another pair of Sonic games that were once sold separately, but are almost always packaged together in the modern day…