DF Retro: Sonic CD - under-appreciated but still brilliant today
In 1991, Sonic the Hedgehog burst onto the scene, forever changing the gaming landscape in the process. With its high-speed action and eye-popping visuals, Sonic helped rocket Sega's 16-bit console to the top of the charts - but something else was on the horizon... a sequel focused on the Mega CD add-on, shifting to shorter, exploration focused levels with a new time travel gimmick. Sonic's Mega CD outing remains an ambitious side-step in the series, and the history behind its development is fascinating. For a start, the reality is that it was created by a second Sonic Team in Japan, while a US-based Sonic Team produced the true series sequel in parallel.
The story of Sonic CD kicks off in the aftermath of Sonic the Hedgehog's enormously successful debut. Sega's first CD-ROM system - the Mega CD - had just launched in Japan and naturally, Sega wanted to capitalise on this by bringing the speedy blue hedgehog to its new cutting-edge CD-based hardware. There was just one problem: Yuji Naka, lead programmer and project manager on Sonic the Hedgehog, had grown unhappy with Sega management and had left the company.
Hearing the news, a certain Mark Cerny reached out to Naka and Sonic's chief game designer, Hirokazu Yasuhara, and convinced them to join his Sega Technical Institute in the States. It is here where they would build a new Sonic Team to create the stunning Sonic 2, leaving behind another Japan-based Sonic Team. The third key member of the original Sonic Team - character designer Naoto Ohshima - opted to stay behind in his homeland, where he was tasked with bringing Sonic to Mega CD. This project started with the intention of creating an enhanced port of the original game, but ultimately it became its own unique project with a new team. Ohshima was joined by Sega staffers with experience on such games as The Revenge of Shinobi, Golden Axe 2 and Streets of Rage. This was a whole new team with its own unique vision, which would come to fruition when Sonic CD was released in 1993 - two years after the original Sonic the Hedgehog.
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